Trollied

Plot summary

The show takes place in the fictional supermarket of Valco in Warrington, Cheshire, where the hapless staff deal with the everyday problems of running a value supermarket in the north west of England. The show explores the relationships between the staff, customers and managers as romances and rivalries blossom on the shop floor, along with a realistic supermarket atmosphere that customers and store employees in reality can relate to. This includes customer stereotypes and rivalries with other store branches such as Valco in Wigan.

Originally the show was going to be set in Bradford, West Yorkshire where the creator Anne Marie O'Connor is from.

Cast and characters

Gavin Strong (portrayed by Jason Watkins) — Gavin is Valco's store manager and a long-term employee of the company. He is mild-mannered and dedicated to his work. He is a widower and it has taken sometime for him to find love again. He was clueless to the fact that his deputy manager, Julie Cook, was attracted to him and he later became romantically involved with members of staff including Anna and Cheryl. He briefly left Valco's store in Warrington to take up the position of area manager of the entire Valco chain, but later returned. (Series 1–7)

Julie Cook (portrayed by Jane Horrocks) — Julie had worked at Valco since leaving school. She was often disliked by her fellow co-workers due to her bitter attitude which was attributed to the fact that her fiancé left her for another woman; however, they later warm to her when she begins to show her softer side. Julie is offered the permanent position of deputy manager when Leanne takes maternity leave and decides not to return. She had secretly been in love with store manager, Gavin Strong, since joining the Valco team and had often attempted to gain his affections. At a Christmas party, her final attempt was once again unsuccessful, only this time Gavin discovered she was in love with him. She decided to leave Valco and later became co-store manager of Widnes. She later returned to briefly visit Gavin at Valco for Christmas. (Series 1–3, guest Series 5)

Andy Richmond (portrayed by Mark Addy) — Andy was head butcher at Valco for many years and has worked alongside Kieran at the meat counter. He sees himself as a ladies man and would often take fun in winding up the staff and customers alike. When Andy is later reunited with Sarah, 'the one that got away' he decided to choose her over his job and leaves Valco to start a new life with Sarah in Scarborough. (Series 1–3)

Katie McVey (portrayed by Chanel Cresswell) — Katie was originally a checkout operator at Valco, and later went on working as a kiosk assistant, and then a checkout supervisor. She became romantically involved with Kieran, the butcher, and both left Valco to start a new life together. However, it is revealed that she and Kieran broke up and Katie soon returned upon receiving the position of HR manager and later working her way up to her current position as deputy store manager. She found love for a second time at Valco with Daniel Wilson. (Series 1–3, Series 5–7)

Notable guest appearances

Guest appearances on the series include, Louise Redknapp (2011), Ian Botham (2012), Kelly Brook (2013), Geri Halliwell (2013), Carol Vorderman (2014), Kay Burley (2014), Andrew Flintoff (2014), and Richard Wilson (2015).

Location

The series was filmed on a set built by Sky TV at the Bottle Yard Studios in Bristol, UK. Between series 3 & 4, the BBC2 motoring entertainment show Top Gear destroyed some of the set by driving through it with three 1980's era hatchbacks. The segment aired on Top Gear Series 21, Episode 1.

Trollied episode 'The Wedding', was partly filmed at the cruise terminal at the Port of Dover, which was used as the location for the Dublin and Holyhead Ferry Ports in scenes which sees Gavin (Jason Watkins) and the others panicking they are going to miss his & Cheryl’s (Sarah Parish) wedding.

International broadcast

Trollied was broadcast in Australia on Network Ten, first airing Thursday nights from 27 September 2012 at 11.15 pm. However, Network Ten stopped broadcasting the series, and instead, all seven series became available to view on the Australian streaming service Stan. Series 6 became available to the service as of 6 January 2017, while Series 7 started in April 2018.

In the United States, the show airs on selected PBS affiliates. Although not a direct adaptation of Trollied, NBC previewed their new comedy series Superstore on 30 November 2015. Many have seen Superstore as the American equivalent of Trollied.

Reception

Critical reception

Following the debut of Trollied, Ian Richardson, manager of the Morrisons supermarket in Thornbury, Bradford, wrote an article in The Guardian newspaper, saying the show was the topic of the discussion in the staff canteen and that he felt the attention to detail on the set was excellent, making a realistic setting. In Mr Richardson's article he commented that the show portrayed many similarities with his supermarket, but he could not relate to the use of bad language on the shop floor or poor customer service levels. He felt that it was a shame there was not more customer interaction.

Reviews for the series were mixed. In a review for The Guardian, Zoe Williams commented that the series is "A puerile, lazy comedy". On reviewing the first episode, Alice-Azania Jarvis of The Independent said that "In all, it wasn't bad. There was no reason to switch over. No reason to tune out. It was lightly amusing, which is enough for what it was. But it's not going to be something to go out of your way for. It's not appointment TV." Keith Watson of the Metro stated that "Trollied is worth watching but it's the minor characters that make you laugh".

DVD releases

The home media distribution rights of Trollied were initially held by Fremantle Home Entertainment, in which they released series one, two and three in individual sets and a collected box set, followed by series four, between 2011 and 2015. After which, rights to the series were acquired by Network, where they released series five, six, a box set comprising the first six series, and finally, series seven, between 2016 and 2018. Following the broadcast of the stand-alone finale episode in December 2018, it remained unreleased on home media until 2023, when Network released it as part of a complete series box set. Following Network's liquidation in 2023, the complete series was made available in 2024 via Old Gold Media/Spirit Entertainment.