Widows (TV series)



Widows was a British primetime television crime drama that was broadcast in 1983 and 1985, produced by Euston Films for Thames Television and aired on the ITV network. Two six-part series were written by crime writer Lynda La Plante. The executive producer for the series was Verity Lambert.

The haunting music heard at intervals throughout the first series and in the closing credits of the final episode of both series is "What Is Life to Me Without Thee", from the opera L'Orfeo, sung here by Kathleen Ferrier.

Plot
Three armed robbers — Harry Rawlins, Terry Miller, and Joe Perelli — are killed during an armed robbery. They are survived by their widows, Dolly Rawlins (Ann Mitchell), Shirley Miller (Fiona Hendley), and Linda Perelli (Maureen O'Farrell). With the police applying pressure, and a rival gang intending to take over Harry Rawlins' crime business, the widows turn to Dolly for leadership.

She uses Harry's famous "ledgers", a cache of books detailing all his robberies over the years, to find the details of the failed robbery, and, enlisting the help of a fourth woman, Bella O'Reilly (Eva Mottley), they resolve to pull off the raid themselves. At the same time, they discover the "fourth man" in the raid escaped—leaving their husbands for dead. Dolly must contend with the police and the gang, as well as her fellow widows, agitating for vengeance.

The first series of Widows concluded with the widows successfully pulling off the raid, and escaping to Rio. In the final scenes, however, they discovered that the "fourth man" was in fact Harry Rawlins (Maurice O'Connell), Dolly's husband.

A second series followed in 1985. This series saw the widows return from Rio to track down Harry Rawlins, revealed at the conclusion of the original Widows to be the surviving "fourth man" from the original raid. Harry is determined to pay back the widows for staging his raid, and the widows have a score to settle with him for running out on their husbands. For this second series, Debby Bishop took over the role of Bella, after Eva Mottley had died from a drugs overdose.

A sequel series, She's Out, set ten years after the events of Widows, was produced in 1995.

Major cast

 * Ann Mitchell as Dolly Rawlins
 * Maureen O'Farrell as Linda Perelli
 * Fiona Hendley as Shirley Miller
 * Eva Mottley as Bella O'Reilly (Series 1)
 * Debby Bishop as Bella O'Reilly (Series 2)
 * Kate Williams as Audrey Withey
 * Maurice O'Connell as Harry Rawlins
 * David Calder as D.I. George Resnick
 * Paul Jesson as D.S./D.I. Alec Fuller

Series 1

 * Peter Machin as D.C. Robin Andrews
 * Jeffrey Chiswick as Arnie Fisher
 * George Costigan as Charlie Staincliffe
 * Stanley Meadows as Eddie Rawlins
 * Carol Gillies as Alice Gunner
 * Dudley Sutton as Boxer Davis
 * Terry Cowling as Jimmy Nunn
 * Christopher Ellison as Tony Fisher
 * Terence Harvey as Chief Insp. Saunders
 * James Lister as Carlos Moreno
 * Catherine Neilson as Trudie Nunn
 * Peter Lovstrom as Greg Withey
 * Michael John Paliotti as Joe Perelli
 * Terry Stuart as Terry Miller

Series 2

 * Stephen Yardley as Vic Morgan
 * Andrew Kazamia as Micky Tesco
 * Peter Machin as D.C. Robin Andrews
 * Mike Felix as Eddie Bates
 * Peter Lovstrom as Greg Withey
 * Christopher Whitehouse as Gordon Murphy
 * Pavel Douglas as D.S. Tommy Reynolds
 * Damien Thomas as Jose Camarena
 * Jim Carter as D.I. Frinton
 * Ann Michelle as Jackie Rawlins
 * Terence Harvey as Chief Insp. Saunders
 * Catherine Neilson as Trudie Nunn

In other media
In 2002, the first series was re-made for the American market, but the plot was significantly changed. Instead of a traditional armed robbery, this version united the three widows and the fourth woman in a plan to steal a famous painting. This version starred Mercedes Ruehl as Dolly Rawlins, Brooke Shields as Shirley Heller, Rosie Perez as Linda Perelli, and N'Bushe Wright as Bella O'Reilly.

Film adaptation
In March 2015, Gillian Flynn was set as financer/producer of the film adaptation and co-write the script with 12 Years a Slave helmer Steve McQueen who will also direct. In September 2016, New Regency will produce the film and Viola Davis will star as Dolly Rawkins. In January 2017, André Holland and Cynthia Erivo will star in the film. Elizabeth Debicki is in talks to join the movie.

DVD release
The complete series of Widows is available on DVD from Fremantle Media.