London Bridge - Regional TV series
LONDON BRIDGE - INFO
The ebb and flow of life in the capital is captured as London Bridge - Carlton's widely praised serial, moves to a new, twice weekly, early-evening time.
Following the success of the first 26-part late night series, London Bridge is given the opportunity to reach a much larger audience and expand the scope and character of the drama.
The serial - which begins on Monday November 25 at 6.30pm - is the creation of executive producer Jane Tranter, story editor Pippa Harris and producer Matthew Bird, and it is storylined by associate producer Alexei de Keyser.
Says Jane: "It is an adult soap which takes itself fairly seriously, but at the same time it has a lot of irony and humour. Hopefully people will look at each other on the tube, bus and on the streets and recognise the characters from London Bridge.
Set in and around a restaurant and flats by the River Thames, London Bridge is the first drama serial created specially for the region, winning a devoted audience since its launch last February.
The restaurant SE1 is owned and run by brother and sister Liz and Nick Kemp. Isobel, Nick's wife, is struggling to put the spark back into her marriage following the birth of their daughter, and Jed, Liz's son, is poised to take his final exams for The Knowledge. When Nick's childhood friend Cliff arrives shrouding their dark secret, he is given a job in the kitchen and a room to sleep in - much to Liz's annoyance.
Two young employees join SEI - Lucy, a sassy, sharp-tongued, trainee chef and Jarvis, the kitchen boy, whose brain never quite Mdnages to get into first gear.
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Elsewhere in the building Mary, who recently endured a harrowing sexual attack, is considering embarking on an illicit affair with Nick; and Ant and Ravi search for a new female flatmate. But who would want to live with Ant, a charmer who thinks the world owes him a living and Ravi whose overly competent girlfriend, GP Sam Haynes, keeps both of them under her thumb?
Other new characters include Allie, who works as the receptionist at Sam's surgery and can't resist making her own diagnosis on unsuspecting patients, and the Synunons family who run the local shop and whose teenage daughter Kim becomes the vulnerable target of an unscrupulous photographer.
London Bridge stars: Rosalind March as Liz Kemp; Oliver Haden as Nick Kemp; Sally Edwards as Isobel Kemp; Ayub Khan Din as Ravi Shah; Mandana Jones as Sam Haynes; Simone Lahbib as Mary O'Connor; Charles Simpson as Ant Webster; Sean Francis as Jed Kemp; Dawn McDaniel as Allie; Reginald Tsiboe as Dave Symmons; Ellen Thomas as Diane Symmons; Kemi Baruwa as Kim Symmons; Amelia Curtis as Lucy; Glen Berry as Jarvis and Billy Geraghty as Cliff.
Says Jane Tranter: "This new commission enables us to gain access to a wider audience and expand the scope and character of the serial, whilst at the same time, retaining the challenge and individuality of producing a drama about Londoners, for Londoners, made by Londoners.
"We wanted to make it about people living together in a block of flats because it is particular to life in big cities", says Jane. "Living in flats can be fun, but at the same time it can be irritating. You can hear and see people living in very close proximity yet, they are not part of a chosen community.
London Bridge continues its commitment to creating a unique opportunity for a raft of up-and-coming writers, actors and directors - some earning their first television credit.
"The serial grew out of the success of our previous regional dramas, such as the new writers' schemes Going Underground and Capital Lives," explains Jane.
"We wanted it to be a genuine nursery slope for new writing talent. No other long running drama does it in this way. We thought it would provide energy, hunger and a challenge. The best way of keeping the format fresh in a bi-weekly serial, is constantly feed it new talent."
Likewise, the production team consists of a mixture of people who have experience in television drama and newcomers who are given their first opportunity. These include people working in make-up, costume, directors and actors.
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The serial is set in Bermondsey but producer Matthew Bird chose studios at the historic Three Mill Island in Bow to shoot the programmes.
"To start with we looked at buildings actually sited on the River Thames," he says, "but Three Mill Island studios are unique because they offer a self-contained studio complex, so we could build the interiors as sets, light them properly and shoot like a film. We can also go outside to have the distinctive backdrop of The Millhouse and the river right on our doorstep."
Matthew was keen to make each home in the Millhouse as distinctive as possible. He explains: "A flat conversion like The Millhouse throws together a diverse collection of people, whose lives begin to interact in ways quite unlike any other environment.
"It's essential that people will be able to identify whose flat we are in immediately. So they are all painted completely different colours to reflect the style of the people who live in them. If it's blue you know you are in Ant and Ravi's home and if it's green, you know you are in the restaurant. All the sets have ceilings, which makes them extremely solid."