Review of Bad Girls Series 1 Uncut 4 Disc Set

Introduction

I’m not usually much of a one for TV dramas it must be said however I did catch a few episodes of season 2 of “Bad Girls” on ITV a year or so ago. It’s one of those Dramas that’s been elevated to cult status and I rather enjoyed what I saw so when I got the chance to take a look at the season 1 box set I was quite keen to see how it all started.

Set in a fictitious women’s prison, HMP Larkhall, “Bad Gilrs” tells the story of day to day life at Larkhall, beginning with the arrival of a new governor, Helen Stewart (Simone Lahbib). She believes that the prison service is there to help the inmates where possible and this notion doesn’t sit well with the longer serving prison guards, in particular the 14 year veteran Jim Fenner (Jack Ellis). This sets up stories of corruption, back-stabbing, tragedy and hope involving inmates and officers alike that earned this series excellent reviews at the time.

The DVD release is a 4 disc set, containing all 10 of the first season episodes and clocking in at a total 482 minutes (little over 8 hours) so with a huge mug of coffee I sat back to watch the lot.

Video

It’s a TV drama shown on ITV and as such we get the expected 4:3 full frame transfer. It’s pretty good whilst not being anything special in terms of quality. There are moments that are a touch on the grainy side but overall it’s better quality than you would get with VHS, as expected, and above transmission quality as well.

Audio

The Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 soundtrack serves it’s purpose. With the majority of scenes relying on clear dialogue it doesn’t disappoint however it’s never really put to work over and above that.

Features

The running time for the extras clocks in at 73 minutes and this is comprised of a documentary, fan featurette, photo library, cast interviews, outtakes and one feature length commentary for the final episode, episode 10.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching every last extra and found them all to be extremely relevant and very interesting, it’s nice to see a decent set of extras on a DVD release of this nature and of the features I must say I though the cast interviews were the definite highlight. You get a real feeling that all concerned really enjoyed working on this show and it’s nice to get some extra insight into such a successful series.

Conclusion

So over 9 hours of viewing later and was it all worth it? Yes, most definitely. I thoroughly enjoyed this series and find it very hard to throw any criticism it’s way. Like all great series it starts off introducing you to all the characters then adds layers to them through some clever storylines to the point where, before you realise it, you’re hooked. The balance between interest in inmate and prison officer is handled just right and the storylines contain just enough shock in places to keep you watching whilst not being enough to make you switch off.

Allot of the praise for this obviously goes to the writers however it’s the execution by the cast that also deserves praise. Starting at the top Simone Lahbib does an excellent job as the prison governor, Helen Stewart. She has allot of ideas and wants to genuinely help the women prisoners however her ideas are met with scepticism amongst the inmates and outright abstinence from some of the longer serving officers, with the main protagonists being Jim Fenner, played by the brilliant Jack Ellis. He’s an officer from the old school who thinks he should be running the prison and butts heads with the boss at every opportunity. He’s also not the most pleasant of people and, as the series develops, you start to realise just how corrupt he really is. His portrayal is excellent with just the right level of slime oozing from him when needed.

Debra Stephneson does an excellent job as the scheming Michelle Dockley, the prison bully who gets away with murder thanks to her special relationship with Jim Fenner. She’s manipulative and devious but there’s also a vulnerability there that doesn’t get exploited fully until the second series. One of the few inmates to stand up to her is Nicky Wade, played by Mandana Jones. She’s the rebel without a cause who is slowly turned around by some kindness from Miss Stewart and starts to become besotted with her, oh I should mention that Nicky Wade is a lesbian.

There are numerous other characters who all deserve praise as they’re all involved in making this extremely watchable but the best summation could be that as a whole package it works extremely well and leaves you begging for series 2.

As a DVD release it’s an excellent package also and comes highly recommended.