Spooks Series I-IV
Hustle
Pleasureland
Comfortably Numb
Magicians House
Psychos
The Complete Guide
to Relationships
Come on Down & Out
Confidence Lab

Production Summary

This vibrant, provocative 90-minute drama for Channel 4 focuses on teenage girls in Liverpool who can’t wait to grow up.

Joanna Mosscroft, 14, is desperate to change. Her mates seem to be in on the next big secret – sex – and she wants to share it. She wants the future and she wants it now. There’s her sensible best mate Katie, cool and sophisticated Sophie, the first in her year to lose her virginity, and Lisa who breaks all the rules. Together they have everything Jo thinks she wants. But it’s a compelling, sometimes dark adventure from the rosy glow of Jo’s dream adult world to the shocking reality she’s about to experience.

Key Production Staff

Pleasureland is written by Helen Blakeman, directed by Brian Percival (About a Girl, Clocking Off) and produced by Natasha Dack. The Executive Producer is Jane Featherstone.

Cast

Pleasureland features fresh, natural performances from new actors. The central role of Jo Mosscroft is played by Katie Lyon, a third-year performing arts student from Bootle. Jo’s mates Sophie and Lisa are played by Leah Whittaker and Claire Bailey, again both from Liverpool and both without any previous acting experience or formal training. All of them came throughan exhaustive open audition process and were chosen from more than 300 other contenders for the roles.The cast also includes Claire Hackett (William and Mary, At Home with the Braithwaites) as Julie Mosscroft, Jo’s Mum, Philip Olivier (Brookside) as Ben and Barry Sloane (Brookside) as Darren.

Press

Awards won:

Royal Television Society Awards 2003 – Network Newcomer on Screen Award – Katie Lyon

Nominations:

Royal Television Society Design and Craft Awards 2004 – Photography – David Katznelson (DOP)
Royal Television Society Awards 2003 – Network Newcomer Behind the Screen Award – Helen Blakeman
BAFTA Awards 2003 – BAFTA Craft New Writer Award – Helen Blakeman