Season 2 • Episode 10
LatestDanny is desperate to be reconciled with Emma.
The Lakes is a mystery drama created and written by Jimmy McGovern for BBC1. The first series – comprised of four episodes – broadcast from 14 September to 5 October 1997. A second series of ten episodes ran from 10 January to 14 March 1999. Danny Kavanagh leaves Liverpool for the Lake District, finding work at a hotel and love with a local girl named Emma. Yet Danny remains an outsider in the close-knit community, and through the machinations of fate, he finds himself implicated in a tragedy. The secrets, lies, and crimes, of the seemingly tranquil community continue to be revealed.
Acting
John Simm's restless, watchful desperation.
Writing
McGovern's unflinching moral complexity.
Cinematography
Lakes as menacing postcard, beauty that judges.
Creator
Jimmy McGovern
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of 1990s 'Northern Realism' boom alongside Hillsborough and Cracker, McGovern using prestige drama to examine working-class trauma without sentimentality.
The Lake District tourist board reportedly had mixed feelings about their region portrayed as a cesspool of secrets; Simm nearly drowned filming the lake scenes in freezing water.
GB
