Blood Strangers

Blood Strangers is a two-part British television crime drama, written by Gwyneth Hughes and directed by Jon Jones, that broadcast across two consecutive nights in February 2002 on ITV. The series was commissioned in January 2001, as one of two new projects to star Caroline Quentin, with the other, Hot Money, broadcasting in December 2001. Nick Elliott, then controller of drama at ITV, described Quentin as being "...very good at playing very ordinary women." The series was described by ITV as "an emotionally charged two-part thriller that looks at the devastating effect of teenage prostitution on two respectable British families." Paul McGann, Sheridan Smith, David Crellin and Ray Panthaki are also credited as principal members of the cast.

More than nine million viewers tuned in for both episodes. The Guardian described the series' success as "ITV's respite from the ratings doldrums." The series was nominated for a PRIX Italia television award in 2002. Quentin commented of her role as Lin Beresford; "It's a strange feeling when you wake up and know you're going to spend the whole day grieving. Every morning I'd be thinking, `Oh no, I have to grieve all over again'. But I was determined to do it and all the tears you see are real. They're all mine. I've got quite a good emotional imagination, but having a daughter of my own made it easier to tap into that sorrow. All I had to do was imagine that the child lying dead on the hospital bed was my own and you're away. I can't imagine anything more awful than losing a child, I really can't."

Cast

 * Caroline Quentin as Lin Beresford
 * Paul McGann as DC David Ingram
 * Siobhan Finneran as WPC Melanie Whitaker
 * Sheridan Smith as Jas Dyson
 * David Crellin as Nick Beresford
 * Ray Panthaki as Zafar Wahid
 * Daine McCormick as Ant Beresford
 * Rita May as Pat Beresford
 * Lucy Hodgkinson as Emma Beresford
 * Samantha Jayatilaka as Kalsoom Ikram
 * Suraj Dass as Shakil Ikram
 * Dennis Conlon	as Sohel Ikram
 * Shireen Shah as Jamila Ikram
 * Parvez Qadir as Manzar Wadid
 * Miriam Ali as Maahin Wahid
 * Andrew Readman as DCS Alastair Fleming
 * Martin Walsh as DC Paul Mayhew
 * Steve Evets as Benny Nightingale
 * Stacey Hamlin	as Lauren Nightingale
 * Caroline O'Neill as Jenna Albury
 * Lynda Steadman as Stacey Ingram
 * Naomi Bridges	as Jessica Ingram
 * Samantha Jones as Anne-Marie Bennett
 * Angela Forrest as Margery Hopper
 * Amanda Tyrell	as PC Bernadette Gilligan
 * Ced Beaumont as Donald Murphy