River City (TV series)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| River City | |
|---|---|
 Scotland's Soap |
|
| Genre | Soap Opera |
| Creator(s) | Stephen Greenhorn |
| Starring | Johnny Beattie Lorraine McIntosh (see Here for Full Cast Listings) |
| Country of origin |  Scotland |
| No. of episodes | 400+ |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | BBC Scotland |
| Running time | 30 minutes per episode |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC One Scotland |
| Original run | 24 September 2002 – Present |
| Links | |
| Official website | |
For other meanings of the term, see River City (disambiguation).
River City is a Scottish soap opera produced by BBC Scotland and set in the fictional Glasgow suburb of Sheildinch. Two episodes are shown every week, with an omnibus edition shown on Sundays. Despite its relative infancy, River City has grown to become one of Scotland's most-watched programmes. This is often attributed to the fact that it usually airs straight after Eastenders.
Despite being set in and around the Glasgow area, River City also includes long-term characters from Aberdeen and Western Isles.
Contents |
[edit] Setting
The studios are in BBC Scotland's purpose-built set in Dumbarton where the lot representing Shieldinch has been built on the site of an old J & B Whisky Bond, which is to a large degree a replica of a Glasgow West End scene e.g. Partick with the red sandstone tenements, a cafe similar to the University Cafe in Byres Road, and a Subway station similar to those found in urban Glasgow.
The River City set includes a pub called 'The Tall Ship' - the heart and soul to anyone in Glasgow, with an adjoining restaurant called 'The Grill'. A club, 'Versus', provides alternative nightlife for the residents of Shieldinch, with 'The Montego Deli' providing a place for Sheildinch residents to both shop and gossip. Other standout locations include Shieldinch's local tanning parlour, 'Lazy Ray's', hair salon 'Moda Vida', open-air street cafe 'DeeKafe' and Chinese takeaway 'Wok My World'.
[edit] Famous Names
For a fledgling soap, River City has attracted various recognisable faces on a permanent or temporary basis. Actors such as Stefan Dennis (known to viewers of Neighbours as Paul Robinson), Gray O'Brien (formerly of Casualty and Peak Practice), Juan Pablo Di Pace and Lorraine McIntosh (of the Scottish band Deacon Blue) have been hired to play various parts in the soap. Eileen McCallum, who played Isabel Blair in the now defunct soap opera High Road on stv, plays the mother of lawyer Archie Buchanan. BBC Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills also praised the show highly and was rewarded with a cameo appearance.
[edit] Current Cast
[edit] Storylines
Initially the series was criticised for its poor plots and low quality acting. However as the series has matured it has produced some classic storylines worthy of a national UK soap.
Major storylines have included:
- The death of Dr Marcus McKenzie, a respected surgeon who raped Gina Rossi, and attempted to rape fiance Heather Bellshaw. During the attempted rape in Marcus's office, Heather fatally stabbed him with his letter opener. Gina's daughter, Joanne was initially arrested and held on remand for the murder, and was eventually pivotal in Heather's acquittal - Joanne had been granted immunity from prosecution if she testified for the Crown, but during her cross-examination, she dramatically announced that she had murdered Marcus.
- One of the show's most-loved characters, 'Shellsuit' Bob Adams, was revived from a coma in a comedic style not normally associated with life or death situations in soap operas. Bob had fought with his best friend, Deek Henderson, and fallen down a flight of concrete stairs during the tussle. Whilst in hospital, the doctors broke it to Bobs mum, sister and brother (Scarlett, Kelly-Marie and Stevie) that Bob had fallen into a coma, and it was unclear if and when he would regain consciousness. The Adams family decided to try to revive him by recreating a scene from his childhood which Bob had told them was the happiest moment of his life. This involved playing the chimes from the family-owned ice-cream van outside his hospital ward window, whilst wafting a bottle of Irn Bru and an ice-cream cone under his nose. Miraculously, Bob's eyelids flickered open to the tinny strains of Popeye the Sailor Man, and minutes later was seen to be eating the ice-cream and drinking the fizzy pop happily whilst sitting up in bed, laughing with his family!
- The entry of a new character, Shona (Julie Duncanson) into Montego Street. She is the sister of Roisin (Joyce Falconer) who was in hospital after a gas explosion caused by her daughter's step-father. Her husband Raymond (Paul Samson) was left to look after all of Roisin's businesses that she acquired when she won a small amount on the lottery. Shona has turned up to find out what is happening and is shocked at the state of affairs. Raymond has allowed The Montego Deli to close and she thinks there may be something going on between Raymond and Eileen (Deirdre Davis) whilst Roisin has been in the hospital. It looks like she's here to cause some trouble... along with her sister Iona who has also come to Montego Street from Aberdeen to help .
- The show is not afraid to tackle controversial storylines. A female character was prosecuted for internet paedophilia - a subject most soaps, especially primetime ones, would usually avoid.
[edit] Broadcasts
The Show is only broadcast terrestrially in Scotland, on Tuesdays at 8pm and Fridays at 8.30pm but English, Irish and Welsh viewers with satellite and cable services have also been tuning in. BBC One Scotland can be found on Virgin Media Channel 927 and also on Sky Channel 941. Audience figures may have been helped by BBC Radio One DJ Scott Mills who saw the show on satellite and recommended it to his listeners.
The omnibus edition is usually broadcast on a Sunday afternoon on BBC One Scotland. NTL On Demand shows the week's episodes on its TV Pick of the Week section for free.
[edit] Trivia
- Kieron Elliott (Duncan) is a DJ on Real Radio Scotland Weekends from 6am until 10am.
- Natasha Watson (Freya) is a BAFTA nominated actress.
- Paula Sage (Donna McCabe) was in a film called Afterlife.
- Laura McMonagle and Jade Lezar (Zoe and Alanna) sang together as City Chix, one of the acts vying to represent the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006. Despite their entry 'All About You' receiving the maximum 12 Points from the Scottish vote, they finished third overall in the Making Your Mind Up 2006 programme.
- Lorraine Kelly appeared as herself, an old schoolmate of Billy Davies, in June 2006 during Gina & Archie's wedding episode and she has mentioned this 2 months before appearing in the episode on The Paul O'Grady Show.
- Laxmi Kuthuria, now a doctor in Hairmires Hospital, appeared in the early stages of River City as Jamilah Malik.
- Johnny Wu, The owner of Wok My World is played by veteran Hong Kong and Asia movie star Richard Ng (known as Richard Woo in the UK). He is appearing at a screening and Q&A session in London in May 2007. (sourced from the "news" section of www.screen-power.com)
[edit] External links
- River City at bbc.co.uk
- River City Cast The River City cast list from the Internet Movie Database
- Joyce Falconers official website
