The Brighton Belles

This article is about the TV show. For other uses, see Brighton Belle (disambiguation).

The Brighton Belles is a short-lived British sitcom,^[2] based on the hit American sitcom The Golden Girls. The programme consisted of 11 episodes, which were broadcast from 9 March 1993 until 28 December 1994, being pulled halfway through its run due to very poor ratings.^[3]

The Brighton Belles
Starring	Sheila Hancock Wendy Craig Sheila Gish Jean Boht
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	11
Production
Running time	30mins (inc. adverts)
Production company	Carlton Television[1]
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	9 March 1993 (1993-03-09) – 28 December 1994 (1994-12-28)[1]

Cast

• Sheila Hancock as Frances
• Wendy Craig as Annie
• Sheila Gish as Bridget
• Jean Boht as Josephine

Reception

The Brighton Belles was a commercial and critical failure, being mauled by critics. The BBC Comedy Guide said of the series' failure: "Why did it fail? Several explanations apply, but the simplest has to be that The Golden Girls itself was already familiar to most British television watchers [...], and people felt no reason to tune-in to a UK adaptation delivering the same lines. When an original piece is already nigh-on perfect, and has sated its public, why try to sell a replica? Most transatlantic sitcom adaptations air without the original series having been seen in that territory. To pitch to viewers a carbon copy of an already successful series, seems pointless - in hindsight, at least."^[2]

The Brighton Belles performed so poorly in the ratings that it was pulled from the ITV schedule just six episodes into its run.^[4][5] The remaining episodes aired more than a year later in a filler slot, and were not screened by all ITV regions. When asked about the series in a 2007 interview, Sheila Hancock commented that "...It should have worked, the four of us are all old comedy hands and the initial scripts showed potential for growth. But Carlton [who produced the series] simply didn't know how to produce comedy, they just wanted something cheap and easy to fill a half hour slot."^{[citation needed]} Meanwhile, Wendy Craig, talking in a 2003 interview, said "...On hindsight, it probably wasn't wise [attempting the series]. The Golden Girls was so globally popular and renowned that there's no way that a clone of it could do anything but pale in comparison."^{[citation needed]}

See also

• List of sitcoms known for negative reception