Loved Up

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Loved Up was a BBC drama for the Love Bites season of films, and was broadcast on 23 September 1995. The film was directed by Peter Cattaneo who later directed The Full Monty (1997) and Lucky Break (2001). It features Danny Dyer who subsequently starred in the 1999 film, Human Traffic, which explored similar themes of clubbing and drug culture more ambiguously.

The story revolves around Tom, played by Ian Hart, who has meets Sarah (Lena Headey) in the cafe in which she works. She is quickly swept up in Tom's lifestyle, where she finds escape from her traumatic family life.

The film follows her path into the world of clubbing and ecstasy, her personal relationship with Tom and her growing family pressures. The film culminates with Sarah's mother's drink problem leading to an attempted suicide, and Sarah asking Tom for help by leaving him a vague answerphone message he does not receive in time. Sarah ends her relationship with Tom, and the film finishes with Tom popping another pill and dancing his troubles away.

At the time of broadcast, the film was not well received by the UK clubbing community, as it was perceived that the storyline suggested that Lena's ills - especially the failure of her relationship with Tom - were a result of clubbing and ecstasy, rather than her pre-existing dysfunctional family background, and that generally her experiences were highly atypical compared to most clubbers.

A soundtrack to accompany the film was also produced and featured artists such as; The Prodigy, Orbital and Leftfield.

The film was released on VHS in 1999, but is now deleted. As of September 2006, it has not been released on DVD.