''Fairy Tales'' is a British television drama anthology series produced by

Hat Trick Productions Hat Trick Productions is an independent British production company that produces television and radio programmes, mainly specialising in comedy, based in London. History Hat Trick Productions was founded in 1986 by Rory McGrath, Jimmy Mulville ...

for

BBC Northern Ireland BBC Northern Ireland ( ga, BBC Thuaisceart Éireann; Ulster-Scots: ''BBC Norlin Airlan'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ire ...

and broadcast on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

. Traditional

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

s are adapted into modern settings, after the model of ''

ShakespeaRe-Told ''ShakespeaRe-Told'' is the umbrella title for a series of four television adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays broadcast on BBC One during November 2005. In a similar manner to the 2003 production of '' The Canterbury Tales'', each play i ...

'' and ''

The Canterbury Tales ''The Canterbury Tales'' ( enm, Tales of Caunterbury) is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. It is widely regarded as Chaucer's ''Masterpiece, ...

''. The first episode was broadcast on 10 January 2008, with others following at weekly intervals.

Episodes

''Rapunzel''

*Writer: Ed Roe *Director: Catherine Morshead *Broadcast: 10 January 2008 Based on the fairytale ''Rapunzel'', Billy Jane Brooke ( Charity Wakefield) is a successful

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player whose nickname is "Rapunzel" because of her long hair. Billy Jane has an overprotective mother-manager (

Geraldine James Geraldine James, OBE (born 6 July 1950) is an English film and television actress. Biography Early life and family James was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire, to a cardiologist father and an alcoholic mother, who had been a nurse. She failed her ...

) who surrounds Billy Jane with female bodyguards and prevents her from interacting with men. Eastern European tennis player Jimmy Stojkovic (

Lee Ingleby Lee David Ingleby (born 28 January 1976) is an English film, television and stage actor. He is best known for his roles as Detective Sergeant/Detective Inspector John Bacchus in the BBC drama '' Inspector George Gently'', as Stan Shunpike in ...

), who is very bad at the game, is convinced by his father to compete under the guise of a woman, taking the name Martina Stojkovic, so that he has better chances of winning. Billy Jane befriends Jimmy and inspires him to start playing well. Eventually the two begin a "lesbian" relationship, right under the nose of Billy Jane's mother. Ratings were relatively poor, with only 3.1 million viewers and a 13%

audience share Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites. Somet ...

''Cinderella''

*Writers: Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto *Director: Peter Lydon *Broadcast: 17 January 2008 Based on the fairytale ''Cinderella'', Cindy Mellor (

Maxine Peake Maxine Peake (born 14 July 1974) is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her roles as Twinkle in the BBC One sitcom '' dinnerladies'' (1998–2000), Veronica Ball in the hit Channel 4 comedy drama '' Shameless'' (2004–2007), Mart ...

) is a cleaner who works at the anthropology wing of a busy university. She has a passion for anthropology, and wants to become the research assistant of Hans Michael Prince (

James Nesbitt William James Nesbitt (born 15 January 1965) is an actor from Northern Ireland. From 1987, Nesbitt spent seven years performing in plays that varied from the musical '' Up on the Roof'' (1987, 1989) to the political drama ''Paddywack'' (1994) ...

), a successful celebrity anthropologist. However, the head of the anthropology department, Charlotte Brooks (

Harriet Walter Dame Harriet Mary Walter (born 24 September 1950) is a British actress. She has received a Laurence Olivier Award as well as numerous nominations including for a Tony Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2011 ...

), wants one of her own students, either Fenola (

Lucy Punch Lucy Punch (born 30 December 1977) is a British actress. She has appeared in the films '' Ella Enchanted'', ''Hot Fuzz'', ''You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger'', '' Dinner for Schmucks,'' and ''Into the Woods''. She is also known for her role as ...

) or Phoebe (

Lucinda Raikes Lucinda Mary J Raikes (born 14 April 1971 in Cambridge) is an English actress, most noted for playing Karen Ball in the sitcom ''Green Wing'' and Angela Heaney in ''The Thick of It'' and its spin off film '' In the Loop''. She has also appeared i ...

) to get the job. Cindy meets Prince, who doesn't take it well when she challenges his theories. She still wants to try for the job, and under the advice of fellow cleaner Alice (

Mona Hammond Mona Hammond (born Mavis Chin; 1 January 1931 – 4 July 2022) was a Jamaican-British actress and co-founder of the Talawa Theatre Company. Born in Tweedside, Jamaica,

), Cindy dresses up in one of Fenola's dresses and attends Prince's lecture, hoping to change his mind. The music is a combination of source tracks and original compositions by Sheridan Tongue.

''The Empress's New Clothes''

*Writer:

Debbie Horsfield Debbie Horsfield (born 1955) is an English theatre and television writer and producer. Early life and career Horsfield was born in Urmston and she attended Eccles Grammar School and Eccles College before studying at Newcastle University, wher ...

*Director: Paul Whittington *Broadcast: 24 January 2008 Starring Denise van Outen, Liz White,

Rosie Cavaliero Rosalind Cecilia Cavaliero (born 27 November 1967) is a Brazilian-born English actress. She has appeared in numerous television roles. Filmography Theatre work * ''Dracula'' at the Everyman, Cheltenham – Florrie (February 1995) * ''Airswi ...

Vincent Franklin Vincent Warren Franklin (born 3 November 1966) is an English actor from Haworth, Keighley, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. He is best known for his roles in comedy television programmes. He has appeared in a number of feature films including ...

Kenny Doughty Kenny Doughty is an English actor and director, best known for playing DS Aiden Healy on ITV's Crime Drama '' Vera.'' Early life Doughty was born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. He attended Charter School, which became the Kingstone School on B ...

and

Tobias Menzies Tobias Simpson Menzies (born 7 March 1974) is an English stage, television and film actor. He is known for playing Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in the third and fourth seasons of Netflix's series ''The Crown'', for which he won the Primetime ...

. Glamorous soap star Michaela ( Denise van Outen) is a slave to fashion and designer labels but it has its pitfalls...

''Billy Goat''

*Writer:

Jeremy Dyson Jeremy Dyson (born 14 June 1966) is a British author, musician and screenwriter who, along with Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, is one of the League of Gentlemen. He also created and co-wrote the West End show ''Ghost Stories ...

. *Director:

Euros Lyn Euros Lyn (; born 1971) is a Welsh film and television director, best known for his work in ''Doctor Who'', '' Sherlock'', ''Black Mirror'', '' Daredevil'', ''His Dark Materials'' and '' Heartstopper''. Early life Lyn was born in Cardiff. His ...

*Broadcast: 31 January 2008 Starring

Bernard Hill Bernard Hill (born 17 December 1944) is an English actor. He is well recognized for playing King Théoden in ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy, Captain Edward Smith in ''Titanic'', and Luther Plunkitt, the Warden of San Quentin Prison in t ...

, Paul Nicholls,

Mathew Horne Mathew Frazer Horne (born 6 September 1978) is an English actor, comedian, television presenter and narrator. He is best known for appearing on several BBC sketch shows and sitcoms, most notably ''Gavin & Stacey'' (as Gavin Shipman), ''The C ...

Sarah Smart Sarah Smart (born 3 March 1977) is an English actress. Early life Smart was born on 3 March 1977 in Birmingham, England and lived in Northfield until 1987. She was a pupil of St Paul's School for Girls in Birmingham. Career Her career star ...

Nick Mohammed Nicholas George Mohammed (born 4 October 1980) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He is best known for his character Mr. Swallow, which he has portrayed across both stage and television for over a decade. Outside of the United Kingdom, M ...

, Holliday Grainger and

Moya Brady Moya Brady (born 8 September 1962) is an English actress. Her roles include Breda McQueen on the Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'' from 2018 to 2020. Brady grew up in the seaside town of Blackpool, Lancashire, England. She has appeared in a ...

. The boys in the band Billy Goat have dreams of pastures new but how will their troll manager react? This is the only episode to actually feature any fantasy elements, as it is set in an alternate universe where humans and trolls co-exist.

References

External links

* *{{IMDb title, 1173206, Fairy Tales BBC television dramas 2000s British drama television series 2008 British television series debuts 2008 British television series endings Films based on fairy tales Television series by Hat Trick Productions British fantasy television series