Linda Green was a British television comedy-drama series that lasted for two series, screened in 2001 and 2002. The twenty half-hour episodes were broadcast on BBC One and produced for the BBC by the independent Red Production Company. The programme was focused on the life of the eponymous title character, a thirty-something woman who works as a car saleswoman by day and sings in a club at night. The programme follows her various trials and tribulations in love and her relationships with her friends, in particular Jimmy McKenzie, a mechanic at the car showroom where Linda works, and with whom she enjoys sexual relations when she feels like it, Michelle Fenton, a chiropodist, and Darren Alexander, a kitchen-fitter. The latter two characters are a cohabiting couple with children, Jamie and Leanne, and, in Series 2, a new baby, Eric. Despite the demands of parenthood, Michelle and Darren enjoy frequent nights out, usually at the club, with Linda and Jimmy. Linda's mother, Iris, who works as a clerk in the magistrates' court, is played by Rachel Davies, and her father, Frank, a deputy headteacher, by Dave Hill. Linda also has two siblings, both considerably younger than her: the very bright Katie, in whom Linda frequently confides, and the easy-going Philip, a.k.a. Fizz, who is hoping to join the Army, rather against his father's wishes. As well as being the eldest child, Linda is also her father's favourite, although he is always careful never to treat the other two less favourably. Both Frank and Iris are always ready to provide a shoulder to cry on when Linda is unhappy, usually as a result of a failed relationship. One of Linda's former boyfriends, the much younger Ricky Pinder, becomes a semi-regular in the show when he becomes Katie's boyfriend. The other club singer, Coral and the club comic also appear on a semi-regular basis. The series was created by Paul Abbott, and other writers to pen episodes included Sorted writer Danny Brocklehurst, Catherine Johnson and Russell T Davies. The producer was Phil Collinson. Linda was played by Liza Tarbuck, well known as a television presenter then rather than as an actress, although she had originally trained as such and acted in ITV sitcom Watching for seven years from 1987. Individual episodes attracted well-known guest stars, such as Christopher Eccleston, David Morrissey, Simon Pegg, Pam Ferris, Anne Reid, Amelia Bullmore, George Costigan, Jamie Theakston, Martin Freeman, Peter Kay, Nicholas Gleaves, Maxine Peake, Meera Syal and Mark Benton. It also featured a guest appearance by Tarbuck's father Jimmy Tarbuck, who played her ex-Army paternal uncle, Vic Green. Up and coming stand-ups Sarah Darlington and Jolanta Migdalska also feature. In addition, Andy Devine appeared in one episode as Linda and Jimmy's abrasive and lecherous boss Syd Jenkins, a.k.a. 'Syd With the Wife'. Although quite popular in its first season, the series proved less so in its second, and it was not renewed again after the second run had come to an end. The second series has never been released on DVD.
