Prisoner: Cell Block Tate
CATHERINE TATE plays a variety of oddball characters inside a women’s jail
Hard Cell
NEW Available: Tuesday 12 April Genre: Comedy Season: 1 Episodes: 6
CATHERINE TATE HAS given us many outrageous comedy characters, from foul-mouthed Nan to ‘bovvered’ Lauren, and now she’s unleashing six new ones in her six-part comedy Hard Cell, which brings her unique style of humour to Netflix.
This mockumentary is set inside fictional female prison HMP Woldsley and sees Tate play a range of oddball characters, including self-obsessed prison governor Laura Willis, who is always implementing off-piste ideas and is flanked by her very cynical ‘number two’, Dean (Poldark’s Christian Brassington).
There’s also terrifying hard nut Big Viv, timid first-timer Ange, tattooed Ros, who has a besotted pen pal, and vain Essex prison guard Marco, who once auditioned for Love Island.
‘I loved being Marco. Much of his banter is improvised – he loves to roll his eyes and talk to camera,’ reveals Tate. ‘There were wigs and prosthetics, plus tattoos painted on me. The only character I didn’t have that for was Laura. She’s a liberal-hearted prison governor who’s a bit of a buffoon to start with, but by the end you see her heart and her real side.’
A story arc follows Laura’s latest brainwave – wanting inmates to perform the stage musical West Side Story because she thinks they’ll feel comfortable with a story ‘about gangs and stuff ’.
Laura’s also delighted to have persuaded former soap star Cheryl Fergison (playing herself ) to direct the show. The inmates are thrilled to meet ‘Heather off Eastenders’ and eagerly sign up for parts, but the production soon hits a few unexpected snags…
BREAKOUT ROLES
‘In prison, inmates create their own families, networks and communities, and they have highs and lows, so it was nice to show how our prisoners bond over the musical,’ adds Tate. ‘Things do get emotional by the last couple of episodes.’
With the show launching worldwide on
Netflix, Hard Cell will give Tate a global audience, though she’s already quite well known in the US.
‘I was in the American version of The Office, plus Doctor Who is big in the US among sci-fi fans, so I’m known for being Donna Noble,’ she says. ‘A show set in a women’s prison is something everyone will understand wherever they are in the world. It’s a well-tried genre.’