Drama
Fat Friends is an ITV drama created by Kay Mellor, broadcast from 12 October 2000 to 24 March 2005. It follows a group of overweight people, their laughter and pain and addresses the absurdities of dieting in our modern age. It examines people and how they relate to one another…


Kelly Simpson is determined to get in her two-sizes-too-small wedding dress in time for her big day. Meanwhile, at the slimming club, her mum, Betty, has won through to the regional finals of Superslimmers 2000, even though her husband isn't that happy about her losing weight.

Alan Ashburn is losing weight for his 20th wedding anniversary celebrations but a romantic meal out with his wife ends in their relationship crumbling.

Lauren Harris has won a role in a soap she's convinced that losing five pounds would make her a better actress. However, problems arise with not only her mum, who is convinced she's anorexic, but also her boyfriend Gareth, whose nickname for her is "Pudding".

Teenage Superslimmer Jamie reveals the reasons for his depressed state: his mother is battling depression and he's being bullied at school. Eventually, Jamie decides he can't cope with the pressure and contemplates suicide.

Val prepares to launch her new magazine, but the quest for something trendy to wear and a call to an escort agency for a partner to attend the bash produce further revelations about the slimming world – and herself.

Kelly spends the night at the club, but the slimming pills and alcohol make her lose all inhibitions. Kevin tries to find out why he was kept in the dark about the photo session. Meanwhile, there's shocking news for Betty when she tries to collect a prescription.

Kelly Chadwick

Carol McGary

Betty Simpson

Rebecca Patterson

Norma Patterson

Kevin Chadwick

Follow the lives and loves of a group of thirtysomethings in a heart-warming comic drama as they try to find true love - or at least keep their relationships on track. In this wry and funny look at a generation which is as confused as it is liberated by the choices it faces, will the chill in their feet put out the passion that burns in their hearts?

In the small, fictional Yorkshire town of Skelthwaite is an engaging story of life, love, family and people’s ever-changing fortunes in rural England. Set against the rugged landscape of Yorkshire, it follows the busy professional and family lives of District Nurses, as they bring nursing and emotional care to young and old alike. The first four series concentrates on the lives of district health nurses Peggy Snow and Ruth Goddard. The story expands to focus on the lives of more Skelthwhaite residents, particularly those related to the nurses as well as those employed in a local toilet tissue factory.

Set around the employees of Yorkshire's 'Chevin Chase Veterinary Surgery', sisters Anna and Sarah Williams couldn't be more different: hardworking mother Anna runs the clinic with her father, while glamourous Sarah left for London years ago. A wedding brings them all together, but long-simmering secrets may soon tear them apart.

Ripley Holden is a small-time entrepreneur desperate to make it big with his new state-of-the-art amusement arcade. The opening extravaganza is overshadowed by the find of a dead body on the premises. DI Carlisle is called in and quickly finds he has more on his mind than murder, when he falls in love with Ripley's long-suffering wife.

Set in 1996 in Lincolnshire, the show tells the tragic and humorous story of a very troubled young girl Rae, who has just left a psychiatric hospital, where she has spent four months after attempting suicide, begins to reconnect with her best friend Chloe and her group, who are unaware of Rae's mental health and body image problems, believing she was in France for the past four months.

The story of a young group of siblings pretty much abandoned by their parents, surviving by their wits - and humor - on a rough Manchester council estate. Whilst they won't admit it, they need help and find it in Steve, a young middle class lad who falls for Fiona, the oldest sibling, and increasingly finds himself drawn to this unconventional and unique family. Anarchic family life seen through the eyes of an exceptionally bright fifteen year old, who struggles to come of age in the context of his belligerent father, closeted brother, psychotic sister and internet porn star neighbors.

Alan Bleasdale's five-part series relates the further experiences of unemployed Liverpudlian tarmac layers Dixie, Chrissie, Loggo and Yosser, and their revered older friend, retired longshoreman and union leader, George Malone. As they struggle to make ends meet in a depressed economy, and to hold together their financially battered families, they are harrassed by the petty bureaucrats of the DHSS. But the lumbering investigational juggernaut is, both comically and tragically, guided by drivers with only a provisional license.