Coronation Street has represented the north-west of England on telly for decades, but there was a dark time when the only other shows set there appeared to be The Hit Man and Her and dramas from the estimable Jimmy McGovern. In the past 15 years, however, the region has enjoyed a spectacular TV renaissance powered by distinct voices such as Russell T Davies, Sally Wainwright, Paul Abbott and Danny Brocklehurst. The latter’s Ordinary Lies (set in Manchester, filmed in Warrington) is just the latest series attempting to reinvent the cliches of the north-west in the 21st century – but it some has big shoes to fill. Here are the seven shows that did it better than anyone.
Queer as Folk (Channel 4, 1999-2000)
Russell T Davies’s landmark drama banged on the door and noisily demanded inclusion for the lives it depicted and the joyous manner in which it did so – it remains a thrilling, glamorous watch. Queer culture and Mancunian nightlife had never had a mainstream champion like Davies; he did it all again recently with Cucumber/Banana and offered a whole new vision of Canal Street. .
Early Doors (BBC2, 2003-4)
Mystifyingly underrated compared with the all-conquering Royle Family, but similar in mood and setting (Craig Cash co-wrote and starred in both). Early Doors confined its action, such as it was, to Stockport boozer The Grapes. Filmed as if through the dregs of a pint glass, the clientele were earthily written and subtly portrayed, their dilemmas familiar. The only cheeky catchphrase – “Tick tock!” – came in the last episode, courtesy of a character so intentionally annoying he got punched in the face. A two-series wonder to stand alongside Fawlty Towers and The Office, albeit one shuffling uncomfortably and making self-deprecating comments.
Shameless (Channel 4, 2004-13)
Chloë Sevigny described Manchester as “one of the grimmest places I’d ever been in my entire life” after filming Paul Abbott’s oddball thriller Hit & Miss. Frank Gallagher would doubtless beg to differ. By the end of Abbott’s extraordinary have-cake-and-eat-it council estate carnival, Shameless had descended into self-parody, and remains lazy shorthand for “benefits culture” (whatever that means). At its height, though, it was masterfully provocative; a challenge to those who confuse the margins with the scrapheap. These underdogs seldom triumphed in the conventional sense, but snarled and barked with anger and pride. Scatter!
Funland (BBC3, 2005)
Back when BBC3 experimented with content as well as form (Nighty Night, Monkey Dust et al) and offered an altogether less reductive vision of the north-west than the Runcorn-set Two Pints of Lager, Funland was the weirder, freakier flipside of Peter Bowker’s already fairly weird and freaky musical Blackpool. Outside, the sun shone, ice-creams were licked and rollercoasters ridden. Behind closed doors, it was violence and corruption, lapdancing and taxidermy, all filtered through the dark, twisted imaginations of Jeremy Dyson and Simon Ashdown.
Life on Mars (BBC1, 2006-7)
For the perfect illustration of the importance of location, compare and contrast with the disastrous New York-set Life on Mars starring Harvey Keitel, or with the underwhelming, muddled Ashes to Ashes transfer to London. Life on Mars was one big McGuffin brought to life by its early-70s Manchester setting, and the ultimate product of that era and environment, Gene Hunt, spitting out one-liners as freely and carelessly as he felt collars.
The Street (BBC1, 2006-9)
Jimmy McGovern’s Manchester series often told stories as bleak and gloomy as the skies under which it was generally filmed. Yet it never descended to gratuitous miserablism thanks to sensitively drawn characters, pitch-perfect casting and a sense of the absurd, as showcased in the first episode of the second series when David Thewlis played a man who steals the identity of his more successful late twin brother. Curious that McGovern chose not to set this in his native Liverpool – can the last truly memorable Merseyside series really have been Brookside?
Scott and Bailey (ITV, 2011-present)
“Cagney and Lacey with Boddingtons and without the brilliant theme tune!” cried lazy journalists – including this one – when Sally Wainwright’s buddy-buddy cop show arrived in 2011. And while the debt was acknowledged by star Suranne Jones, Scott and Bailey has proved a harsher, more wry (read: Mancunian) take on modern policing that places women at its heart without ever making a big deal about it. No less impressively, it has given the likes of Nicola Walker, Lesley Sharp and the great Amelia Bullmore (who oversaw series four) roles worthy of their talents.
• This article was amended on 24 March 2015 to clarify that Funland was created by Simon Ashdown and Jeremy Dyson.
