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.
