Underplayed Gems

Holding On (1997)

Holding On poster
Genre
drama
Country
United Kingdom
Length
1 season, 8 episodes
Rated
15
Rating
7.5 of 10 from 2 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this series is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

The series follows a group of unconnected Londoners whose lives are affected by the murder of a young woman. Some find hope in the tragedy while others spiral into despair.

melancholicbleakslow-burnthoughtfulsomberinterconnectedcharacter-driven

What happens

Holding On is an eight-part British television drama series, created by screenwriter Tony Marchant, that first broadcast on BBC2 on 8 September 1997. The series follows the life of a seemingly unconnected group of people living in London, whose lives are strangely affected by the murder of a young woman in the city. While some of the group are able to take a newfound hope from the remains of the tragic event, others including food critic Gary Rickey (Phil Daniels) simply watch on as despair begins to unravel in the light of the aftermath. Proving popular with both critics and viewers alike, the series won a Royal Television Society award for Best Drama Serial in 1998. The series boasted a stellar cast, including David Morrissey, Lesley Manville and Ellen Thomas, as well as Ace Bhatti and Diane Parish, who were both relatively unknown at the time of the series' broadcast. The series was billed as Marchant's "first significant project for television", and its main themes as "exploring in complex detail the personal responsibility [of every individual], and how it becomes threatened in a society which has been told by Margaret Thatcher [that] it no longer exists." The series was first released on DVD on 1 August 2005. After many years of being out-of-print, the series was finally re-released by Simply Media on 9 November 2015. Following the DVD release, the series drew comparisons to American drama series The Wire, praising the similarities been the multi-layered complex storylines and character development. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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