The Lakes (TV series)

Infobox Television
show_name = The Lakes
format = Drama
runtime = 90 mins (series 1, episode 1)
50 mins (series 1, episodes 2-4)
40 mins (series 2)
creator = Jimmy McGovern
starring = John Simm
Emma Cunniffe
Mary Jo Randle
Paul Copley
Robert Pugh
Elizabeth Bennett
Nicholas Day
Kaye Wragg
Charles Dale
Clare Holman
Kevin Doyle
Annabelle Apsion
Matt Bardock
Amanda Mealing
Barbara Wilshere
country = flagicon|United Kingdom
language = English
num_series = 2
num_episodes = 14
network = BBC One
first_aired = 1997
last_aired = 1999
imdb_id = 0122579
tv_com_id = 16792|

"The Lakes" is the title of a television drama series in the United Kingdom, made by the BBC and created and principally written by Jimmy McGovern. The Lakes brought writer Jimmy McGovern and actor John Simm a great deal of critical praise in 1997. Following a particularly dry period for British TV drama, the show's realistic characterisations and their painfully honest decisions hit audiences hard. Simm plays Danny Kavanagh; a twenty-something trapped in a life of compulsive gambling, theft and being on the dole in Liverpool. On a whim he heads north to the Lake District. He expects to find the countryside quietude where his hidden poetical leanings might find a home, but instead gets caught up in a community like any other. Lies, temptation and tragedy beset every household just as much as the big city. As time races by, Danny's link to the Lakes becomes an exercise in torment when the eyes of blame fall easily upon him after the accidental deaths of three schoolgirls. Stoking the flames of a series of secondary explosions in waiting are a pair of affairs, one adulterous, the other complicated by religion.

In the far longer sequel series that came two years later, these back-stories would come to the fore. Although exploring Danny's tortured soul might have been the obvious continuation, instead an almost Hitchcockian murder scenario occupies far more screen time, with series two showing much more of the black humour only fleetingly evident in series one. This second series received very mixed reviews, with most critics disappointed by its departure from the realism of series one into high melodrama and very contrived plots. Another point of contention was that McGovern had much less input into the writing of what were essentially his characters and situations, resulting in deviations from their consistency from the first series.

The series examines morality in a small community in the British Lake District embracing sex, death and Catholic guilt. It was critically acclaimed when first broadcast, but often controversial, due to its hard-hitting portrayal of an immoral English sub-culture, and scenes of sex and violence. It consisted of two series which ran from 1997 to 1999.

Overview

The central core of both series is the relationship between Danny Kavanagh (John Simm) and Lucy Archer (Kaye Wragg). In Series One, Danny is a compulsive gambler and philanderer, who escapes from the dole queues in Liverpool to live in the Lake District. He meets and marries local girl Emma Quinlan and they move back to Liverpool, until Emma is driven home by Danny's gambling. Danny follows, gets a job looking after a rowing boat concession and starts to patch up his relationship with Emma, who now has a daughter. Danny rejects unsubtle advances from attention-seeking Lucy Archer, who determines to gain revenge. When three schoolgirls are drowned in a boating accident when Danny is on the phone to the bookies, Lucy lies to implicate Danny. Danny is unwilling to tell the truth as he has promised to stop gambling. The community looks for someone to blame, but Lucy is exposed as a liar in the subsequent inquest after phone call records provide Danny with an alibi. In Series two, Lucy's attention-seeking leads to her rape by three locals but only Danny Kavanagh, enduring the claustrophobic hostility of the Quinlan family home, can testify as a witness, at odds with the village, his wife and her family.

Cast

The Kavanaghs

* John Simm as Danny Kavanagh
* Kate Fitzgerald as Mam
* Arthur Kelly as Dad

The Quinlans

* Emma Cunniffe as Emma Kavanagh, Danny's wife
* Mary Jo Randle as Bernie Quinlan, Emma's devout Catholic mother
* Paul Copley as Peter Quinlan, Emma's pent-up, unsophisticated father
* James Thornton as Pete Quinlan, Emma's pent-up, unsophisticated brother
* Jessica Perry as Annie Quinlan, Bernie and Peter's youngest child
* Tony Rohr as Grandad, Bernie Quinlan and Sheila Thwaites father
* "unknown" as Samantha Kavanagh, Danny and Emma's daughter

The Archers

* Elizabeth Bennett as Doreen Archer, the stuck-up hotelier
* Nicholas Day as Cecil Archer, Doreen's downtrodden husband
* Kaye Wragg as Lucy Archer, the Archers' manipulative and provocative daughter

The Hotel staff

* Charles Dale as Gary Alcock aka "Chef", a sexual predator and potential psychopath
* Elizabeth Berrington as Ruth Alcock, Chef's wife
* Matt Bardock as Albie, chirpy Cockney suffers from premature ejaculation
* Justin Brady as Billy Jennings
* Marshall Lancaster as Ged Hodgson
* Lee Oakes as Tharmy, with a crippling stutter
* Robin Laing as Joey, always speaks in the third person
* Samantha Seager as Julie

The Thwaites

* Elizabeth Rider as Sheila Thwaite, Bernie's sister
* David Westhead as Arthur Thwaite, Sheila's husband
* Jenna Scruton as Paula Thwaite, their daughter

The Fishers

* Kevin Doyle as John Fisher, a schoolteacher who has been driven mad by his adulterous wife
* Clare Holman as Simone Fisher, wife of the schoolteacher and one of the many women who succumb to Chef's charms
* Annabelle Apsion as Beverly, Simone's sister
* Note: John and Simone's surname was Parr in series one

The Kilbrides

* Barbara Wilshere as Dr Sarah Kilbride, hiding her lesbian past from her husband
* Robert Morgan as Charles Kilbride, Sarah's husband
* Amanda Mealing as Jo Jo Spiers, the lesbian teacher who replaces John Parr. Used to have an affair with Sarah Kilbride

Others

* Robert Pugh as Father Matthew, the repressed parish priest
* Anthony Newley as the Bishop
* Bob Mason as Sergeant Slater, the local bobby
* Sally Rogers as Juliet Bray, owner of the boatyard

Location

The series was principally filmed in and around Patterdale and The Ullswater Hotel, Glenridding. The lake is Ullswater.

DVD Release

Released as a 4-disc set in 2003. Series 1, episode 1 has commentaries by John Simm and David Blair.

Aftermath

The Lakes was the springboard for the British TV drama careers of many of the cast.

Stories