There was once a time when producers would almost always have a real-life character named in their real-life dramas – even if it meant adding lashings of artistic licence to their backstory.
But that was before Baby Reindeer, which last year saw Netflix slapped with a defamation lawsuit by Fiona Harvey, who claims she was wrongly used as inspiration for the central stalker in the show.
BBC’s new drama Dope Girls features a lead character resembling real-life gangster Kate Meyrick, but TV execs insist any similarities are purely coincidental[/caption]
Now it seems to have spooked bosses of new drama Dope Girls, which is set between the wars in London and airs later this month on BBC One.
Their lead character is obviously based on a real-life female “gangster” called Kate Meyrick, but execs have called her Kate Galloway and insist any similarities between the two Kates are coincidental.
A TV insider said: “The Beeb hasn’t mentioned Meyrick in any of its publicity, even though it’s pretty obvious that the two Kates’ stories are remarkably similar.
“The fear is that if they state it was based on a true story, then people could come forward to criticise them for their portrayal in a show which is packed with potentially controversial scenes of sex, violence, and drug-taking.
“Of course, the original Kate, who died in 1933, can’t take legal action. But execs are now reluctant to be seen as playing fast and loose with the truth in dramas based on real-life events.
“The trouble is that they are also effectively erasing high-profile, key individuals from their historic periods.
“It would be disrespectful to make a drama about a grocer’s daughter called Margaret who rose to be Prime Minister in the late Seventies—and then claim it wasn’t inspired by Margaret Thatcher.”
After World War One, Meyrick made the modern equivalent of £17m and became known as “the most dangerous woman in London” and “The Nightclub Queen.”
She built an illicit empire of clubs around the capital where hedonists indulged in a booming recreational drugs market, but as a single mother, she also became something of a feminist icon.
Meanwhile, the BBC described their lead character, Kate Galloway, as being a woman who, after World War One, “established herself at the centre of London’s exploding club scene, embracing a life of criminal activities under the nose of the police with the dedicated aim of providing for her daughter.”
But yesterday, a spokesman for the BBC insisted: “The character is not Kate Meyrick or any real-life figure. Dope Girls is inspired by a forgotten time in history, and all its events and characters are fictional.”
Producers once named real-life characters in dramas, but Netflix’s Baby Reindeer lawsuit has sparked a shift in approach[/caption]
Painful trip for Alison
ACTRESS Alison Steadman injured her leg and hand when she fell over at a dinner in the Dubai desert.
The Gavin & Stacey star, who had to briefly use a wheelchair afterward, told the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature: “There were beautiful seats laid out and a buffet. I went to get some pudding. I was walking along a concrete walkway that was not 100 per cent smooth.
“I tripped and it felt like I went up in the air about 5ft and then just crashed down on concrete. It was absolutely horrible. I landed on this foot and this hand and was in absolute agony.”
Stunned by her fall, she was even more confused when medics arrived and asked her if she’d tumbled off a camel.
Alison recalled: “I said: ‘What camel? I didn’t fall off a camel!’”
Bet she really got the hump after that.
Island’s an Ek of a fan hit
Love Island fans are hooked on the Ekin-Su and Curtis drama[/caption]
As Love Island’s cast dwindles, ratings are rising – with viewers hooked on the Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu and Curtis Pritchard drama.
Two All Stars lads, Scott Thomas and Ron Hall, quit the villa in Cape Town at the weekend after failing to find love on the ITV2 dating show.
But more than a million watched Sunday’s episode live as Curtis pulled a U-turn to recouple with Ekin despite days of rows.
These days, most Love Island viewers stream on ITVX, where it averages two million views an episode.
The series is ITVX’s most streamed show, with a total of 47 million views and, so far this year, the biggest share of the 16-34s digital audience.
Who needs EastEnders if you have Ekin and Curtis?
