With its ill-fated love affairs, comic mishaps and shock
exits, the second series of lesbian drama Lip Service made for
must-see TV for many of us when it aired earlier this year. A
testament to its popularity, several hundred fans gathered in
Glasgow recently for the show's first official fan event and, as
you might expect, DIVA was there
As DIVA goes to press at the very end of July, the future of Lip
Service remains uncertain. Despite the evident popularity of the
show's first two seasons, there's been no news about the
commissioning of a third. "We haven't actually been told anything
by the BBC," says the show's creator, writer and executive producer
Harriet Braun, "although we do know that there are big cuts to the
budget at the BBC and particularly BBC Three and drama, so that
means it's very precarious. I can't say for sure but it certainly
hangs in the balance".
If the enthusiasm of the fans who made the journey to the show's
first official fan event in Glasgow is anything to go by, there is
certainly an appetite for a third series of the show's appealing
brand of lesbian-centric tragicomedy. Organised by Lee and Sarah of
Wire Media, and featuring Heather Peace (Sam), James Anthony
Pearson (Ed), Fiona Button (Tess) and Anna Skellern (Lexy) in its
line-up, along with show creator Harriet, the 15 July event was
attended by close to 300 fans, including some who made the trip
from lands as distant as Russia, Israel and Italy (and through the
rain from Edinburgh, someone later quips).
Needless to say, the show's future is foremost in the minds of
many - in one form or another. In the Q&A sessions that kick
off the event at the Glasgow Film Theatre, there are a number of
speculative "what if...?" questions both for Harriet and for the
four members of the cast in attendance, some of which elicit some
interesting narrative possibilities. What would happen were Frankie
to return from self-imposed exile in New York and bump into Sam,
for example? "I think they'd batter each other and have sex,"
Heather Peace offers, with typical candour. "They'd totally,
totally regret it, do you know what I mean, but I think it'd be one
of those." Food for thought, perhaps.
Read the rest of this feature in DIVA's September 2012
issue, on sale August 16.
Buy the new issue here at divadirect.co.uk
PHOTOGRAPHS Bénédicte Beugnet, shartour.com
