''Hard Cell'' is a British

mockumentary A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

television series created, co-written and co-directed by

Catherine Tate Catherine Tate (born Catherine Jane Ford, 5 December 1969) is an English actress, comedian and writer. She has won numerous awards for her work on the BBC Two, BBC sketch comedy series ''The Catherine Tate Show'' (2004–2007), as well as bein ...

, who also plays six of the main characters. The series premiered on 12 April 2022 on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

, and consists of six episodes. In June 2023, Tate confirmed that Netflix had officially cancelled the series after one season, which Tate found out about through someone else's

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuran ...

Plot

The series follows UK

prison governor The warden ( US, Canada) or governor ( UK, Australia), also known as a superintendent (US, South Asia) or director (UK, New Zealand), is the official who is in charge of a prison. Name In the United States, Mexico, and Canada, warden is the mo ...

Laura Willis (

) who firmly believes that creativity leads to rehabilitation and plans to put on a musical, starring

inmates A prisoner, also known as an inmate or detainee, is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement or captivity in a prison or physical restraint. The term usually applies to one serving a Sentence (law), se ...

and directed by ex-''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

'' star

Cheryl Fergison Cheryl El Jamouni (born 27 August 1965), known professionally as Cheryl Fergison, is an English actress. She is known for portraying the role of Heather Trott in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', a role in which she starred in from 2007 until ...

. During the six-week rehearsals, the inmates find their voices, build self-confidence and strengthen their friendships.

Cast and characters

Main

as Laura / Ros / Ange / Big Viv / Marco / Anne Marie *

Christian Brassington Christian Brassington (born 6 June 1983) is an English actor and writer, best known for playing the odious vicar Ossie Whitworth in the third and fourth series of the BBC hit period drama '' Poldark''. Brassington also portrayed a young Boris Joh ...

as Dean *

as Herself *

Niky Wardley Nichola Petra "Niky" Wardley (born 11 August 1973) is an English stage and screen actress. Her most notable role is schoolgirl Lauren Cooper's sidekick in the BBC's Emmy and BAFTA-nominated sketch series '' The Catherine Tate Show'' (2004–20 ...

as Anastasia * Jola Olajide as Charlee * Peter Singh as Gary

Recurring

Episodes

Production

On 30 June 2021, it was announced that

would write, direct and star in a six-part

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

set in a fictional women's prison. Executive producer Kristian Smith described the series as "funny and touching all at once, revealing what life might be like in a British women's correctional facility".

Donna Preston Donna Preston (born 6 June 1986) is an English actress, comedian and writer, notable for appearances in ''Apocalypse Wow'', '' Hey Tracey!'' and '' Scared of the Dark''. She appears as Despair in Neil Gaiman's '' The Sandman'' released on Netflix ...

announced her involvement in the series the next day. On 30 July, ''

Deadline Deadline(s) or The Deadline(s) may refer to: * Time limit, a narrow field of time by which an objective must be accomplished Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * Deadline (DC Comics), a fictional villain * ''Deadline'' (magazine), a Britis ...

'' shared the news that Tate's co-stars will include

as Dean,

as Anastasia, Lorna Brown as Cal, Caroline Harding as Sal, Jola Olajide as Charlee and

Duncan Wisbey Duncan James Wisbey (born 16 December 1971) is an English actor, voice over artist, musician, writer and impressionist. He is often credited as simply Wisbey. Recordings and appearances From 2001, Wisbey collaborated with Jonny Trunk, founde ...

as Martin. Wardley and Alex Carter (who previously starred in ''

The Catherine Tate Show ''The Catherine Tate Show'' is a British television comedy sketch programme written by Catherine Tate and Derren Litten featuring a wide range of characters. ''The Catherine Tate Show'' aired on BBC Two and was shown worldwide through the BBC ...

'' Australian and New Zealand live tour) were also confirmed to be parts of the creative team behind the series.

Reception

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, 18% of 11 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.8/10.

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

, assigned a score of 38 out of 100, based on four critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Gabriel Tate of ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

'' criticised the series for being dated. Rachel Aroesti of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' criticised the series for a lack of plot and "an abundance of one-dimensional characters". James Hibbs of ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...

'' criticised the series for immature jokes, but noted it gets better over time. Nicole Vassell of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' noted that the series has fared better with general audiences, as the audience

score is 88% positive. Many have especially praised the dramatic and shocking ending of the series. Speaking about the open ending and the possibility of a second series,

said: "I'm quite a big fan of things ending with loose ends. I think that's sort of life, isn't it? Life doesn't tie itself up in a neat bow. And so I'd be delighted if it got another series, and I'm happy for it to stand alone".

References

External links

* * {{Netflix original ended series (2019–present), state=collapsed 2022 British television series debuts 2022 British television series endings 2020s British sitcoms 2020s British prison television series 2020s British television miniseries British mockumentary television series British English-language television shows Netflix sitcoms Television shows filmed in England