Category: TV Drama
Date: 08.11.2005
Printable version
Notes to Editors: Updated release issued on 10 March 2006.
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Jimmy McGovern, one of British television's most prolific and influential writing talents, returns to 91Èȱ¬ ONE with The Street, a major new drama series starring Jim Broadbent, Jane Horrocks, Sue Johnston and Timothy Spall.
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The critically-acclaimed writer of Cracker, Hillsborough, Sunday, Liam and award-winning film Priest marks a return to 91Èȱ¬ ONE for the first time since The Lakes.
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Lucy Richer and John Yorke, joint Head of 91Èȱ¬ Independent Drama, say: "The Street is 91Èȱ¬ ONE's ambitious drama series featuring stories which are embedded in how we live. Modern, truthful, warm and fresh - this is Jimmy McGovern at his best."
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Set in the North of England, each episode concentrates on a different house in the street; each story is unique and individual but linked by community, shared experience and an indomitable sense of humour.
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In the opening episode, Jane Horrocks plays Angela Quinn, a mother of three, whose 15-year marriage to builder Arthur (Daniel Ryan) is growing stale.
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An affair with her neighbour provides much-needed excitement - until Angela's world is turned upside down by events which leave her locked in warfare with her lover.
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In episode two, Stan (Jim Broadbent) finds himself forced out of his beloved work three weeks short of his 65th birthday.
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To the despair of his forthright wife Brenda (Sue Johnston), he turns to contemplation of the meaning of life, and decides he is surplus to requirements - until in a bittersweet twist, tragedy next door offers him a glimmer of hope for the future...
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Jimmy McGovern says: "Lives and loves from the backstreets are the stories I am trying to tell. Behind every door in every street there's a story.
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"There may be poverty, crime, drugs and violence, but there's also laughter and love. And that's what I'm doing: telling love stories."
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There are mothers and daughters; fathers and sons; a wife and her lover; a husband and wife falling in love all over again 40 years on; an unexpected friendship that turns the life of an ordinary taxi driver upside down; and two sisters, long at war, drawn back together by the breakdown of a marriage.
Love stories as unexpected, messy and exuberant as real life.
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The cast includes Timothy Spall as taxi-driver Eddie; Neil Dudgeon as teacher, Brian; and Christine Bottomley as sparky Yvonne, who is married to the dangerous, mercurial Sean, played by Lee Ingleby.
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Shaun Dooley is Peter Harper, Angela's neighbour and lover, and Liz White plays his unknowing wife, Eileen.
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A Granada production for 91Èȱ¬ ONE, the producer is Ken Horn and executive producers are Sita Williams (Granada), John Yorke and Lucy Richer (91Èȱ¬).
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The Street, directed by David Blair (The Lakes, Anna Karenina) and Terry McDonough, began filming in October for five months for transmission in Spring 2006.
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