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Fat Friends

British television drama

Summary

British television drama

Field	Value
genre	Drama
creator	Kay Mellor
writer
runtime	45 minutes (per episode)
starring
opentheme	"Perfect 10", performed by The Beautiful South
company
network	ITV
composer	Mark Russell
language	English
country	United Kingdom
first_aired
last_aired
num_series	4
num_episodes	25

Midgley's fish and chip shop in [[Moor Grange]], [[Leeds]], featured as "Big and Battered".

Fat Friends is a British drama that aired on ITV from 12 October 2000 to 24 March 2005, consisting of 25 episodes over four series. Set in Leeds, the series explores the lives of several slimming club members, with a focus on the various ways their weight has impacted upon them.

The series was created by Kay Mellor and made by Rollem Productions in association with Tiger Aspect Productions and Yorkshire Television. Three of the cast – Ruth Jones, James Corden and Alison Steadman – went on to appear in the sitcom Gavin & Stacey. Jonathan Ryland, who played Kevin, the husband to Ruth Jones' character, also appeared in Gavin & Stacey as the celebrant who presided when Pete and Dawn renewed their wedding vows.

Premise

Fat Friends is set around a slimming club in the Headingley district of Leeds. The club is run by the formidable Carol (Janet Dibley), who fruitlessly tries to persuade the members of the group to follow the "Super Slimmers" diet. The characters who attend the club are from various backgrounds and of various weights. While some plots continue throughout all four series, each episode focuses on one particular character.

Cast and characters

Alison Steadman as Betty Simpson
Gaynor Faye as Lauren Harris
Ruth Jones as Kelly Chadwick (née Simpson)
Jonathan Ryland as Kevin Chadwick
James Corden as Jamie Rymer
Janet Dibley as Carol McGary
Barrie Rutter as Douglas Simpson
Richard Ridings as Alan Ashburn (series 1–3)
Kathryn Hunt as Val Lorrimer (series 1–2)
Josie Lawrence as Julia Fleshman (series 1–2)
Jason Merrells as Carl Whittaker/Carl Watkinson (series 1–2)
Rita May as Joan Kirk (series 1)
Meera Syal as Aysha Kapoor (series 1)
Eleanor Bron as Marilyn Harris
Allan Corduner as Leonard Harris
Lisa Riley as Rebecca Patterson (series 2–4)
Lynda Baron as Norma Patterson (series 2–4)
Paul Warriner as Paul Thompson (series 2–4)
Julian Kerridge as Sean Hurst (series 2–4)
David Harewood as Max Robertson (series 3–4)
Janine Mellor as Mercedes (series 4)

Episodes

Series overview

Series 1 (2000)

Series 2 (2002)

Series 3 (2004)

Series 4 (2005)

Ratings

Episode No.	Airdate	title=Weekly top 30 programmes on TV sets (July 1998 – Sept 2018)	url=https://www.barb.co.uk/viewing-data/weekly-top-30/
1.1	12 October 2000	10,370,000	13
1.2	19 October 2000	8,660,000	16
1.3	26 October 2000	9,190,000	16
1.4	2 November 2000	9,140,000	15
1.5	9 November 2000	8,790,000	16
1.6	16 November 2000	9,610,000	16

Episode No.	Airdate	Total Viewers	ITV Weekly Rank
2.1	5 September 2002	7,810,000	16
2.2	12 September 2002	7,260,000	14
2.3	19 September 2002	7,280,000	12
2.4	26 September 2002	6,610,000	16
2.5	3 October 2002	6,450,000	18
2.6	10 October 2002	6,990,000	15
2.7	17 October 2002	7,020,000	16

Episode No.	Airdate	Total Viewers	ITV Weekly Rank
3.1	1 January 2004	6,470,000	23
3.2	7 January 2004	7,360,000	19
3.3	14 January 2004	7,470,000	18
3.4	21 January 2004	7,540,000	17
3.5	28 January 2004	8,690,000	22
3.6	4 February 2004	7,240,000	22

Episode No.	Airdate	Total Viewers	ITV Weekly Rank
4.1	17 February 2005	6,560,000	18
4.2	24 February 2005	7,510,000	15
4.3	3 March 2005	7,030,000	19
4.4	10 March 2005	5,600,000	20
4.5	17 March 2005	6,050,000	20
4.6	24 March 2005	5,790,000	19

Awards and nominations

British Academy Television Award
- Best Actress for Alison Steadman – Nominated
- Best Drama Series for Kay Mellor & Greg Brenman & David Reynolds – Nominated
Royal Television Society Programme Awards
- On-Screen Network Newcomer for James Corden – Nominated
TV Quick Awards
- Best New Drama – Won
Television and Radio Industries Club Awards
- TV Drama Programme – Won

Home media

Fat Friends was originally released on VHS for its first series, and was the only series to be released in the format. This was followed by a DVD release of the first series, as well as box set comprising the first three series, in March 2005, while the second and third series were made available individually in April 2005. Distribution rights were held by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in the UK, however all DVD releases are now out-of-print. The fourth series has never been released on DVD.

The first series was also released in Australia in 2005, via Shock Records, and in the United States, from Alchemy / Millennium in 2007.

Series	Release date	No. of
discs	Rating	VHS (UK)	Region 1 DVD	Region 2 DVD	Region 4 DVD	BBFC	ACB	Series 1	Series 2	Series 3	Series 1, 2 & 3
24 June 2002	13 February 2007	21 March 2005	19 September 2005	2	15	MA15+
		18 April 2005		2	15
		18 April 2005		2	15
		21 March 2005		6	15

Stage musical adaptation

Grand Theatre]], [[Leeds]], decorated for ''Fat Friends the Musical''

A stage musical adaptation of the series directed and written by original creator, Kay Mellor, with music by Nicholas Lloyd Webber made its world premiere at the Grand Theatre in Leeds on 7 November 2017 before embarking on a UK tour, starring Jodie Prenger as Kelly Stevenson.

References

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

2000-british-television-series-debuts 2005-british-television-series-endings 2000s-british-comedy-drama-television-series itv-television-dramas television-series-by-itv-studios itv-comedy television-series-by-banijay television-shows-set-in-leeds television-shows-set-in-west-yorkshire television-series-by-yorkshire-television television-series-by-tiger-aspect-productions british-english-language-television-shows

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