Mile High


Mile High is a British television drama based on the lives of the cabin crew members of Fresh!, a budget airline based in London. The name of the show is a reference to the Mile High Club. The show was broadcast on Sky1 from 2003 to 2005 and then aired again on Sky Three. In 2012, CBS Drama obtained the rights to the series.

Background

A Hewland International production, Mile High is a mix of drama, sex and comedy. The show is based around the flight crew of a young budget airline, in and out of uniform, in the air and on the ground. The series follows the flight crew as they travel and live in the London home they share.

Cancellation

In August 2005, shortly after the series two finale, Sky 1's controller announced that the show would not return for a third series.
In an interview with Digital Spy, executive producer and creator Jane Hewland said, "Then finally, to make things worse, the policy at Sky changed 180 degrees right as we were in the middle of the 19 ep series. The previous boss had been pushing us to be more sexually explicit. That was the message. Sky had had lots of programmes like Naked in Westminster and Ibiza Uncovered which had done very well by being quite raunchy. Suddenly that went out of fashion. This wasn't anyone's fault. Times just change. I don't think the audience was ever comfortable with the more explicit things we did. It's not what people want in their living rooms. But the whole show got branded as tacky – the title MILE HIGH does encourage that. By now everybody but us had lost faith. I really enjoyed making the final episodes. I thought we'd come back and found our way again. But creatively I was knackered from having had to produce 58 hours of drama in a single year."

Filming locations

Although the airline flies all over the world, the show was filmed in two airports: London Stansted Airport and the Palma de Mallorca Airport. Also used in filming on location were London and Spain.
Scenes featuring the 'fresh centre' and the airport check-in desks were filmed at the ExCeL London centre on custom-built sets. The exteriors of the crew flat were the Clementina Court Building on Copperfield Road, Bow, London. The interiors and balcony scenes were filmed at 3 Mills Studios in Bow London.

Airline

Mile High revolves around a fictional budget airline, Fresh!, that operates Boeing 737 aircraft to destinations across Europe and North Africa.
In series 2, Fresh! merges with long-haul airline Goldstar resulting in two subsidiaries - Fresh! Europe and Fresh! Global which operates a Boeing 747-200. The merger causes distress to workers, especially those from Goldstar. The original blue Fresh! uniform is retained for all crew, rather than the Goldstar crew's mustard colour uniforms.
The airline's main base is London Stansted Airport, sometimes referred to as London Airport, where the airport's external and interior shots are filmed. Other destinations mentioned in the series include Leeds Bradford, Belfast, Manchester, Cardiff, Edinburgh, and Newcastle domestically. Internationally, destinations include Palma de Majorca, Amsterdam, Paris, Split, Brussels, Helsinki, Kos, Alicante, Faro, Málaga, Milan and Monastir. Destinations incorporated after the merger with Goldstar include Toronto, Dubai and Bahrain.

Episodes

Series one consisted of 13 episodes. Series two consisted of 7 episodes followed by 19 in series three.
Series two was the shortest series due to a compressed time scale for filming. Series two was a major success and as a result a further series of 19 episodes was commissioned. Episodes 14–20 and 21–39 were shown in four separate batches. Although episodes 21–39 were commissioned as a third series, episodes 14–20 and 21–39 were combined to create one large series classified as series two.
Charlotte Taylor departed after series two, causing her character to disappear without explanation in series three when it was combined with series two. This is one major difference between the series.

Series one (2003)

Series one follows the lives of Emma Coyle, K.C Gregory, Jason Murdoch, John Bryson, Janis Steel, Lehan Evans, Marco Bailey and Will O'Brien. The main storyline for series one is the love triangle between Emma Coyle, John Bryson and Emma's husband Ian. In episode one it is the eve of Emma's wedding day and she has a one-night stand with John. Later in the series it is revealed that Emma is pregnant with John's baby whilst married to Ian. Janis reveals the truth to Ian causing their marriage to end and Emma to have a breakdown. Another major storyline in this series is the complicated relationship between Janis and Marco.
The characters Jason Murdoch, K.C Gregory, Emma Coyle and John Bryson depart the show at the end of this series.

Series two (2004–2005)

Series two introduces Poppy Fields, Jack Fields, Charlotte Taylor, Nigel Croker, Lorna Newbold, Rachel Potter, Dan Peterson and Ed Russel to the show. Janis Steel, Lehan Evans, Marco Bailey and Will O'Brien were the only returning cast.
The main storyline in series two is the merger between Fresh! and GoldStar. The storyline of Janis' and Marco's complicated relationship continues this series with the addition of Poppy and Nigel. Poppy is a new love interest for Marco and Nigel is a new love interest for Janis. Series two has the main storyline of Nigel and his love interests. It is revealed that Nigel is a habitual cheater and has dated many women in the time in which he was married to his wife Denise. This storyline continues throughout the series until the series finale where all his love interests get revenge.
The series finale sees some of the staff at Fresh! lose their contracts, leaving Ed and Poppy out of a job. The series finale also shows Lehan Evans dying in a plane crash caused by Nigel's heart attack upon landing. As a result of his girlfriend's death, Dan Peterson descends into alcoholism. Ed and Poppy move to Minsk, Belarus and have a child. Janis Steel and Will O'Brien leave the airline to open their own bar named 'Mile High' on a Spanish beach.
The last episodes of the second season were broadcast on Finnish station MTV3 before British channel Sky One aired them.

Cast

Main characters

CharacterActorRoleSeries
Emma CoyleEmma FergusonCabin Crew1
Katherine Cassandra "K.C." GregorySarah MannersCabin Crew1
Jason MurdochJames RedmondCabin Crew1
John BrysonMatthew ChambersFirst Officer1
Janis SteelJo-Anne KnowlesSenior Purser1–2
Lehann EvansNaomi RyanCabin Crew, Purser 1–2
Marco BaileyTom WisdomCabin Crew1–2
Will O’BrienAdam SinclairCabin Crew, Purser 1–2
Poppy FieldsStacey CadmanCabin Crew2
Captain Nigel CrokerChristopher VilliersCaptain2
Charlotte TaylorSarah FarooquiCabin Crew2
Jack FieldsJohn PickardCabin Crew2
Rachel PotterEmma-Jane PortchCabin Crew2
Lorna NewboldKaty EdwardsCabin Crew2
Dan PetersonLuke RobertsFirst Officer2
Ed RussellScott AdkinsCabin Crew2

Recurring cast

CharacterActorSeries
Richard BeardsleyTim Crouch1
IanPeter Collins1
Marco’s MumHeather Tobias1
James MotherbaughMartin Cole1
Jackie RandallSarah Matravers1–2
Kevin McMillianCharles Daish1–2
Captain Robyn PalmerGeorgia Zaris1–2
Marvin LloydKal Weber2
Lucy CollinsEmma Willis2
Denise CrokerAlison King2
TerriDebbie Chazen2
ConnorConnor Fletcher1

Guest characters

CharacterActorSeries
Crazy Rugby FanRoss O'Hennessy1

International broadcast

Mile High was broadcast in Canada, Estonia, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, India, Israel, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Romania, Russia, Sweden, South Korea, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia the United Kingdom and the United States. In Serbia, 80,000 fans wrote a petition to continue producing Mile High, but the petition never reached the producers.

DVD release

Unlike the broadcasts, the DVD episodes do not include recaps of the storyline and the music is replaced by a cheaper and bubbly soundtrack.

Theme song