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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 334658" data-attributes="member: 23">Series One Episodes One to Three continued Something that struck me this time round was how long it takes to introduce the fourth co-conspirator Bella. She doesn’t appear at all in the first episode and arrives fairly late into the second, initially as an acquaintance of Linda. Linda works in the booth at an amusement arcade, Bella - a sex worker - frequently picks up her men there.Bella’s unflappable and streetwise persona has injected a fresh new dynamic already. There’s a scene where Dolly is chewing Linda out for bringing Bella to their secret lockup, and as they argue back and forth, Bella simply stands and observes them cooly, deciding which way to play her own hand. Which she does perfectly.Linda’s proving one of the more unreliable characters through her volatile temper, her overindulgence of alcohol (she drunkenly gave Bella details of the entire scheme without consulting the other two and after Dolly had ordered them to leave the recruitment of a fourth to her), and her sex drive. On finding her with a strange man in the house, Dolly is not only bothered about the possible threat to their scheme, but also relates the situation to her own devotion to her late husband:Linda’s been on the receiving end of a few slaps already (including a pimp slap from Bella). After one of the belts from Dolly, Linda whines:And this is the bottom line in the relationship. Dolly might be hard, but there’s also an almost maternal thing between she and the younger women. Notwithstanding her having been married to Harry, Dolly’s life experience, instincts, relative seniority and ability to think on her feet and adapt quickly still make her the natural leader. But there’s already a hint of rebellion from one or two of the younger women.As Dolly, Ann Mitchell steals the show, but the casting is truly impressive. All four women have their strengths (it strikes me that the “power of four” is key when casting the different elements of female ensembles. When it works, it’s magic: think The Golden Girls or Desperate Housewives).Maureen O’Farrell is very believable as mouthy Linda. As Shirley, Fiona Hendley seems the weaker of the four actresses, but she’s still no slouch and the chemistry is definitely there.I’m already mourning the impending recasting of Eva Motley in Widows II, as she’s brilliant here and a very difficult act to follow.Even the supporting roles are cast wonderfully. Everywhere you look there are familiar faces. I recognised, Kate Williams as Shirley’s over-protective mother but couldn’t place her to anything specific (I did think she might have been Charles Hawtrey’s wife in Carry On Doctor, but apparently not). She’s been in loads of stuff, especially Seventies sitcoms, and I was delighted to find she’s in Love Thy Neighbour which I have lined up to watch in the not-too-distant. Boxer, too, is played a very recognisable character actor: Dudley Sutton (again, he’s been in loads of stuff). There’s the future Burnside from The Bill, in a typically thuggish role. Oh, and D.D. Dixon from Brookside appears in a fun role as Gloria, the receptionist with attitude. It seems to be her first TV role, though you’d never think so from her confidence and deportment.Episode Three took on a new storytelling format with black and white flashbacks of the men’s “rehearsals” for the heist running parallel with the women doing the same thing. It feels extremely progressive for the time. Best of all, it led to another flashback to the original men’s heist in which we get the reveal of the “fourth man”: the one who survived. I’d completely forgotten this twist, and it’s make me really applaud Linda La Plante’s writing because even though it was under my nose the entire time, I genuinely had the rug pulled out from me when the reveal came and the identity was revealed.This first series is already surprising me and I can’t wait to watch the second half of this first series.</blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?