Can’t beat
The show began in 1997, following the lives of six
30-something pals eventually in three couples: Adam Williams and Rachel Bradley, played by James Nesbitt and Helen Baxendale; Pete and Jenny Gifford (John Thomson and Fay Ripley); and Karen and David Marsden (Hermione Norris and Robert Bathurst). Over the years the characters have been through everything from affairs and marriage to divorce, cancer and, most shocking of all, the death of Rachel in a crash in 2003. Her funeral in the last episode of the fifth series was watched by more than 10million viewers. By this time the success of the show saw cast members getting £75,000 an episode. Having left in series four, Fay Ripley returned for the final episode as she wanted to document being pregnant on film. The show was revived in
2013 without Baxendale, although show creator Mike Bullen offered her a part as Rachel’s ghost.
She got her role after appearing in Friends, even though Bullen hated the US sitcom. That didn’t stop Cold Feet being dubbed the British version of it as ratings soared. Spin-offs
JAMES MOORE included soundtracks and a novel about the “lost years”. The show was originally set in north London but was moved to Manchester because it was reckoned audiences could relate to it better – and it was cheaper. The character Adam was loosely based on Bullen’s own wild ways as a young man, while Pete’s depression storyline was also based on his own mental health struggles. Other storylines have covered everything from drug use to IVF.
The return of the show has seen Pete remarry Jenny, who has battled breast cancer, David has faced being homeless and Adam and Karen have controversially hooked up together. James Nesbitt’s real love-life has been almost as turbulent as his character’s. He split from wife Sonia in 2013 after having flings, admitting: “I behaved like an eejit.” John Thomson, a dad of two, battled booze and drugs, divorcing wife Sam in 2015. Now sober, he says he contemplated suicide. Nesbitt played Bofur in The Hobbit, while Ripley wrote cookbooks and Baxendale was in TV’s Cuckoo. Cameos have included The Royle Family’s Ricky Tomlinson as a cab driver.