‘Degrading’ lingerie shop for JK Rowling’s Casual Vacancy gets local knickers …

It will be seen all around Britain as people tune in to the three-part BBC
show, which tells the politically-charged story of villagers who wish to see
their community centre turned into a spa, pushing out the troublesome
neighbours on an impoverished estate.

Speaking at a screening of the first episode at Bafta, the show’s director
Jonny Campbell disclosed the arrival of cast and crew on set had raised some
eyebrows, not least because of Samantha’s racy lingerie shop.

“They complained about it at the local parish council meeting,” he said. “They
said it was a disgrace on the one hand, but on the other a couple of little
old ladies with white hair came walking past, looking in the window, and
said ‘we’ve already got all that stuff’.

“So it was amusing.”

He added the village had been selected especially for its history and
picturesque views, saying it could easily be mistaken for “Cranford” if
actors were in period costume.

^{Keeley Hawes as Samantha Mollison, owner of a raunchy lingerie shop (BBC)}

Complainants are understood to have been visitors to the village, with local
residents alerted to the filming.

An item in the local parish newsletter states: “Not everyone was delighted
with the new ‘shop’ and the Beacon received a letter of complaint from a
visiting family stating that its window display looked ‘like it should be in
Soho or Amsterdam rather than in a Cotswold village’.

“They found the display ‘wholly unsuitable and degrading’ and ‘would not be
visiting Painswick again until this display is addressed’.

Both the paper and the council wrote to complainants individually to explain,
with one local saying the matter had caused much amusement among villagers.

Martin Slinger, chairman of the real Painswick Parish Council, said the BBC
programme-makers had visited their meetings to see help them understand
proceedings, adding the real-life councillors were much more civilised than
their fictional counterparts.

“It caused quite a stir,” he said. “Especially the ladies in the shop window.

“The people from Painswick took it as a joke, but a few of the visitors and
members of the public sent emails to us saying they were disgusted.

“I suppose there’s been nothing like that here before.”

^{Michael Gambon as Howard Mollison and Julia McKenzie as his wife,
Shirley (BBC)}

Described as “Midsomer Murders meets Trainspotting”, The Casual Vacancy deals
with the bleak existence of drug addicts and the deprived, and details the
blithe selfishness of a small-minded elite in the fictional West Country
village of Pagford.

It is adapted from J K Rowling’s first novel for adults, which received mixed
reviews when it was released, with one
Telegraph writer calling parts “so howlingly bleak that it makes Thomas
Hardy look like PG Wodehouse”.

The BBC adaptation, written by EastEnders scriptwriter Sarah Phelps, stars
Michael Gambon as the chairman of the parish council, Julia McKenzie as his
social climbing wife, and Rory Kinnear as champion of the underprivileged
Barry Fairbrother. Newcomer Abigail Lawrie plays Krystal Weedon, the
troubled teenager representing exactly what the Pagford leaders want to keep
at bay.

The programme, due to air on the BBC next month, was filmed in six villages in
the Cotwolds including the streets and shops of Painswick.

The Casual Vacancy, which JK Rowling has seen and approved, will begin on BBC
One on Sunday 15th February at 9pm.

ANNA KING: A saucy #lingerie shop in Painswick is causing a stir. Has a #shopwindow ever stopped you in your tracks? pic.twitter.com/5H90mt8dqV

— BBC Radio Glos (@BBCGlos) August 20, 2014

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