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Pilot (Cold Feet)
Encyclopedia
Cold Feet is a British television pilot
directed by Declan Lowney
. It stars James Nesbitt
and Helen Baxendale
as Adam and Rachel, a couple who meet and fall in love, only for the relationship to break down when he gets cold feet
. John Thomson, Fay Ripley
, Hermione Norris
and Robert Bathurst
appear in supporting roles. The programme was written by Mike Bullen
, a BBC
radio producer
with little screenwriting experience, who was tasked with creating a one-off television production that would appeal to middle-class television audiences, who the executive producer Andy Harries
believed were underepresented on British television.
After filming was completed in 1996 the commissioning network ITV
shelved it for a year. It was eventually scheduled for broadcast on the evening of 30 March 1997, as part of the network's Comedy Premieres
strand, but overrunning sports coverage delayed it for an hour. Ratings were low and critical reviews were minimal, but positive; critics enjoyed the comedy drama format and praised the writing and performances of the leads. Harries entered Cold Feet in the Montreux Television Festival, where it was awarded the Rose d'Or
, the festival's top prize, resulting in ITV quickly scheduling a repeat broadcast. At the end of the year it won the award for Best Comedy Drama (ITV) at the British Comedy Awards
and the incoming director of channels ordered a full series
, which ran for five successful years from 1998 to 2003.
) breaks up with another in a long line of girlfriends and spends the evening at the pub
with his friend Pete Gifford (John Thomson). Pete arrives home late, which annoys his wife Jenny (Fay Ripley
), who calculated that night to be the best time for them to conceive a child. She becomes even more frustrated when she sees Pete has brought Adam back; he missed his last bus home. Rachel Bradley's (Helen Baxendale
) boyfriend Simon Atkinson (Stephen Mapes) breaks up with her over dinner after taking a job in Hong Kong
. Rachel angrily leaves the restaurant and telephones her friend Karen Marsden (Hermione Norris
), who has just asked her husband David (Robert Bathurst
) if they can get a nanny to take care of their son Josh.
Rachel crashes her car into Adam's on a supermarket car park. After a brief argument Adam suggests they exchange phone numbers, under the pretence that it is for insurance purposes. She writes hers on his rear windscreen but rain washes it off. Prompted by Pete, Adam spends a day on the supermarket car park, in the hope that he and Rachel will cross paths, but they do not meet. At a dinner party held by Karen and David, Karen suggests Rachel get out more and advises her to call Adam. They go on a date but Adam is disappointed that Rachel does not want sex. Eventually, he suggests they see a play, which happens to be on at a theatre near his house. The play is dismal but Rachel decides it is time they slept together. Jenny takes another pregnancy test, but it is negative. Adam arrives and recounts his dates with Rachel to her and Pete, telling them he loves Rachel.
Following a discussion with Pete about women and commitment, Adam argues with Rachel and angrily leaves her flat. Seconds later Simon returns, telling Rachel he has turned down the Hong Kong job. After getting locked out the house, Karen interrupts a seminar David is holding, demanding they get a nanny. He relents, embarrassed after being shown up in front of his colleagues. Determined to get Rachel back, Adam goes to Simon's flat, where he serenades her wearing nothing but a rose between his buttocks. Jenny and Pete arrive to find Simon chasing a naked Adam down the street. The fight is interrupted by a passing policeman, who lists multiple felonies Adam has committed, until Rachel steps forward and takes the blame for what has happened. She declares her love to Adam and the two leave. Pete and Jenny watch and she tells him her last pregnancy test was positive.
's first script, an hour-long comedy entitled The Perfect Match, was produced by Granada Television
in 1995. Granada's controller of comedy Andy Harries
was pleased with the balance Bullen's script struck between comedy and drama. Eager to develop a television series for middle-class thirty-somethings, Harries had Bullen pitch ideas to The Perfect Match assistant producer Christine Langan
, with a view to making a pilot
. Bullen's initial idea was a typical "boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back" story, but told from both sides of the relationship. Langan accepted Bullen's pitch and he began writing a first draft. Bullen and Langan were influenced by the American television series Thirtysomething and the film When Harry Met Sally; the stories were funny and dramatic but neither aspect was "ghettoised". Believing that there was little television aimed at people like them, Bullen and Langan discussed their own lives and friends, using personal experiences to create the characters: Adam was based on Bullen before he met his wife and Rachel was based on a combination of his ex-girlfriends and "the fantasy girlfriend". When writing his first draft, Bullen realised that telling the same story from both sides of the relationship would mean repeating something that the audience had already seen. To rectify this he introduced the fantasy scenes and the idea of the characters reporting events in a slightly different way to what really happened.
Adam and Rachel were originally Londoners living in Chelsea
. Langan proposed moving the setting to Manchester
to keep production costs down by using Granada's existing studios based in the city. Harries, who wanted a series to be commissioned by ITV
, agreed, believing it would make the show more accessible to viewers. Another requirement for a series was the number of potential storylines; Adam and Rachel's plot was self-contained. Harries told Bullen to expand the four supporting characters' roles, so Bullen "tacked on" their storylines. The script went through up to seven drafts before being filmed. Langan interviewed several directors before hiring Father Ted
director Declan Lowney
. Lowney initially rejected the script, believing the characters to be very smug. After re-reading it, he met Langan backstage after a Father Ted taping, where he compared the story to The Big Chill
. Both producer and director "clicked" and Lowney joined the production team.
, was the first to be cast. He had played Rick, a minor character in The Perfect Match, a role Bullen describes as "proto-Pete". Bullen was impressed by Thomson's natural comedy and Langan asked him to write a role for him to play in Cold Feet. Thomson accepted the role because he did not want to be known forever for playing "Fat Bob", the sidekick of Coogan's Paul Calf in a series of sketches. Lowney had been introduced to James Nesbitt through a mutual friend. He brought him in to audition for the part of Adam after seeing his "wonderfully expressive face" in a Persil
advertisement. At the audition, Nesbitt asked to do the reading with his own accent, believing that Northern Irish characters rarely appeared in contemporary British drama without "political baggage". Langan found Nesbitt's approach to be refreshing and he was cast as Adam.
Halfway through the casting process, Cardiac Arrest
actress Helen Baxendale became available. BAFTA Scotland
award-nominated Baxendale was seen as a coup, though she was hesitant to audition as she believed that she could not do comedy. Harries persuaded her that she was more than qualified, citing her comedic performance in Cardiac Arrest. She was cast as Rachel on the basis of her chemistry at the audition with Nesbitt. Fay Ripley assumed that she would be reading for the role of Rachel, and was surprised to be auditioning for Jenny. Many of the actresses seen for the part were "finger-wagging" and "predictable", an approach Ripley did not take. Raised in Surrey
, Ripley had to adopt a Manchester accent for the part. She "managed to bodge together a sort of Manchester accent" for the audition, assuming that she would not get the part. When she was cast, she worked on improving the accent by spending time talking to local people.
Robert Bathurst was appearing in The Rover
during casting and arrived at his audition "bearded and shaggy". He did not expect to win the part of David, the "smooth" management consultant, assuming someone "a lot shinier and flashier" than him would be cast. Langan had seen him in Joking Apart
and some other sitcom pilots and was attracted to his "disciplined comic energy". Hermione Norris first read for Rachel but Lowney asked her to read for Karen because her social class matched that of the character, and she had a good rapport with Bathurst. Other actors appearing are Mark Andrews as Howard, Mark Crowshaw as the waiter, John Griffin as Andrew, David Harewood
as the Police Sergeant, Kathryn Hunt
as Pru, Pauline Jefferson as the Old Lady, Jeremy Turner-Welch as the Neighbour, and Lewis Hancock as the Evangelist. Mike Bullen makes a cameo appearance as the actor. Bullen insisted on having a line as when he visited the set of The Perfect Match he "felt like a spare part".
. For the climax involving the rose, Nesbitt was required to be nearly naked on an open set, save for a small pouch that was not visible on screen. There was a risk that production could be shut down if residents of the street they were filming on complained to the police, so the production manager ensured that Nesbitt was covered up when he was not being filmed. Filming the five-minute scene took about two hours. The song "Female of the Species
" by Space was used throughout the programme; the instrumental version plays over the opening credits and the full lyrical version is heard during a first-act montage. The track was chosen by Langan after she heard it on The Chart Show
. The rest of the incidental music and the main end credits theme was composed by The Other Two
. Adam's song was originally scripted to be Nilsson
's "Without You" but the rights to the song were too expensive. The song was substituted with "I've Got You Under My Skin
".
" programming strand. The broadcast, scheduled for a 9 p.m. start on 30 March, went head-to-head with launch night of Channel 5, Britain's last terrestrial television channel, and the second part of the BBC1
drama The Missing Postman
. Also broadcast on 30 March was ITV's coverage of the Brazilian Grand Prix
. The race was restarted due to an accident and threw ITV's evening schedules into disarray. Broadcast of Cold Feet eventually began 40 minutes later than originally advertised and the overnight ratings reflected this; it recorded viewing figures of just 3.5 million. Harries wrote it off as a failure, telling Langan that they would never get a series. Some critical success came though; writing in The Times
the day after it aired, Matthew Bond called it "an enjoyable one-off comedy aimed at anybody who's ever been single, married, or had children. With such catholic appeal further heightened by Helen Baxendale heading a talented cast, it showed just what ITV can do when it is trying to win awards, such as the Golden Rose of Montreux." The Sun
s Tim Ewbank echoed Bond's reaction, expressing surprise that a "fast, funny, convincing" comedy had appeared on ITV, calling it "a treat" and "sharply observed", and Baxendale and Nesbitt "terrific".
An ITV committee selected Cold Feet to represent the network in the comedy-drama category at the Montreux Television Festival at the end of April. Bullen was unable to attend the Rose d'Or ceremony as he was sick with flu, so Harries took his place. The programme won the Silver Rose in the Humour category and the Golden Rose of Montreux, the festival's highest honour. The Montreux jury was headed by David Liddiment
, who became ITV's director of channels in the latter half of 1997 and was influential in ordering a full series from Harries. Peter Salmon, Granada's director of programmes, called the win "a reflection of the brilliant production and acting talents of the team". Paul Spencer, the ITV network controller of comedy, called it "exactly the kind of comedy at which ITV excels. Bullen met with ITV executives to outline a series, and storylines were established by the end of May.
After the success at Montreux, ITV scheduled a repeat of Cold Feet for 25 May, this time at 9 p.m. The repeat brought in 5.60 million viewers, making it the 66th most-watched programme on British television that week. A. A. Gill
, who had not seen the original broadcast, wrote that "it was lifted from being merely whimsical by some bow-tight comic acting and a great script", though he did not see the Golden Rose win as a particularly glorious achievement, citing the saturation of the Montreux Festival by British programmes in the 1990s. Further recognition came at the end of the year at the British Comedy Awards
when Cold Feet won the Best Comedy Drama (ITV) award and at the Royal Television Society
Programme Awards, where it was nominated for Best Situation Comedy & Comedy Drama. Helen Baxendale was nominated for the British Comedy Award for Top Television Comedy Actress but lost to Dawn French. At the RTS North West Awards, Cold Feet won the award for Best Network Entertainment Programme. The programme has retained the interest of reviewers several years after its original broadcast; writing for The Jerusalem Post
, Aryeh Dean Cohen said, "The cast sparkles all around, as does the script, and the characters are endearing and believable."
Granada's sale of the series package to American cable network Bravo in 2000 included this pilot. Bravo hired agency G WhiZ to design a series of print and media advertisements for the series to run in such publications as The New York Times
. G WhiZ based their campaign on the shot of Adam's buttocks, which lead to many publications either asking for an alternative or refusing to carry the promotion outright.
website and in April 2008 was made available for purchase on ITV's iTunes Store
shop.
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
directed by Declan Lowney
Declan Lowney
Declan Lowney is an Irish television and film director. After directing a short film in 1980, Lowney worked for Radio Telefís Éireann, and directed musical events such as the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest, and The Velvet Underground's Live MCMXCIII...
. It stars James Nesbitt
James Nesbitt
James Nesbitt is a Northern Irish actor. Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Nesbitt grew up in the nearby village of Broughshane, before moving to Coleraine, County Londonderry. He wanted to become a teacher like his father, so he began a degree in French at the University of Ulster...
and Helen Baxendale
Helen Baxendale
Helen Victoria Baxendale is an English actress of stage and television, possibly best-known for her roles in Cold Feet, Friends and Cardiac Arrest.-Early life:...
as Adam and Rachel, a couple who meet and fall in love, only for the relationship to break down when he gets cold feet
Cold feet (metaphor)
Cold feet is apprehension or doubt strong enough to prevent a planned course of action.The origin of the term itself has been attributed to American author Stephen Crane, who added the phrase, in 1896, to the second edition of his short novel, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets.The behaviour may be...
. John Thomson, Fay Ripley
Fay Ripley
Fay Ripley is an English actress and recipe author. Born in Wimbledon, London, Ripley is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama . Her first professional role was in the chorus of a pantomime version of Around the World in 80 Days...
, Hermione Norris
Hermione Norris
Hermione Norris is an English actress.Norris attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in the 1980s before taking small roles in theatre and on television. In 1996, she was cast in her breakout role of Karen Marsden in the comedy drama television series Cold Feet...
and Robert Bathurst
Robert Bathurst
Robert Guy Bathurst is an English actor. Bathurst was born in the Gold Coast in 1957, where his father was working as a management consultant. His family moved to Dublin, Ireland, in 1959 and Bathurst was enrolled at an Anglican boarding school...
appear in supporting roles. The programme was written by Mike Bullen
Mike Bullen
Mike Bullen is an English-born screenwriter. Bullen grew up in the West Midlands of England, attending the Solihull School and later Magdalene College, Cambridge. He left with a degree in history of art and became a radio producer for the BBC World Service...
, a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
radio producer
Radio producer
A radio producer oversees the making of a radio show. There are two main types of producer. An audio or creative producer and a content producer. Audio producers create sounds and audio specifically, content producers oversee and orchestrate a radio show or feature...
with little screenwriting experience, who was tasked with creating a one-off television production that would appeal to middle-class television audiences, who the executive producer Andy Harries
Andy Harries
Andrew D. M. Harries is a British television and film producer. After graduating from Hull University in the 1970s, Harries began his television career on the Granada Television current affairs series World in Action, before moving on to freelance work...
believed were underepresented on British television.
After filming was completed in 1996 the commissioning network ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
shelved it for a year. It was eventually scheduled for broadcast on the evening of 30 March 1997, as part of the network's Comedy Premieres
Comedy Premieres
Comedy Premieres was a programming strand of four one-off television comedies, produced by Granada Television for the ITV network and broadcast throughout 1997.- Premieres :- Production :...
strand, but overrunning sports coverage delayed it for an hour. Ratings were low and critical reviews were minimal, but positive; critics enjoyed the comedy drama format and praised the writing and performances of the leads. Harries entered Cold Feet in the Montreux Television Festival, where it was awarded the Rose d'Or
Rose d'Or
The Rose d’Or is one of the most important international festivals in entertainment television. It was founded in Montreux in 1961 and has taken place in Lucerne since 2004. Producers, executives from independent and public service broadcasters and heads of production companies from over 40...
, the festival's top prize, resulting in ITV quickly scheduling a repeat broadcast. At the end of the year it won the award for Best Comedy Drama (ITV) at the British Comedy Awards
British Comedy Awards
The British Comedy Awards is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year.-History:...
and the incoming director of channels ordered a full series
Cold Feet
Cold Feet is a British comedy-drama television series produced by Granada Television for the ITV network. The series was created and principally written by Mike Bullen as a follow-up to his award-winning 1997 Comedy Premiere of the same name. The storyline follows three couples experiencing the...
, which ran for five successful years from 1998 to 2003.
Plot
Adam Williams (James NesbittJames Nesbitt
James Nesbitt is a Northern Irish actor. Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Nesbitt grew up in the nearby village of Broughshane, before moving to Coleraine, County Londonderry. He wanted to become a teacher like his father, so he began a degree in French at the University of Ulster...
) breaks up with another in a long line of girlfriends and spends the evening at the pub
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
with his friend Pete Gifford (John Thomson). Pete arrives home late, which annoys his wife Jenny (Fay Ripley
Fay Ripley
Fay Ripley is an English actress and recipe author. Born in Wimbledon, London, Ripley is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama . Her first professional role was in the chorus of a pantomime version of Around the World in 80 Days...
), who calculated that night to be the best time for them to conceive a child. She becomes even more frustrated when she sees Pete has brought Adam back; he missed his last bus home. Rachel Bradley's (Helen Baxendale
Helen Baxendale
Helen Victoria Baxendale is an English actress of stage and television, possibly best-known for her roles in Cold Feet, Friends and Cardiac Arrest.-Early life:...
) boyfriend Simon Atkinson (Stephen Mapes) breaks up with her over dinner after taking a job in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. Rachel angrily leaves the restaurant and telephones her friend Karen Marsden (Hermione Norris
Hermione Norris
Hermione Norris is an English actress.Norris attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in the 1980s before taking small roles in theatre and on television. In 1996, she was cast in her breakout role of Karen Marsden in the comedy drama television series Cold Feet...
), who has just asked her husband David (Robert Bathurst
Robert Bathurst
Robert Guy Bathurst is an English actor. Bathurst was born in the Gold Coast in 1957, where his father was working as a management consultant. His family moved to Dublin, Ireland, in 1959 and Bathurst was enrolled at an Anglican boarding school...
) if they can get a nanny to take care of their son Josh.
Rachel crashes her car into Adam's on a supermarket car park. After a brief argument Adam suggests they exchange phone numbers, under the pretence that it is for insurance purposes. She writes hers on his rear windscreen but rain washes it off. Prompted by Pete, Adam spends a day on the supermarket car park, in the hope that he and Rachel will cross paths, but they do not meet. At a dinner party held by Karen and David, Karen suggests Rachel get out more and advises her to call Adam. They go on a date but Adam is disappointed that Rachel does not want sex. Eventually, he suggests they see a play, which happens to be on at a theatre near his house. The play is dismal but Rachel decides it is time they slept together. Jenny takes another pregnancy test, but it is negative. Adam arrives and recounts his dates with Rachel to her and Pete, telling them he loves Rachel.
Development
Writer Mike BullenMike Bullen
Mike Bullen is an English-born screenwriter. Bullen grew up in the West Midlands of England, attending the Solihull School and later Magdalene College, Cambridge. He left with a degree in history of art and became a radio producer for the BBC World Service...
's first script, an hour-long comedy entitled The Perfect Match, was produced by Granada Television
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
in 1995. Granada's controller of comedy Andy Harries
Andy Harries
Andrew D. M. Harries is a British television and film producer. After graduating from Hull University in the 1970s, Harries began his television career on the Granada Television current affairs series World in Action, before moving on to freelance work...
was pleased with the balance Bullen's script struck between comedy and drama. Eager to develop a television series for middle-class thirty-somethings, Harries had Bullen pitch ideas to The Perfect Match assistant producer Christine Langan
Christine Langan
Christine Langan is an English film producer who has been Creative Director of BBC Films since April 2009.After graduating from Cambridge University in 1987 and working in advertising for three years, Langan joined Granada Television's drama serials department where she script edited daytime soap...
, with a view to making a pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
. Bullen's initial idea was a typical "boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back" story, but told from both sides of the relationship. Langan accepted Bullen's pitch and he began writing a first draft. Bullen and Langan were influenced by the American television series Thirtysomething and the film When Harry Met Sally; the stories were funny and dramatic but neither aspect was "ghettoised". Believing that there was little television aimed at people like them, Bullen and Langan discussed their own lives and friends, using personal experiences to create the characters: Adam was based on Bullen before he met his wife and Rachel was based on a combination of his ex-girlfriends and "the fantasy girlfriend". When writing his first draft, Bullen realised that telling the same story from both sides of the relationship would mean repeating something that the audience had already seen. To rectify this he introduced the fantasy scenes and the idea of the characters reporting events in a slightly different way to what really happened.
Adam and Rachel were originally Londoners living in Chelsea
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
. Langan proposed moving the setting to Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
to keep production costs down by using Granada's existing studios based in the city. Harries, who wanted a series to be commissioned by ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
, agreed, believing it would make the show more accessible to viewers. Another requirement for a series was the number of potential storylines; Adam and Rachel's plot was self-contained. Harries told Bullen to expand the four supporting characters' roles, so Bullen "tacked on" their storylines. The script went through up to seven drafts before being filmed. Langan interviewed several directors before hiring Father Ted
Father Ted
Father Ted is a comedy series set in Ireland that was produced by Hat Trick Productions for British broadcaster Channel 4. Written jointly by Irish writers Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan and starring a predominantly Irish cast, it originally aired over three series from 21 April 1995 until 1 May...
director Declan Lowney
Declan Lowney
Declan Lowney is an Irish television and film director. After directing a short film in 1980, Lowney worked for Radio Telefís Éireann, and directed musical events such as the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest, and The Velvet Underground's Live MCMXCIII...
. Lowney initially rejected the script, believing the characters to be very smug. After re-reading it, he met Langan backstage after a Father Ted taping, where he compared the story to The Big Chill
The Big Chill (film)
The Big Chill is a 1983 American comedy-drama film directed by Lawrence Kasdan, starring Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Mary Kay Place, Meg Tilly, and JoBeth Williams. It is about a group of baby boomer college friends who reunite briefly after 15 years due to...
. Both producer and director "clicked" and Lowney joined the production team.
Casting
After commissioning the pilot, ITV Network Centre did not dictate to the producers who should be cast. John Thomson, a comedian known for his work with Steve CooganSteve Coogan
Stephen John "Steve" Coogan is a British comedian, actor, writer and producer. Born in Manchester, he began his career as a standup comedian and impressionist, working as a voice artist throughout the 1980s on satirical puppet show Spitting Image. In the early nineties, Coogan began creating...
, was the first to be cast. He had played Rick, a minor character in The Perfect Match, a role Bullen describes as "proto-Pete". Bullen was impressed by Thomson's natural comedy and Langan asked him to write a role for him to play in Cold Feet. Thomson accepted the role because he did not want to be known forever for playing "Fat Bob", the sidekick of Coogan's Paul Calf in a series of sketches. Lowney had been introduced to James Nesbitt through a mutual friend. He brought him in to audition for the part of Adam after seeing his "wonderfully expressive face" in a Persil
Persil
Persil is a brand of laundry detergent currently and originally made by Henkel & Cie; but which is now also licensed for manufacture, distribution, and marketing in several countries by the Unilever Corporation. Henkel and Unilever both manufacture their own formulations...
advertisement. At the audition, Nesbitt asked to do the reading with his own accent, believing that Northern Irish characters rarely appeared in contemporary British drama without "political baggage". Langan found Nesbitt's approach to be refreshing and he was cast as Adam.
Halfway through the casting process, Cardiac Arrest
Cardiac Arrest (TV series)
Cardiac Arrest is a British medical drama series made by World Productions for BBC One and first broadcast between 1994 and 1996. The series was controversial due to its depiction of doctors, nurses, and the National Health Service.-Creation:...
actress Helen Baxendale became available. BAFTA Scotland
BAFTA Scotland
BAFTA in Scotland is the Scottish branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Formed in 1997, the branch holds an annual awards ceremony, the British Academy Scotland Awards , to recognise achievement by performers and production staff in Scottish film, television and video games...
award-nominated Baxendale was seen as a coup, though she was hesitant to audition as she believed that she could not do comedy. Harries persuaded her that she was more than qualified, citing her comedic performance in Cardiac Arrest. She was cast as Rachel on the basis of her chemistry at the audition with Nesbitt. Fay Ripley assumed that she would be reading for the role of Rachel, and was surprised to be auditioning for Jenny. Many of the actresses seen for the part were "finger-wagging" and "predictable", an approach Ripley did not take. Raised in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, Ripley had to adopt a Manchester accent for the part. She "managed to bodge together a sort of Manchester accent" for the audition, assuming that she would not get the part. When she was cast, she worked on improving the accent by spending time talking to local people.
Robert Bathurst was appearing in The Rover
The Rover (play)
The Rover or The Banish'd Cavaliers is a play in two parts written by the English author Aphra Behn.Having famously worked as a spy for Charles II against the Dutch, Behn's meager incomes was lost when the king refused to pay her expenses. She turned to writing for an income.The Rover premiered...
during casting and arrived at his audition "bearded and shaggy". He did not expect to win the part of David, the "smooth" management consultant, assuming someone "a lot shinier and flashier" than him would be cast. Langan had seen him in Joking Apart
Joking Apart
Joking Apart is a BBC television sitcom written by Steven Moffat about the rise and fall of a relationship. It juxtaposes a couple, Mark and Becky , who fall in love and marry, before getting separated and finally divorced...
and some other sitcom pilots and was attracted to his "disciplined comic energy". Hermione Norris first read for Rachel but Lowney asked her to read for Karen because her social class matched that of the character, and she had a good rapport with Bathurst. Other actors appearing are Mark Andrews as Howard, Mark Crowshaw as the waiter, John Griffin as Andrew, David Harewood
David Harewood
David Harewood is a British actor.-Biography:David Harewood was born and grew up in the Small Heath area of Birmingham, England, where he attended St. Benedict's Junior School and Washwood Heath Comprehensive School. As a schoolboy, he excelled at all sports—from sprinting to basketball to rugby...
as the Police Sergeant, Kathryn Hunt
Kathryn Hunt
Kathryn Hunt is a British actress best known for her roles as Angela Harris in Coronation Street and Val Lorrimer in Series 1-2 of Fat Friends. She also appeared in Waterloo Road and The Royal....
as Pru, Pauline Jefferson as the Old Lady, Jeremy Turner-Welch as the Neighbour, and Lewis Hancock as the Evangelist. Mike Bullen makes a cameo appearance as the actor. Bullen insisted on having a line as when he visited the set of The Perfect Match he "felt like a spare part".
Filming and music
Filming was scheduled over a 12-day period on Granada's sets and on location around Manchester, following a week of rehearsals. It was shot entirely on film stockFilm stock
Film stock is photographic film on which filmmaking of motion pictures are shot and reproduced. The equivalent in television production is video tape.-1889–1899:...
. For the climax involving the rose, Nesbitt was required to be nearly naked on an open set, save for a small pouch that was not visible on screen. There was a risk that production could be shut down if residents of the street they were filming on complained to the police, so the production manager ensured that Nesbitt was covered up when he was not being filmed. Filming the five-minute scene took about two hours. The song "Female of the Species
Female of the Species
"Female of the Species" is a song by the English rock band Space, released as their fourth single, and second single proper from their debut album Spiders on May 27, 1996, reaching #14 in the UK charts. It was the band's only entry on any music chart in the U.S...
" by Space was used throughout the programme; the instrumental version plays over the opening credits and the full lyrical version is heard during a first-act montage. The track was chosen by Langan after she heard it on The Chart Show
The Chart Show
The Chart Show is a music video programme which ran in the UK on Channel 4 between 1986 and 1988, then on ITV between 1989 and 1998. The production company was Video Visuals, and was credited as "A Yorkshire Television Presentation" from 1993 and 1998...
. The rest of the incidental music and the main end credits theme was composed by The Other Two
The Other Two
AlbumsSingles-External links:* * - Videos :* * * *...
. Adam's song was originally scripted to be Nilsson
Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson...
's "Without You" but the rights to the song were too expensive. The song was substituted with "I've Got You Under My Skin
I've Got You Under My Skin
"I've Got You Under My Skin" is a song by Cole Porter.I've Got You Under My Skin may also refer to:* "I've Got You Under My Skin" , a 1998 episode of the television series Charmed...
".
Reception
Following post-production, the programme was shelved by ITV Network Centre until 1997, when it was placed on the Easter weekend schedule as part of the network's "Comedy PremieresComedy Premieres
Comedy Premieres was a programming strand of four one-off television comedies, produced by Granada Television for the ITV network and broadcast throughout 1997.- Premieres :- Production :...
" programming strand. The broadcast, scheduled for a 9 p.m. start on 30 March, went head-to-head with launch night of Channel 5, Britain's last terrestrial television channel, and the second part of the BBC1
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
drama The Missing Postman
The Missing Postman
The Missing Postman is a two-part comedy drama originally broadcast on BBC One on the consecutive evenings of 29 March and 30 March 1997. Adapted from the Mark Wallington novel, it received the award for Best BBC Comedy Drama at the British Comedy Awards in 1997.-Synopsis:When Clive Peacock is...
. Also broadcast on 30 March was ITV's coverage of the Brazilian Grand Prix
1997 Brazilian Grand Prix
The 1997 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Autódromo José Carlos Pace near Interlagos, Brazil on March 30, 1997. It was the second race of the 1997 Formula One season.-Pre-Race:...
. The race was restarted due to an accident and threw ITV's evening schedules into disarray. Broadcast of Cold Feet eventually began 40 minutes later than originally advertised and the overnight ratings reflected this; it recorded viewing figures of just 3.5 million. Harries wrote it off as a failure, telling Langan that they would never get a series. Some critical success came though; writing in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
the day after it aired, Matthew Bond called it "an enjoyable one-off comedy aimed at anybody who's ever been single, married, or had children. With such catholic appeal further heightened by Helen Baxendale heading a talented cast, it showed just what ITV can do when it is trying to win awards, such as the Golden Rose of Montreux." The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
s Tim Ewbank echoed Bond's reaction, expressing surprise that a "fast, funny, convincing" comedy had appeared on ITV, calling it "a treat" and "sharply observed", and Baxendale and Nesbitt "terrific".
An ITV committee selected Cold Feet to represent the network in the comedy-drama category at the Montreux Television Festival at the end of April. Bullen was unable to attend the Rose d'Or ceremony as he was sick with flu, so Harries took his place. The programme won the Silver Rose in the Humour category and the Golden Rose of Montreux, the festival's highest honour. The Montreux jury was headed by David Liddiment
David Liddiment
David Liddiment is a non-executive director of the independent production company All3Media, the largest independent production house in the UK...
, who became ITV's director of channels in the latter half of 1997 and was influential in ordering a full series from Harries. Peter Salmon, Granada's director of programmes, called the win "a reflection of the brilliant production and acting talents of the team". Paul Spencer, the ITV network controller of comedy, called it "exactly the kind of comedy at which ITV excels. Bullen met with ITV executives to outline a series, and storylines were established by the end of May.
After the success at Montreux, ITV scheduled a repeat of Cold Feet for 25 May, this time at 9 p.m. The repeat brought in 5.60 million viewers, making it the 66th most-watched programme on British television that week. A. A. Gill
A. A. Gill
Adrian Anthony Gill is a British writer who uses the byline A. A. Gill. He is currently employed by The Sunday Times as their restaurant reviewer and television critic and Vanity Fair magazine as a restaurant reviewer...
, who had not seen the original broadcast, wrote that "it was lifted from being merely whimsical by some bow-tight comic acting and a great script", though he did not see the Golden Rose win as a particularly glorious achievement, citing the saturation of the Montreux Festival by British programmes in the 1990s. Further recognition came at the end of the year at the British Comedy Awards
British Comedy Awards
The British Comedy Awards is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year.-History:...
when Cold Feet won the Best Comedy Drama (ITV) award and at the Royal Television Society
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
Programme Awards, where it was nominated for Best Situation Comedy & Comedy Drama. Helen Baxendale was nominated for the British Comedy Award for Top Television Comedy Actress but lost to Dawn French. At the RTS North West Awards, Cold Feet won the award for Best Network Entertainment Programme. The programme has retained the interest of reviewers several years after its original broadcast; writing for The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post
The Jerusalem Post is an Israeli daily English-language broadsheet newspaper, founded on December 1, 1932 by Gershon Agron as The Palestine Post. The daily readership numbers do not approach those of the major Hebrew newspapers....
, Aryeh Dean Cohen said, "The cast sparkles all around, as does the script, and the characters are endearing and believable."
Granada's sale of the series package to American cable network Bravo in 2000 included this pilot. Bravo hired agency G WhiZ to design a series of print and media advertisements for the series to run in such publications as The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. G WhiZ based their campaign on the shot of Adam's buttocks, which lead to many publications either asking for an alternative or refusing to carry the promotion outright.
Home media
Cold Feets first home video publication came in 1999 when it was released on VHS by Video Collection International, with the subtitle "A comedy about life, love & everything else!" A short behind-the-scenes feature on the filming of the second series was included. It was also released together with the double-video set and DVD of the first series. In July 2007, it was made available as streaming media on ITV's revamped itv.comItv.com
itv.com is the main website of ITV plc, the UK's largest commercial television broadcaster which operates 11 out of 15 regions on the ITV network under the ITV1 brand. The website offers on-line streaming, ITV archive, news, sport, entertainment, games, soaps, lifestyle, drama and an interactive TV...
website and in April 2008 was made available for purchase on ITV's iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
shop.
External links
- Cold Feet at the British Film InstituteBritish Film InstituteThe British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...