Band of Gold

This mini-series is on my list of the five best things I have ever seen in my life. I loved this piece. Gritty, realistic but shaped beautifully with real heart and true characters which had depth and soul.

Only the first series was shown in the USA (on HBO), there are actually 3 series total (Band of Gold 2, and the 3rd series, simply titled Gold) continue where the first series leaves off.

I found the writing to be incredible and the casting inspired. The performances of Cathy Tyson and Geraldine James were far superior to what most American actresses can do on their best day. Singer Barbara Dickson is nothing short of brilliant as Anita. Samantha Morton and all the rest of the cast are superb - there's not a weak link in the bunch.

Anyone who thought this mini-series was boring has been watching too much crap American television, and must have the attention span of a gnat.

Originally watched this in the mid 1990s, and then re-watched the series again on DVD. Series 1 of Band of Gold was excellent. Tense, interesting and realistic. Episode one especially was dark and dramatic. Unfortunately the show starts jumping a series of sharks in series 2. Becoming more and more ridiculous. Bodies being put in the back of cars that crash driver-less into shop windows. Moving from intense drama into dramedy. If they had been able to sustain the quality of series one, this would have become a classic. Series one can be watched without watching the rest of the series, and is very worthwhile and will be six hours well spent.

This show actually included three series, the last one called "Gold," with Geraldine James now a social outreach worker and Cathy Tyson having retired from the profession. All were very good, the second series particularly: excellent acting, believable characters, and shot in a way that called be called artistic (though much of the setting was back streets and bars). It was here that Samantha Morton first became really noticed as an actress.The first two series were written by Kay Mellors, and the fact that the last was not detracts from it a bit. It's still worthwhile, and would be nice to watch again. If only it, and the others, were more available.

Having grown up in the Bradford area in the 40s and 50's, when I found this series on a streaming channel in Florida this year (2024) I couldn't resist it. Ee bah gum! Bradford's changed from what I remember. From the series one gets the impression that it is a vast red light district, with women in skimpy clothing cheerfuly lining the streets selling their bodies as if it was a balmy 70F. I remember Bradford as freezing cold and wet and windy 360 days a year. This was 'The Adventures of Priscilla, Queeen of the Desert', in Bradford, with Geraldine James playing Bernadette. There was so much black humor I might be forgiven for thinking it was a comedy. The casting is beyond superb and one can see why Samantha Morton became a star as she dominates every scene she is in. Cathy Tyson was excellent, although I have never seen her before or since, and Geraldine James, who normally plays upper class women, was a revelation as the aging streetwalker approaching the end of her shelf life and knowing that unless she found another occupation, it was downhill all the way "until I'm doing blow jobs for a lager and packet of crisps". My only complainit, and one star locked off, was the almost comic killing spree in series 2, though I was glad to see Dez get what he deserved. The men did not come off well, especially Gina's feckless husband and the corrupt policeman played by David Scholfield. Overall, despite the gallows humor, the lives of the women was shown to be sordid and desperate. Sunday night Masterpiece Theatre it is not.

Band of Gold is a misleading title for a drama set amid the sordid world of street prostitution in the back streets of Bradford in the North of England. The series is up with the best of British drama with memorable characters achingly realistically portrayed. But there is one notable drawback. The first episode is so brilliantly written and involving with an ending sensational enough to leave me breathless that everything following is something of an anticlimax and the end of the series is certainly rather a let down.

But even at its worst Band of Gold is better than most of what passes for drama on TV today. See it if you get the chance.