''Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married'' is an international
best selling 1996 novel by Irish author,
Marian Keyes
Marian Keyes (born 10 September 1963) is an Irish author and radio presenter. She is principally known for her popular fiction.
Keyes became known for her novels ''Watermelon'', ''Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married'', ''Rachel's Holiday'', ''Last ...
. It chronicles the life of Lucy Sullivan, a 26-year-old perpetually broke, unlucky-in-love office worker from
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, who has a penchant for bad boys, a needy, alcoholic and flawed father, a dead-end job and exasperating flatmates (dippy Charlotte and bossy Karen). The book is written in the first person and is described by Keyes as a "sideways" sequel to her first novel ''Watermelon''.
The novel was adapted into a television series in 1999. It aired on the
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 ...
network, but struggled with numerous scheduling changes. The series has aired internationally and has been released on DVD.
Book
Plot
Lucy visits a
fortune teller
Fortune telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. Melton, J. Gordon. (2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 115-116. The scope of fortune telling is in principle identical w ...
with her three mis-matched friends, and a marriage is predicted in her future. When the fortune-teller's prophecies for her friends come true, Lucy begins to suspect that she will soon be marrying. Lucy spends the following 12 months looking for Mr Right. Various eligible bachelors are introduced, among them Gus, Lucy's unreliable lover; Daniel, her oldest friend; Chuck, a handsome American; and Adrian, the video shop man. This is followed by a series of disastrous dates, drunken nights out, confessions and revelations. Author Keyes has said, "I'm very fond of that book and I think I have the most affection for Lucy Sullivan as a character. There's a lot of me in there
..I wanted to write about a single girl in London who goes out with eejit after eejit, you know, because that was really the life I had led, and there was this strange culture of singleness I encountered and I found this very funny. Lucy's depressive, but she has a sense of humour, and that's why I like her."
Reception
The success of the novel led to publishing deals of more than £600,000, one of the most lucrative ever achieved by an unestablished writer. Between Britain and Ireland ''Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married'' has sold over 250,000 copies; In Ireland, the book went straight to number one and stayed there for nine weeks.
TV adaptation
The novel was adapted into an 8-hour, sixteen part, television drama series by
Carnival Films
Carnival Films is a British production company based in London, UK, founded in 1978. It has produced television series for all the major UK networks including the BBC, ITV (TV network), ITV, Channel 4, and Sky (United Kingdom), Sky, as well as ...
for the
LWT
London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...
network. It originally aired 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 ...
in November 1999. It was described as a "saga about broken hearts and terrifyingly unsuitable boyfriends" with "plenty of workplace-mileage to be extracted from Lucy's job at Nudawn Supplies".
Sam Loggin
Samantha "Sam" Loggin (born 1977) is an English actress. She was born in Northamptonshire, UK. Her noteworthy performances include the roles of Lucy in ''Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married
''Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married'' is an internation ...
played Lucy. Her flatmates, Charlotte, a promiscuous dippy blonde, and Karen, a bossy Scottish communal financer, were played by
Letitia Dean
Letitia Jane Dean (born 14 November 1967) is an English actress. She is known for her portrayal of Sharon Watts in the BBC soap opera, ''EastEnders''. An original cast member from 1985 to 1995, she reprised the role from 2001 to 2006, and again ...
and
Zoë Eeles respectively.
Other characters included Lucy's three colleagues: sensitive Meredia (
Debbie Chazen
Deborah Chazen (born 1 September 1971) is an English actress. She is best known for portraying Annie in the BBC comedy ''The Smoking Room'', Big Claire in ''Mine All Mine'', and various roles in the BBC sketch show ''Tittybangbang''. Alongside t ...
), loud-mouthed Megan (
Sara Stockbridge
Sara Stockbridge (born Sarah Jane Stockbridge; 14 November 1965) is an English model, actress and author. In the second half of the 1980s, she was the muse of fashion designer Vivenne Westwood.
Early life
Stockbridge was born in Woking, Surr ...
), and middle-class Hetty (
Gwyneth Strong
Gwyneth Strong (born 2 December 1959) is an English actress. She has appeared in '' Shadows'' (1975), ''Angels'' (1976), ''Crown Court'' and ''Z-Cars'' (1977), ''Play for Today'' (1980-1984), ''Silent Witness'' (1996). However, she is best known f ...
). The group of girls party their way around London looking for would-be husbands or boyfriends.
Gerard Butler
Gerard James Butler (born 13 November 1969) is a Scottish actor and film producer. After studying law, he turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as ''Mrs Brown'' (1997), the James Bond film ''Tomorrow Never Di ...
starred as Lucy's unreliable lover, Gus.
Scheduling
The series was launched with four episodes in its first week at 10:30pm on ITV, following which it aired once weekly. However, it failed to attract the young adult audience at which it was aimed, so the series was withdrawn (mid series, episode 9) from that timeslot in December 1999. The programme was subsequently aired a year later between November 2000 and January 2001, in the early evening, pre-watershed time slot at 17:05.
LWT
London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...
said, "the underlying tone and structure of the series was not dissimilar to that of the tea-time soaps and, given the wider audience available at that time, it was substantially edited and revoiced to make it suitable for the slot."
Despite this, the show drew complaints from viewers for featuring a sex scene and bad language. Complaints from viewers about the content of various editions of the series were upheld in part by the
Independent Television Commission
The Independent Television Commission (ITC) licensed and regulated commercial television services in the United Kingdom (except S4C in Wales) between 1 January 1991 and 28 December 2003.
History
The creation of ITC, by the Broadcasting Act ...
(ITC) in 2001. Nine complained of the inclusion of a lesbian storyline and kiss, while others believed that the sexual content, swearing and tasteless material were inappropriate for the time of transmission. In its report, the ITC said it had "serious concerns about the scheduling of a series which concentrated on the sexual relationships of a group of young adults, so early in the evening".
A Standards Panel was concerned by the general nature and tone of the content, in particular the sexual themes in one episode, which it "considered were likely to have exceeded the expectations of the majority of the audience at a time when a large number of children would be available to watch it".
It was concluded that certain episodes were, therefore, in breach of the Programme Code.
According to LWT, the series also failed to perform well in the earlier slot and was eventually withdrawn.
It has since been repeated on ITV in a late night time slot at various times.
Cast
*
Sam Loggin
Samantha "Sam" Loggin (born 1977) is an English actress. She was born in Northamptonshire, UK. Her noteworthy performances include the roles of Lucy in ''Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married
''Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married'' is an internation ...
as Lucy Sullivan
*
Letitia Dean
Letitia Jane Dean (born 14 November 1967) is an English actress. She is known for her portrayal of Sharon Watts in the BBC soap opera, ''EastEnders''. An original cast member from 1985 to 1995, she reprised the role from 2001 to 2006, and again ...
as Charlotte
*
Zoë Eeles as Karen
*
Gwyneth Strong
Gwyneth Strong (born 2 December 1959) is an English actress. She has appeared in '' Shadows'' (1975), ''Angels'' (1976), ''Crown Court'' and ''Z-Cars'' (1977), ''Play for Today'' (1980-1984), ''Silent Witness'' (1996). However, she is best known f ...
as Hetty
*
Debbie Chazen
Deborah Chazen (born 1 September 1971) is an English actress. She is best known for portraying Annie in the BBC comedy ''The Smoking Room'', Big Claire in ''Mine All Mine'', and various roles in the BBC sketch show ''Tittybangbang''. Alongside t ...
as Meredia
*
Sara Stockbridge
Sara Stockbridge (born Sarah Jane Stockbridge; 14 November 1965) is an English model, actress and author. In the second half of the 1980s, she was the muse of fashion designer Vivenne Westwood.
Early life
Stockbridge was born in Woking, Surr ...
as Megan
*
Gerard Butler
Gerard James Butler (born 13 November 1969) is a Scottish actor and film producer. After studying law, he turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as ''Mrs Brown'' (1997), the James Bond film ''Tomorrow Never Di ...
as Gus
*
Cameron Jack
Cameron may refer to:
People
* Clan Cameron, a Scottish clan
* Cameron (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name)
* Cameron (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name)
;Mononym
* Cam'ron (born 19 ...
as George
*
Niall Buggy
Niall is a male given name of Irish origin. The original meaning of the name is unknown, but popular modern sources have suggested that it means "champion" (derived from the Old Irish word ''niadh''),. According to John Ryan, Professor of Early an ...
as Mr. Sullivan
*
Frances Tomelty
Frances Tomelty (born 6 October 1948) is a Northern Irish actress whose numerous television credits include '' Strangers'' (1978–1979), ''Testament of Youth'' (1979), ''Inspector Morse'' (1988), '' Cracker'' (1993), ''The Amazing Mrs Pritchard ...
as Mrs. Sullivan
*
Simon Greenall
Simon James Greenall (born 3 January 1958) is an English actor, producer, writer and voice artist. He has portrayed Michael in the BBC television series '' I'm Alan Partridge'', as well as in '' Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa,'' the Caretaker in ...
as Richard
*
James Hillier
James Hillier, (August 22, 1915 – January 15, 2007) was a Canadian-American scientist and inventor who designed and built, with Albert Prebus, the first successful high-resolution electron microscope in North America in 1938.
Biography
B ...
as Steve
*
Pascal Langdale
Pascal Langlois, better known as Pascal Langdale, is an English actor and voice actor. He has played supporting roles in a number of television dramas since 1999. Langdale also lent his voice and likeness to the critically acclaimed video game '' ...
as Daniel
*
David Simeon
David Simeon (born David John Townsend, 17 May 1943, Chippenham, Wiltshire) is a British actor.
Career
David Simeon began his acting career after being accepted into RADA, the Rose Bruford College and the Guildhall School of Music and Dra ...
as Ken
*
Michael Troughton
Michael Troughton (born 2 March 1955) is an English actor, teacher and writer. He is best known for his television roles including Melish in ''Minder'' and Sir Piers Fletcher-Dervish in ''The New Statesman''. He is the son of actor Patrick Tro ...
as Ivor
*
Shirley Stelfox
Shirley Rosemary Stelfox (11 April 1941 – 7 December 2015) was an English actress, known for her portrayal of the character Edna Birch, a moralising busybody in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'', and as Rose, the vampy sister of the snobby ...
as Mrs. Nolan
Crew
*Writer:
Colin Brake
Colin Brake (born 1962) is an English television writer and script editor best known for his work for the BBC on programmes such as '' Bugs'' and '' EastEnders''. He has also written spin-offs from the BBC series '' Doctor Who''. He lives and w ...
*Directors:
Brian Grant
Brian Wade Grant (born March 5, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player. He played the power forward and center positions for five teams during 12 seasons in the National Basketball Association. He was known for his tenacious ...
,
Sarah Hellings
Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a pi ...
*Producer:
Stuart Doughty
Stuart may refer to:
Names
* Stuart (name), a given name and surname (and list of people with the name) Automobile
*Stuart (automobile)
Places
Australia Generally
*Stuart Highway, connecting South Australia and the Northern Territory
Northe ...
*Executive producer:
Brian Eastman
DVD release
The entire series was released on DVD for the first time in Australia (Region 4) on Thursday 5 June 2008.
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
1996 British novels
1999 British television series debuts
2001 British television series endings
1990s British drama television series
2000s British drama television series
Chick lit novels
British comedy novels
ITV television dramas
Television shows set in London
Novels set in London
20th-century Irish novels
British novels adapted into television shows