Ice Cream Girls recently hit our screens on ITV with its gritty and twisted performance with two young actresses revealing a childhood secrets of abuse.
Young Serena played by Georgina Campbell and young Poppy played by Holli Dempsey gave a truthful yet chilling insight into the reality of student teacher relationships. The dysfunctional pair show the naivety of becoming victims of domestic abuse through the form of child grooming.
Jodhi May who plays adult Poppy shows the reaction and aftermath of 17 years behind bars whilst consistently pleading and protesting her innocence. Meanwhile Lorraine Burroughs who plays adult Serena has created a comfortable middle class lifestyle for herself and her family.
The show jumps between two parallel story lines of the murder of a teacher and a stereotypical “who did it?” plot. Starting with the release of Poppy who is on a search for answers, whilst Serena returns to her hometown of Brighton to attend to her sick mother.
Throughout the three part series, we follow the pair as they try to push the blame on each other. I particularly enjoyed Jodhi Mays performance as a strong but beaten young woman, who shows the difficulty of adapting to life outside. She forms a relationship with a reporter unbeknownst to her, but who wants to help and believes her. Lorraine Burroughs plays a woman with a secret, a secret from her husband and child.
As we approach the third part of the series, we are left guessing, was it Serena or Poppy? Then there are possible inclinations pointing towards the long term girlfriend of the teacher, Marlene or even Serena’s sister.
The end is filled with a magnificent twist, that some one else entered the house that night, as we see the story unravel and the culprit is revealed as Serena’s mother, leaves us undeniably shocked that she carried the secret so well.
Serena’s mother is laid to rest after she is taken by Cancer, leaving Serena to make amends and finally set herself free of the life time trauma. The fantastic acting of poppy as we see her finally break down is rather uncomfortable and upsetting. Leaving us with the feeling of ‘what a waste of life’..for all involved.
I would have loved for the show to have been stretched out, possibly over a 5/6 part series, i think there is so much more which could have been showed, especially regarding the relationship between the teacher and the girls. I would also have like to see more of poppy adjusting to life outside with its trials and tribulations.
In conclusion, the cast did the show justice finishing with a huge 4.3 million viewers and succeeded especially for me, in leaving me wondering and shocked by the twist at the end.
Another great drama from ITV and look forward to more like this.
Jo Blogs 