Girls in Love (TV series)

For novel, see Girls in Love (novel).

Girls in Love
Genre	Drama
Written by	Carol Noble Steve Turner Diane Whitley Jacqueline Wilson
Directed by	Indra Bhose Rachel Tillotson
Starring	Olivia Hallinan Amy Kwolek Zaraah Abrahams Ian Dunn Sam Loggin Adam Paul Harvey
Narrated by	Olivia Hallinan
Opening theme	"Party in the Club Tonight" by the Sugababes
Composer(s)	Nick Harvey
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	27
Production
Executive producer(s)	Anne Brogan
Producer(s)	Grainne Marmion Diane Whitley
Production location(s)	London Manchester
Cinematography	Roger Bonnici David Katznelson
Editor(s)	Annie Kocur Sebastian Morrison Sue Wyatta
Camera setup	David Budd
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	Granada Media
Release
Original network	ITV Network (CITV)
Picture format	16:9
Original release	1 April 2003 – 20 May 2005
External links
Website

Girls in Love is a British teen drama series produced by Granada Television which aired on CITV. It is based on the book of the same title, both created by UK author Jacqueline Wilson. The show ran for two series in 2003 to 2005. The show was filmed in Manchester, UK.

Plot

Three teenage girls - Ellie (Hallinan), Magda (Abrahams) and Nadine (Kwolek) are three best friends that go through the somewhat weird and wonderful world of boys together. The show is narrated by Ellie, and usually portrays her life events in her sketchbook, which blends the show's live action with animation in a similar manner to the American teen comedy hit Lizzie Maguire. She lives with her dad and his girlfriend (later wife) Anna, and her baby half-brother Benedict "Eggs".

Cast

• Olivia Hallinan as Ellie, narrated from her perspective, often told through her drawings and writings in her journal. Her mother died when she was 5 years old.
• Amy Kwolek as Nadine, Ellie's best friend since they were little. She is said to have a "wild child" reputation and is also goth.
• Zaraah Abrahams as Magda, also one of Ellie and Nadine's best friends, after they met in high school. She is known for attracting lots of boys, and having a loud personality.
• Ian Dunn as Dad, Ellie's father, widowed when her mother died, remarried to Anna.
• Sam Loggin as Anna, Ellie's step mother, much younger than her father. Ellie and Anna soon start to be friends after having their ups and downs in the first few episodes.
• Adam Paul Harvey as Russell, Ellie's boyfriend then later her ex-boyfriend. Like Ellie, he is interested in art. Is in year eleven at his school, Halmer High. Becomes Ellie's ex-boyfriend in the episode "The Unforgiven" after Russell cheats on Ellie. They almost get back together in episode "The Ex Factor" but Russell cheats on her again.
• Dale Barker as Greg, Magda's on and off again boyfriend.
• Nick Schofield as Liam, Nadine's sleazy, but extremely good looking, ex-boyfriend who had a reputation for using girls for sex.
• Tom Woodland as Dan, Ellie's "kind-of" boyfriend before Russell. He should be in year eight, but because of his intelligence he was moved up a year, to year Nine. They met at during the summer holidays but Ellie and Dan split up and Dan gets another girlfriend.
• Alp Haydar as Darius, new American exchange student that becomes friends with Ellie, Magda and Nadine. Magda and Ellie both develop crushes on Darius, and Magda and Darius eventually go out but it doesn't work out, and in the last episode at a school dance Ellie and Darius kiss (which Magda doesn't mind).
• Gemma Wolk as Natasha, Nadine's spoiled, manipulative little sister.
• Julian Kay as Mr. Green, Ellie, Magda and Nadine's art teacher, who Magda has a crush on.
• Clare Wille as Miss Henderson, Ellie, Magda and Nadine's tutor and P.E teacher in year nine. She is usually strict and often unfair on the girls.

Reception

The show has received criticism from fans of the book, a lot due to Ellie and Magda's appearances. In the book, Ellie is short, bespectacled, chubby, frizzy-haired, whereas in the television series, she is taller, thinner, has straight hair and doesn't wear glasses. Magda was also portrayed differently - in the series she is mixed-race with dark hair; in the book, she is caucasian and has blonde hair. Also in the book Ellie has a younger brother Eggs who is five years old, however in the series Eggs isn't born till later on. Girls In Love was repeated for the first time since 2005 on CITV's digital channel from September 2010. The TV series was also repeated on Australia's children channel ABC3 for the first time in 2010 and most recently repeated in September 2013.

External links

• Girls in Love at IMDb
• Jacqueline Wilson Official Site