"Girls on Top" (1985) TV series 1985-1986

Directors:

Ed Bye
Paul Jackson

Writers:

Dawn French (writer)
Jennifer Saunders (writer)

Seasons:

1 | 2

Release Date:

23 October 1985 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Four women who are nothing alike end up living together in a flat in England.

Plot Keywords:

Landlord | Roommate | Friendship Between Girls | Flat Share | Sitcom

Cast

Dawn French	...	Amanda Ripley (5 episodes, 1985)
Jennifer Saunders	...	Jennifer Marsh (5 episodes, 1985)
Ruby Wax	...	Shelley DuPont (5 episodes, 1985)
Joan Greenwood	...	Lady Chloe Carlton (5 episodes, 1985)
Tracey Ullman	...	Candice Valentine (5 episodes, 1985)
Helen Lederer	...	Felicity / ... (3 episodes, 1985-1986)
Pauline Melville	...	Yvonne (3 episodes, 1985-1986)

Runtime:

30 min (13 episodes)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG

Company:

Central Independent Television

Trivia:

A final episode was filmed but never aired. Called "Lower the Donkey", it showed Amanda building a shelter because of paranoia over a potential nuclear attack. When Lady C's kitchen explodes, Shelley thinks Amanda was right and the two hide inside of the shelter while Jennifer, wise to what's really going on, spends all of Shelley's money on toys and sweets. Ultimately Lady C really DOES blow them sky high by accidentally throwing a match on a stack of petrol cans. The episode aired in New Zealand, and was also released on a Canadian DVD boxed set.

Quotes:

Shelley DuPont: [after Candice has substituted floor polish for bikini wax, burning Shelley's "nethers"] Oh, my God, my frou-frou's on fire!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "A History of Alternative Comedy" (1999)

Soundtrack:

Girls on Top

A damn funny show

Four of the funniest comics around (Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Tracy Ullman and Ruby Wax) all together in one show? Hilarity abounds!

Girls on top has these four lasses playing four flatmates in a flat owned by Lady Carlton (Joan Greenwood).

Dawn French plays Amanda Ripley, hypocritical left-wing feminazi with a secret hobby of keeping pictures of penises in a box under her pillow.

Jennifer Saunders plays slow witted and childlike Jennifer Marsh who lives in a corner of the lounge room and is constantly victimized and bossed around by Amanda

Ruby Wax is failed American actress Shelly DuPont, who has a habit of being the annoying character that you wish would sometimes just tone it down a notch.

And Tracey Ullman plays (in the first series only) Bimbotic Candice Valentine.

Watching these four and Joan Greenwood in a show for which the script was edited by Ben Elton is certainly one of the funniest shows to grace television screens.

Come back GIRLS.