''Three Girls'' is a three-part

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

television drama series written by Nicole Taylor and directed by

Philippa Lowthorpe Philippa Lowthorpe (born 27 December 1961) is an English film and television director. She was awarded the Deluxe Director Award at the WFTV Film and Television Awards for the miniseries '' Three Girls''. She recently directed episodes of the ...

. It was broadcast on three consecutive nights between 16 and 18 May 2017 on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

. A co-production between

BBC Studios BBC Studios Limited is a British content company. It is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC that was formed in April 2018 through the merger of the BBC's commercial production arm and the BBC's commercial international distribution arm, BBC Wor ...

and

Studio Lambert Studio Lambert is a British television production company based in London, Manchester, Glasgow and Los Angeles. It creates and produces scripted and unscripted programs for British and American broadcasters, cable networks and streaming platform ...

, the series is a dramatised version of the events surrounding the

Rochdale child sex abuse ring The Rochdale child sex abuse ring targeted underage teenage girls in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. Nine men were convicted of sex trafficking and other offences including rape, trafficking girls for sex and conspiracy to engage in sexua ...

, and describes how the police and the local authorities failed to investigate allegations of

child abuse Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical abuse, physical, child sexual abuse, sexual, emotional and/or psychological abuse, psychological maltreatment or Child neglect, neglect of a child, especially by a p ...

and

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

because the victims were perceived as unreliable witnesses and through fear of being accused of racism because of the ethnicity of the perpetrators. ''Three Girls'' drew a strong viewing audience upon its first broadcast, with 8.24 million viewers for episode one, 7.88 million for episode two and 8.19 million for episode three. The series was released on DVD in Region 2 on 8 January 2018. A BBC documentary on the case, ''The Betrayed Girls'', was broadcast on 3 July 2017 as a follow-up to the drama.

Plot

The story is told from the viewpoint of three of the victims: fourteen-year-old Holly Winshaw, sixteen-year-old Amber Bowen and her younger sister Ruby. The focus later shifts to sexual health worker Sara Rowbotham, the main whistleblower who drew attention to the case after repeated pleas for action from social services and the police fell on deaf ears. DC

Margaret Oliver Margaret Oliver (born 23 October 1955) is an English former Detective Constable with the Greater Manchester Police. She is known as a whistleblower for exposing the poor handling of the Rochdale child sex abuse ring case by her own force. Law ...

, the lead investigator on the case, manages to gain the support of her superior officer, Sandy Guthrie to instigate a full-blown investigation. However, despite significant evidence, the CPS decides to drop the case because of an “unrealistic prospect of conviction”. After Margaret convinces Amber Bowen to testify against her former boyfriend, Tariq, the case is re-opened by recently appointed public prosecutor

Nazir Afzal Nazir Afzal (born 1 October 1962) is a British solicitor and former prosecutor within the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Afzal spent most of his career in the CPS, rising to be Chief Crown Prosecutor for North West England in 2011, a role he ...

, who with the assistance of the police and the victims involved, manages to secure convictions against ten men involved in the ring. Rowbotham, Oliver and Afzal all acted as consultants on the series.

Cast

Maxine Peake Maxine Peake (born 14 July 1974) is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her roles as Twinkle in ''Dinnerladies (TV series), dinnerladies'', a sitcom on BBC One (1998–2000), as List of Shameless (British TV series) characters#Vero ...

as Sara Rowbotham *

Lesley Sharp Lesley Sharp (born 3 April 1960) is an English actress, She was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her part in the film ''The Full Monty'' (1997), and for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actres ...

as DC

Molly Windsor Molly Windsor is an English actress. Her breakthrough role was in the 2009 Channel 4 television film '' The Unloved'', and she has appeared in '' Oranges and Sunshine'' (2010) and '' The Runaways'' (2019). She is best known for her performance in ...

as Holly Winshaw *

Ria Zmitrowicz Ria Zmitrowicz is a British actress. She is known for her work in theatre, earning WhatOnStage and Manchester Theatre Award nominations, and her role in the BBC drama '' Three Girls'' (2017). Early life and education Zmitrowicz was born in ...

as Amber Bowen *

Liv Hill Liv Hill (born 22 June 2000) is a British actress. She received accolades for her roles in the BBC miniseries '' Three Girls'' (2017) and the films ''Jellyfish'' and ''The Little Stranger'' (2018). She has since appeared in '' The Fight'' (201 ...

as Ruby Bowen *

Ace Bhatti Ahsen Rafiq "Ace" Bhatti is a British actor. Early in his career, he appeared in the BBC series ''Cardiac Arrest'' (1994–1995), '' Holding On'' (1997), '' NCS: Manhunt'' (2001–2002), and '' New Street Law'' (2006–2007), as well as the ITV ...

Paul Kaye Paul Kaye (born 15 December 1964) is an English comedian and actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Thoros of Myr in the HBO fantasy series ''Game of Thrones'' (2013–17). He started as shock interviewer Dennis Pennis on ''The Sunday ...

as Jim Winshaw *

Jill Halfpenny Jill Halfpenny (born 15 July 1975) is an English actress who first garnered attention playing Nicola Dobson in the coming-of-age BBC drama series '' Byker Grove'' (1989–1992). She became more widely known for her roles as Rebecca Hopkins on ...

as Julie Winshaw * Bo Bragason as Rachel Winshaw *

Lisa Riley Lisa Jane Riley (born 13 July 1976) is an English actress, comedian and television presenter. Riley is best known for portraying the role of Mandy Dingle in the long-running ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'' between 1995 and 2001, and from 2019 onwa ...

as Lorna Bowen *

Naomi Radcliffe Naomi Radcliffe (born 16 November 1971) is an English actress. She was born in Oldham, Lancashire to Albert Radcliffe—a Canon of Manchester Cathedral—and Petrina, a teacher. She was educated at The Blue Coat School in Oldham and the Royal ...

as Yvonne * Jason Hughes as DC Sandy Guthrie * Rupert Procter as DC Jack Harrop * Ross Anderson as PC Richard Bryan *

Antonio Aakeel Antonio Aakeel is an English actor, known for starring in the Apple TV Series ''Slow Horses'' and leading the film '' Eaten by Lions'', for which he was named a Screen International Star of Tomorrow by Screen Daily. He also appeared in ''Tomb Ra ...

as Immy * Wasim Zakir as Tariq * Zee Sulleyman as Billy *

Simon Nagra Simon Nagra is a British Asian radio, television and theatre actor. Television roles include Ash Parmar in the BBC soap opera ''Doctors'' in 2007, as well as roles in ''Casualty'', ''The Bill'', ''EastEnders'', Three Girls, ''Dalziel and Pasco ...

as Daddy

Episodes

Filming

The three part drama was filmed from June to August 2016 in Bristol and released from 16th to 18th May 2017. As for filming locations, the council offices on Temple Street doubled as Liverpool Crown Court, whilst Bristol Register Office was used for interior community meeting scenes. Filming also took place in Victoria Park, Eastville Park and streets in

Hartcliffe Hartcliffe is an outer suburb of the city of Bristol, England, on the southern edge of the city at the foot of Dundry Hill. It is a post-World War II development consisting largely of council houses. It is one of the poorer areas of Bristol, wi ...

, Knowle, Easton, Bedminster and Redcliffe.

Link to Finsbury Park attack

In June 2017, a terrorist attack was launched against mosque-goers in Finsbury Park. The attacker, Darren Osborne, used a van to run over Muslim pedestrians, killing one man and injuring several others. In the course of the trial, it was remarked that Osborne developed an obsession with Muslims after watching ''Three Girls''.

Reception

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Three Girls (Tv Series) 2017 British television series debuts 2017 British television series endings 2010s British crime television series 2010s British drama television series BBC high definition shows BBC television docudramas British crime drama television series British Pakistani mass media 2010s British television miniseries Child sexual abuse in England Child abuse in television British English-language television shows History of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale Television shows about rape Television series by All3Media Television series set in the 2000s Television series based on actual events Television shows set in Greater Manchester Television shows scored by Natalie Holt