A frank three-part drama about female friends written by Susan Oudot and starring Pauline Quirke, Frances Barber, Michelle Collins, Gwyneth Strong, Lesley Manville

Five old schoolfriends get together for a raucous hen night after Susie announces she's getting married.
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For ever friends: page 20

Real Women 9.30pm BBC1
Assemble a fine female cast and give them a decent script to work with. It's a simple formula, but one that isn't tried often enough. Redressing the problem is this three-parter from writer Susan Oudot, in which Michelle Collins, Pauline Quirke, Lesley Manville, Frances Barber and Gwyneth Strong play childhood friends.
All five have followed radically different paths, but have kept in touch and reunite here for Collins's hen party. As the night unfolds, taking them from upmarket restaurant to male strip club, we realise that all is not rosy for any of these women. The advice of Quirke's stroppy husband fortunately goes unheeded: "You ain't a bunch of kids no more, so don't go making a prat of yourself," he hurls at his wife as she walks out the door. No chance, mate.
See feature, page 20.