''The Beaker Girls'' is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

children's television Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television show, television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during ...

series that premiered on

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

and

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...

on 13 December 2021. The series follows on from the events of its predecessors, ''

The Story of Tracy Beaker ''The Story of Tracy Beaker'' is a British children's book first published in 1991, written by Jacqueline Wilson and illustrated by Nick Sharratt. Background The book is told from the point of view of Tracy Beaker, a troubled ten-year-old gi ...

'', ''

Tracy Beaker Returns ''Tracy Beaker Returns'' is a British television programme. Based upon the novels by Jacqueline Wilson, it is the sequel series to '' The Story of Tracy Beaker''. The series stars Dani Harmer reprising her role as protagonist Tracy Beaker. T ...

'', ''

The Dumping Ground ''The Dumping Ground'' (also informally referred to as ''The DG'') is a British children's television drama series that focuses on the lives and experiences of young people who live in a children's home with their care workers in care. The ser ...

'' and ''

My Mum Tracy Beaker ''My Mum Tracy Beaker'' is a British children's television miniseries that premiered on CBBC and BBC iPlayer on 12 February 2021. The show was aired the week after The Dumping Ground's eighth series concluded. The series follows on from the eve ...

''. It sees

Dani Harmer Danielle Jane Harmer (born 8 February 1989) is an English actress, television personality, and former singer. She is best known for her lead role as Tracy Beaker in the CBBC series ''The Story of Tracy Beaker'' (2002–2006), ''Tracy Beaker R ...

reprise her role as

Tracy Beaker Tracy, Tracey, or Tracie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tracy (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname, also encompassing spelling variations Places United States * Tracy, C ...

and Emma Maggie Davies return as her daughter Jess. Lisa Coleman and

Montanna Thompson Montanna Thompson is a British actress. She is known for her role as Justine Littlewood in the CBBC children's series ''The Story of Tracy Beaker'' (2002–2006). Thompson has reprised her role as Justine in ''Tracy Beaker Returns'' (2012), '' My ...

also returned, as well as several cast members from ''

''. In August 2022, Dani Harmer posted on her Instagram that filming for the second series had ffinished. The BBC confirmed that Series 2 would be the final series of ''The Beaker Girls'' and ''My Mum Tracy Beaker'' trilogy, at least for now. It began airing on 13 January 2023.

Plot

Tracy and Jess are settling into their new life in the seaside town of Cooksea. Their new friend Flo is a former actress who owns a junk shop ironically named 'The Dumping Ground' of which Tracy becomes the manager, they later meet a teenager named Jordan, who is later found out to be a runaway from the care system, and Tracy invites her to stay with her and Jess.

Production

Following the success of the miniseries ''

'', in August 2021,

announced that a new series based on the book ''We Are The Beaker Girls'' would premiere in mid December. The series saw most of the main cast from ''My Mum Tracy Beaker'' reprise their roles along with newcomers Chi-Megan Ennis-McLean as Jordan Whitely and

Alibe Parsons Alibe Parsons (born 21 December 1945) is an actress who has worked in both film and television. On television, she is best known for her regular role in the 1970s BBC drama ''Gangsters'' as Sarah Gant. She also had a recurring role in the sc ...

as junk shop owner Flo. Wim Snape replaces Jim English in the role as Peter Ingham. The series is set in the fictional town of Cooksea and was filmed in summer 2021 in

Clevedon Clevedon (, ) is an English seaside town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, part of the ceremonial county of Somerset. It recorded a parish population of 21,281 in the United Kingdom Census 2011, estimated at 21,442 i ...

on the

North Somerset North Somerset is a unitary authorities of England, unitary district in Somerset, South West England. Whilst its area covers part of the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Somerset, it is administered independently of the non ...

coast.

Cast

Main *

* Emma Maggie Davies as Jessica "Jess" Beaker, Tracy's 12-year-old daughter * Chi-Megan Ennis-McLean as 15-year-old Jordan, a care runaway teenager * Lisa Coleman as Camilla "Cam" Lawson, Tracy's adoptive mum and Jess' adoptive grandmother * Wim Snape as Peter Ingham, an old friend from the Dumping Ground, and the headteacher of Cooksea High *

Danielle Henry Danielle Henry (born 1985/1986) is a British actress and yoga teacher, known for portraying the role of Mandy Marquez in the BBC One, BBC soap opera ''Doctors (2000 TV series), Doctors''. She has also appeared as List of Emmerdale characters (20 ...

as Mary Oliver, Cam's partner and Tracy's stepmother *

as Flo, the elderly owner of the junk shop Recurring *

Justine Littlewood This is a list of characters that were introduced in CBBC's ''The Story of Tracy Beaker''. The series is based on the book of the same name by Jacqueline Wilson. It ran on for five series from 2002 to 2005. The series was followed by ''Tracy Bea ...

- Tracy's childhood enemy. (recurring; series 1, guest; series 2) * Myles Young as Baby Steve Godfrey-Littlewood, son of Justine and Sean. (series 1) * Noah Leacock as Tyrone, Jess' best friend. * Jordan Duvigneau as Sean Godfrey, Tracy's ex-boyfriend (series 1) *

Simon Lipkin Simon Lipkin (born 9 January 1986) is a British actor, best known for his work in musical theatre. He has originated roles in several major West End musicals such as ''Avenue Q'' and ''Rock of Ages''. His television work includes ''The Amazing ...

as Si Martin, Jess' father *

Emma Handy Emma Handy (born 24 March 1974) is a British actress best known for her West End stage work and her role as DC Paula McIntyre in the ITV1 award-winning drama series ''Wire in the Blood'' in which she appeared for five series. Early life Emma ...

as Mrs Cook, Jess' form teacher * Daisey Hamilton as Patience "Paysh", Jess' school friend Guest *

Nisha Nayar Nisha K Nayar is a British actress. After coming to prominence in the 1993 film ''Bhaji on the Beach'', she had starring roles as Debra Kumar in the film ''Out of Hours'' in 1998 and as Elaine "the Pain" Boyak in the CBBC children's series, ...

as Elaine "the Pain" Boyak - Tracy's former social worker who appears as a special guest at a care awards ceremony as a newly-found author.

Transmissions

Episodes

Series 1 (2021)

Series 2 (2023)

Reception

The series was praised in ''

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 ...

'' for having a nostalgic feel and was named as one of the seven best shows to watch in December. The writers stated "The Story of The Beaker Girls is just beginning... For millennials who grew up learning about life through Jacqueline Wilson books, the promising exit line of this year’s Tracy Beaker reboot was a welcome one. Following a now grownup Tracy and her daughter Jess, it scratched a nostalgic itch while continuing to beautifully explore the care system, with plenty of silly moments in between."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beaker Girls, The Tracy Beaker series 2021 British television series debuts 2020s British children's television series 2020s British LGBT-related drama television series English-language television shows BBC children's television shows The Story of Tracy Beaker