''Hope Springs'' is a British television comedy-drama series following the lives of four female

ex-cons A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convict ...

in hiding following a multimillion-pound robbery. 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 ...

, the company behind '' Bad Girls'', ''

Footballers' Wives ''Footballers' Wives'' is a British television drama about fictional Premier League football club Earls Park F.C., its players, and their wives, broadcast on ITV from 2002 to 2006. The show initially focuses on three very different couples, but ...

'', and '' Waterloo Road'', the 8-part series began airing 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 ...

on 7 June 2009 and finished on 26 July 2009. After a single series, the BBC cancelled ''Hope Springs'', because it "did not find its audience in the way that

hey Hey or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title s ...

had hoped."

Filming

Production on the series began in summer 2008 in the village of

Wanlockhead Wanlockhead is a village in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, nestling in the Lowther Hills and south of Leadhills at the head of the Mennock Pass, which forms part of the Southern Uplands. It is Scotland's highest village, at an elevation of ar ...

, situated in the

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the counties of Scotland, historic counties of ...

region, an ideal location chosen for its beautiful and tranquil scenery to provide the perfect backdrop for the programme. The interior scenes to be featured have been shot at the

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. I ...

drama studios in

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

Cast

Plot

The 8-part first series is set around the lives of Ellie Langden (

Alex Kingston Alexandra Elizabeth Kingston (born 11 March 1963) is an English actress. Active from the early 1980s, Kingston became noted for her television work in both Britain and the US in the 1990s, including her regular role as Dr. Elizabeth Corday in ...

), Hannah Temple (

Siân Reeves Siân Reeves is an English actress, known for her roles as Sydney Henshall in the BBC drama ''Cutting It'', Sally Spode in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'' and Charlie Wood in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street''. Life and career Reeves w ...

), Shoo Coggan (

Christine Bottomley Christine Bottomley (born 27 April 1979) is an English actress. Early life Born in Rochdale and grew up in an apartment above the family's chemist shop. She went to several local youth drama groups before embarking on a course at the Royal S ...

) and Josie Porritt (

Vinette Robinson Vinette Robinson is a British actress, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Her TV appearances include roles in '' Sherlock'', ''Black Mirror'', and as civil rights campaigner Rosa Parks in the ''Doctor Who'' episode "Rosa". Early life Robi ...

) – four sexy female ex-cons attempting to go straight. With the help of £3 million, stolen from Ellie's rich gangster husband Roy (

Mark Frost Mark Frost (born November 25, 1953) is an American novelist, screenwriter, film-and-television producer and director. He is the co-creator of the mystery television series ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and was a writer and executive story ...

), they plan to head out to the sunny safety of Barbados to begin their new lives. However, when their long-thought-out plan goes wrong, they find themselves staying in the remote Scottish village of Hope Springs – a village set to change each of their lives forever. The series ended with the text:

Episodes

Ratings

DVD release

The 3-disc DVD box set of Hope Springs was released in the UK on 27 July 2009, distributed by Acorn Media UK.

References

External links

''Shed Media''
Official Shed Site.
''Hope Springs''
at the British Comedy Guide * *
''Shed Insider''
fan-site of Shed Media' programs. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hope Springs (Tv Series) 2009 British television series debuts 2009 British television series endings BBC Scotland television shows Television shows set in Scotland Fictional populated places in Scotland English-language television shows Wanlockhead