The first series of '' Bad Girls'' premiered on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

on 1 June 1999, and ended on 3 August 1999. It consists of ten episodes. The show was produced by

Shed Productions Shed Productions, part of Warner Bros. Television Productions UK, was an independent UK television production company, specialising in contemporary, original drama programming and content. It was established in 1998 by Eileen Gallagher, Brian P ...

as part of

Shed Media Warner Bros. Television Studios UK (formerly Shed Media Group and later Warner Bros. Television Productions UK) is a British creator and distributor of television content. The Group produces long-running television brands in drama, factual, doc ...

. After the first episode aired, the show became an instant hit in the United Kingdom. The show also became successful in several countries including the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, Australia and

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

Storylines

The first series focuses on the growing relationship between new G-Wing governor Helen Stewart and prisoner Nikki Wade. Helen tries to show the prisoners that she on their side by taking matters such as miscarriage, bullying and drugs seriously, whereas the other officers, like Sylvia Hollamby, don't take any interest in the prisoners' problems. Helen doesn't get the support she needs from her officers and tries to convince Nikki that she needs her help in running an orderly wing. This is when Nikki's attraction for Helen begins to grow. Other major storylines in the first series is top dog, Shell Dockley's bullying against new prisoner Rachel Hicks, her drug dealing and her affair with senior officer

Jim Fenner James Graham "Jim" Fenner is a fictional character in the British television series '' Bad Girls'', portrayed by Jack Ellis. The character was a prominent feature on the show for seven series, and played the role of a prison officer, temporary ...

who also begins an affair with Rachel, as they become involved in a love triangle, Shell and her sidekick Denny Blood torture Rachel to the point where she commits suicide. New prisoner Zandra Plackett struggles to kick her drug habit, and things get worse when she discovers she's pregnant. Monica Lindsey, another new prisoner on G-Wing, finds it hard to cope when she worries about how her son, Spencer, who has

Down's syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual disa ...

, will deal with his mother's wrongful imprisonment.

Cast

Main

Simone Lahbib Simone Nicole Jean Lahbib Ould Cheikl (; born 6 February 1965) is a Scottish actress. She is known for her roles as Helen Stewart in the ITV drama series '' Bad Girls'', DCI Alex Fielding in the ITV crime series ''Wire in the Blood'' and Katy L ...

as G-Wing Governor Helen Stewart *

Mandana Jones Mandana Jones is an Anglo-Iranian actress best known for her role as prisoner Nikki Wade on the British television series, '' Bad Girls''. Biography Mandana Jones was born on 26 February 1967 to a Welsh father and an Iranian mother. She is th ...

as Nicola "Nikki" Wade *

Debra Stephenson Debra Stephenson (born 4 June 1972) is an English actress, comedian, impressionist and singer, best known for her roles as Diane Powell in ''Playing the Field'', Shell Dockley in '' Bad Girls'' and as Frankie Baldwin in ''Coronation Street''. ...

as Michelle "Shell" Dockley * Jack Ellis as James "Jim" Fenner * Alicya Eyo as Daniella "Denny" Blood *

Luisa Bradshaw-White Luisa Bradshaw-White (born 9 December 1974) is a former English actress, known for playing Tina Carter in '' EastEnders'' and for her previous roles on '' Bad Girls'', '' Holby City'' and ''This Life''. She has also made appearances in televisi ...

as Lorna Rose * Joe Shaw as Dominic McAllister * Lara Cazalet as Zandra Plackett * Jane Lowe as Monica Lindsay *

Sharon Duncan Brewster Sharon Duncan-Brewster (born 8 February 1976) is a British actress. She is known for her role as Crystal Gordon in '' Bad Girls'' during the first four series; her role as Trina Johnson on ''EastEnders''; and her role as Maggie Cain in the aut ...

as Crystal Gordon * Helen Fraser as Sylvia Hollamby *

Victoria Alcock Victoria Alcock (born 13 May 1968) is a British actress. Notable roles Alcock played the prisoner Julie Saunders in all eight series of the television drama series, '' Bad Girls'' and Agnes Clarke in ''The House of Eliott''. In January 2012, Alco ...

as Julie Saunders *

Kika Mirylees Kika Mirylees (born Christina Kika Le Fleming Mirylees; 23 September 1953) is a South African-born British actress and councillor. She is best known for her roles as List of Bad Girls characters, Julie Johnston in ''Bad Girls (TV series), Bad G ...

Julie Johnston Julie may refer to: * Julie (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the name Film and television * ''Julie'' (1956 film), an American film noir starring Doris Day * ''Julie'' (1975 film), a Hindi film by K. S. Sethumadhava ...

Joanne Froggatt Joanne Froggatt (born 23 August 1980) is a British actress. From 2010 to 2015, she portrayed Anna Bates in the ITV period drama series ''Downton Abbey''. For this role, she received three Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a ...

as Rachel Hicks

Recurring

* Oliver Fox as Sean Parr *

Roland Oliver Roland Anthony Oliver FBA (30 March 1923 – 9 February 2014) was an Indian-born English academic and Emeritus Professor of African history at the University of London. Throughout a long career he was an eminent researcher, writer, teacher, ...

as Simon Stubberfield * Eugene Walker as Officer Blakeson * Timmy Lang as Spencer Lindsay * Gideon Turner as Robin Dunstan *

Denise Black Denise Black (born 16 March 1958) is an English actress. She is best known for her roles in '' Coronation Street'' and ''Emmerdale'' and guest starring as ''Jessie Devlin'' Denny Blood's mother in '' ITV drama series '' Bad Girls''. Early lif ...

as Jessie Devlin * Victoria Pritchard as Trisha *

Linda Henry Linda Varilis (''née'' Henry; born 24 August 1959) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Yvonne Atkins in the ITV drama '' Bad Girls'' and Shirley Carter in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', a role she has played since 200 ...

Yvonne Atkins Yvonne Atkins is a fictional character from the award-winning prison drama series '' Bad Girls''. Portrayed by Linda Henry, Yvonne first appeared in the finale episode of Series 1. She played a prominent role in Series 2, 3, 4 and 5 as Top Dog o ...

Guest

* Ashley Miller as Carol Byatt *

Penny Ryder A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is th ...

as Nellie Snape *

Shelley Longworth Shelley Nicola Longworth (born 22 March 1976) is a British actress. She is best known for playing the role of Sam Wood in ''Benidorm'', from 2011 to 2012 and from 2017 to 2018. Career In 2010, she joined the cast of ''Benidorm'' for the fourth ...

as Ms Wall * Susan Aderin as Ms Carter * Pauline Whitaker as Nun * Daryl Fisher as Mrs Hicks * Vinny Dhillon as Clinic Nurse *

Sheila Ruskin Sheila Ruskin (born 28 March 1946) is an English actress. She played Vipsania in the BBC adaptation of ''I, Claudius'' (1976), Kassia in the '' Doctor Who'' serial '' The Keeper of Traken'' (1981) and Alta One in the ''Blake's 7'' episode "Redem ...

as Mrs Dunstan * David Case as Chaplain * Jean Ainslie as Sister Jill * Ian Flintoff as Vicar *

Jane Galloway Jane may refer to: * Jane (given name), a feminine given name * Jane (surname), related to the given name Film and television * ''Jane'' (1915 film), a silent comedy film directed by Frank Lloyd * ''Jane'' (2016 film), a South Korean drama fil ...

as Mary * Andrew Frame as Officer Donegan * Alistair Stewart as Newsreader/Himself

Episodes

Reception

Ratings

Release

In the UK, series one was originally released in VHS format in three volumes. The

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

was released in the UK on 18 June 2001. It was re-released in the UK on 7 February 2011 by Acorn Media UK, with brand new packaging. The re-release was also released in a boxset along with series two on 7 February 2011. Series one was also released as part of a series one-four boxset on 9 October 2006. In Australia, series one has been released three times on DVD, the first being on 24 March 2003 containing the same packaging as the first UK DVD release. The second release was part of the complete boxset consisting of all eight series which was released on 10 November 2010. The third was released on 12 January 2011, as a separate edition from the complete boxset. The DVD was released in America on 7 June 2011 containing its own style of cover packaging. It was released as "The Complete First Season", and was the only series of ''Bad Girls'' to be released in America. Note: Special features marked * are not available on the re-release DVD

References

External links

* *List o
Bad Girls episodes
at

Epguides epguides is a website dedicated to English language radio and television shows. Established in 1995 as The Episode Guides Page, it originally offered fan-compiled episode guides for hundreds of United States and United Kingdom series. In 1999, t ...

{{National Television Award for Outstanding Drama Series 1999 British television seasons 01