Bad Girls: The Series

A review by Susan Shea

No, it's not some trashy “B” movie. It's an award-winning UK prison drama lucky Canadian cable subscribers can now see daily on Showcase Diva. It's also a show that delivers the most prominent and engrossing on-going lesbian storyline ever televised. (Friends are banging down my door for the latest installment since I've taped the series to VHS. I feel like a crack dealer!)

Bad Girls takes place on the women's wing of fictional Larkhall, a prison located somewhere outside London. At the story's center is the developing romance of Helen Stewart, the straight, rule-bound Wing Governor with a conscience, and Nikki Wade, the passionate but principled lesbian convict. Drawn as these two are to one another from day one, Helen must continually deny her feelings for Nikki which threaten her cozy heterosexual existence and prison professional status. It's the classic union of soulmates so thwarted from all sides that even homophobic viewers gradually find themselves rooting for them.

The utter matter-of-factness of the lesbian content is refreshing but not surprising given that Bad Girls is conceived, written, and produced entirely by queers (Shed Productions' Maureen Chadwick, Ann McManus, Eileen Gallagher, and Brian Park). The same-sex love story gets extensive screen time and a level of intimacy you won't see elsewhere on TV. Viewers used to a North American network treatment of lesbian love scenes will be thrilled at the quality and volume presented here.

While the show retains some campy elements suggested by the title, this is a serious, often gritty drama that challenges/educates viewers about prison reality for women and, more basically, the questionable value of incarceration itself. Bad Girls tells tales of survival, not only of a harsh prison system, but also of the forces that lead women here, such as poverty, abuse or abandonment. Based on real-life accounts by ex-offenders and prison guards, these stories are told unflinchingly but with a humour and compassion that tempers their darkness.

The strength of Bad Girls is the sheer depth and variety of its characters. So deftly written, you magically find yourself smitten with characters you formerly hated. And the actions of even the most loathsome begin to make sense given their backstory. The vicious and sexually-manipulative Shell Dockley, for example, turns out to have – surprise – a long history as an incest survivor.

Then there is angry and cunning young Zandra, who blackmails an officer to feed her drug habit. Arriving at intake with Zandra is her polar opposite, the seemingly innocent, upper-middle class Monica, who has not yet accepted the fact of her incarceration for a white collar crime. Each choose different strategies (sexual alliances with corrupt “screws”, drugs, etc.) to adapt to their spirit-crushing environment. It is precisely this range of human experience and motivation that makes Bad Girls so rich and fascinating to viewers who come to think “there but for the grace of God…”.

At its peak, the show won best drama at the (British) National Television Awards twice and drew 9 million viewers on a weekly basis. The Nikki and Helen storyline especially generated a frenzy of internet discussion: Will the two ever hook up? Will evil officer Fenner continue his subtle blackmail campaign against Helen? And, more importantly, who's “hotter”, the femm-ey yet steel-ovaried Helen or the butch yet vulnerable Nikki? (Most fans call it a draw!) The two leads, played by Simone Lahbib and Mandana Jones, have a smoldering onscreen chemistry that never feels forced or uncomfortable. No question, both are drop-dead gorgeous, but also excellent actors able to communicate all the longing and multiple emotions required by the roles.

The series has been criticized, especially in later seasons, for becoming more soap than drama, and it's true, the writing does decline by Series 4. Still, the early seasons are exceptional, and essential viewing for fans of lesbian media and lovers of good, original drama. See it while you can or collect on DVD.

Series 1-4: daily on Showcase Diva, 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Series 1-3: available on DVD.

For further information on availability, contact Susan Shea.

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