Bad Girls stars address show's potential comeback
The cast are celebrating the show's 25th anniversary!
Believe it or not, 2024 marks 25 years since hard-hitting drama series Bad Girls first hit our screens, featuring the likes of Linda Henry, Claire King, Debra Stephenson, Jack Ellis, Alicya Eyo, Helen Fraser, Kika Mirylees, Victoria Alcock and Liz May Brice.
Despite the prison drama last airing in 2006, some of the cast have now reunited to celebrate the show's 25th anniversary, with Debra Stephenson, Victoria Alcock, and Jack Ellis all appearing on Wednesday's (3rd January) episode of Loose Women.
Is Bad Girls coming back?
With a wide range of popular TV shows all getting reboots in recent years, it's no surprise fans of Bad Girls have been calling out for the show to return.
However, it sounds like there's no plans in action, with Debra Stephenson saying on Loose Women: “We would have all moved on to different prisons wouldn’t we… I think the way it actually works, prisoners don’t stay in the same place, so I’m not sure if it would actually work as something to come back to.”
Victoria Alcock then added: “I think we all love the characters...”
After seeing the girls on Loose Women, many fans were quick to express their want for more episodes, revealing just how much they loved the ITV/STV show.
One wrote: 'Love bad girls would love to see the show return in the future amazing cast and story lines the to Julie's where brilliant ❤️', with another adding: 'I need this show back'. (sic)
A third wrote: 'Please let it come back', with a fourth commenting: Loved this show! It needs new episodes'. (sic)
Check out which other TV shows we wish would make a comeback:
Footballers' Wives
Broadcasting between 2002-2006, Footballers' Wives followed fictional Premier League football club Earls Park, as well as all of the drama from both the players and their fiery wives!
Bad Girls
Set inside a fictional women's prison, Bad Girls aired on ITV between 1996-2006 and featured some very famous faces, including Claire King and Debra Stephenson.
The Bill
First broadcast in 1983, police drama The Bill certainly proved popular, airing until 2010. The show focused on the lives and work of police officers and starred well-known actors such as Trudie Goodwin, Graham Cole and Mark Wingett.
Outnumbered
Although all of the kids from BBC sitcom Outnumbered are now grown up (Tyger Drew-Honey is now 26), we'd love to see a remake of the hilarious programme, which followed the lives of a mother and father who were outnumbered by their three children.
Of course, the mum and dad are now officially a couple in real life!
Don't Try This At Home
Who remembers sitting down in front of the TV on a Saturday night, watching on as Davina McCall helped members of the public take on tough and fearful challenges?
This needs to come back!
Sabrina the Teenage Witch
She was confident, funny, magical AND she had a talking cat. Sabrina made us all want to be a witch!
The show was also rebooted between 2018 and 2020 as a Netflix series called Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
Ugly Betty
Believe it or not, it's been a massive 16 years since Ugly Betty last aired on our screens! The show, which featured actress America Ferrera, followed a character called Betty Suarez, who despite her lack of 'style', landed a job at a very prestigious fashion magazine.
Where The Heart Is
The British drama, which was filmed in the Yorkshire town of Skelthwaite, proved very popular with viewers between 1997-2006, showcasing the lives of a group of district nurses and their families.
It's a Knockout
It was stupid, it was crazy, but it was certainly fun! It's a Knockout started way back in 1966, but the show made a number of returns on BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5!
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
We'd love to see Will Smith get back into his character alongside Carlton Banks, however we got the next best thing earlier this year, with the Fresh Prince reboot called Bel Air, which was released earlier this year where Jabari Banks played Will Smith.
Stars In Their Eyes
A true classic! Stars In Their Eyes, originally hosted by Leslie Crowther, first aired in 1990 with Matthew Kelly taking over in 1993. The show did make a return with Harry Hill in 2015, but it didn't quite take off!
The Queen's Nose
Who would have thought that rubbing a 50p coin would be so interesting? We used to love watching the adventures of Harmony as she used up her magic wishes.
Gossip Girl
Although the show was given a reboot in 2021 with a brand new cast, it didn't live up to expectations of the original series, which aired between 2007-2012.
Fun House
We used to love watching two schools battle each other in three rounds of madness. Bring back the gunge and Pat Sharp's crazy hairstyles!
Grange Hill
Despite being at school all day, we loved to come home and watch other people be at school. Strange. But gripping story lines and relatable characters had us glued to our screens.
London's Burning
Airing between 1988 and 2002, London's Burning documented the lives of a fictional London Fire Brigade Blue Watch at the fictional Blackwall fire station.
The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory was on TV from 2007 until 2019. The show centred around two physicists who shared an apartment, Johnny Galecki as Leonard Hofstadter and Jim Parsons as Sheldon Cooper, and their friendship with Penny, played by Kaley Cuoco, who lived opposite.
Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones lasted for eight seasons between 2011 – 2019. The show starred Sean Bean as Eddard 'Ned' Stark and Kit Harington as Jon Snow.
House of Dragons is the new prequel but we really wish we'd have gotten more (or another ending) to the original Game of Thrones TV show. Who knows, maybe when the last book is out they might make some more episodes…
With Deborah and Victoria in the Loose Women studio, and Jack joining via a video link from France, the cast were open about how the show's hard-hitting storylines impacted viewers.
Victoria, who played Julie Saunders in the series, said: "Representing people that had never been represented on telly before, we became an ally, and that was absolutely brilliant. So many people from over the years have come up to us and said, ‘You’ve changed our lives, we saw ourselves on telly’.
“And the Bad Girls fans - shout out to them, amazing, beautiful people - but it’s changed them as well. I think for women it was amazing, it was brilliant because it was a female led drama. The format was great, you had the prison and you could have wonderful guests coming in and out, following prison officers and following our lives, it constantly changed.”
Deborah, who portrayed the role of Shell Dockley, revealed one storyline in particular from the show has remained with her over the years.
She said: "The pregnancy storyline was the toughest because I was pregnant, I honestly gave birth about four weeks after I left the show, so that pregnancy tummy was real and my son Max is now 21…
“It does feel like a very long time ago but that pregnancy storyline was the hardest one to deal with because I was so hormonal and I had to actually give birth with a midwife standing by. I thought, ‘I’m just going to have to do the worst acting that I’ve ever done…’.”
How can I watch old episodes of Bad Girls?
All eight series of Bad Girls is available to watch for free on ITVX.
The show is also available to customers of Prime Video.
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