Helen Monks

Caitlin Moran wrote Raised by Wolves with her sister Caz, reimagining their teenage selves as contemporary kids on a Wolverhampton council estate.

Germaine Garry (Helen Monks) and sister Aretha (Alexa Davies) are the eldest of six, home educated and in disagreement about gardening, the correct way to eat Battenberg and the sexual magnetism of local lout Lee Rind. Their lunch looks like a bad food table from You Are What You Eat and their beloved Grampy likes "mellow jazz smokes" and climbing through windows. It sounds miserable, but the effect is pretty joyful.

The parallels with Paul Abbott's Shameless are obvious and Raised by Wolves has the same warmth as early drama from the Chatsworth estate, but with the sharp cultural cleverness (and excellent music) you'd expect from Moran.

Emma Sturgess, Radio Times, 23rd December 2013

Playing Moran: how Caitlin's alter-ego came to life

Raised by Wolves, Caitlin Moran's semi-autobiographical pilot, is due to air this Christmas; so how did undergraduate, Helen Monks, get to play her idol?

Fiona Parker, The Telegraph, 20th December 2013