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"The Lakes" (1997) More at IMDb Pro »

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10 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the best TV dramas of the 90s., 19 November 2000
10/10
Author: Damian Keenan from Belfast, Northern Ireland

Nobody can accuse Jimmy McGovern of settling for a quiet life. His dramas, right from "Needle", through to "Cracker" and "Priest", to this masterpiece confirm him as one of the most exciting writers in any medium to emerge in the last decade.

And a masterpiece is what "The Lakes" is, even considering its flaws. Occasionally, McGovern seems more concerned with hitting home his messages (about Catholicism, country-versus-city, sexual politics, etc) at the expense of his characters, but he still creates dramatic situations which are credible, raw, and overwhelmingly moving without succumbing to sickly sentiment.

Focussing on the story of Danny, a Liverpudlian drifter and compulsive gambler, who marries Emma, the daughter in a devoutly Catholic family living in a small Lake District town, and who is implicated in the drowning accident which claims the lives of four local children, McGovern wrings every piece of emotion from his storyline, and supplies a script which his excellent cast are obviously having a field day with.

John Simms is remarkable as Danny, perfectly realising the inner conflict facing his outsider character who craves to do the right thing while aspiring to escape the emotional prison he finds himself in. Robert Pugh and Mary Jo Randle as the parish priest and would-be middle-aged lover handle their roles with compassion and truth, and Paul Copley as Randle's unknowing and decent husband also deserves some kudos.

In fact, the entire cast is outstanding, all perfectly getting under the skins of their characters, and the action is all brilliantly orchestrated by director David Blair, who brings all the initially disparate plotlines into one immensely satisfying whole.

In an age of endless costume drama, "The Lakes" comes like a blast of welcome fresh air, and very few other dramas produced in the 1990s (with the exception, maybe, of Alan Bleasdale's "GBH") come anywhere near matching its heartfelt intensity.

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10 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Astonishingly impactful television!!, 25 June 1999
Author: prose from Adelaide, Australia

This remarkable series has already been repeated on Australian television, and as far as I'm concerned it can be repeated each year, and nothing will come anywhere near it. The sharpness of Jimmy McGovern's script, the breathtaking performance by John Simm, the direction of David Blair, and the awesome landscape of the Lake District form the foundation of this 4-part series.

There are many layers and sub-texts to this story. My family were still discussing it for months after the first viewing. Not all the decisions made by the characters in this story will be popular with viewers, but they are realistic indeed. So realistic that one is likely to feel uncomfortable with the result.

As a rites of passage tale, "The Lakes" is almost mythological in its strength, gritty realism, and impact.

I look forward to the further work of this remarkable writer.

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7 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Best TV drama ever, 6 July 2004
10/10
Author: swindon from Helsinki, Finland

Absolutely the best mini series ever made. Intelligent, challenging, realistic and funny, even hilarious from time to times. Issues dealt with are not easy; child's death, betrayal, gambling, revenge and wrath. How to be "a good catholic" in modern world but still in a very small village where everyone knows you and tour business? And most importantly, does love really forgive anything? The Lakes has magnificent acting all the way. It's impossible to name one actor/actress above other, they're all fantastic. This is an definitive must-see. Everything in it so real, so touching and it makes you really wonder your actions and value as a human being.

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Naughty and nice..., 22 November 2000
9/10
Author: Damian Keenan (dmnkeen@aol.com) from Belfast, Northern Ireland

I've just watched this again and the misgivings I had when I first saw it have dispelled somewhat. Following on the heels of, and attempting to continue, the first self-contained (if open-ended) saga of Danny and the residents of the small Lake District town he finds himself in might seem foolhardy and unnecessary, but the finished result proves these assumptions wrong.

True, "The Lakes 2" (as it is called on video) does stray into soap opera territory at times; some changes in certain characters behaviour does require a seismic suspension of disbelief; and some plotlines almost fall into self-parody. But, as with the first series, what pulls you into this drama and keeps your attention throughout is the incredible combination of superior acting, writing and directing.

Danny, the hero of Part One, takes more of a back seat here as the action focusses on the Hitchcockian story of the teacher who murders his philandering wife; the devout Catholic mother who sleeps with her priest; the bitch of a rich girl who gets more than she bargains for at the hands of three local rapists; and, best of all, there's Chef who, despite being run over repeatedly at the end of the last instalment, proves that he is still as nasty as ever, polluting the lives of all around him, especially his long-suffering but sluttish wife.

The Chef storyline actually provides a brilliant backdrop to the foreground drama of rape and infidelity, simply because the character is such a great creation: an immoral bull of a man who uses sex as a weapon, hates everyone around him, and who is motivated by an unrelenting vengeful streak against the (obvious) culprit who ran him down. Charles Dale plays Chef perfectly, making him one of television's most memorable and despicable characters who gets his delicious comeuppance courtesy of two very strong women and a rusty straight razor! Compare Dale's performance here with his Mr Nice Guy character in "Coronation Street" and you'll see just how good this actor is.

That's not to take anything away from the rest of the cast: they are all fine, and Bob Mason's world-weary police sergeant deserves a special mention. The team of writers and directors (including original scribe Jimmy McGovern) manage to create a seamless whole, and this is well worth watching and rewatching.

Is it as good as the original? Not quite, but if you take this as written before you sit down to watch, there are just as many enjoyable and striking things on offer here.

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Wet & nasty..., 5 November 1998
8/10
Author: Malcolm Murray from London, England

Jimmy McGovern's terrific mini-series contains arguably one of the single most haunting images in modern TV, as Danny Kavanagh (played strikingly by John Simm) staggers out of the icy lake bearing the first of the drowned girls. Although nothing else (perhaps inevitably) sticks in the mind to QUITE the same degree, McGovern's writing & Simm's performance help create one of the sharpest British serials of recent years.

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9 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the best - EVER!, 15 June 1999
Author: Sami Airola

The Lakes is definitely one of the best tv series I've ever seen. I love it! It's wet, sexy, violent and well written.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Another brilliant series from the pen of Jimmy McGovern, 15 April 1999
10/10
Author: Muchi from Melbourne, Australia

After watching the first series of the Lakes I wondered if McGovern could match his wonderfully complex and intriguing stories in the second series. Well I don't think anyone could have been disappointed. With even more tie ins, parallel stories and character development than the first series McGovern has again proved that he has one of the best minds in British drama. The star performance of the series was again from John Simm as the gambling addicted outsider Danny. Special mention must also go to Kevin Doyle as John who seemed to have a lot more fun with his new homicidal tendencies. All in all the Lakes has again brought me and a lot of others great pleasure. If you have not yet seen the first or second series I strongly recommend you find it, it will be the best bit of television you'll see all year.

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Unnecessary Sequel, 26 May 1999
7/10
Author: Gerald Clark from London, England

The Lakes was a typically powerful piece of Jimmy McGovern-written television, with many memorable images and characters who will live in the mind for a long time.

This second series was, frankly, quite unnecessary. There was a sense at the beginning that some storylines and characters were going to have to be contrived in order to wring more out of the situation and it teeters dangerously on the edge of becoming soapy.

However, Jimmy McGovern is still an extraordinary writer (though someone else wrote some of the episodes) and the second series is very well directed and acted, so still compulsive stuff - I just prefer to think this story finished after the first series.

I hope that credibility is not stretched any further and this portrait will end with this one.

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5 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Series 1 of `The Lakes' it's not!, 14 June 1999
Author: prose from Adelaide, Australia

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The final image from the first series of `The Lakes', of Danny Kavanah gambling with the only thing he has left - his life - is where this extraordinary story needs to have ended.

Series 2 is an overly obvious attempt at extracting every last cent (penny?) from the story. On a positive note, practically all the original cast (with the exception of David Westhead, who only briefly appears in the first episode) returned, and character development, on the whole, was rewarding.

However, this series suffers from the use of several writers and directors, with some improbable plotlines and not a small degree of disjointedness. For instance, I couldn't see the point in pursuing the story involving the doctor and her lesbian former lover. And would a mid-forties married woman having an affair with her priest never consider the possibility of pregnancy? This latter storyline was an obvious ploy by McGovern, who penned this particular episode, to display the Church's response to such situations. I had trouble believing that the characters involved would be that careless. Lucy Archer undergoes a complete transformation between Series 1 and 2, and almost overnight develops from a ditsy reactive 16-year-old to a calculating, erudite, Dickens-reading 20-something - a bit hard to swallow, if you'll pardon my pun!

On occasion the writing bordered on the brilliant. I'm referring to the "The milk's off!" scene, which takes place in the Quinlan household during one particularly chaotic breakfast time, as well as the card game scene in the hotel in the final episode. The outdoor scenery of the Lake District, breathtaking in Series 1, takes on a threatening and malevolent presence in this follow-up series.

I tolerated this series, and even enjoyed it, but only because of my fondness for the main characters. This was due to the superb standard of acting and the believability of characterisations established by the brilliant Jimmy McGovern in Series 1.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Very Good, 18 June 2007
9/10
Author: cspaced1

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Simm is a twenty-something trapped in a life of compulsive gambling, theft and being on the dole in Liverpool. On a whim he heads north to the Lake District. He expects to find the countryside quietude where his hidden poetical leanings might find a home, but instead gets caught up in a community like any other. Lies, temptation and tragedy beset every household just as much as the big city. As time races by, Danny's link to the Lakes becomes an exercise in torment when the eyes of blame fall easily upon him after the accidental deaths of three schoolgirls. Stoking the flames of a series of secondary explosions in waiting are a pair of affairs, one adulterous, the other complicated by religion.

The series examines morality in a small community in the British Lake District embracing sex, death and Catholic guilt. It was critically acclaimed when first broadcast, but often controversial, due to its hard-hitting portrayal of an immoral English sub-culture, and scenes of sex and violence. It consisted of two series which ran from 1997 to 1999.

The central core of both series is the relationship between Danny Kavanagh (John Simm) and Lucy Archer (Kaye Wragg). In Series One, Danny is a compulsive gambler and philanderer, who escapes from the dole queues in Liverpool to live in the Lake District. He meets and marries local girl Emma Quinlan and they move back to Liverpool, until Emma is driven home by Danny's gambling. Danny follows, gets a job looking after a rowing boat concession and starts to patch up his relationship with Emma, who now has a daughter. Danny rejects unsubtle advances from attention-seeking Lucy Archer, who determines to gain revenge. When three schoolgirls are drowned in a boating accident when Danny is on the phone to the bookies, Lucy lies to implicate Danny. Danny is unwilling to to tell the truth as he has promised to stop gambling. The community looks for someone to blame, but Lucy is exposed as a liar in the subsequent inquest after phone call records provide Danny with an alibi. In Series two, Lucy's attention-seeking leads to her rape by three locals ... but only Danny Kavanagh, enduring the claustrophobic hostility of the Quinlan family home, can testify as a witness, at odds with the village, his wife and her family.

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