''Hard Cell'' is a British

mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

streaming television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air aer ...

series developed by

Catherine Tate Catherine Jane Ford (born 5 December 1969), known professionally as Catherine Tate, is an English actress, comedian and writer. She has won numerous awards for her work on the BBC sketch comedy series ''The Catherine Tate Show'' (2004–2007), ...

, who also plays six of the main characters. The series premiered on 12 April 2022 on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

, and consists of six episodes. The series was cancelled after one season.

Plot

The series follows UK

prison governor The warden ( US, Canada) or governor ( UK, Australia), also known as a superintendent (US, South Asia) or director (UK, New Zealand), is the official who is in charge of a prison. Name In the United States and Canada, warden is the most commo ...

Laura Willis (

) who firmly believes that creativity leads to rehabilitation and plans to put on a musical, starring

inmates The Inmates are a British pub rock band, which formed after the split of The Flying Tigers in 1977. In 1982, they had a medium-sized international hit with a cover of The Standells' "Dirty Water", and a UK Top 40 hit with their cover of Jimmy M ...

and directed by ex-''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

'' star

Cheryl Fergison Cheryl Fergison (born 27 August 1965) is an English actress. She is known for portraying the role of Heather Trott in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' a role in which she starred in from 2007 until 2012. Career After training at Rose Bruford ...

. During the six-week rehearsals, the inmates find their voices, build self-confidence and strengthen their friendships.

Cast and characters

Main

as Laura / Ros / Ange / Big Viv / Marco / Anne Marie *

Christian Brassington Christian Brassington (born 6 June 1983) is an English actor and writer, best known for playing the odious vicar Ossie Whitworth in the third and fourth series of the BBC hit period drama ''Poldark''. Brassington also portrayed a young Boris John ...

as Dean *

as Herself * Niky Wardley as Anastasia * Jola Olajide as Charlee * Peter Singh as Gary

Recurring

Episodes

Production

On 30 June 2021, it was announced that

would write, direct and star in a six-part

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

set in a fictional women's prison. Executive producer Kristian Smith described the series as "funny and touching all at once, revealing what life might be like in a British women's correctional facility".

Donna Preston Donna Preston (born 6 June 1986) is an English actress, comedian and writer, notable for appearances in ''Apocalypse Wow'', ''Hey Tracey!'' and ''Michael McIntyre's Big Show''. She appears as Despair in Neil Gaiman's '' The Sandman'' released on ...

announced her involvement in the series the next day. On 30 July, ''

Deadline Deadline(s) or The Deadline(s) may refer to: * Time limit, a narrow field of time by which an objective must be accomplished Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * Deadline (DC Comics), a fictional villain * ''Deadline'' (magazine), a British ...

'' shared the news that Tate's co-stars will include

as Dean, Niky Wardley as Anastasia, Lorna Brown as Cal, Caroline Harding as Sal, Jola Olajide as Charlee and

Duncan Wisbey Duncan James Wisbey (born 16 December 1971) is an English actor, musician, writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art ...

as Martin. Wardley and Alex Carter (who previously starred in ''

The Catherine Tate Show ''The Catherine Tate Show'' is a British television sketch comedy written by Catherine Tate and Derren Litten. Tate also stars in all but one of the show's sketches, which feature a wide range of characters. ''The Catherine Tate Show'' airs on B ...

'' Australian and New Zealand live tour) were also confirmed to be parts of the creative team behind the series.

Reception

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, 20% of 10 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.9/10.

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

, assigned a score of 38 out of 100, based on four critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Gabriel Tate of ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'' criticised the series for being dated. Rachel Aroesti of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' criticised the series for a lack of plot and "an abundance of one-dimensional characters". James Hibbs of ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' criticised the series for immature jokes, but noted it gets better over time. Nicole Vassell of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' noted that the series has fared better with general audiences, as the audience

score is 88% positive. Many have especially praised the dramatic and shocking ending of the series. Speaking about the open ending and the possibility of a second series,

said: "I'm quite a big fan of things ending with loose ends. I think that's sort of life, isn't it? Life doesn't tie itself up in a neat bow. And so I'd be delighted if it got another series, and I'm happy for it to stand alone".

References

External links

* * {{Netflix original ended series (2019–present) 2022 British television series debuts 2022 British television series endings 2020s British sitcoms English-language Netflix original programming Television shows filmed in England 2020s prison television series British prison television series British mockumentary television series