Fairy Tales (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Fairy Tales is a British
television drama anthology series produced by Hat Trick Productions
for BBC Northern Ireland
and broadcast on BBC One
. Traditional fairy tale
s are adapted into modern settings, after the model of ShakespeaRe-Told
and The Canterbury Tales
. The first episode was broadcast on 10 January 2008, with others following at weekly intervals.
Based on the fairytale Rapunzel, Billy Jane Brooke (Charity Wakefield
) is a successful tennis player whose nickname is "Rapunzel" because of her long hair. Billy Jane has an overprotective mother-manager (Geraldine James
) who surrounds Billy Jane with female bodyguards and prevents her from interacting with men.
Eastern European tennis player Jimmy Stojkovic (Lee Ingleby
), who is very bad at the game, is convinced by his father to compete under the guise of a woman, taking the name Martina Stojkovic, so that he has better chances of winning. Billy Jane befriends Jimmy and inspires him to start playing well. Eventually the two begin a "lesbian" relationship, right under the nose of Billy Jane's mother.
Ratings were relatively poor, with only 3.1 million viewers and a 13% audience share.
Based on the fairytale Cinderella, Cindy Mellor (Maxine Peake
) is a cleaner who works at the anthropology wing of a busy university. She has a passion for anthropology, and wants to become the research assistant of Hans Michael Prince (James Nesbitt
), a successful celebrity anthropologist. However, the head of the anthropology department, Charlotte Brooks (Harriet Walter
), wants one of her own students, either Fenola (Lucy Punch
) or Phoebe (Lucinda Raikes
) to get the job.
Cindy meets Prince, who doesn't take it well when she challenges his theories. She still wants to try for the job, and under the advice of fellow cleaner Alice (Mona Hammond
), Cindy dresses up in one of Fenola's dresses and attends Prince's lecture, hoping to change his mind.
The music is a combination of source tracks and original compositions by Sheridan Tongue.
Starring Denise van Outen
, Liz White
, Rosie Cavaliero
, Vincent Franklin
, Kenny Doughty
. Glamorous soap star Michaela (Denise van Outen
) is a slave to fashion and designer labels but it has its pitfalls...
Starring Bernard Hill
, Paul Nicholls, Mathew Horne
, Sarah Smart
, Nick Mohammed
, Holliday Grainger
and Moya Brady
. The boys in the band Billy Goat have dreams of pastures new but how will their troll manager react? This is the only episode to actually feature any fantasy elements, as it is set in an alternate universe where humans and trolls co-exist.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
television drama anthology series produced by Hat Trick Productions
Hat Trick Productions
Hat Trick Productions is a British independent production company that produces television programmes, mainly specialising in comedy.-History:...
for BBC Northern Ireland
BBC Northern Ireland
BBC Northern Ireland is the main public service broadcaster in Northern Ireland.The organisation is one of the three national regions of the BBC, together with BBC Scotland and BBC Wales. Based at Broadcasting House, Belfast, it provides television, radio, online and interactive television content...
and broadcast on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
. Traditional fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
s are adapted into modern settings, after the model of ShakespeaRe-Told
ShakespeaRe-Told
ShakespeaRe-Told is the umbrella title for a series of four television adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays broadcast on BBC One during November 2005. In a similar manner to the 2003 production of The Canterbury Tales, each play is adapted by a different writer, and relocated to the present day...
and The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales (TV Series)
The Canterbury Tales is a series of six single dramas that originally aired on BBC One in 2003. Each story is an adaptation of one of Geoffrey Chaucer's 14th century Canterbury Tales which are transferred to a modern, 21st century setting, but still set along the traditional Pilgrims' route to...
. The first episode was broadcast on 10 January 2008, with others following at weekly intervals.
Rapunzel
- Writer: Ed Roe
- Director: Catherine Morshead
- Broadcast: 10 January 2008
Based on the fairytale Rapunzel, Billy Jane Brooke (Charity Wakefield
Charity Wakefield
-Background:Wakefield was born in Sussex, England in September 1980. At a couple of months old she moved with her mother, Caroline, to L'Ampolla in Catalonia, Spain. They returned to England when Wakefield was four. She has a half-sister, Olivia...
) is a successful tennis player whose nickname is "Rapunzel" because of her long hair. Billy Jane has an overprotective mother-manager (Geraldine James
Geraldine James
Geraldine James, OBE is an English actress.-Early life and family:James was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire, to a cardiologist father...
) who surrounds Billy Jane with female bodyguards and prevents her from interacting with men.
Eastern European tennis player Jimmy Stojkovic (Lee Ingleby
Lee Ingleby
Lee Ingleby is a British film, television, and stage actor.He is perhaps best known for his roles as Detective Sergeant John Bacchus in the BBC Drama George Gently and as Stan Shunpike in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban...
), who is very bad at the game, is convinced by his father to compete under the guise of a woman, taking the name Martina Stojkovic, so that he has better chances of winning. Billy Jane befriends Jimmy and inspires him to start playing well. Eventually the two begin a "lesbian" relationship, right under the nose of Billy Jane's mother.
Ratings were relatively poor, with only 3.1 million viewers and a 13% audience share.
Cinderella
- Writers: Anil GuptaAnil GuptaAnil Gupta is a comedy writer and producer. He has produced many shows on radio and television including Goodness Gracious Me, the spoof chat show The Kumars at No. 42, The Office and Bromwell High.. He wrote the Cinderella episode of the 2008 comedy drama series Fairy Tales and ElvenQuest.-...
and Richard Pinto - Director: Peter Lydon
- Broadcast: 17 January 2008
Based on the fairytale Cinderella, Cindy Mellor (Maxine Peake
Maxine Peake
Maxine Peake is an English stage, film and television actress known for playing Veronica in Channel 4's Manchester-based drama series Shameless, Twinkle in Victoria Wood's sitcom Dinnerladies, and, most recently, barrister Martha Costello in BBC legal drama Silk.-Early life:Peake is the second of...
) is a cleaner who works at the anthropology wing of a busy university. She has a passion for anthropology, and wants to become the research assistant of Hans Michael Prince (James Nesbitt
James Nesbitt
James Nesbitt is a Northern Irish actor. Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Nesbitt grew up in the nearby village of Broughshane, before moving to Coleraine, County Londonderry. He wanted to become a teacher like his father, so he began a degree in French at the University of Ulster...
), a successful celebrity anthropologist. However, the head of the anthropology department, Charlotte Brooks (Harriet Walter
Harriet Walter
Dame Harriet Mary Walter, DBE is a British actress.-Personal life:She is the niece of renowned British actor Sir Christopher Lee, as the daughter of his elder sister Xandra Lee. On her father's side she is a great-great-great-granddaughter of John Walter, founder of The TimesShe was educated at...
), wants one of her own students, either Fenola (Lucy Punch
Lucy Punch
Lucy Punch is an English actress. Her credits include the television shows Doc Martin and The Class, and the films Hot Fuzz and Bad Teacher.-Life and career:...
) or Phoebe (Lucinda Raikes
Lucinda Raikes
Lucinda Raikes is a British actress, most noted for playing Karen Ball in the sitcom Green Wing and Angela Heaney in The Thick of It and its spin off film In the Loop. She has also appeared in Sensitive Skin, Extras, Casanova and 15 Storeys High. She regularly appears in theatrical...
) to get the job.
Cindy meets Prince, who doesn't take it well when she challenges his theories. She still wants to try for the job, and under the advice of fellow cleaner Alice (Mona Hammond
Mona Hammond
Mona Hammond OBE is a Chinese Jamaican actress and co-founder of the Talawa Theatre Company. Born in Jamaica, Hammond emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1959, where she has remained ever since. Hammond has had a long and distinguished stage career...
), Cindy dresses up in one of Fenola's dresses and attends Prince's lecture, hoping to change his mind.
The music is a combination of source tracks and original compositions by Sheridan Tongue.
The Empress's New Clothes
- Writer: Debbie HorsfieldDebbie HorsfieldDebbie Horsfield is a British theatre and television writer and producer.- Early life and career :Hosfield was born in Eccles, Lancashire and she attended Eccles College before studying at Newcastle University....
- Director: Paul Whittington
- Broadcast: 24 January 2008
Starring Denise van Outen
Denise van Outen
Denise van Outen is an English actress, singer and television presenter. Her most notable roles to date are as a presenter on The Big Breakfast, and as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago on both the West End and on Broadway.- Early life :Born Denise Kathleen Outen in Basildon, Essex, she is the...
, Liz White
Liz White (actress)
Liz White is an English actress, best known for her regular role as WPC/WDC Annie Cartwright in the BBC time travel drama Life on Mars, which began in January 2006...
, Rosie Cavaliero
Rosie Cavaliero
Rosie Cavaliero is an English actress.She was trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.- Television and film work :* The Crimson Petal and the White - Jennifer Pierce * Jane Eyre - Grace Poole...
, Vincent Franklin
Vincent Franklin
Vincent Franklin is an English actor best known for his roles in comedy television programmes. Recent roles included PR guru Stewart Pearson in The Thick of It and blunt manager Nick Jowitt in Twenty Twelve. He has appeared in a number of feature films including Vera Drake and the 2006 films...
, Kenny Doughty
Kenny Doughty
Kenny Doughty is an English actor who trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Married to the actress Caroline Carver.-Filmography as Director:-Filmography as Actor:...
. Glamorous soap star Michaela (Denise van Outen
Denise van Outen
Denise van Outen is an English actress, singer and television presenter. Her most notable roles to date are as a presenter on The Big Breakfast, and as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago on both the West End and on Broadway.- Early life :Born Denise Kathleen Outen in Basildon, Essex, she is the...
) is a slave to fashion and designer labels but it has its pitfalls...
Billy Goat
- Writer: Jeremy DysonJeremy DysonJeremy Dyson is an English screenwriter and, along with Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, a participant in The League of Gentlemen.-Early life:...
. - Director: Euros LynEuros LynEuros Lyn is a television director. He was born in 1971 and educated at Ysgol Gyfun Ystalyfera and the University of Manchester.To date, he has directed nine episodes of Doctor Who. He won the BAFTA Cymru award for Best Director for "Silence in the Library" and the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic...
- Broadcast: 31 January 2008
Starring Bernard Hill
Bernard Hill
Bernard Hill is a British actor of film, stage and television. In a career spanning thirty years, he is best known for playing Yosser Hughes, the troubled 'hard man' whose life is falling apart in Alan Bleasdale's groundbreaking 1980s TV drama, Boys from the Blackstuff...
, Paul Nicholls, Mathew Horne
Mathew Horne
Mathew Frazer Horne is an English actor, stand-up comedian, television presenter and narrator best known for appearing on several BBC sketch shows and sitcoms, most notably Gavin & Stacey portraying Gavin Shipman, The Catherine Tate Show, Teachers and Horne and Corden.-Early life:Horne was born...
, Sarah Smart
Sarah Smart
Sarah Smart is an English actress.Smart was born in Birmingham, West Midlands, England. Her career started as a child, notably in the television series Woof!. She is best known for a series of well-regarded television roles including Virginia Braithwaite, daughter of a lottery winning family in...
, Nick Mohammed
Nick Mohammed
Nick Mohammed is a British comedian, actor and writer.-Early life:Nick Mohammed started his school life at Meanwood C of E primary in Leeds LS7....
, Holliday Grainger
Holliday Grainger
Clark Holliday Grainger is an English actress primarily active in television. Over the past couple of years, she has moved into films...
and Moya Brady
Moya Brady
Moya Brady is a British actress. Born in Manchester, Brady grew up in the seaside town of Blackpool with other actor classmates such as David Thewlis of Harry Potter fame. She has appeared in a wide variety of roles in film, television and the theatre, including a role as F.D.O. Roberta Cryer in...
. The boys in the band Billy Goat have dreams of pastures new but how will their troll manager react? This is the only episode to actually feature any fantasy elements, as it is set in an alternate universe where humans and trolls co-exist.