Program Title
Seeing Red

Based On
The autobiography of Carol Atkins

Adapted By
Chris Monger

Number of Episodes:
1

Description
Coral Atkins was a thirtyish star (in a soap opera called "A Family At War") at the height of fame in 1970s. Coral is divorced from her abusive husband and already overextended trying to bring up her young son, Harry. While attending a charity event at a children's home she had a life-transforming experience: she chanced across a little girl crying hysterically. "I wouldn't bother with her," a staff member advised the actress. "She does that now and again." But Coral decided on the spot to open a home that would bother with just such children. "Seeing Red" charts the harrowing, amusing, poignant, improbable, and nightmarish adventures that ensue after her fateful decision. She is a woman with a mission and a fervent belief that there are bad parents and bad social workers, but no bad children. The theory is put sorely to the test by youngsters such as the compulsive handwasher who floods the house, the pyromaniac who has burned down every place he has ever lived, and other unruly cases. But her biggest battle is with the bureaucracy that insists on replacing love, security, and stability with rigid rules designed to reunite families no matter what. Getting children back with their parents may look good on paper, but too often it means returning them to the frontlines of neglect and abuse....


Original broadcast date
2000-04-30

Cast	Characters
Sarah Lancashire	Coral Atkins
Nicholas Gecks	Dr. O'Gorman
Lizzy McInnerny	Sylvia
Richard Dillane	Steve
John Quayle	Sir Godfrey Nicholson
Ann Aris	Hillary
Stuart Richman	Tom
Zoe Henry	Julia
Joe Gunn	Harry
Malcolm Scates	Derek
Judy Holt	Mrs. Hall
Gilian Cally	Mrs. Heel
Olwen May	Harriet
Laura J Keston	Jody
Emily Keston
Joseph Aston	Marcus
Jaqueline Jansen	Beryl
Eileen Davies	Miss Ross
Kate Layden	Mrs. Desmond
Holly Latham	Amy
Roberta Kerr
Reece Noi	Wayne
Tim Barker	Mr. Thomas
Robert Curbishley	Chris
Lauren Hartley	Kelly
Michael Jenn	Mr. Farris

Credits

Producer: Pippa Cross
Director: Graham Theakston

Intro
SEEING RED/Intro by Russell Baker

Tonight's story is based on a memoir by the British actress Coral Atkins and, as it says at the opening, it is mostly true. It takes place in 1970 when the war, World War Two, is only twenty-five years in the past.

It's important to keep the timeline in mind because Coral's childhood memory of World War Two is a key to the events she's writing about. When we first meet her, she has a leading role in a long-running soap opera titled Families At War, a show with a World War Two setting. Her private life is clearly a mess.

She seems to be living on the edge of hysteria. There's too much late-night partying, too much champagne, too many pills, and too many hangovers.

And finally, she is a single mother trying to raise a young son whose father has dropped out of the boy's life. Coral's fame as a television star makes her a popular attraction at charity fund-raising events…and as the story opens she has an appointment to show up and be entertaining at a home for disturbed children. Now, Seeing Red.

Extro
SEEING RED/Extro by Russell Baker

Coral's childhood separation from her parents was not an uncommon event in Britain during World War Two. Thousands of youngsters were sent away from their homes in the early 40s. And for very good reason…or so it seemed at the time. The idea was to get children out of the path of war and away from the cities targeted by Nazi bombers -- and away from the devastation that would take place if Hitler tried to land an invasion army in England. This was a lively possibility in the early stages of the war. Some children were shipped across the Atlantic and ended up in Canada…and a few in the United States. But most were settled in quiet English villages or thinly populated rural districts where only an urban child like Coral could have been horrified by the routine country spectacle of someone skinning a rabbit for supper. The irony of Coral's emotional predicament is that it's the result of an effort to save her life. I'm Russell Baker. Goodnight.





The Archive Database | Program History | Poster Gallery | Awards

Home | About The Series | The American Collection | The Archive
Schedule & Season | Feature Library | eNewsletter | Book Club
Learning Resources | Forum | Search | Shop | Feedback


©