The Brighton Belles | |
---|---|
Starring | Sheila Hancock Wendy Craig Sheila Gish Jean Boht |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 2 |
No. of episodes | 11 |
Production | |
Running time | 30mins (inc. adverts) |
Production company | Carlton Television [1] |
Original release | |
Network | ITV |
Release | 9 March 1993 – 28 December 1994 [1] |
The Brighton Belles is a short-lived British sitcom, [2] based on the hit American sitcom The Golden Girls . The programme consisted of 11 episodes, which were broadcast from 9 March 1993 until 28 December 1994, being pulled halfway through its run due to very poor ratings. [3]
The Brighton Belles was a commercial and critical failure, being mauled by critics. The BBC Comedy Guide said of the series' failure: "Why did it fail? Several explanations apply, but the simplest has to be that The Golden Girls itself was already familiar to most British television watchers [...], and people felt no reason to tune-in to a UK adaptation delivering the same lines. When an original piece is already nigh-on perfect, and has sated its public, why try to sell a replica? Most transatlantic sitcom adaptations air without the original series having been seen in that territory. To pitch to viewers a carbon copy of an already successful series, seems pointless - in hindsight, at least." [2]
The Brighton Belles performed so poorly in the ratings that it was pulled from the ITV schedule just six episodes into its run. [4] [5] The remaining episodes aired more than a year later in a filler slot, and were not screened by all ITV regions. When asked about the series in a 2007 interview, Sheila Hancock commented that "...It should have worked, the four of us are all old comedy hands and the initial scripts showed potential for growth. But Carlton [who produced the series] simply didn't know how to produce comedy, they just wanted something cheap and easy to fill a half hour slot."[ citation needed ] Meanwhile, Wendy Craig, talking in a 2003 interview, said "...On hindsight, it probably wasn't wise [attempting the series]. The Golden Girls was so globally popular and renowned that there's no way that a clone of it could do anything but pale in comparison."[ citation needed ]