Fans of Netflix have hailed the re-release of a British drama that aired nearly two decades ago.
This Monday, the streaming service streamed all four seasons of Fat Friends, which aired on ITV from 2000 to 2005.
Set in Leeds, the series explored the lives of many slimming club members, focusing on the varied ways their weight has affected them.
Kay Mellor created it, and it starred Ruth Jones, James Corden, Sheridan Smith, and Alison Steadman, all of whom eventually appeared in the sitcom Gavin & Stacey.
Carol (Janet Dibley) ran the club and unsuccessfully attempted to get the members to adopt the ‘Super Slimmers’ diet.
Fans couldn’t contain their enthusiasm when they saw that all of the episodes were now accessible on Netflix.
‘I’m watching fat friends on Netflix, by Kay Mellor. I must have nearly cried about nine times already…so good,’ Lisa posted on X.
‘Fat Friends is on Netflix and I am buzzing for a lazy morning watching a few eps. As soon as I hear that ‘she’s a perfect 10, but wears a 12’ line in the opening I am thrown baccccck,’ Kirsty shared.
‘As if Fat Friends is on Netflix. Prime television that,’ Ryan added.
Throughout its life, Fat Friends received two Bafta nominations, with Alison Steadman nominated for Best Actress one year and the programme nominated for Best Drama Series.
Mellor directed and wrote a stage musical version of the series, with music by Nicholas Lloyd Webber, which premiered at the Grand Theatre in Leeds in 2017 before touring the United Kingdom.
Before her death in 2022, Mellor spoke about the inspiration for the show, telling Living North: ‘I saw someone outside the Town and Country Club in Leeds as it was at the time. She was a curvy young woman and it was a cold November night.
‘There she was in a strappy lycra dress, blonde hair cascading down her back, and everybody was looking at her. I remember thinking gosh, look how confident she is, look how amazing she is and look at how everyone’s looking at her in adoration.
‘All it was really was confidence. She had bucketloads of it. I thought: why aren’t we all like that? Why are we all obsessed with how much we weigh? She didn’t care, and she looked gorgeous.
She added that she remembered thinking she wish she could ‘bottle that and put that out for people to see’, which is what she tried to do with the series.
Fat Friends is streaming on Netflix.
Source My Celebrity Life.