"Born and Bred" (2002) TV series 2002-2005

Creators:

Chris Chibnall
Nigel McCrery

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Release Date:

21 April 2002 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Cast

Jenna Russell	...	Deborah Gilder (36 episodes, 2002-2005)
Tracey Childs	...	Linda Cosgrove (36 episodes, 2002-2005)
Naomi Radcliffe	...	Jean Bradshaw / ... (36 episodes, 2002-2005)
Clive Swift	...	Reverend Brewer (32 episodes, 2002-2005)
Samuel J. Hudson	...	Eddie Mills (32 episodes, 2002-2005)
Maggie Steed	...	Phyllis Woolf (32 episodes, 2002-2005)
Peter Gunn	...	Len Cosgrove (32 episodes, 2002-2005)
Polly Thompson	...	Catherine Gilder (31 episodes, 2002-2005)
Ross Little	...	Michael Gilder (30 episodes, 2002-2005)
John Henshaw	...	Wilf Bradshaw (30 episodes, 2002-2005)
Donald Gee	...	Mr. Boynton (30 episodes, 2002-2005)
Michael French	...	Dr. Tom Gilder (22 episodes, 2002-2005)
Shirley White	...	Miss Matthews (22 episodes, 2003-2005)
Joan Worswick	...	Miss Matthews (22 episodes, 2003-2005)
James Bolam	...	Dr. Arthur Gilder (18 episodes, 2002-2004)
Charlotte Salt	...	Helen Gilder (17 episodes, 2002-2005)
Evan Fortescue	...	Philip 'Pip' Gilder / ... (15 episodes, 2004-2005)

Runtime:

55 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:PG (some episodes) | Australia:M (some episodes)

Filming Locations:

Damems, West Yorkshire, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

The main filming location Downham near Clitheroe, Lancashire is a privately owned village. It's owned by Lord and Lady Clitheroe. Every house is rented and certain modern things are banned from being used in the town by the tenant's contract, for example external areils and satalite dishes. This keeps the buildings looking like they did many years ago, which is fitting for a series set in the '50s.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Comedy Connections: Drop the Dead Donkey (#4.3)" (2006)

Cosy, Unoriginal Sunday Night Drama

A desperately contrived attempt by the BBC to recapture the Sunday Evening family audience it once dominated with shows like 'All Creatures Great and Small' and 'Miss Marple'. Take a picturesque northern country village, populate it with a bunch of good character actors, build in a few rivalries and mild generational conflict based around a crusty doctor and his more progressive son and back-date the whole thing to a Never-Never-Land 1950's and hey presto! Ten million viewers are drafted almost wholesale from rival ITV's 'Heartbeat' (Set in a picturesque Northern Village in the 1960's but now rather tired and stale and lacking most of the original cast.)The thing is professionally made and generally well-acted but the first series suffered from some appalling scripts. The storylines and plot twists can usually be fully worked out from the first few minutes of each episode (if not the pre-credit sequence) and most shows centre round the illnesses of villagers whom we have mysteriously never seen before and will assuredly never see again, played by this week's special guest star. The plots are retreads of family shows of yore, such as 'All Creatures...' and 'Doctor Finlay's Casebook' and the whole show has the calming soporific qualities of a warm cup of cocoa.It was a bit unnerving to watch this closely followed by a weekly dose of '24'!The series is mainly shot on location in the beautiful village of Downham in East Lancashire but there is a real problem with this. The village is tiny-a church, a pub and a few houses and is clearly far too small to support a busy cottage hospital as it does in the show let alone the railway station, factory etc. which crop up in various episodes. Coming soon to a PBS or Hallmark network near you.