{{Infobox television , image = Burn It (BBC 2003).jpg , caption = , alt_name = , genre =

Drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

, creator = , developer = , writer =

Matt Greenhalgh Matthew Greenhalgh (born 1972) is an English screenwriter from Manchester, England. He is best known for writing the screenplay to the film ''Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool'', which earned him a BAFTA Award nomination BAFTA Award for Best Ada ...

, director = John Duthie
Adam Rowley , creative_director = , presenter = , starring =

Chris Coghill Christopher Coghill (born 11 April 1975http://web.researcha.com/iccquery/detail/?did=816979&c=uk) is an English actor, having had roles in '' Shameless'', ''Burn It'', ''Hotel Babylon (BBC series), Hotel Babylon'', ''The Bill'', ''New Tricks'', ...

Kieran O'Brien Kieran O'Brien (born 1973) is an English actor. Early life and education Born in Oldham, Lancashire, O'Brien grew up in nearby Royton, and was educated at the Bishop Henshaw Roman Catholic Memorial High School in Rochdale. Career O'Brien began ...

William Ash

Lisa Faulkner Lisa Tamsin Faulkner (born 19 February 1972) is an actress, presenter and celebrity chef. Early life Faulkner was born in Merton, London, to David Faulkner and Julie (née Day). She lived in Esher and was educated at Tiffin Girls' School in ...

Mel B Melanie Janine Brown (born 29 May 1975), commonly known as Melanie B or Mel B, is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. She rose to fame in the 1990s as a member of the girl group Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Sc ...

Chelsee Healey Chelsea "Chelsee" Jade Healey (born 6 August 1988) is an English actress. She is known for playing Janeece Bryant in the BBC school-based drama series '' Waterloo Road'' (2006–2012), Honey Wright in the BBC medical drama series ''Casualty'' ...

Marsha Thomason Marsha Lisa Thomason Sykes (born 19 January 1976) is a British television and film actress who is best known for playing Sara Evers in Disney's ''The Haunted Mansion'', Nessa Holt in the first two seasons of the NBC series ''Las Vegas'', Naomi D ...

Iain McKee Iain McKee is an English actor best known for his role as Frank Gadney in BBC1 drama series ''Lilies'' and Michael in BBC sitcom ''The Visit''. He is originally from Bolton and now lives in North London. Filmography * 2001 - ''The Parole Office ...

, judges = , voices = , narrated = , theme_music_composer = , opentheme = , endtheme = , composer = , country = United Kingdom , language = English , num_series = 2 , num_episodes = 21 , list_episodes = , executive_producer = , producer = , editor = , location =

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

, England, United Kingdom , cinematography = , camera = , runtime = 29 minutes , company =

Red Production Company Red Production Company is a British independent television production company owned by StudioCanal. Background Red Production Company was formed in 1998 by Nicola Shindler, a television producer who had worked on ''Our Friends in the North'' ...

, distributor = , channel =

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, curre ...

, picture_format = , audio_format = , first_aired = {{Start date, 2003, 02, 09, df=y , last_aired = {{End date, 2003, 11, 10, df=y , preceded_by = , followed_by = , related = ''Burn It'' is a drama series, with touches of dark comedy, following the lives of three twenty-somethings in present-day

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

Plot

The series followed Carl, Andy and Jon as three self-proclaimed

Generation X-ers Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western world, Western demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years a ...

going through life without any real responsibilities to worry them. However, whilst this was understandable in the

Madchester Madchester was a musical and cultural scene that developed in the English city of Manchester in the late 1980s, closely associated with the indie dance scene. Indie-dance (sometimes referred to as indie-rave) saw artists merging indie music w ...

era of the late 1980s, is it acceptable now as they approach thirty? When does the party end? The responsibilities of potential fatherhood are weighing down on each in a different way: Carl's girlfriend is desperate for commitment, Jon is torturing himself over the daughter he gave up for adoption when he was 17, and Andy discovers that it is he who may be soon enjoying the pleasures of being a parent. This sets off a series of events, leading each to explore their new challenges and grow past their Gen X labels. Jon slowly builds a relationship with both his daughter and her mother (Tina). While, Andy's relationship with Emma experiences its ups and downs, with an unfortunate ending. Carl attempts to settle both his financial and personal life to that of an adult. In Season 2, Carl and Emma are in love, although Carl is reluctant to broadcast the fact. Forced to do so has negative effects on his friendships. Jon begins a downward spiral that ends with a second suicide attempt forcing him to grow up and become a parent. Andy returns and havoc for Carl and Emma soon ensue. By the end of the series each character has found their place in the world.

Production

''Burn It'' was written by

and produced by

, an organisation most notable for its many cutting-edge, northern dramas such as

Clocking Off ''Clocking Off'' is a British television drama series which was broadcast on BBC One for four series from 2000 to 2003. It was produced for the BBC by the independent Red Production Company, and created by Paul Abbott. It was effectively an ant ...

, Convictio

New Street Law ''New Street Law'' is a British legal drama television series produced by Red Production Company in association with One-Eyed Dog Ltd for BBC One. The series was created by G. F. Newman and Matthew Hall, and starred an ensemble cast headed by ...

and

Linda Green ''Linda Green'' is a British comedy-drama television series that aired on BBC One from 30 October 2001 to 17 December 2002. It was produced for the BBC by the independent Red Production Company. The series was created by Paul Abbott, and other wr ...

. To a soundtrack of

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...

bands and musicians, including New Order,

The Stone Roses The Stone Roses were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. One of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the band's classic and most prominent lineup consisted of vocalist I ...

and The Charlatans to name but a few, the show displayed a lazy world of drinking, drug consumption, and casual sex. However, the show was careful to show the consequences of such lifestyle choices and searingly touched on suicide, unwanted pregnancies, apathy and disillusionment. According to

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 kin ...

release is not possible due to difficulty in clearing copyrights for music used.

Broadcast

Burn It was first shown on the free-to-air British digital channel

, and then repeated some months later on the terrestrial channel

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

. There were two series of Burn It: series one consisted of ten approximately 30-minute episodes and ran from 9 February 2003 to 8 April 2003; the second series spanned eleven episodes and ran from 8 September 2003 to 10 November 2003.

Cast

Main

as Carl Redmond: A 29-year-old computer technician who asks himself about his choices in life. After finishing a 7-year relationship, he tries to find new dates, but falls in love with Emma. *

as Andy Grimshaw: An unlucky writer who lives an unstable dating of ups and downs with Emma. He decides to marry Emma, but does not know that she slept with his friend Carl. * William Ash as Jon Moore: A guy tortured by the memory that left his newborn daughter for adoption with his ex-girlfriend 17 years earlier. He meets the girl's adoptive family and has the chance to do the right things this time. *

as Emma Wainwright: Andy's girlfriend, who is tired of his irresponsible and unstable relationship. After sleeping with her friend Carl, she is confronted by Andy with a request for marriage and has to choose between telling the truth or burying forever. *

as Claire McAdams: Emma's humorous and sarcastic best friend and Jon's love interest. *

as Katie Marshall: The Jon's daughter, who hates the father for the past. *

as Tina Marshall: Paul's wife and Katie's adoptive mother. At first, she hates Jon's appearance after 17 years, but decides to give him a chance as a father. *

as Paul Marshall: Tina's husband and Katie's adoptive father.

Recurring

*Jessica Harris as Kelly: The 18-year-old daughter of one of a Carl's clients, with whom he has a relationship. *

Tracie Bennett Tracie Bennett (born 17 June 1961) is an English singer and stage and television actress. She trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in Clapham, London. She played the role of Sharon Gaskell in ''Coronation Street'' from 1982 to ...

as Bev *

Ursula Holden Gill Ursula Holden-Gill is an English Actress and Dramatherapist, best known for her roles as school secretary Carol on Channel 4's comedy drama ''Teachers'' (2001–2004), Alice Dingle on ITV's soap opera ''Emmerdale'' (2004–2006) and Miss Fitzge ...

as Helen

Episode

Series One Episode One The responsibilities of potential fatherhood are weighing down on each in a different way: Carl's girlfriend is desperate for commitment and so announces she is pregnant to Carl in order to ensure he does not split up with her. However, he then finds out she is on her period and thus not pregnant and leaves her for lying to him. Jon is torturing himself over the daughter he gave up for adoption when he was 17, whilst Emma sets him up on a blind date with her friend Claire. Andy, having ribbed Carl about becoming a parent, discovers that it is he who may be soon enjoying the pleasures of being a parent. Whilst on a job, Carl meets Kelly, the 18-year-old daughter of one of his clients. Episode Two Jon takes drastic action when he finds out that his parents are divorcing and that he has no right to have contact with his daughter. Meanwhile, Andy is uncertain about girlfriend Emma's decision to abort their baby, and Carl having fun with 18-year-old Kelly, the daughter of one of his clients. Episode Three Carl pledges to help Jon find his daughter, but the first step is to find Tina. Emma demands a change of lifestyle after Andy is attacked on his round. Episode Four Jon's sudden appearance in Tina's life has opened up a can of worms. Andy's lack of ambition is starting to irritate Emma. Carl also has a problem - it's his 30th birthday and only Andy wants to go out. Episode Five Jon is loving his new role as a dad, but it is not all plain sailing. A restless Carl feels Australia beckoning. Emma finds her loyalties put to the test. Episode Six Andy and Emma's break-up leads to a one-night stand for Emma, and unprecedented feelings of jealousy and remorse for Andy. Episode Seven Jon faces some angry attempts at blackmail from his new-found daughter, who is still stung by the belief that she was abandoned. Andy and Emma throw an engagement party. Carl deals with his growing feelings for Emma by getting drunk. Episode Eight Carl is feeling tortured with guilt. Jon is brooding over Tina. Emma has made a drastic decision, but a phone call throws everything into turmoil. Episode Nine Jon tells the truth about the adoption and more. Andy asks the boys to throw him a stag night. Carl shirks the duties of Carl's stag night. An emergency cuts the night short. Episode Ten After the death of his mum, Emma vows to make Andy happy. Tina has news for Jon. Is Carl breaking up the lads' friendship for good?

Award Nominations

2003 Royal Television Society North West Awards, Best Cable Programme
2003 Royal Television Society North West Awards, Best Performance In A Network Drama,

External links

Red Production Company
2000s British drama television series 2003 British television series debuts 2003 British television series endings British drama television series Television shows set in Manchester Television series by Red Production Company