Cutting It Main cast Left to right: Angela Griffin, Lucy Gaskell, Amanda Holden, Ben Daniels, Sarah Parish, Jason Merrells, James Midgley and Sian Reeves Cutting It 1 Contents Cutting It Introduction/Production Notes . 3 Regional Index . 5 Main cast &production team . .6 Interviews Amanda Holden (Mia) on beauty, style and playing a conniving hairdresser . 7 Sarah Parish (Allie) on motherhood and the man in her life . 10 Jason Merrells (Gavin) on always playing the good guy . 13 Ben Daniels (Finn) on being the resident sex addict . 15 Angela Griffin (Darcey) on liposuction and being a kept woman . 17 Debbie Horsfield, writer, on her inspiration for Cutting It . 19 Lino Carbosiero at Daniel Galvin on training Amanda for her role as a hairdresser . 20 Character profiles Sian Reeves (Sydney) . .21 James Midgley (Shane) . 21 Lucy Gaskell (Ruby) . .22 Pearce Quigley (Eugene) . 22 Annette Badland (Brawdie) . 23 Bill Thomas (Tom) . .23 Cutting It Introduction Amanda Holden, Sarah Parish, Jason Merrells, Ben Daniels and Angela Griffin star in Debbie Horsfield’s Cutting It “I have always been interested in the mayhem Before long, the beautiful yet conniving Mia has of family relationships, and if you opened a rival salon, Blade Runner, right across add to that the passion and power that’s the road from Henshall Ferraday. And the hairdressing, plus the havoc created by a ‘ charismatic Finn, once the love of Allie’s life, is blast from the past’, split ends are the least again making a play for her affection. With her of the problems!” business under threat from Mia and her heart Debbie Horsfield, writer under siege from Finn, Allie is forced to fight. And so begin ‘The Manchester hairdressing wars’… Amanda Holden and Sarah Parish sharpen their scissors in a war of passion and peroxide, to “My inspiration for Cutting It came from my run the best hair salon in Manchester in twin sisters, who owned a hairdressing business Cutting It, which transmits on BBC ONE some years ago on the outskirts of Manchester,” from April 2002. says writer Debbie Horsfield, who would often visit her sisters’ salon. “What surprised me more The competitive world of hairdressing provides than anything is just how willing customers the backdrop for this new drama series from the were to talk about their most intimate secrets. pen of award-winning writer, Debbie Horsfield. It was then I realised that this would be a “Hairdressing salons are no longer the place to fantastic format for a series.” go to have your hair restyled; you can chill out, get a massage or go in and talk to your stylist However ex-customers of the old Radcliffe- and offload all your problems,” says the writer. based salon need not worry about watching “There are so many human dilemmas going on their most intimate secrets played out on screen. a writer is never going to run out of ideas.” “None of the characters were inspired by the people I met in my sisters’ salon because I could Allie Henshall (Sarah Parish) and husband never do that. The characters are an amalgam of Gavin Ferraday (Jason Merrells) are the six or seven different people that I have met – proud proprietors of Henshall Ferraday, a including myself,” she adds candidly. successful family hairdressing business based in Manchester. Allie’s sisters, Darcey Head of BBC Drama Serials Laura Mackie says: (Angela Griffin) and Sydney (Siân Reeves), “Debbie is really adept at taking an ordinary take care of beauty and nails. The husband- situation – like Allie’s first love coming back and-wife team appear to have it all – except into her life – and twisting it so that it becomes a baby which Gavin desperately wants. As the the driving force behind the drama. couple celebrate the salon’s 10th anniversary, Allie announces plans to expand – the “The world of hairdressing wars is a rich forum business, not her waistline! Gavin is for her deft comic touch and distinctive mortified. However, new arrivals in town, emotional insights. The characters are vivid, Mia Bevan (Amanda Holden), and her warm and funny and we’re lucky to have husband, Finn (Ben Daniels), have plans of attracted such a great cast.” their own. Cutting It 3 Introduction For the acclaimed writer of Making Out, Born To Run, The Riff Raff Element and Sex, Chips & Rock ‘n’ Roll, this will be her third workplace drama. “Making Out was based on a factory, then there was Born To Run which centred on the car industry, and now this. What I am doing is working through the jobs that I have done in the past!” laughs the Eccles-born mother of four. With Manchester fast becoming the production capital for many new dramas on the BBC, Debbie is happy to continue the tradition of setting her dramas in the North. “I’ve only ever written about something that I have personal experience of, which is why I write about the North. It is where I grew up. It is my background. It’s what I know,” she says proudly. Jane Tranter, Controller of Drama Commissioning adds: “Cutting It has all the right ingredients – love, betrayal, humour and desire, written by Debbie Horsfield on top form. Her style is unique and we’re proud that she continues to write such quality drama for BBC ONE, after the success of her other shows with us.” The cast also includes: James Midgley as Shane; Lucy Gaskell as Ruby; Pearce Quigley as Eugene; Annette Badland as Brawdie; Bill Thomas as Tom; and Philip Martin Brown as Smedley. Produced by Diederick Santer, the directors are Andy De Emmony and Catherine Morshead; the executive producers are Sally Haynes, Debbie Horsfield and Laura Mackie. Cutting It is a BBC production for BBC ONE. For additional material, check out the BBC’s new Press Office website at www.bbc.co.uk/ pressoffice for recorded interviews with the main cast and writer Debbie Horsfield. Cutting It 4 Regional index Page 19 MANCHESTER Writer Debbie Horsfield was born in Eccles and lives in Manchester. Page 22 Educated at Manchester Poly, Pearce Quigley was born in Salford. Page 22 WIGAN Lucy Gaskell (Ruby Ferris) was brought up in this town. Page 15 NUNEATON Ben Daniels (Finn Bevan) was born in Nuneaton, near Coventry. Page 17 LEEDS Angela Griffin (Darcey Henshall) was born in Cottingley, Leeds. Page 21 James Midgley (Shane Ince) was born in Bradford. Page 10 SOMERSET Sarah Parish (Allie Henshall) was brought up in Yeovil, Somerset. Page 23 CORNWALL Born in Cornwall, Bill Thomas (Tom Henshall) grew up in Salisbury and the West Country Page 7 HAMPSHIRE Amanda Holden (Mia Bevan) was raised in Bishop’s Waltham Page 23 BIRMINGHAM Annette Badland (Brawdie Henshall) was born in Edgbaston. Page 21 Siân Reeves (Sydney Henshall) was born in West Bromwich (see below also). Page 21 STAFFORDSHIRE Siân Reeves was born in West Bromwich, near Birmingham before her family moved to Brewood, Staffordshire. Siân’s Welsh mother still has relatives living in Llanelli, Wales. Page 13 ESSEX Essex-born Jason Merrells (Gavin Ferraday) was brought up in Wanstead. Cutting It 5 Main cast/ production team Main cast Amanda Holden Mia Bevan Sarah Parish Allie Henshall Jason Merrells Gavin Ferraday Ben Daniels Finn Bevan Angela Griffin Darcey Henshall Siân Reeves Sydney Henshall James Midgley Shane Ince Lucy Gaskell Ruby Ferris Pearce Quigley Eugene Eubank Annette Badland Brawdie Henshall Bill Thomas Tom Henshall Production team Executive Producers Sally Haynes Debbie Horsfield Laura Mackie Writer Debbie Horsfield Producer Diederick Santer Directors Andy De Emmony (1-3) Catherine Morshead (4-6) Associate Producer Elizabeth Binns Director of Photography Ian Liggett Production Designer John Coleman Casting Director Andy Pryor Costume Designer Michael Johnson Hair and Make-up Designer Kathy Ducker Script Editor Manda Levin Composer Mark Hinton Stewart Film Editors Stephen O’Connell (1-3) Nick Arthurs (4-6) Cutting It 6 Interviews Amanda Holden plays Mia Bevan Amanda gossip: Do you confide in your hairdresser? Yes. My hairdresser is like my therapist. My mother loves him. He is completely trustworthy. Whose style do you most admire? I love Sharon Stone; I don’t think she has ever made a fashion mistake. I think she’s very classy. I also like Jennifer Aniston. She’s great. Whenever I watch Friends I often wonder where Did you know..? did she get that from, that looks really good! • Amanda once played Liesl Von Trapp in a touring production of The Sound Of Music. Which celebrity’s hair would you most like to cut? • She also appeared as a contestant on Blind I would like to do something with Anna Ford’s Date in 1990. hair, because it’s been like that for years! Perhaps put some layers in and some lowlights Place of birth: Bishop’s Waltham, Hampshire to bring out her face a bit. Trained: Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in North London Appeared in: Kiss Me Kate, The Grimleys, Would you face the chop for your art? Happy Birthday Shakespeare, Hearts No! A bald cap and a good make-up artist And Bones please, unless it was for Steven Spielberg! Cutting It 7 Interviews Amanda Holden plays Mia Bevan “Mia might appear to be bitchy, but she “I play a Southerner in a Manchester-set drama, isn’t. She’s very sleek, just like her salon, so I insisted on training in London. I assisted Blade Runner.” my own hairdresser, Lino, for one week. I was like the junior – I picked up rollers, held hair Complicated and misunderstood? Or a dryers, washed hair, but didn’t do any cutting. conniving hairdresser from hell? Amanda Lino said at the end of the week that I had a job Holden’s new role as the beautiful, stylish and there if I wanted one,” she laughs.