Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married

Infobox Book
name = Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married
image_caption =
author = Marian Keyes
illustrator =
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country =
language =
series =
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genre = Fiction, humour, romance
publisher = Poolpeg
pub_date = 1996
english_pub_date =
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pages =
isbn =
oclc =
preceded_by = Watermelon
followed_by = Rachel's Holiday

Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married is an international best selling 1996 novel by Irish author, Marian Keyes. [cite news|url= http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/reviews/2006-05-22-keyes_x.htm|title=Keyes' 'Anybody Out There?' is questionable|publisher=USA TODAY| date = 2006-05-29| accessdate=2008-04-27] It chronicles the life of Lucy Sullivan, a 26-year-old perpetually broke, unlucky-in-love office worker from London, who has a penchant for bad boys, a needy, alcoholic and flawed father, a dead-end job and exasperating flat-mates, dippy Charlotte and bossy Karen. [cite news|url= http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2002/01/01-18-02tdc/01-18-02darts-05.asp|title=Top 5 list acquaints readers with genre's guilty pleasures|publisher=Collegian| date = 2002-01-02| accessdate=2008-04-27] The book is written in the first person and is described by Keyes as a "sideways" sequel to her first novel "Watermelon".cite news|http://www.mariankeyes.com/books/lucySullivanIsGettingMarried/interviews/cambridgeEveningNews.html|title=Haze makes way for bright future|publisher=Cambridge Evening News| accessdate=2008-04-27] The novel was adapted into a television series in 1999. It aired on the ITV network, but struggled with numerous scheduling changes. The series has aired internationally and has been released on DVD.

Book

Plot

Lucy visits a fortune teller with her three mis-matched friends, and a marriage is predicted in her future. When the fortune-teller's prophecies for her friends come true, Lucy begins to suspect that she will soon be marrying. Lucy spends the following 12 months looking for Mr Right. Various eligible bachelors are introduced, among them Gus, Lucy's unreliable lover; Daniel, her oldest friend; Chuck, a handsome American; and Adrian, the video shop man. This is followed by a series of disastrous dates, drunken nights out, confessions and revelations. [cite news|http://www.mariankeyes.com/books/lucySullivanIsGettingMarried/reviews/irishNews.html|title=Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married|publisher="Irish News"| accessdate=2008-04-27] Author Keyes has said, "I'm very fond of that book and I think I have the most affection for Lucy Sullivan as a character. There's a lot of me in there [...] I wanted to write about a single girl in London who goes out with eejit after eejit, you know, because that was really the life I had led, and there was this strange culture of singleness I encountered and I found this very funny. Lucy's depressive, but she has a sense of humour, and that's why I like her."cite news|http://www.mariankeyes.com/books/rachelsHoliday/interviews/cara.html|title=In a class of her own|publisher="mariankeys.com"| date = 1997-06-15| accessdate=2008-04-27]

Reception

The success of the novel led to publishing deals of more than £600,000, one of the most lucrative ever achieved by an unestablished writer. [cite news|url= http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/1997/06/15/nbok15.html|title=Novels cut out sex and happy endings|publisher="The Telegraph"| date = 1997-06-15| accessdate=2008-04-27] Between Britain and Ireland "Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married" has sold over 250,000 copies; In Ireland, the book went straight to number one and stayed there for nine weeks. [cite news|url= http://www.mariankeyes.com/books/lucySullivanIsGettingMarried/interviews/bookseller.html|title=Love and pain and dangerous liaisons|publisher="Bookseller"| accessdate=2008-04-27]

TV adaptation

Infobox Television
show_name = Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married


caption =
genre = Romantic comedy
creator =
writer = Colin Brake
director = Brian Grant
starring = Sam Loggin, Gerard Butler
Zoë Eeles, Sara Stockbridge
Letitia Dean, Gwyneth Strong, Debbie Chazen, Michael Troughton
country = United Kingdom
language = English
num_seasons =
num_episodes = 16
list_episodes =
exec_producer = Brian Eastman
co_exec =
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runtime = 30 mins
channel = ITV1
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first_run =
first_aired = 8 November 1999
imdb_id = 0206105
tv_com_id = 10468The novel was adapted into an 8 hour, sixteen part, television drama series by Carnival Films for the LWT network. It originally aired on ITV in November 1999. [cite news|url= http://www.rte.ie/arts/2005/0202/zetajonesc.html|title=Zeta-Jones in talks on Keyes movie|publisher="RTÉ"| date = 2005-02-02| accessdate=2008-04-27] It was described as a "saga about broken hearts and terrifyingly unsuitable boyfriends" with "plenty of workplace-mileage to be extracted from Lucy's job at Nudawn Supplies".cite news|url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/1999/nov/09/tvandradio.television2|title=Soap, but not as we know it|publisher="The Guardian"| date = 1999-11-09| accessdate=2008-04-27] Sam Loggin played Lucy. Her flatmates, Charlotte, a promiscuous dippy blonde, and Karen, a bossy Scottish communal financer, were played by Letitia Dean and Zoë Eeles respectively. Other characters included Lucy's three work colleagues: over-weight Meredia (Debbie Chazen), loud-mouthed Megan (Sara Stockbridge), and middle-class Hetty (Gwyneth Strong). [cite news|url= http://www.carnivalfilms.co.uk/production/productions.asp?id=10|title=Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married|publisher="Carnivalfilms"| accessdate=2008-04-27] The group of girls party their way around London looking for would-be husbands or boyfriends. Gerard Butler starred as Lucy's unreliable lover, Gus.

cheduling

The series was launched with four episodes in its first week, at 10:30pm on ITV, following which, it aired once weekly. [cite news|url=http://epguides.com/LucySullivanIsGettingMarried/|title=Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married a Titles & Air Dates Guide|publisher="epguides.com"| accessdate=2008-04-27] However, it failed to attract the young adult audience at which it was aimed, so the series was withdrawn (mid series, episode 9) from that timeslot in December 1999. The programme was subsequently aired a year later, between November 2000 and January 2001, in the early evening, pre-watershed time slot, at 17:05. LWT said, "the underlying tone and structure of the series was not dissimilar to that of the tea-time soaps and, given the wider audience available at that time, it was substantially edited and revoiced to make it suitable for the slot."cite news|url= http://www.farrer.co.uk/Default.aspx?sID=897&cID=319&ctID=11|title=Publications: Briefings archive Broadcasting standards commission reports|publisher="farrer.co.uk"| accessdate=2008-04-27]

Despite this, the show drew complaints from viewers for featuring a sex scene and bad language. Complaints from viewers about the content of various editions of the series were upheld in part by the Independent Television Commission (ITC) in 2001. Nine complained of the inclusion of a lesbian storyline and kiss, while others believed that the sexual content, swearing and tasteless material were inappropriate for the time of transmission. In its report, the ITC said it had "serious concerns about the scheduling of a series which concentrated on the sexual relationships of a group of young adults, so early in the evening".cite news|url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/1228583.stm|title=Ant and Dec rapped over nudity|publisher="BBC"| date = 2001-03-19| accessdate=2008-04-27] A Standards Panel was concerned by the general nature and tone of the content, in particular, the sexual themes in one episode, which it "considered were likely to have exceeded the expectations of the majority of the audience at a time when a large number of children would be available to watch it". It was concluded that certain episodes were, therefore, in breach of the Programme Code. [cite news|url= http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/itc/itc_publications/complaints_reports/programme_complaints/show_complaint.asp-prog_complaint_id=346.html|title=Programme Complaints & Interventions Report|publisher="Ofcom"| accessdate=2008-04-27]

According to LWT, the series also failed to perform well in the earlier slot and was eventually withdrawn. It has since been repeated on ITV in a late night time slot at various times.

Cast

*Sam Loggin as Lucy Sullivan
*Letitia Dean as Charlotte
*Zoë Eeles as Karen
*Gwyneth Strong as Hetty
*Debbie Chazen as Meredia
*Sara Stockbridge as Megan
*Gerard Butler as Gus
*Cameron Jack as George
*Niall Buggy as Mr. Sullivan
*Frances Tomelty as Mrs. Sullivan
*Simon Greenall as Richard
*James Hillier as Steve
*Pascal Langdale as Daniel
*David Simeon as Ken
*Michael Troughton as Ivor
*Shirley Stelfox as Mrs. Nolan

Crew

*Writer: Colin Brake
*Directors: Brian Grant, Sarah Hellings
*Producer: Stuart Doughty
*Executive producer: Brian Eastman

DVD Release

The entire series was released on DVD for the first time in Australia (Region 4) on Thursday June 5th 2008.

References

External links

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