Lilies

09 January, 2007 by The_Boss

(L-R) Ruby (Kerrie Hayes),May (Leanne Rowe) and Iris (Catherine Tyldesley)

BBC1 Friday 12th January 2007 9:00pm - 10:00pm

Lilies, by acclaimed screenwriter Heidi Thomas (I Capture The Castle, Madam Bovary) is an original eight-part drama series combining the peerless experience of renowned producer Tony Garnett (Cathy Come Home, Kes, This Life) with the fresh, raw energy of brand-new acting talent.

Tough, sexy, funny and heartbreaking, the series details the lives of Iris, May and Ruby Moss – sisters coming of age in a dockland terrace house. Familial love sustains them, and their fortunes are bound to those of their brother and their father.

Set in the years immediately following the First World War, Lilies pulls no punches in its storytelling. It depicts a sensual, vivid and sometimes savage universe, where life is lived on the breadline, yet fuelled by various kinds of love. All three girls must make their own way in the world.

Iris makes chocolates, Ruby sells (and sometimes models) corsets, and May – seduced by the trappings of a world beyond her grasp – earns her living as a parlour maid. In the course of the series, each of the sisters tastes passion for the first time and their lives, newly launched, are changed forever.

Iris is played by Catherine Tyldesley, Ruby by Kerrie Hayes and May by Leanne Rowe (Oliver Twist and Boudica).

Acclaimed actor Brian McCardie (star of Rob Roy, Kidnapped, Murphy's Law and the BAFTA Scotland 2006 award-winning drama Low Winter Sun) plays Dadda, the family's charismatic and mercurial father. Having married very young, Dadda is now widowed, and his struggle to nurture his unruly children proves both moving and comic.

The cast also includes Daniel Rigby, Stephen Moyer, Scot Williams, Iain McKee and Georgia Taylor (Blackpool, Coronation Street), who makes a guest appearance in episode one. Later episodes feature Kenneth Cranham, Pam Ferris and Gillian Kearney.

Episode 1: The Chit Behind King Billy

Liverpool 1920, and the Moss family needs to get their pianola out of hock in time for the street party. The job falls to headstrong young Ruby to go out and earn money. But her new job as a corsetiere, together with competing for a place in the Olympic swimming team, is taking it's toll.

Brother Billy is the only one who can help but he is suffering his own nightmare due to his traumatic experiences during the war. The day of Ruby's swimming race arrives and Billy's fear of water reaches crisis point. When the much-needed money fails to turn up, their sister, May, finds herself performing a risqué act at a gentleman's club.