Lip Service is a British television drama portraying the lives of a group of lesbian and bisexual women living in Glasgow, Scotland. Production on the show, which stars Laura Fraser, Ruta Gedmintas and Fiona Button, began in summer 2009 in Glasgow. The show debuted on BBC Three on 12 October 2010. Filming on a second series was confirmed in late 2010, with filming beginning on 30 May 2011. The second series aired on BBC Three from 20 April 2012. In January 2013, the show's creator, Harriet Braun, announced that BBC Three had cancelled the series without explanation.
Cast Actor Character Role Series Laura Fraser Cat MacKenzie A lesbian architect with an anxious, neurotic personality. She is constantly torn between an old love or a new future. 1–2 Ruta Gedmintas Frankie Alan A "4 on the Kinsey Scale" bisexual photographer who is brash and impulsive, known for her promiscuous ways. She is secretly still in love with Cat, even though she abandoned her prior to the series. 1–2 Fiona Button Tess Roberts A struggling lesbian actress who is often unlucky in love, which causes her to feel insecure. 1–2 Emun Elliott Jay Bryan Adams Cat's friend and co-worker, a straight male who often can't restrain himself where beautiful women are concerned. 1–2 James Anthony Pearson Ed MacKenzie Cat's younger brother who is straight, a science-fiction author who shares Tess' frustrations with their romantic lives. 1–2 Roxanne McKee Lou Foster A television personality who is in the closet about her same-sex relationship with Tess, wavering between her feelings and her career. 1 Heather Peace Detective Sergeant Sam Murray Cat's girlfriend throughout the series, a fiercely independent lesbian woman who is afraid to show vulnerability. 1–2 Natasha O'Keeffe Sadie Anderson A notorious bad girl who dates Frankie briefly but then breaks off the relationship. 1–2 Cush Jumbo Becky Love Jay's fiancée, who apparently brought an end to his promiscuous ways. 1 Anna Skellern Dr. Lexy Price A hospital doctor and roommate to Tess and Frankie/Sadie, who often laments her poor choices in romantic partners. 2 Adam Sinclair Dr. Declan Love Lexy's gay co-worker. 2 Alana Hood Nurse Bea Lexy's married bisexual co-worker, with whom she has a no-strings-attached relationship. 2
Episodes
Series 1
Series 2
Production Braun was asked by the BBC to create a UK-based lesbian drama; she stated that the first scene that came to mind when she began writing was "a woman crying in an inappropriate place after finding out her ex is seeing someone else" followed by "someone returning from New York and throwing her ex into a state of panic". Those two scenes resulted in the creation of the three lead characters: Cat and Frankie, and Tess.
Braun gave each of the actors an outline of their character, and then let them develop the full characterisation. For Gedmintas, this included cutting her previously long blond hair to a close cut bob. A rumor arose that the director gave each cast member a manual on lesbian sex, which they were expected to read before shooting began, but Braun confirmed in interview with the Star Observer that this was only a myth. The first series was shot in its entirety in Glasgow in winter 2009/10.
Reception
Ratings The first episode debuted with 580,000 viewers, picking up an additional 8,000 viewers on the BBC HD channel. It had an audience share of 4.4%.
Critical response The opening episode received mixed reviews from critics. Claudia Cahalane of The Guardian wrote that it was "hugely significant" for a drama to normalise lesbian and bisexual relationships, citing a study of BBC output which found that lesbians contributed to just two minutes of programming from a randomly selected 39 hours of broadcasts. While Cahalane expressed disappointment that the episode did not represent butch lesbians, she deemed it "important to recognise Lip Service for the great service it's doing to British lesbians." Keith Watson of the Metro attacked the series' tokenism, suggesting that it included lipstick lesbian clichés to meet the BBC's diversity quota, and commenting that, "It was trying so hard to be modern and liberated but it felt tired and lazy". The Independent Amol Rajan criticized the episode's "pathetically vacuous plot", calling the series "spirit-cripplingly tedious". He expressed sympathy for the "clearly talented" cast, opining: "In trying to make a point about the importance of engaging with lesbian issues, this show ends up trivialising them. The lesbians are presented to us not as interesting people, or characters who warrant sympathy; rather, they matter purely because of their sexual preferences. That is immature, patronising, and unrealistic." Evangelical pressure group the Christian Institute reported that the episode had prompted complaints from viewers over its sexual content.
References
External links