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Lip Service (TV series)

FieldValue
imageLip Service Title Card.jpg
creatorHarriet Braun
writerHarriet Braun
companyKudos Film & Television
BBC Scotland
directorJohn McKay
executive_producerDerek Wax
countryUnited Kingdom
networkBBC Three
first_aired
last_aired
num_episodes12
num_series2

BBC Scotland Lip Service is a British television drama portraying the lives of a group of lesbian and bisexual women living in Glasgow, Scotland. Production on the show, which stars Laura Fraser, Ruta Gedmintas and Fiona Button, began in summer 2009 in Glasgow. The show debuted on BBC Three on 12 October 2010. Filming on a second series was confirmed in late 2010, with filming beginning on 30 May 2011. The second series aired on BBC Three from 20 April 2012. In January 2013, the show's creator, Harriet Braun, announced that BBC Three had cancelled the series without explanation.

Cast

ActorCharacterRoleSeries
Laura FraserCat MacKenzieA lesbian architect with an anxious, neurotic personality. She is constantly torn between an old love or a new future.1–2
Ruta GedmintasFrankie AlanA "4 on the Kinsey Scale" bisexual photographer who is brash and impulsive, known for her promiscuous ways. She is secretly still in love with Cat, even though she abandoned her prior to the series.1–2
Fiona ButtonTess RobertsA struggling lesbian actress who is often unlucky in love, which causes her to feel insecure.1–2
Emun ElliottJay Bryan AdamsCat's friend and co-worker, a straight male who often can't restrain himself where beautiful women are concerned.1–2
James Anthony PearsonEd MacKenzieCat's younger brother who is straight, a science-fiction author who shares Tess' frustrations with their romantic lives.1–2
Roxanne McKeeLou FosterA television personality who is in the closet about her same-sex relationship with Tess, wavering between her feelings and her career.1
Heather PeaceDetective Sergeant Sam MurrayCat's girlfriend throughout the series, a fiercely independent lesbian woman who is afraid to show vulnerability.1–2
Natasha O'KeeffeSadie AndersonA notorious bad girl who dates Frankie briefly but then breaks off the relationship.1–2
Cush JumboBecky LoveJay's fiancée, who apparently brought an end to his promiscuous ways.1
Anna SkellernDr. Lexy PriceA hospital doctor and roommate to Tess and Frankie/Sadie, who often laments her poor choices in romantic partners.2
Adam SinclairDr. Declan LoveLexy's gay co-worker.2
Alana HoodNurse BeaLexy's married bisexual co-worker, with whom she has a no-strings-attached relationship.2

Episodes

Series 1

No.#TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateProduction codeViewers
EpisodeNumber = 1EpisodeNumber2 = 1Title = Episode 1John McKay]]WrittenBy = Harriet Braundf=yes20101012}}ProdCode = 101Aux4 = 580,000

Series 2

No.#TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateProduction codeViewers
EpisodeNumber = 1EpisodeNumber2 = 1Title = Episode 1DirectedBy = Sallie AprahamianWrittenBy = Harriet Braundf=yes20120420}}ProdCode = 201Aux4 =

Production

Braun was asked by the BBC to create a UK-based lesbian drama; she stated that the first scene that came to mind when she began writing was "a woman crying in an inappropriate place after finding out her ex is seeing someone else" followed by "someone returning from New York and throwing her ex into a state of panic". Those two scenes resulted in the creation of the three lead characters: Cat and Frankie, and Tess.

Braun gave each of the actors an outline of their character, and then let them develop the full characterisation. For Gedmintas, this included cutting her previously long blond hair to a close cut bob. A rumor arose that the director gave each cast member a manual on lesbian sex, which they were expected to read before shooting began, but Braun confirmed in an interview with Australia's Star Observer that this was only a myth. The first series was shot in its entirety in Glasgow in winter 2009/10.

Reception

Ratings

The first episode debuted with 580,000 viewers, picking up an additional 8,000 viewers on the BBC HD channel. It had an audience share of 4.4%.

Critical response

The opening episode received mixed reviews from critics. Claudia Cahalane of The Guardian wrote that it was "hugely significant" for a drama to normalise lesbian and bisexual relationships, citing a study of BBC output which found that lesbians contributed to just two minutes of programming from a randomly selected 39 hours of broadcasts. While Cahalane expressed disappointment that the episode did not represent butch lesbians, she deemed it "important to recognise Lip Service for the great service it's doing to British lesbians." Keith Watson of the Metro attacked the series' tokenism, suggesting that it included lipstick lesbian clichés to meet the BBC's diversity quota, and commenting that, "It was trying so hard to be modern and liberated but it felt tired and lazy". The Independent Amol Rajan criticized the episode's "pathetically vacuous plot", calling the series "spirit-cripplingly tedious". He expressed sympathy for the "clearly talented" cast, opining: "In trying to make a point about the importance of engaging with lesbian issues, this show ends up trivialising them. The lesbians are presented to us not as interesting people, or characters who warrant sympathy; rather, they matter purely because of their sexual preferences. That is immature, patronising, and unrealistic." Evangelical pressure group the Christian Institute reported that the episode had prompted complaints from viewers over its sexual content.

References

References

  1. "BBC – Press Office – Network TV Programme Information BBC Week 41 Tuesday 12 October 2010". [[BBC Online]].
  2. "BBC – Press Office – Lip Service second series announced for BBC Three". [[BBC Online]].
  3. Kirkpatrick, Martha. (30 May 2011). "Filming starts on second series of Lip Service". atvtoday.co.uk.
  4. "Lip Service". [[BBC Online]].
  5. (13 January 2013). "BBC Three axes lesbian drama Lip Service".
  6. (2010-10-20). "'First Men in the Moon' attracts 830k – TV News". Digital Spy.
  7. Plunkett, John. (3 November 2010). "TV ratings: Turn Back Time: The High Street opens with 5.3m". The Guardian.
  8. (2010-11-10). "ITV's 'The Zoo' opens to 3.4m – TV News". Digital Spy.
  9. (2010-11-17). "ITV Royal Engagement special fetches 5.9m – TV News". Digital Spy.
  10. "Lip Service, Series 2, Episode 1". BBC Three.
  11. "Lip Service, Series 2, Episode 2". BBC Three.
  12. "Lip Service, Series 2, Episode 3". BBC Three.
  13. "Lip Service, Series 2, Episode 4". BBC Three.
  14. "Lip Service, Series 2, Episode 5". BBC Three.
  15. "Lip Service, Series 2, Episode 6". BBC Three.
  16. Braun, Harriet. (5 October 2010). "BBC – BBC Three – Blog: Creating brand new lesbian drama Lip Service". bbc.co.uk.
  17. Sarah and Lee. (18 October 2010). "Great LezBritain: Interview with Ruta Gedmintas from 'Lip Service'". afterellen.com.
  18. Plunkett, John. (13 October 2010). "TV ratings – 12 October: BBC3's Lip Service kicks off with 580,000 viewers". [[The Guardian]].
  19. Cahalane, Claudia. (13 October 2010). "Lip Service is groundbreaking – whatever its star says". [[The Guardian]].
  20. Watson, Keith. (12 October 2010). "Lip Service did lesbians a disservice". [[Metro (British newspaper).
  21. Rajan, Amol. (13 October 2010). "Last Night's TV – Lip Service, BBC3; Tom Daley: the Diver and His Dad, BBC1". Independent Print Limited.
  22. (15 October 2010). "Viewers outraged over BBC's new lesbian show". [[Christian Institute]].
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.

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