''Wild West'' is a British television

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 ...

that aired from 22 October 2002 to 13 April 2004, starring

Dawn French Dawn Roma French (born 11 October 1957) is a British actress, comedian, presenter and writer. French is known for writing and starring on the BBC comedy sketch show ''French and Saunders'' with her best friend and comedy partner, Jennifer Saunde ...

and

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), ...

. It was described as a dark comedy from the pen of

Simon Nye Simon Nye (born 29 July 1958) is an English screenwriter, best known for television comedy. He wrote the hit British sitcom, sitcom ''Men Behaving Badly'', and all of the four ITV Pantos. He co-wrote the 2006 film ''Flushed Away'', created an ad ...

and was filmed on location in

Portloe Portloe ( kw, Porthlogh) is a small village in Cornwall, England, on the Roseland Peninsula, in the Civil parishes in England, civil parish of Veryan. Portloe harbours two full-time working fishing vessels, the ''Jasmine'' and ''Katy Lil'', wh ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

. Set in the hamlet of St Gweep, ''Wild West'' observes the strange goings-on in the local Cornish community. Shop owners Mary Trewednack and her life-partner Angela Phillips are the main focus but there are many other characters in this sitcom. The first series of the sitcom was scheduled to appear on prime-time BBC1 where its eccentricities met with a poor critical and popular response, but a second series was commissioned and both series have received retrospective praise.

Plot

The action centres around Angela Phillips (Tate) and Mary Trewednack (French), a lesbian couple who run the local town store and post office. Though self-avowed

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

s, halfway through the first series Mary comments that the only reason they are a couple is because they were the only two people in town who weren't already in a relationship when they met. Some plots of first series episodes revolve around both of them pursuing romances with men and the jealousy the other partner experiences; by the second series, all mentions of a lesbian relationship are completely dropped, including a recurring gag during the opening credits that showed them in bed together. This is resolved in the final episode of the show. Mary and Angela are friends with the village locals, including Holly (Duff/Weaver), owner of the local witchcraft centre; Harry (Mylan,) a young local hippy; Old Jake (Bradley,) who runs the local boat tour; Jeff (Foley), a swinger and sexual deviant who owns the local pub with his deaf wife Daphne; and PC Alan Allen (Wright), the somewhat bumbling policeman who becomes Mary's major romantic interest in series 2. Each episode centers on a new situation that has come into the lives of the characters and how they deal with it, generally with a focus on the different ways in which Mary and Angela meddle in everyone's lives.

Episodes

Series One

Series Two

References

External links

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Portloe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wild West (Tv Series) 2002 British television series debuts 2004 British television series endings 2000s British sitcoms British fantasy television series BBC television sitcoms 2000s British LGBT-related drama television series Lesbian-related television shows Television shows set in Cornwall Television series produced at Pinewood Studios