Life Begins is a British television drama first broadcast on ITV between 16 February 2004 and 9 October 2006, starring Caroline Quentin and Alexander Armstrong, Anne Reid and Frank Finlay.
Contents
Premise
The story focuses on Philip Raymond (Phil) Mee and Margaret Eileen Brenda (Maggie) Thornhill-Mee and how their lives, plus those of their two children, James and Rebecca, change when Phil announces he is leaving Maggie for another woman. The first series follows Maggie's struggle to cope with adapting to single life, including finding a job, and later a new boyfriend, with the tables later turned on Phil somewhat when his new relationship fails. The series also features various friends and relatives of the couple and their dramas, such as the struggles of Maggie's parents, Eric and Brenda.
History
The first series of Life Begins began on 16 February 2004. The first series was a success. The show managed viewing figures ranging from 9.51 to 10.45 million, winning all of its time-slots. The series has been aired on Channel Seven in Australia and TV ONE in New Zealand.
As the first Life Begins was so popular, a second series was launched, which began on 16 February 2005. Series two received strong ratings of 6.38 to 8.62 million.
A third series started on 4 September 2006 on ITV. Again, the viewing figures were still high, managing to win half of its timeslots with figures of 5.79 to 6.32 million.
Life Begins was inspired by Bullen's re-evaluation of the lives of people around him as they approached 40 years old. The series was designed as a vehicle for actress Sarah Lancashire, who had signed an exclusive "Golden handcuffs" deal with ITV. Two months after the series was announced, Lancashire pulled out, feeling unable to commit to a potentially long-running series. ITV replaced Lancashire with Caroline Quentin. Bullen wrote the series with John Forte. As with Cold Feet, he integrated events from his own life into the storylines. He researched Maggie's travel agency job by spending a week at a travel agents' in Bristol.
It was always intended by the writers that the third series would be the last. A fourth series, thought possible at the time, never materialised.
Cast
Caroline Quentin as Maggie Mee
Alexander Armstrong as Phil Mee
Elliot Henderson-Boyle as James Mee
Ace Ryan as Rebecca Mee
Anne Reid as Brenda Thornhill
Frank Finlay as Eric Thornhill
Claire Skinner as Clare
Stuart McQuarrie as Guy
Ellie Haddington as Kathleen
Sarah Ozeke as Karen
Jordan El-Balawi as Freddie
Roy Dotrice as Frank
Alan Williams as George
Naomi Allisstone as Anna
Nicholas Boulton as Kieron
Chloe Howman as Helen
Paul Thornley as Jeff
Danny Webb as Paul
Abby Ford as Samantha
Brian Little as Jim
Michelle Holmes as Genevieve
Finlay Robertson as Kevin
David Westhead as Brian
Suzanne Burden as Penny
Laura Patch as Tina
Music
The music played over the "next time" clip and the credits is the specially produced "Life Begins Mix" of the Faithless song "No Roots", from their album of the same name released in June 2004, four months after Life Begins began, meaning the song was debuted on the show in this version. Faithless' Sister Bliss provided other music for the series.
Episodes
Broadcast
UK air dates
Series One - 16 February 2004 to 22 March 2004
Series Two - 16 February 2005 to 30 March 2005
Series Three - 4 September 2006 to 9 October 2006
From June 2014, the show was repeated on ITV Encore, a channel exclusive to Sky customers, which closed down in 2018.
International air dates
Ratings in Australia: The first episode of the first series aired over Australia's non ratings period, and the opening episode rated 1.1 million mainland capital city viewers, which was the 12th most watched show for the week. Ratings continued around the one million viewers mark throughout series one. The first episode of series two moved to 9:30pm and rated 998,000 viewers, ranking first in its time slot. The second episode rated 853,000 viewers.