THE GIRLS WHO CAME TO STAY

13 June, 2006 by The_Boss

ITV1 Sunday 18th June 2006 9:30pm to 11:00pm

BOB (Alun Armstrong) and JULIE JENKINS (Lindsey Coulson) have a much loved daughter LAURA (Samantha Robinson). She is about to leave home and they are both dreading her going. Bob diverts all of his sadness into building a dream house for him and Julie – rather than spending any time with his wife, which is what she actually wants and needs.

Julie decides they should take in a couple of kids from Belarus, the country worst affected by the Chernobyl disaster, for a month’s holiday. But Bob isn’t at all keen. Having been put in foster care as a child himself, he thinks a month with them could do the kids more harm than good and Julie has to resort to devious means to persuade him.

Bob and Julie go the airport where Delia (Sue Jenkins), from the Chernobyl charity, introduces them to the two girls who will be coming to stay with them. NADIA (Anastasia Pavlenko-Lewis) is small and cute while NELLI (Anna Krippa) is more awkward and difficult. Bob finds he is looking at the world in a new way as he sees every day objects through the girls’ eyes.

Then things start to go wrong. Laura opens her 18th birthday present and finds an empty box. The diamond necklace Julie bought for her has gone. Everyone assumes the thief is Nelli, who has been known to pick things up and hide them. Julie is furious with herself for bringing the girls into the house and hurting her own daughter. But Bob, recognising his own troubled childhood in Nelli’s reaction, is convinced that Nelli has been wrongly accused. Having protested her innocence, Nelli runs away. With Nelli gone, a guilt ridden Nadia confesses. She was playing dressing up with the necklace and lost it. She was too terrified to tell anyone what had happened in case she was sent home.

Bob finds Nelli in the new house he’s been building but she trips and falls down the stairs, ending up in hospital. At the hospital, Julie is racked with guilt over not believing Nelli. But Bob tells her how much he has appreciated her bringing the girls into their lives. It’s opened up some painful memories of his own childhood, but it’s been a good thing and has helped him to exercise his demons. The girls have opened up the world for him and they’ve also made him see how much he loves Julie.

Nelli tells Bob that she doesn’t want to go back to Belarus. He realises how much she means to him and he doesn’t want her to go back either. But, in the end, Bob realises that he has to let Nelli go.


The Girls Who Came To Stay is written by Andrew Sherlock, produced by Rebecca Hodgson and directed by Philip Martin for ITV1. Sita Williams is the Executive Producer and the one off drama comes from Andy Harries’ drama department.