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These Days (British TV soap)
These Days is a British soap that was broadcast on the digital television station Frequency 1 intermittently between 2002-2007. It was created by drama writer Chris Lawley, who also produced and wrote the series.

The first series ran for exactly one calendar year, starting on Monday 07th January 2002 and ending on Tuesday 07th January 2003. It was broadcast in an almost unbroken pattern of three episodes per week - Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 21:00 - except the last episode, which was broadcast on a Tuesday. There were 158 episodes of Series 1, each lasting 22 minutes(excluding two ad breaks in the middle and at the end of each episode).

Though the show has many characters, each series tends to focus mostly on specific characters and slow-burning storylines. The show is famous for its blend of existential, emotionally analytical characters and dialogue. It uses traditional types of soap characters and storylines, but turns them on their heads. This leads to emotionally complex characters and storylines, which typifies it's slow-moving but articulate, offbeat but accesible style.

The majority of the residents live on Senta Street in the fictitious East Leicestershire town of Middlehampton. This town neighbours the equally fictitious city of Newben, and the drama is spread across both areas. For example the Doyle's restaurant and Lee Rogers's shop are both set in Middlehampton, whilst the Blue Royale hotel and the FE college are both based in neighbouring Newben.

The majority of characters are either lower-middle class or middle class, though major characters such as Rosy Lyons, Steph Donnelly and Rebecca Chambers, are all recognisably - though varying degrees of - working class.

A spin-off series of 8-part, one-hour episodes called 'Days Like These' was broadcast from Friday 15th July 2005 - Friday 02nd September 2005. The object of the series was to focus on specific sets of characters per episode, to see how they had devoloped since January 2003, when series one of 'These Days' ended. Some new characters were also introduced, as were some open-ended and unfinished new storylines, which preceded the long-awaited sequel series.

The belated Series 2 of 'These Days' ran at 9pm from Monday 05th September 2005 - Saturday 07th January 2006. Again, each 22-minute episode screened on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays except the last episode - 55 - which ran on a Saturday. This was followed later in the year by a second series of 'Days Like These', which again ran for 8 weeks in a Friday 9pm slot from 14th July - 01st September 2006.

This inevitably preceded the third and final series of These Days, which had a 58-episode run from Monday 04th September 2006 -Sunday 07th January 2007. The last two episodes broke with the traditional 30-minute format, and also with the Monday-Wednesday-Friday scheduling. The penultimate episode was shown at 9pm for one hour (44 minutes excluding ad breaks) on Saturday 06th January 2007, followed by the final episode, which was a 60-minute broadcast shown at 9pm on Sunday 07th January 2007 - five years to the date it first started. Both episodes were the culmination of a special 'These Days' weekend, which was broadcast across the Frequency network on the first weekend of 2007.

Altogether, there were 271 episodes of 'These Days' itself. If you include the 16 episodes from both series of 'Days Like These' in the mix, then altogether there were 287 episodes between 2002 and 2007.

These Days: Series 1 (2002-2003)
The first series of 'These Days' focuses mainly on the turbulent relationships of the main characters, who are as follows:


 * Rosy Lyons (Hannah Paisley)
 * Lee Rogers (Chris Lawson)
 * Glen Wright (Gary Madison)
 * Lisa Hopkins (Danielle Rawlings)
 * Danielle Harvey (Lucy Rodgate)
 * Liam Hardacre (Rhys Johnson)
 * Anita Johnson (Paula Neil)
 * Carrie Donnelly (Leila Rogers)
 * Steph Donnelly (Amanda Rogers)
 * Steven Cowell (Stewart Mason)
 * Hannah Cartwright (Sarah Maitland)
 * Rebecca Chambers (Rebecca Sanderson)
 * Ben Warren (Stuart Hammond)
 * Maggie Dylan (Mali Madog)

Episode 1
Unlike any other episode in the series, this is a flashback episode, in which the character of modelling agent Lisa Hopkins (wife of lawyer Glen Wright) narrates and recounts the formation of her relationships, and those of her friends, in a mixture of both flashback form and present-day status quo.

It opens with Lisa Hopkins explaining how happy she is to have the family she has always wanted. She describes how much in love she is with her 'gorgeous' younger husband, Glen Wright, and also the love she has for her two adopted children: sensitive and straight-laced 15-year-old Danielle Harvey and laidback, elfin 17-year-old Liam Hardacre. But she soon examplifies how hard-fought such happiness has been...

Lisa arrived in Senta Street, Middlehampton, five years previously (1997) as a flashy, peroxide blonde. With her model looks and vibrant personality, she soon landed a job working for a local modelling agency and bagged herself a fit bloke, Glen Wright. Before long, the two had moved in together, married and fallen pregnant. But it was the subsequent miscarriage she suffered which saw Lisa shut Glen out of their grief and for a while, Glen moved out and the couple seperated.

During that time, Lisa shared her grief with her best friend, local shopkeeper and occasional womaniser Lee Rogers. Although Lisa's feelings for Lee were only ever platonic, both she and Glen knew that Lee had a 'soft spot' for Lisa. This only added to the problems as womanising, aloof Lee and pompous, family-oriented Glen are sworn enemies. This contrast of their personalities is the main reason for their mutual contempt, but this is partly fuelled by Lee's belief that Glen does not love Lisa as much she loves him, which turns out to be true in the long run.

During Lisa's recovery, she meets Rosy Lyons, a trainee nurse originally from East Yorkshire, who is concerned about Lisa's frame of mind. The two get on famously, and when Rosy invites Lisa back to her house, both are amused to learn they are actually near-neighbours, as they both live on Senta Street. When Lisa arrived at Rosy's house, we met Rosy's two housemates. Lindsay Adams (Lisa Duncan), who moved to Leeds with a newfound love early in Series 1 - and dippy Keeley Rodgers (Sasha Daniels), who would inadvertantly become the centrepiece of the biggest storyline of the first 100 episodes, despite only being a minor, short-lived character.

Despite Lisa's recovery, her miscarriage had made her a more sober person. To reflect this inner change, Lisa had her hair dyed brown and cut to a shoulder-length bob. The garish clothes were replaced by a darker, more sophisticated look. In time, Lisa had a pregnancy scare, which she admitted made her feel she could not bare children for a number of years, though she did still want some. That is when Glen suggested adoption, to Lisa's delight. In the end, they adopted Liam, and a year later, Danielle. However, Lisa's current desire to adopt a third child is causing friction with Glen, who thinks they would struggle with a third child. But the episode ends with Lisa revealing a much bigger source of friction - Anita Johnson...

Anita Johnson was a model at Lisa's agency, as well as a bitch with a poorly-concealed desire for Lisa's husband, Glen. The irony is that Lisa's jealousy would only exacerbate the situation...

Episodes 2-3
In these episodes, we meet other significant characters. Ricki Wells is the fierce but sexy manager of the Blue Royale hotel in Newben. Steven Cowell, her deputy, is secretly in love with her, but is unaware she is the battered wife of her husband, Alistair. We also meet Lee Rogers, a womanising newsagent with an easy, affable personality, and Steph Donnelly (Amanda Rogers), a no-nonsense Geordie with a heart of gold, and best friend of Rosy whom she met at university.

Episodes 4-11
In these episodes, we say goodbye to one of Rosy's housemates, Lindsay Adams, who is replaced by Steph Donnelly. We also meet fiery Irish chambermaid Donna Lynch (Samantha Powell), who has a crush on Steven, but he's too hung up on boss Ricki to notice. Other significant characters making an appearance are husky mechanic Jack Mason (Harry Taylor) - a friend of Glen, Lee and Steven - and Liz Doyle, a feisty fortysomething who runs the Doyle's restaurant in town.

Main developments include Anita Johnson's games driving a wedge between Lisa and Glen, Ricki and Steven beginning to get romantic, and thus the poorly-timed sparks beginning to fly between Steven and Donna...

Episodes 12-13
These episodes mark the beginning of a major storyline - colloquially referred to as 'Warrengate' - which sees the fleeting introduction of a character called Ben Warren (Stuart Hammond). On a night out in Newben, housemates Rosy, Steph and Keeley are in a club, when Keeley suddenly has a dizzy spell and decides to go outside for some fresh air. However, being both drunk and dizzy, she heads outside and inadvertantly falls down a flight of stone steps and onto the road.

She is already badly injured, but the real horror comes when a drunk driver - Ben Warren - fails to see her and runs her over. He stumbles out of his car and ghoulishly watches over Keeley, wondering what to do next. Steph and Rosy then come out of the club to check up on Keeley, and when they spot her and Ben in the middle of the road, they know that something terrible has happened. Panic-stricken, Ben then gets back into his car and drives off, leaving Keeley for dead. Despite the best efforts of the medical team, Keeley dies the same night, leaving a devastated Rosy bitter about Keeley's killer...

Episodes 14-16
These episodes see Keeley's funeral take place, more games from Anita and the development of a love square between Ricki, Donna, Steven and Lee's shop assistant, Chandra West (Nadina Jackson).

Episodes 16-19
These episodes see Steven grow frustrated with Ricki as well as cooling Donna off, instead turning his romantic intentions toward Chandra. Anita is the catalyst behind a 'St. Valentine's Day Cards Massacre', an unholy mess which sees Lisa kick Glen out - only for him to be accomodated by Anita in the process! A more uplifting experience for foster siblings Liam and Danielle - who have become increasingly close - sees them share a passionate kiss together. The main event, however, is the introduction of Steph's younger sister Carrie (Leila Rogers), a dysfunctional, hyperactive nymphomaniac who would become one of the show's most iconic and well-loved characters. Carrie has been sent to Middlehampton by her parents, who threw her out after admitting to them that she was a lesbian.

Episodes 20-24
These episodes see Anita blackmail Glen into sleeping with her, Danielle and Liam sleeping together at Rosy's surprise birthday party (held at Lisa and Glen's house) and Donna heading back to Ireland after tiring of the love square - but not without giving instigator Steven a jolly good slap!

Episodes 25-27
These episodes see the arrival of Carrie's estranged school best friend, Kelly McIntyre (Jessica Taverner), who stuns Carrie with the revelation that she's just been kicked out of home by her parents because... he admitted she was a lesbian! Inevitably, this sees Carrie and Kelly sleep together.

Episode 28
This episode sees Anita's gameplaying peak when she tells a mortified Glen that she is pregnant with his baby! It also sees the arrival of three new characters, following the recent departure of several minor characters. Clare Dempsey (Selina Rae-Scott), Amy James (Jessica Anderson) and Lucy Davenport (Lauren Morrisey). Living across the road from Rosy, Steph and Carrie, Clare turns out to be Rosy's long-lost cousin. Fans of the show had to do a double-take, as the resemblence between Rosy and Clare is rather incredible!

Episodes 29-31
In these episodes, Clare starts a job as an administrator, Amy as a Doyle's waitress and Lucy as a Blue Royale chambermaid. When Ricki ends up in hospital because of abusive husband Alistair, he and Steven come to blows. And after Anita admits to Glen she was never pregnant - and spurred on by some sound advice from friend Jack - Glen tells Anita he wants nothing more to do with her and is instead going to concentrate on his family. Subsequently, Anita disappeared...

Episodes 32-36
In these episodes, Kelly confesses to a hurt but sympathetic Carrie that she is seeing a man, Neil Lewis (Robert Pearson). What results is a very messy love triangle. Steven and Alistair have a rather spectacular fight on a bridge which sees both of them tumble into a river. Upon arrival at Newben City Hospital, Steven is alive, but Alistair is dead, having succumbed to the river's current. Danielle shocks Liam by admitting they are pregnant. Jack's house is arsoned out of existence, which sees friend Steven put him up for free at the Blue Royale. A stalker storyline involving Clare sees Lee play the role of knight in shining armour, prompting the beginning of a complex relationship between the two. And when Danielle is forced to admit she is pregnant, and that Liam is the father, Glen and Lisa react with sheer horror...

Episodes 37-45
In these episodes, Kelly devastes Carrie by choosing Neil over her, accepting his marriage proposal in turn. Ricki and Steven finally get together, after much soul-searching on her part. The consequences of a huge row between Danielle and Lisa prompted the troubled teen to run away. The ensuing heartache inadvertantly refocused Lisa, Glen and Liam into being a caring, open family again. After a nightmare twist in which Lisa and Glen had to identify the body of a mid-teens girl matching Danielle's description (which turned out to be someone else), Danielle eventually returned, having been taken in by a kindly stranger, a week after her disappearance. Subsequently, she and her family finally began to start dealing with recent events progressively. Lee and Claire grew closer. Inebriated intercourse between Lee and Chandra saw the latter hurt as the former rejected the event as a 'big mistake'. And help from a handsome stranger at a time of need saw Rosy begin to fall for him. Unfortunately - and unbeknown to her - said stranger happens to be evil Ben Warren...

Episodes 46-56
In these episodes, feeling used and rejected by both Lee and Steven, feisty Chandra packed her bags for good and headed back to London. The subsequent fallout led to the acrimonious break-up of Clare and Lee's relationship. The arrival of toxic Tania Osbourne (Storm McDonnell) - an old conquest of Ben Warren's who had an affair with him despite knowing his wife was dying of cancer at the time - saw the death of Ben's short-lived relationship with Rosy. And to top it all, Tania revealed she has just moved into the flat above Ben's! Danielle suffered a miscarriage.

Kelly took on Chandra's old job as Lee's shop assistant, but heartbroken Carrie started secretly following Neil and Kelly around like a lovesick puppy. Depressed Carrie later took an overdose of sleeping pills, which she survived. However, this brought Kelly and Carrie closer, and the subsequent jealousy from Neil saw his and Kelly's relationship begin to sour. After some advice from Steph, and some reassurance from the man himself, Ben and Rosy rekindled their romance. But as Rosy opened up about her past - including Keeley's death - Ben had an epiphany that made him shiver...

A new receptionist began working at the Blue Royale - but it was none other than Steven's high school sweetheart (who dumped him for cheating on her), Hannah Cartwright (Sarah Maitland)! Despite their acrimonious split, Steven was delighted when Hannah made it clear the past belongs in the past, and the two chatted garrously, as if they had never even parted.

Episodes 57-66
In these episodes, Lee managed to persuade Clare into giving their relationship another chance. After facing up to Carrie in Neil's presence, an impressed Neil took Kelly back, and Carrie agreed to leave the couple be whilst she attends counselling. But even this wasn't enough to sate Neil's jealousy, and he issued Kelly with an ultimatum, in which Kelly reluctantly agreed to extricate Carrie from her life completely. But this only fused Kelly and Carrie back together, and when he caught them in an embrace, he stormed off. Whilst shouting at them, Neil was knocked down and killed by a driver. A devasted Kelly held Carrie responsible. In the end, Kelly lied to her parents that she was in fact heterosexual, meaning they were happy to have her back. Prior to her departure, Kelly told a devastated Carrie that she hated her and never wanted to see her again.

Rosy and Ben made love for the first time, and later moved in together. Jack headed off to London, having decided to go into business with fellow mechanic and old friend, Ozzie Richardson (Brian McKnightingale). Toxic Tania set Glen up to make it look like he was seeing her behind Lisa's back, prompting Lisa to move out and into Lee's house. Unable to cope with Jack's departure, Lucy suddenly decided to join him in London. Her departure prompted Amy and Clare to ask Hannah to move in, following Hannah and Steven's not-so-shock illicit kiss. Lisa was appalled when her business partners informed her of the impending return of a former model - Anita Johnson!

And after a succession of increasingly nasty poison phone calls and poison pen letters about Keeley Rogers - of which Tania denied all knowledge about - Ben was caught out when, whilst he and Rosy were unpacking in their new home, she stumbled across the contents of a black bag which had every one of the poison pen letters he had recieved so far!

Episodes 67-71
In these episodes, Ben hoodwinks Rosy by playing innocent, and promises Rosy he will go to the police. Instead, he secretly burns all of the poison pen letters in a field! After Steven moves in with her, Ricki discovers she is pregnant, but decides to keep it secret... Anita tells Glen she double-bluffed him - she is in fact pregnant with his baby after all! Meanwhile, Glen finally convinces Lisa that there never was an affair with Tania. Anita tries but fails to bed Ben Warren. Secretly bullemic waitress Amy is caught making herself vomit by sympathetic boss Liz.

Having been turned down flat by Ben Warren on her offer to bed him, Tania pretends to everyone that she has turned 'nice' - even admitting to Lisa and Glen that she set Glen up! Rosy overhears a Glen participating in a vitriolic argument on his mobile with Anita Johnson, in which she inadvertantly learns that Glen not only slept with Anita, but is also the father of her baby! As Rosy is Lisa's best friend, Glen and Rosy have an argument, in which Glen swears a disgruntled Rosy to secrecy. Rosy's unhappiness only grew when Lisa later revealed she was pregnant! Anita is horrified when, following a poison phone call to Ben, she is caught out by Tania! Having been confronted by Rosy, harangued Anita issues Glen an ultimatum: She'll leave forever if she pays him £10'000 - otherwise, she cannot guarantee never to tell! But Tania does the same to Anita!

Episodes 72-74
In these episodes, Clare caught Amy making herself sick, and swore she and Amy would discuss this when Clare got back from work. But upon her return, Clare found Amy dead on the floor. She had suffered a fatal stroke as a result of her bullemia. A devastated Clare later walked around in a devastated haze, until a sexy stranger - Ian McGann (Patrick Keating) - comforted her. This later blossomed into a full-blown relationship. Lisa reveals her pregnancy, delighting the whole family. But Glen's happiness is short-lived when Rosy overhears him tell Anita over the phone: "God, I wish you were dead". This forces Glen to reveal Anita's blackmail to Anita, who has now upped the ante by telling Glen to pay her £10'000 by the end of the week - or Lisa learns everything!

Meanwhile, Rosy's father has been taken seriously ill, and she tells a sympathetic Ben she is off to Yorkshire for a while to be there for him. Following Rosy's departure, Tania moves in for the kill with Ben. She tells him she still loves him, but he does not believe her. But she says she'll prove it by telling him a confidential secret - Anita is the one who has been sending him the poison mail! This is enough to persuade Ben into bed. Meanwhile, an increasingly impotent Anita orders Glen to pay up her ransom right now or else! He refuses, so she vows to walk to Lisa's house right now and reveal all. So Glen leaves work, jumps into his car, and attempts to beat her to it! Having slept together, Ben tells Tania he has a meeting to get to at work, so Tania leaves. He then drives off until he sees Anita walking along - before promptly kidnapping her! But Glen has no idea, and still thinks Anita is heading Lisa's way! As a result, he reluctantly tells Lisa he slept with Anita several months ago!

Episode 75
This is probably the darkest and most notorious episode of the show in its history, recieving record ratings and record complaints upon broadcast on Friday 28th June 2002.

=== KingOfAnglia (talk) 22:08, 22 October 2008 (UTC)