The Grand (TV series)

The Grand
Genre	Drama
Created by	Russell T Davies
Written by	Russell T Davies
Composer(s)	Julian Nott
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	18
Production
Location(s)	Manchester
Running time	50 minutes
Production company(s)	Granada Television
Release
Original network	ITV
Picture format	14:9
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	4 April 1997 – 3 April 1998

The Grand is a British television drama series produced by Granada Television for the ITV network, broadcast between 4 April 1997 and 3 April 1998. It was written by Russell T Davies and set in a grand hotel in Manchester in the 1920s.

There are two series: eight episodes in the first series were broadcast from 4 April 1997 to 23 May 1997 and ten in the second series from 30 January 1998 to 3 April 1998. All 18 episodes were written by Russell T Davies. The cast included Susan Hampshire, Julia St. John, Tim Healy, Michael Siberry, Stephen Moyer and Mark McGann.

The two series were novelised by Catrin Collier, under the pen name Katherine Hardy.

The series featured the Bannerman family that owned and ran the hotel, the staff that lived in the basement and occasional guests.

At the series opening, the very upright John Bannerman (Michael Siberry) has just reopened the Grand, which he inherited from his overbearing father and which he now owns and operates with his staid and steady wife, Sarah (Julia St. John). On opening night of the new, refurbished Grand, their son, Stephen (Stephen Moyer in the first series, Ifan Meredith in the second) returns from service in World War I. Initially a happy occasion, it soon becomes apparent that Stephen is a damaged young man who hides his pain in alcohol. Their daughter, Adele (Camilla Power), a young teenager, feels ignored and finds more in common with the staff than she does her own family. After an unfortunate series of events puts the Grand in financial jeopardy, John's younger brother, Marcus (Mark McGann), a very intelligent but seemingly heartless businessman with shady connections to the underworld, offers to save the day by becoming a partner in the hotel—but are his motivations genuine, or does he have an ulterior motive? Also featured are John's stuffy mother, Mary, and Marcus' "lady friend," the beautiful Ruth Manning (Amanda Mealing in the first series, Victoria Scarborough in the second) who appears to be every bit Marcus' equal when it comes to cold-hearted calculation.

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