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Girlfriends has quickly followed the ridiculously-titled Love, Lies and Records as another Kay Mellor drama to grace our screens, and the moment a dire cover of “Ain’t No Mountain Hugh Enough” boomed out over the opening credits, I wanted to hammer nails into my feet to take the pain away.
Linda’s (Phyllis Logan) on a cruise ship holiday of a lifetime – with a life-changing situation lying ahead of her, Sue’s (Miranda Richardson) a self-obsessed individual who does her make-up while she’s driving and then seems surprised when she’s caused an accident, while Gail’s (Zoë Wanamaker) a lollipop lady, and the only one of the three who is not immensely irritating.
Throw in problems at work for Sue with her business partner and lover, John (Anthony Head), and we have a threadbare story where characters explain the plot to each other over and over, just in case you couldn’t wait ten minutes for an ad break so you could use the toilet, and Girlfriends is another case of “TV for women”.
It has nothing much for men. Women have Gail’s son walking around with a toned chest and wearing nothing but a smile and only just enough down below. Do men get the same from a woman? No, they do not.
Girlfriends begins tonight at 9pm, and then will be on the ITV Hub, and is available to pre-order on DVD, ahead of its release on February 12th.
Episode 1: 1/10
Director: Kay Mellor
Producer: Josh Dynevor
Writer: Kay Mellor
Cast:
Linda: Phyllis Logan
Sue: Miranda Richardson
Gail: Zoë Wanamaker
Carole: Paula Wilcox
Andrew: Philip Cumbus
Louise: Chlöe Hart
Micky: Steve Evets
Edna: Valerie Lilley
Stacey Cook: Elena Saurel
DI Donoghue: Emmett J Scanlan
Barbara: Wendy Craig
Ryan: Chris Fountain
John: Anthony Head
Ruby: Daisy Head
Frank: Dave Hill
Rob: Nav Sidhu
Natalie: Thaila Zucchi
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.