Fairy Tales (TV series)

Fairy Tales is a British television drama anthology series produced by Hat Trick Productions for BBC Northern Ireland and broadcast on BBC One. Traditional fairy tales are adapted into modern settings, after the model of ShakespeaRe-Told and The Canterbury Tales. The first episode was broadcast on 10 January 2008, with others following at weekly intervals.

Based on the fairytale Rapunzel, Billy Jane Brooke (Charity Wakefield) is a successful tennis player whose nickname is "Rapunzel" because of her long hair. Billy Jane has an overprotective mother-manager (Geraldine James) who surrounds Billy Jane with female bodyguards and prevents her from interacting with men.

Eastern European tennis player Jimmy Stojkovic (Lee Ingleby), who is very bad at the game, is convinced by his father to compete under the guise of a woman, taking the name Martina Stojkovic, so that he has better chances of winning. Billy Jane befriends Jimmy and inspires him to start playing well. Eventually the two begin a "lesbian" relationship, right under the nose of Billy Jane's mother.

Ratings were relatively poor, with only 3.1 million viewers and a 13% audience share.

Based on the fairytale Cinderella, Cindy Mellor (Maxine Peake) is a cleaner who works at the anthropology wing of a busy university. She has a passion for anthropology, and wants to become the research assistant of Hans Michael Prince (James Nesbitt), a successful celebrity anthropologist. However, the head of the anthropology department, Charlotte Brooks (Harriet Walter), wants one of her own students, either Fenola (Lucy Punch) or Phoebe (Lucinda Raikes) to get the job.

Cindy meets Prince, who doesn't take it well when she challenges his theories. She still wants to try for the job, and under the advice of fellow cleaner Alice (Mona Hammond), Cindy dresses up in one of Fenola's dresses and attends Prince's lecture, hoping to change his mind.

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