Our
indepth guide to the Sunday night family drama series with
a series overview, cast interviews and more.
James
Bolam and Michael French
return in a new series
of Born And Bred on BBC
One SUNDAYS AT 8.00PM
Season
Two: Arthur Gilder (James
Bolam) is enjoying
having his family around him,
especially now that he
has moved in with his son,Tom
(Michael French),Tom’s
wife, Deborah (Jenna
Russell), and their four
children. It’s all part of making
Arthur feel like he is
one of the family and needed
but, of course, Arthur
just can’t resist sticking his
oar in from time to
time!
Tom and Deborah’s
eldest child, Helen
(Charlotte Salt), is still in
love with Eddie (Sam
Hudson), the village mechanic, but
Eddie has more pressing
family issues to deal
with.And their other
children – Michael (Ross
Little), Catherine
(Polly Thompson) and baby Philip – are
still as much of a
handful as ever. For the Gilders, life
seems to be on the up.
They now have NHS approval
for their surgery and
the cottage hospital and
live in a beautiful and
tranquil Lancashire village
surrounded by friends
and family. All the other
favourite Ormston
residents are back: Linda (Tracey Childs)
is the nurse who’s
married to the village
policeman, Len Cosgrove
(Peter Gunn). Clive Swift is the
vicar, an unconventional
man of the cloth, who likes
a tipple in The
Signalman’s Arms where Phyllis
(Maggie Steed) is the
bold and brassy landlady.
Donald Gee is Mr
Boynton, the village shopkeeper.
Then there’s Wilf
(John Henshaw), the
station-master, who
still has a knack for winding up his
daughter Jean (Naomi
Radcliffe), the rag-and-bone
girl. Jane Tranter, BBC
Controller of Drama Commissioning, said:
"Born
And Bred performed extremely well on
Sunday nights on BBC
One. It was a big hit with
viewers, establishing
itself very quickly as a firm
favourite, in spite of
tough competition from ITV.
It is what family drama
on BBC One is all about
and I’m delighted that
we are reuniting the
same team for the second
series, together with such a
beautiful
location." The series also
features guest stars
David Troughton (Paradise
Heights, Madame Bovary),
Denise Welch (Coronation
Street),
who returns as Edie McClure, Gwen
Taylor (Barbara)
and Frances de la Tour (Rising
Damp). Born And Bred is
co-created by Chris
Chibnall and Nigel
McCery, written
by Chris Chibnall and produced by Chris
Clough.The directors are
Ian Knox, Rob Evans,
David Innes Edwards and Dominic Brigstocke
and the executive
producers are Simon Lewis and
Susan Hogg.
IN
DEPTH...
Set
in a picturesque village
in the heart of the
Ribble Valley in
Lancashire, Born And
Bred encapsulates
everything that is
typical about Lancashire
life in the Fifties. For
the villagers of Ormston
there’s a real feeling
of common aspirations:
they aren’t afraid to
work hard, always
pulling together when
times are hard, but they
can share a joke when
things are on the up.
Everybody knows their
neighbours in Ormston
and there’s never a
dull moment.
Producer
Chris Clough
explains:"I think
the Fifties were seen as
a safer, friendlier era.
But what we’ve done
with Born And Bred is to
lose some of the
traditional aspects of
Fifties life, such as
the flat cap and
Woodbine cigarettes, in
favour of a nod to
modernity. I think the
strengths of Born And
Bred are its warmth,
good humour, the sense
of community and, of
course, an idyllic
setting." Writer
and co-creator Chris
Chibnall agrees: "I
wanted to create
something that you could
sit and watch with your
whole family, whatever
their age. Born And Bred
is pure escapism, and
where we film is one of
the most beautiful
places in the
country."
Although
the storyline of Born
And Bred revolves around
the father and son
doctor partnership of
Arthur and Tom Gilder,
played by James Bolam
and Michael French, in
this series viewers
learn much more about
the lives and stories of
the other characters who
live and work in Ormston.
"It’s the
characters who provide
the basis for the
storylines,"
explains Clough.
"By using our
doctors we are able to
enter the lives of the
Ormston villagers and
share with them the
highs and lows, the good
times and the bad.This
provides a unique mix of
humour and drama."
Linda (Tracey Childs)
and Len (Peter Gunn) are
enjoying married life
and are desperate to
have a baby, but things
don’t go smoothly for
them. Clive Swift is the
maverick vicar, Rev
Brewer, who jumps at
every available gambling
opportunity, but is
skating on thin ice with
the Bishop. Phyllis
(Maggie Steed) is the
landlady at The
Signalman’s Arms and
the eyes and ears of the
village. She plays her
cards very close to her
chest but reveals her
more sensitive side when
she meets Fred Mills,
Eddie’s uncle. Helen
(Charlotte Salt) is
still in love with Eddie
(Sam Hudson) but will
Eddie ever notice Jean
(Naomi Radcliffe)?
Meanwhile,
rag-and-bone girl Jean
has decided to do more
with her life than
simply lust after Eddie,
so she opts for a new
career as a dray woman.
Her father, Wilf (John
Henshaw), still has a
knack for winding the
villagers up,
particularly when he
tries to charge them a
toll to re-enter the
village – but he gets
a shock when his past
comes back to haunt him.
And Donald Gee is Mr
Boynton, the village
shopkeeper at the heart
of all the village
gossip. "In this
series we have much more
scope to tell the
audience more about the
background of the
characters,"
explains Chibnall.
"We meet Eddie’s
Uncle Fred (David
Troughton) and Deborah’s
mother, Dora (Gwen
Taylor), arrives in the
village. We learn a
little more about Mr
Boynton, the shopkeeper,
and what he enjoys in
his spare time, looking
after his beloved
pigeons!"
"We’ve
got this fantastically
talented ensemble
cast," enthuses
Clough."All the
characters have
back-stories and this
time we have the space
to explore their lives
and fill in the
gaps." The Fifties
were a time of much
change, with the teenage
generation emerging for
the first time and
social changes such as
the introduction of the
National Health Service.
In Ormston, changes are
happening slowly. With
the surgery and cottage
hospital now having NHS
approval, Arthur and Tom
can run the hospital for
the sake of the local
people rather than as a
profit-making
service.Tom has clear
ideas about future
plans, which inevitably
don’t always agree
with those of his
father, Arthur.
It
was also a time when
women were gaining a
stronger sense of
independence. "I
think we wanted to spend
more time with the
female characters this
time," says
Chibnall. "We
wanted to show that
there were just the
stirrings of ambition in
women. I think women
were gradually becoming
more independent – the
feminist movement of the
Sixties didn’t just
spring out of
nowhere." Clough
adds: "Coming out
of the Second World War,
where women had to do a
lot of the manual jobs,
they are now realising
that they can do much
more than that. We see
this through Jean, in
particular, who can see
what other women like
Linda and Phyllis are
doing with their lives,
and there’s this sense
of eternal frustration
that she is just the
local scrap-girl. I
think the Fifties saw
the emergence of women
and it’s the Gilder
children that would see
the future benefit of
this."
Click
here
for cast profiles
and here
for interviews with three of the
cast.
IN
DEPTH...
