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| THE
BAD MOTHER'S HANDBOOK - CHARACTER PROFILES |
| airs
on ITV1 Network soon.
KAREN - Catherine Tate
In her 30s, divorced and in a poorly-paid job, Karen’s decided her life is going nowhere. Her great mistake, she always says, is that she fell pregnant at 16 and so scuppered her plans to go to university, a blow from which she’s never let herself recover. Now she finds herself trapped in an ex-council house with her stroppy teenage daughter, Charlotte, and her elderly mother, Nan. And if anything, her horizons are shrinking as Nan grows ever more forgetful, confused and in need of supervision. |
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Karen struggles daily to balance a chaotic and hormonal household whilst fending off the advances of ex-husband Steve and of Leo, her cardigan-wearing boss. Her one great hope (apart from finding a decent man) is that Charlotte will make a success of her education and go on to have the kind of comfortable, middle-class life she herself always dreamt
of.
CHARLOTTE (CHARLIE) - Holly Grainger
Bright, quirky and independent, Charlotte sometimes seems older than her 17 years. She’s a determined young lady, hard-working and keen to get on, but not always as street-wise as she could be. There are days when she feels she’s on a different planet from everyone else and the only person she can confide in is her Nan; there are days, too, when she could cheerfully hit her mother Karen over the head with an ornamental paperweight. Still, her new boyfriend Paul’s certainly taken her out of herself, even if he does have a bit of a one-track mind.
NAN (Nancy) - Anne Reid
Although her grasp on the present is sometimes tenuous, Nan is essentially the heart of the Cooper family. She supported her daughter Karen when she became a teenage mother, comforted her after her divorce from Steve, and helped her buy the house they all now live in. Her view of life is traditional and simple: go to church, take care of your family, be kind to your neighbour. Despite the incipient Alzheimer’s, Nan is in many ways the person most secure in her identity.
STEVE - Steve John Shepherd
Steve and Karen divorced over ten years ago, but he’d get back with her tomorrow if she gave him half a chance. Cheerful, charming and laid-back, he’s always round at the Coopers’ house and is regularly called in for family conferences. He thinks the world of his daughter Charlotte, but at the same time finds her slightly intimidating. Soon out of his depth where emotional crises are concerned, his answer to most situations is to strike a macho posture, or hide.
LEO FAIRBROTHER– Steve Pemberton
Headmaster Leo has had a crush on Karen since she joined the school as a classroom assistant. Sadly, though, he’s at a loss when it comes to women; years spent looking after his elderly parents have turned him into a beige polyester kind of bachelor, middle-aged before his time. From Karen’s point of view, his heart’s in the right place, but there’s just no chemistry. Mind you, he does have his own house and car…
DANIEL – Robert Pattinson
Originally from the posh end of Guildford, 17 year-old Daniel has just moved into the area and is feeling friendless and awkward. Desperate to escape his chilly home-life and bickering parents, he’s looking for someone to latch onto – someone who sees the world in the same quirky way, who’s a thinker, a bit of a loner. Someone like Charlotte, in fact.
PAUL – Oliver Lee
Paul is Charlotte’s first serious boyfriend – but she isn’t his. He was drawn to Charlotte because she’s fit, but now she’s proving hard work. After all, sex is only sex, isn’t it? He can’t understand why she’s making such heavy weather out of it. He’s a good-looking lad with straightforward needs, and if other girls come onto him all the time, what’s a boy to do?
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