Suburban Shootout is a British satirical black comedy television series produced for Channel 5 and Paramount Comedy by Feelgood Fiction in association with Oxygen. The first series aired in the UK on Channel 5 from 27 April 2006. It began airing in the United States on 22 March 2006 on Oxygen and in Germany on Comedy Central in 2007. The second series began on Channel 5 on 6 September 2007.
Contents
Premise
Joyce Hazeldine and her policeman husband Jeremy move from London to what seems to be an idyllic home counties town of Little Stempington. She soon discovers there are two rival gangs of housewives, one headed by Camilla Diamond and one by Barbara Du Prez.
Once very good friends, Camilla and Barbara originally turned to weaponry and intimidation as a way of dealing with crime and antisocial behaviour, and gathered a small group of local women to help further their cause, but the group splintered into two smaller gangs when Camilla grew greedy and used their increased clout for her own personal gain, dealing in extortion, racketeering, coercion and threats to local businesses and residents of the town.
Barbara's gang continues to take extreme action against perceived 'threats to Little Stempington life' (planned low-cost housing, teenagers wearing hoodies, etc.), while also working tirelessly against Camilla's gang. Timid Joyce, unfortunately, becomes a pawn in both gangs, enlisted by Barbara to work undercover as a way of getting closer to Camilla.
The plot later thickens with Camilla racketeering the local recreational drugs market with 8 times strength HRT patches from their contacts in Marseille (hence the twinning with Marseille in the town sign).
Cast
Amelia Bullmore as Joyce Hazeldine, the naïve newcomer to Little Stempington who on moving to the village is gobsmacked to discover that her well-dressed, well-mannered neighbours are in fact a female mafia. She is of a nervous disposition and frequently attempts to solve disputes by talking them over - not that this method ever gets her anywhere. She works for both Barbara and Camilla during the course of the series, but her true alliance is with the 'good' gang, and during series two she becomes their leader. Throughout the series she battles to keep her excursions into the murky underworld of Little Stempington a secret from her loving husband Jeremy.
Anna Chancellor as Camilla Diamond, head of the 'bad' gang. Originally very good friends with Barbara du Prez, the two formed an all-female mafia system after accidentally killing a burglar. They used it to keep Little Stempington free of crime, but Camilla saw what the crime could do for her own gain, and the two soon parted ways. She constantly masterminds a variety of schemes to make herself very rich, such as running a male prostitution ring and introducing a female fight club to Little Stempington.
Felicity Montagu as Barbara du Prez, head of the 'good' gang. Despite being 'good' she employs extreme and often violent methods in order to prevent the bad gang from gaining a stronghold of the town. She is an optimist who takes great pride in her status as a vigilante.
Rachael Blake as Hilary Davenport, one of Camilla's sidekicks. Hilary is an archetypal cougar, preying on a number of younger men throughout the series. When the bad gang initiate a male prostitution ring, Hilary takes it upon herself to give each of the men a thorough suitability check.
Cathryn Bradshaw as Margaret Littlefair, a sidekick of Barbara du Prez and the 'good' counterpart to Lillian. A remarkably ditzy woman who seems to know a lot about making explosives and handling guns, it is hinted that Margaret lost her virginity on a table tennis table and has not had sex in an extremely long time, hence her eager trigger finger.
Lucy Robinson as Pam Draper, a sidekick of Barbara du Prez and the 'good' counterpart to Hilary, although Pam is in fact rather violent and always relishes the opportunity to discipline the unruly youths of Little Stempington. She is particularly posh and is always seen in a clean and pressed suit. She has very little actual compassion for the people she combats, even threatening to castrate a man if he didn't start speaking 'the Queen's English'.
Production
The Little Stempington town sign was only seen in the first four episodes in season one, because the writer, Roger Beckett, stole it from the set. It is currently under his bed in his house.
Most of the filming was done in Pinner, London.
American remakes
In 2008, HBO commissioned a pilot episode of a U.S. version of "Suburban Shootout". The script was written by Michelle Ashford, the episode directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and filmed in the Hamptons, Long Island, NY in September 2008. The cast included Kelly Preston as Camilla Diamond, Judy Greer, Mary Birdsong, Kerri Kenney-Silver, and Rachael Harris The pilot was not picked up to series and never aired.
ABC have commissioned a separate pilot script, also an adaptation of the UK series, this time written by Byron Balasco in the format of a one-hour comedy-drama series. It remains to be seen if the script will be sent to pilot.