In musical drama Blackpool Ripley Holden (David Morrissey) is the brash entrepreneurial owner of an amusement arcade in Blackpool who wants to expand his business to include a casino. But financial difficulties and a murder investigation led by D.I. Carlisle (David Tennant) provide unwelcome obstacles to his ambitions. The drama is punctuated by musical interludes as the cast break out into song, miming to hit records.
In 2006 there was one-off sequel called VIVA BLACKPOOL in which Ripley has become a minister and performs themed marriages in his Chapel of Love in Blackpool. He gets involved in a scheme to obtain the real stolen original 1966 World Cup trophy that (in this story) was never actually recovered but replaced by a hasty replica and had been in the possession of a now deceased friend of his and in which his mother now stores her son’s ashes unaware it is the real thing. Other than the star, the main supporting cast did not return except for Ripley’s daughter Shyanne (Georgia Taylor).
Cast: DAVID MORRISSEY as Ripley Holden
AND (2004 Series Cast): SARAH PARISH as Natalie Holden; DAVID TENNANT as DI Carlisle; DAVID BRADLEY as Hallworth; JOHN THOMSON as Terry Corlette; STEVE PEMBERTON as Adrian Marr; GEORGIA TAYLOR as Shyanne Holden; THOMAS MORRISON as Danny Holden
(2006 Special Cast): MEGAN DODDS as Kitty De Love; ANNETTE CROSBIE as Mrs Berry; MARK WILLIAMS as Tommy Vesty; KEITH ALLEN as Steve Pollard; GEORGIA TAYLOR as Shyanne Holden
Writer: Peter Bowker / Producers: Kate Lewis (Series), Sally Hoynes (Special)
UK / BBC One / 6×60 minute episodes 1×90 minute episode / Broadcast 11 November – 16 December 2004 and 10 June 2006
