Bad Girls - Series 2 [VHS] [1999]

The most impressive new drama series to begin on British TV in recent years, Bad Girls is set in the imposing confines of Larkhall Women's Prison. The show's memorable characters include: Nicky Wade, serving a life sentence for killing the policeman who raped her girlfriend; Shell Dockley, the loud-mouthed hard-case murderer who rules the wing; Helen Stewart, the idealistic new Wing Governor whose liberal ideas bring her into conflict with the old guard amongst the warders, and Jim Fenner, Helen's sworn enemy and all-round villain of the piece, an old-school screw who uses vicious means to keep the women in order. All four, like most of the key players in the series, are played by performers who are relative unknowns, which adds considerably to the programme's credibility and impact.

Some have compared Bad Girls to cult Australian drama Prisoner: Cell Block H, and there are indeed similarities. Both shows offer strong roles to accomplished actresses, both thrive on portraying a richer range of women than conventional, domestic dramas allow, and both are unashamedly melodramatic in the way they grab and wrench at your emotions. Bad Girls pulls no punches. It takes, if you'll pardon the pun, no prisoners. Emotive, gripping and brilliantly made, it's a TV classic of our times. --Andy Medhurst