The Liver Birds and Series 1 starred Pauline Collins as Dawn and Polly James as Beryl Hennessey. In Series 2, Nerys Hughes debuted as Sandra Hutchinson, replacing Dawn for the rest of the programme's run. The Beryl-and-Sandra pairing is generally regarded as the programme's best period. Beryl was the more 'common' one, while Sandra was soft-spoken and more refined, due to the influence of her snobbish, overbearing mother (Mollie Sugden). Carla Lane drew on her own mother for the character – "Mrs Hutchinson, I think she was my mother. I'm sure she was my mother". Beryl's 'common' mother (the Hennesseys live in Bootle,
The Cry (2002 TV series) The Cry (2002 TV series) The Cry is a British television thriller miniseries, comprising four fifty-minute episodes, that first broadcast during April 2002 on ITV. The series stars Sarah Lancashire as Meg Bartlett, a child protection officer working for social services, who after suffering a second miscarriage, befriends a young mum, Christine Rearden (Emma Cunniffe), whom she later suspects of abusing her daughter, Eleanor. Joe Duttine, Anthony Calf and James Laurenson co-starred alongside Lancashire and Cunniffe. The series was directed by David Drury and written by playwright Peter Ransley. Two episodes were broadcast each week. "The Cry" received mixed critical