Beautiful People
- TV sitcom
- BBC Two
- 2008 - 2009
- 12 episodes (2 series)
Sitcom about the young family life of window-dresser Simon Doonan, based upon the memoirs of the fashionista of the same name. Stars Olivia Colman, Meera Syal, Aidan McArdle, Luke Ward-Wilkinson, Layton Williams and more.
Streaming rank this week: 1,276
Episode menu
Series 1, Episode 4 - How I Got My Posh
Further details
Simon dresses his neon-lit, queens-themed window display in Barneys and places a tiny crown on the head of a Posh Spice doll.
Back in Reading in 1997, Simon assumes his obsession with Posh Spice is a secret until a birthday wish for a doll is inadvertently broadcast on the school tannoy system.
Determined to cheer their son up, Debbie seeks a cut-price version from her hairdresser, Tameka Empson. Meanwhile, Andy takes Simon for a spot of football to try to 'butch him up' a bit, and he becomes surprisingly good at it.
Notes
The music in this episode includes a specially recorded duet by Dannii and Kylie Minogue, who perform Abba's The Winner Takes It All.
Broadcast details
- Date
- Thursday 23rd October 2008
- Time
- 9:30pm
- Channel
- BBC Two
- Length
- 30 minutes
Cast & crew
| Olivia Colman | Debbie Doonan |
| Meera Syal | Aunty Hayley |
| Aidan McArdle | Andy Doonan |
| Luke Ward-Wilkinson | Simon Doonan |
| Layton Williams | Kyle |
| Sophie Ash | Ashlene Doonan |
| Sarah Niles | Reba |
| Samuel Barnett | Adult Simon |
| Gary Amers | Sacha |
| Tameka Empson | Tameka |
| Josh Handley | Jayeson Jackson |
| Michelle Butterly | Miss Perrin |
| John Catterall | Policeman |
| Carley Lenchner | Victoria Beckham |
| David Schaal | Billy Bingo |
| Jonathan Harvey | Writer |
| Gareth Carrivick | Director |
| Justin Davies | Producer |
| Jon Plowman | Executive Producer |
| Mark Lawrence | Editor |
| Dennis De Groot | Production Designer |
Press
Each instalment of this comedy opens like an episode of Sex And The City. But the chirpy voice-over and shots of New York City only book end a flashback to entirely less glamorous Reading in 1997, where the younger Simon (Luke Ward-Wilkinson) inadvertently broadcasts his desire for his very own Posh Spice doll over the school tannoy system. Although this yearning places us squarely in the late Nineties, Beautiful People feels as if it is floating somewhere before that time; perhaps because of references to TV shows such as Knots Landing, which finished in 1993.
Tessa Gibbs, The Telegraph, 23rd October 2008