Sugartown (TV series)
| Sugartown | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Comedy drama |
| Created by | Jodi Reynolds Sally Dexter |
| Written by | Jodi Reynolds Sally Dexter |
| Directed by | Christine Gernon |
| Starring |
Shaun Dooley Tom Ellis Sue Johnston Miranda Raison Phillip Jackson Georgia King Rob Kendrick Paul J Medford Juliet Cowan Sally Dexter |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 3 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Jodie Reynolds Kate Croft Simon Wilson |
| Producer(s) | Susie Liggat |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Shed Media Scotland |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC One |
| Picture format | 1080i |
| Original release | 24 July – 7 August 2011 |
Sugartown is a three-part comedy drama series for the BBC filmed in and around the seaside towns of Filey in North Yorkshire, and Bridlington in the East Riding of Yorkshire, utilising the John Bull rock factory. It is set in a fictional seaside town called Sugartown, credited as the home of rock and still the site of the struggling Burr's rock factory.
Jason Burr (Shaun Dooley) owns the Burr's rock factory and it trying to keep it afloat. His brother, Max Burr (Tom Ellis), has plans to redevelop Sugartown as a modern leisure resort. These plans do not include the factory. Opposing these plans, local residents Carmen (Georgia King) and Travis (Rob Kendrick) hit upon Sugartown's history of dance as a possible way to restore the town's fortunes.
Tensions between the brothers are not helped by the fact that both are in love with Emily (Miranda Raison) and the drama begins on the evening of Jason's proposal to her.
Broadcast during the 22:35 slot on BBC1, the first episode rated below average with 2.00 million viewers (13.72% audience share) in the provisional BARB overnight ratings. It was beaten in the ratings by The Lovely Bones on Channel 4 and fell below the slot average of 2.39m (15.4% audience share) for BBC1 for the year to date. The second episode broadcast was watched by 1.5 million instead. Once again, this failed to reach the slot average of 2.39 million, but unlike the first episode, missed the average by just under one million viewers.
The opening episode received poor reviews from The Guardian's Sam Wollaston who branded it "lame, tired, predictable and uninteresting"; Christopher Hooton, of the Metro, who described it as a "3-part disaster-piece" and "pretty much beyond repair"; and Paddy Shennan, in the Liverpool Echo, who described the actors as "playing cardboard cutouts acting out a painful, pitiful pathetic and patronising plot". Writing in The Stage, Harry Venning praised the first ten minutes before adding that the goodwill they generated "was squandered in the truly dreadful 50 minutes that followed". Tom Sutcliffe, in The Independent described it as a mis-scheduled children's programme, writing, "it's hard to see Sugartown as anything else, so guileless is its plotting and so jauntily empty of threat are its characterisations." Sutcliffe conceded that it was not a bad show of its type but doubted it would appeal to many, summarizing it as "cocoa for the mind". Writing in The Herald, Alan Morrison judged that "cliche is the stuff that Sugartown is made of" but that its feel good simplicity was of a piece with Sunday night TV and that "Sugartown is ready to wrap itself around viewers for the next two weeks like a snuggly blanket on the living-room sofa". In conclusion he stated that Sugartown "won’t (and needn’t) do a whole lot more than satisfy the sweet tooth of a Sunday-night audience." In The Scotsman, Paul Whitelaw, was scathing about the general type of cosy northern comedy dramas and Sugatown in particular. He compared it unfavourably with Victoria Wood and Ealing Comedy and finished by saying, "Pastel-coloured in sugary shades of CBBC, it should be studiously avoided if you're lactose intolerant or simply intolerant of vacuous entertainment."
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