Holding On

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. Cast Main cast David Morrissey as Shaun Phil Daniels as Gary Rickey Lesley Manville as Hilary Saira Todd as Claire Freddie Annobil-Dodoo as Marcus Sam Kelly as Bernard Razaaq Adoti as Chris Diane Parish as Janet Ellen Thomas as Florrie Treva Etienne as Lloyd Annette Badland as Brenda