I discovered this show on iPlayer and watched all 10 episodes over the course of a few days. It's a hidden gem, anchored by excellent performances from Connor McIntyre, Kathryn Hunt, Dominic Carter and Jennifer Hennessy. The overall tone is similar to other 2000s family dramas such as Fat Friends and At Home With The Braithwaites. While the comic dialog is often overwritten (it's better to have just a few funny characters rather than turning everyone into a wisecracker), there is real meat and emotion to the dramatic dialogue and heavier scenes, and the series avoids cliche as much as possible. Almost all the characters work and almost all experience meaningful development over the course of the series; no mean feat with almost 20 regular and recurring characters. If there's a weakness, it's that Ashley herself is somewhat of a cipher and isn't as well acted as the other characters - Jade and Orla are both more engaging.
Mostly shot on location rather than in a studio, Drop Dead Gorgeous also gets a tremendous amount of mileage out of its setting, revealing a romance to Runcorn that was always there but has never been captured this well before. It's kind of the antidote to Two Pints Of Lager. The series avoids the new town parts of Runcorn and focuses on Weston and Runcorn proper - the Webbs' house is on Bankes' Lane, Nana's house is on Weston Road and Hardeep's shop is on Heath Road South. The cafe (now a bar) where Ashley is first scouted is at the bottom of Runcorn High Street, the garage where Terry and Tiggsy work is on Brindley St, and the Silver Jubilee Bridge is used effectively in several scenes.
This series is a significant piece of work that everyone involved clearly put a lot of effort into. I'm puzzled that it's almost completely forgotten today and apparently wasn't much of a success at the time either. It's also a wonderful time capsule of 2006-2007, before the advent of smartphones and social media. Indeed, several elements to the show simply wouldn't be attempted by a drama today for fear of courting online controversy (Mikey selling his sister's used lingerie; the jokes about Moonbase's weight; Terry and Tiggsy's jibes about gay character Murray; and most of all, Ashley's relationships with an Asian shopkeeper and a teacher). I'm gay and the jokes surrounding Murray's sexuality and relationships made me laugh out loud and didn't offend me at all, in fact they felt honest and inclusive; we have lost something by no longer being able to speak to each other this way.
Mostly shot on location rather than in a studio, Drop Dead Gorgeous also gets a tremendous amount of mileage out of its setting, revealing a romance to Runcorn that was always there but has never been captured this well before. It's kind of the antidote to Two Pints Of Lager. The series avoids the new town parts of Runcorn and focuses on Weston and Runcorn proper - the Webbs' house is on Bankes' Lane, Nana's house is on Weston Road and Hardeep's shop is on Heath Road South. The cafe (now a bar) where Ashley is first scouted is at the bottom of Runcorn High Street, the garage where Terry and Tiggsy work is on Brindley St, and the Silver Jubilee Bridge is used effectively in several scenes.
This series is a significant piece of work that everyone involved clearly put a lot of effort into. I'm puzzled that it's almost completely forgotten today and apparently wasn't much of a success at the time either. It's also a wonderful time capsule of 2006-2007, before the advent of smartphones and social media. Indeed, several elements to the show simply wouldn't be attempted by a drama today for fear of courting online controversy (Mikey selling his sister's used lingerie; the jokes about Moonbase's weight; Terry and Tiggsy's jibes about gay character Murray; and most of all, Ashley's relationships with an Asian shopkeeper and a teacher). I'm gay and the jokes surrounding Murray's sexuality and relationships made me laugh out loud and didn't offend me at all, in fact they felt honest and inclusive; we have lost something by no longer being able to speak to each other this way.