Dates (TV series)

Dates
Genre Drama
Written by Bryan Elsley
Starring
Opening theme "Chloe" by Hannah Peel[1]
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 1
No. of episodes 9 (list of episodes)
Production
Producer(s) Bradley Adams
Chris Clough
Harry Enfield
Location(s) London
Running time 30 min
Production company(s) Balloon Entertainment Ltd.
Broadcast
Original channel Channel 4
Original run 10 June 2013 – 3 July 2013
External links
Website

Dates is a British television romantic drama series created by Bryan Elsley, who also created Skins,[2] which first aired on Channel 4 on 10 June 2013, at 22:00 (BST),[3] as part of its "Mating Season" programming,[4][5] illustrating a series of first dates between online dating service users.[6] The show's target audience is "ABC1".[3]

Plot

Set in London, each episode focuses on a first date between two people who have met on an online dating service,[7][8] with the series exploring the issues and intricacies of modern relationships and the "thrills and calamities" of first dates.[9] Some characters appear in several episodes.

Production

Creator Bryan Elsley conceived the idea of Dates in December 2011/January 2012, stating "a date is a very complex and grown up interaction between two people. It's a complex language that everyone understands. Everyone knows the difficulty of spending an hour or so in someone's company that you haven't met before. It seemed to be that there was an almost infinite range of possibilities that could flow from that. So dramatically it became very attractive".[10] Dates was commissioned and approved by Channel 4 in September 2012.[11]

Dates was filmed in London during the first quarter of 2013.[12]

Cast

Dates features numerous up-and-coming and more established British and Irish actors and actresses.[13][14]

To promote the series and to provide further background knowledge, Channel 4 has created a series of fake online dating profiles for each of the main characters.[15]

Episodes

No. Title Directed by Written by Original air date U.K. viewers
(millions)[16]
1"Mia and David"John MayburyBryan Elsley10 June 20132.19
Northern lorry driver David arrives at a restaurant to meet Celeste with whom he has arranged a date via the Internet. 'Celeste' arrives but is actually called Mia and proceeds to be offensive to him and the waitress. She eventually drops her guard and finds herself enjoying herself with David but whilst he talks about himself he discloses he has 4 children and his wife is deceased. Mia excuses herself and leaves for the toilet but leaves the restaurant without telling him. David bumps into her as she is hailing a taxi where they kiss before she flees in a taxi.
2"Jenny and Nick"Charles SturridgeNancy Harris11 June 20131.62
Jenny, a shy teacher from Rotherham, meets super-confident city trader Nick in a London wine bar. She is nervous and talkative, he is bluff and full of himself though he does confess that his promiscuity wrecked his marriage. Then he takes a phone call from work and leaves the room. He is gone a long time so Jenny follows and discovers him having sex with the waiter in the toilet. She gets her revenge by stealing his wallet.
3"Mia and Stephen"John MayburyBen Schiffer12 June 20131.38
Mia meets another date, superficially self-assured surgeon Stephen, though she shocks him by telling him that when she was an escort girl he paid her for sex. Stephen wants to leave but Mia reminds him that they are on a date and as the date progresses they wind up having sex in an alley before moving on to a pub. He gets a call from his hospital to say that he is needed and takes Mia with him, her unexpected kindness to a dying patient leaving him feeling confused.
4"Erica and Kate"Philippa LangdaleJamie Chan18 June 20131.46
Erica, a lesbian who cannot tell her traditional Chinese family, meets the experienced Kate in a bar and, although Kate is annoyed to find that Erica has been with men, they go to a hotel for sex. Next morning Kate is scathing when Erica tells her she is afraid to come out to her family but they still agree to meet for brunch. In between the argument Erica took a call from her brother and as they agree to go for brunch Erica realises she never never hung up on her brother. The episode ends with her brother telling her that she cannot do what she is doing.
5"David and Ellie"Sarah WalkerLaura Hunter19 June 20131.28
On his thirty-fourth birthday David meets Ellie and they go for a meal. Ellie is, however, suspiciously young looking and when a friend comes over to speak to her it confirms David's surmise that she is still at school. She is nonetheless very mature for her age and, having heard David talking about Mia, makes contact with her and eventually takes David to her flat, where Mia and David reconcile.
6"Erica and Callum"Philippa LangdaleJamie Brittain25 June 20131.13
Erica meets Callum in a Chinese restaurant. He is a brash, self-opinionated slob who thinks she should fancy him. However, when she tells him that she is gay and only went on the date to please her brother Tony, who wants to 'turn' her straight he is extremely sympathetic and they get drunk together - so drunk in fact that Callum gets out of hand and Erica calls Tony. Tony pays off the restaurant staff to not file any charges against Callum and Callum gets up to leave. Before he goes he urges Erica to stand up for herself. The episode ends with Erica more forcefully telling her brother she is gay and going for a drink with Callum in a happier mood.
7"Stephen and Mia"Paul Andrew WilliamsBryan Elsley26 June 20131.03
Stephen arranges to meet Mia for afternoon sex at an hotel but she rings to say she is not coming. He falls in with a conference of local government officers and is mistaken for a speaker from Scotland. While maintaining the pretense he befriends Heidi. Stephen separates Heidi from the group and while flirting with one another she informs Stephen that she is separated from her husband. They embark on a playful swim in the hotel pool which almost turns into sex before Stephen gets a phone call from his hospital. Heidi learns about his ruse and gets up to leave. The episode ends with Stephen being told he is a good kisser and Stephen telling Heidi she looks great.
8"Jenny and Christian"Charles SturridgeNancy Harris2 July 20131.00
Jenny goes on another date and appears to hit it off with Christian as they both find the exhibits in the art gallery where they meet pretentious. He is sympathetic as she recalls doomed previous dates and her ex-fiance's marriage. Although he belongs to a religious group and she is an atheist she finds him wholly charming and they repair to his flat for afternoon sex. Unfortunately he has omitted to tell Jenny something very important about himself - as she discovers when his wife walks in on them. The episode ends with Christian begging Jenny to let him stay in her apartment overnight. Jenny pushes back and walks away from Christian feeling happier in herself.
9"Mia and David"Charles SturridgeBen Schiffer3 July 20130.90
Mia is supposed to meet David with a view to meeting his children. She arrives late irking David and she discloses she's unprepared to meet his family. David storms off and Mia rings Stephen who surprisingly arrives but brings his son along. Stephen convinces Mia to hang around and she plays Jenga with Stephen and his son. She enjoys herself and when Stephen's son leaves she repairs to her apartment where they see a drunken injured David. Stephen fixes David's injury and then departs after kissing Mia. David comes clean to Mia that he has feelings for her, after which she admits to sleeping with men for money. The episode ends with David agreeing with Mia that it was too soon to meet his children and to keep the relationship on a fun level.

Reception

Dates has been critically well received thus far. Tom Sutcliffe from The Independent wrote, "the writer who wants to leave an impression behind will always be tugged towards a gratifying finish. Credit due to Bryan Elsley, then, for ending the first of Dates, a series of dramas about modern relationships, with an ambiguity".[8]

Of the first episode, Gerard O'Donovan of The Telegraph wrote, "It was enjoyable, I didn't just want more, I couldn't wait to see how successive episodes would link and weave into a format so unforgivingly dependent on great writing and acting. Suffice to say, in a game of snog, marry or avoid, Dates is definitely a keeper".[6]

Lucy Mangan of The Guardian called the first episode "a little nugget of bliss"[17] and commended the show for its realism and its "beauty" in its screenplay and acting.[17]

Paul Naylor of Express & Star deemed that the execution of the first episode was "classy".[18]

Of the first three episodes, The Scotsman wrote, "Elsley is attempting to say something meaningful about the guises we adopt at our most vulnerable and desperate. It's an unedifying portrait of human nature at somewhere near its worst: a cynical blast of rotten candour. Whether Elsley and his fellow writers actually like their characters is a moot point, but I can't deny the voyeuristic impact of these superbly performed chamber pieces".[19]

Writing for The Spectator, Clarissa Tan said that the show's "smartness gets wearying after a while". She criticised episode four on the basis that a lesbian coming out narrative "is quite thin as plots go, but not as thin as the sheets that she and her new lover Kate are under for most of the show". Tan concluded that the characters are "tropes rather than people", "a congregation of characteristic, a multitude of attitudes".[20]

Spin-offs

Entertainment One and Bryan Elsley have partnered to release a companion e-book to the television series.[21]

References

  1. ↑ Listen out for Hannah Peel's wonderful new track Chloe on new Ch4 show Dates. Monday 10pm Beggars Music on Twitter. 7 June 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  2. ↑ Wilson, Benji (10 June 2013). "Dates: a grown-up drama from the creator of Skins". London: The Telegraph. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Dates (Part of the Channel 4 Mating Season)". Channel 4 Sales.
  4. ↑ "TV preview: Dates". Yorkshire Evening Post. 9 June 2013.
  5. ↑ "Mating Season: Dates". Radio Times. 3 June 2013.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 O'Donovan, Gerard (10 June 2013). "Dates, Channel 4, review". The Telegraph (London).
  7. ↑ Jeffery, Morgan (25 September 2012). "Skins creator to write new Channel 4 drama Dates". Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Tom Sutcliffe (11 June 2013). "TV review: Dates, Channel 4 -Bryan Elsley's new drama about modern relationships". London: The Independent.
  9. ↑ Sweeting, Adam (12 June 2013). "Dates, Channel 4". The Arts Desk.
  10. ↑ Creamer, Jon (10 June 2013). "Bryan Elsley on Channel 4's Dates". Televisual.
  11. ↑ "Trio of New Dramas Commissioned by Channel 4!". 25 September 2012.
  12. ↑ "Channel 4 WLTM... (Would Like to Meet)". Channel 4. 5 February 2013.
  13. ↑ Doran, Sarah (5 February 2013). "Ireland's Own: Sherlocks Andrew Scott and Merlins Katie McGrath are set for Dates". Entertainment.ie.
  14. ↑ Baldock, Luke Ryan (9 May 2013). "Rising Star Gemma Chan Discusses Her New Show Dates". The Hollywood News.
  15. ↑ Wilken, Selina (2 June 2013). "Fake online dating profiles revealed for Dates stars Katie McGrath, Oona Chaplin, more". Hypable.
  16. ↑ "BARB Top 30s".
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Mangan, Lucy (11 June 2013). "The Fall; Dates: TV review". The Guardian (London).
  18. ↑ Naylor, Paul (11 June 2013). "TV review: Dates". Express & Star.
  19. ↑ "TV preview: The Returned/Dates/Agatha Christie's Poirot". The Scotsman. 8 June 2013.
  20. ↑ Tan, Clarissa (22 June 2013). "Television review: Channel 4’s mating season". The Spectator. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  21. ↑ Padovano, Joanna (13 June 2013). "eOne to Release eBook Based on Dating Drama". WorldScreen.com.

External links