Sex, Chips & Rock n' Roll

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Sex, Chips & Rock n' Roll
Format	Drama
Created by	Debbie Horsfield
Starring	Gillian Kearney Emma Cooke Sue Johnston Phil Daniels Joseph McFadden David Threlfall
Country of origin	UK
No. of episodes	6
Production
Running time	50 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC 1
Original run	5 September 1999 – 10 October 1999

Sex, Chips & Rock n' Roll is a six-part television mini-series which was written and created by Debbie Horsfield and directed by John Woods. It was produced by Wall to Wall for BBC One.

Originally shown in 1999, it was later adapted into a stage musical which appeared at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre in 2005.

1 Synopsis
2 Main cast
3 DVDs and CDs
4 External links

[edit] Synopsis

Set in Manchester in 1965, the story focusses on twin sisters, Ellie and Arden Brookes, living with their father, Howard, and grandmother Irma, and working in the family run chip shop. Irma is the 'moral guardian' of the family, a woman who is hiding a terrible secret and who effectively controls her son and grand-daughter's lives.

Irma encourages a family friend Norman Kershawe in his pursuit of Ellie and he considers she is promised to him. Ellie does not want to marry Norman but cannot directly oppose her grandmother's wish.

A band called the Ice Cubes moves to town and the young lads in the band become friendly with the girls. Arden has sex in the back of the band's van with Dallas, the band's guitarist, who was tentatively getting to know Ellie. Arden tells him that she is pregnant and the two marry, as she has no idea of the feelings between her sister and Dallas. They move down to London, leaving Ellie to the mercy of her grandmother and Norman. Norman manages to get Ellie to marry him but she runs away after the wedding and joins Arden and Dallas in London. Ellie collaborates with Dallas on a record, which becomes a huge hit. However, things do not go smoothly between Arden and Dallas and she later admits to faking the pregancy.

Howard discovers his mother's secret; she was never married to the man whose photo occupies pride of place on the piano. She only met him once, had a one night stand and became pregnant. Disgusted with her hypocrisy, Howard finally breaks free from his mother and joins the Ice Cubes as roadie.

Although Arden is not pregnant by Dallas, Ellie rekindles her relationship with him and does become pregnant. However, she is discovered in London by Norman, who takes her back home to await the birth. Norman arranges for the baby to be adopted by a childless couple and is prepared to forget about what happened and live with Ellie as his wife. Ellie gives birth to a daughter, Iona, whom she names after a beach place that is pictured on a postcard that Dallas has given her. Ellie runs away again, but this time only Arden knows where she has gone - to the island of Iona and it is Dallas that follows her there. The series ends with Ellie and Dallas meeting on the beach and holding their daughter in their arms.