General Chat

Hi it was brill tonight brings back memories Lilxx

im sure you are Errol when i meet i will deffo be getting autographs and piccies Rosexxx

I am watching avidly - partly because my cousin (wife's side) wrote it, my wife did some of the research and it is based on my wife's family - so so proud!!!!

Gets better and better. Can't wait until next week. Heard an expression tonight I have not heard for years 'quilt'. My grandad used to say this when referring to his brother's boss - turned out he was right !! Libby

Every episode draws you in further...brilliant tonight. Tina x

dont watch too much tv,mostly it's a load of crap,but i have enjoyed watching lilies,hope my enjoyment continues.kev

I really enjoyed watching it and look forward to next weeks. Really thought the price of the flowers were very expensive 15/- for the Pinks and £2 for the Lillies was that really the price for flowers then. Margaret

not much difference to todays prices from the market

I will be Lil-looks great. Love stuff like that. catherine xx

Excellent series - the attention to detail is marvellous

It,s a brill prog i love it can,t wait for next weeks episode June x

Ultimately, though, nine times out of 10, their morals and objectives are the same and so they make a good team and guide the family as best they can.' Fascinated by the period in which Lilies is set, Catherine threw herself into research for the role and found a very handy resource right on her doorstep. 'I didn't know a great deal about the First World War or what was happening on the home front, particularly in terms of how it affected the women and their responsibilities. But I knew a good deal more after speaking to my great grandma,' she explains. 'She was growing up in Salford at the time, one of 14 children, and so she experienced a lot of change around her and lost a lot of people. She told me all about what went on and showed me some old photos. 'It was a very sad time and I don't think there was anybody who was untouched by it; everything was changing so dramatically. But it was amazing how people came together at home. The community feel at that time must have been incredible and I don't think, in my lifetime, we'll ever see anything like that again. 'It felt lovely filming some of those scenes, the big street scenes, where everyone knew everyone and everyone helped each other out – it was such a nice feeling.' There was, however, one aspect of her research that Catherine was even keener to get her teeth into. 'The chocolate making!' she laughs. 'I learnt how to do it at a place called The Chocolate House in Blackburn and it's much harder than it looks. It's a real craft. The most difficult part was dipping the truffles into the chocolate to coat them because I just kept losing them in the pot and having to fish around for them. Not very professional! 'But I got the hang of it in the end and I've even been making them at home. The only downfall is that now I keep eating them...' Leanne Rowe plays May May (20) was a very pretty child and this has had a lasting impact on her nature. Vivacious, impulsive and wonderfully stubborn, she commands attention wherever she goes. But her craving for luxury leads her to a life of servitude in the home of a wealthy couple, the Brazendales. The tensions between her birthright as a Moss and the dreams she aspires to lead her into desperate danger. Actress Leanne Rowe had to literally stay whiter than white while filming her role as May Moss, one of three sisters, in BBC One's heart-warming new drama series, Lilies, writes Doreen Brooks. Heidi Thomas's story is set in the tough docklands area of Liverpool in 1920 – an era in which families struggling to survive after the deprivations of the First World War were unlikely to leave their terrace houses on sunbathing expeditions. 'It was a five-month shoot in Liverpool through the whole summer and we weren't allowed to get a drop of sun on our faces,' explains Essex-born Leanne. 'We had to be whiter than white. 'You have the problem of continuity and we started filming in May so the weather was getting hotter. If I'd gone home at the weekends and had a little sunbathe, all of a sudden, mid-episode, May would have had a nice healthy glow,' laughs the 24-year-old actress. Leanne, who was planning to jet off to Thailand for a well-earned break after filming, adds: 'I'm sure the Mosses in 1920 didn't see much of the sun – they didn't nip off to Spain for a quick holiday. As much sun as they got was in the Liverpool docks.' Her character in Lilies, 20-year-old May, is a parlour maid with the well-heeled Brazendale family – and their world is a seductive one for this middle of the three sisters. Leanne, who felt drawn to the role of May from the beginning, reveals: 'She's hankering for a better life. Their mother died when May was 17 and we all had to go out to work and really pull together as a family. The money is all pooled and everything's shared out – it's a real unit. 'They're a very close family and very loyal to each other,' she explains. 'Every character has a strong personality. They're all very individual, but quite alike. They can be arguing and be at each other's throats, then, a second later, they're fiercely defending each other and being really close. 'I think the appeal of being the parlour maid may be that she wouldn't necessarily be living at her own house all the time. She has a room at the Brazendales so she gets her little bit of independence, whereas at home all the sisters share a bed. 'It's definitely the perks that she likes, but she also gets to

what a great programme enjoyed both episodes and look forward to next week! Lilies details the lives of Iris, May and Ruby Moss – sisters coming of age in a dockland terrace house in Liverpool. Familial love sustains them, and their fortunes are bound to those of their brother and their father. Set in the years immediately following the First World War, Lilies pulls no punches in its storytelling. It depicts a sensual, vivid and sometimes savage universe, where life is lived on a knife-edge of poverty, fuelled by various kinds of love. All three girls must make their own way in the world and, in the course of the series, each of the sisters tastes passion for the first time and their lives, newly launched, are changed forever. Catherine Tyldesley plays Iris Iris (22) is possessed of a strength so quiet it is often dismissed as gentleness. Since the death of their mother, she has adopted a maternal role within the family and her energies are spent mainly within the confines of the home. This frustrates her, but she will not show it. The only outlets for her sensual nature are the chocolates she lovingly crafts by hand, and her passion for the Catholic Church. When a whirlwind romance offers her the chance of independence, Iris looks set for happiness – but destiny has a shock in store. The eldest of the three Moss sisters is as sweet as the chocolate bonbons she makes and sells to bring in a little money to the family home. But, says young actor Catherine Tyldesley, just because Iris has a soft centre, it doesn't mean she's a soft touch, she tells Nicola Hicks. Manchester-born Catherine (23) was captivated by the stories of the Moss sisters and their lives in Twenties Liverpool from the moment she picked up Heidi Thomas's evocative scripts. 'I absolutely fell in love with the sisters from the outset. I was especially intrigued about what was going to happen to Iris and I wanted to know more straight away,' she says. 'She's young and she's experiencing a lot of things for the first time and it's so exciting to think about how she's going to negotiate her way through life. After reading one script, I was desperate to read the next and I think it's had that effect on everyone who's come across it so far.' Following the death of her beloved Mamma, 23-year-old Iris has stepped in to run the house and help raise her family: younger brother, Billy (played by Daniel Rigby), and two sisters, 21-year-old May (Leanne Rowe) and 19-year-old Ruby (Kerrie Hayes). 'As the oldest, it's fallen upon Iris to fill Mamma's shoes. She looks after the house and all the messy chores tend to come to her. She also brings in money by making these beautiful chocolates. But it's not just about the cooking and cleaning – she has an awful lot of responsibility. Whatever situation the family has to deal with, she endeavours to think about what Mamma would have done and to make the right decisions on behalf of everyone,' explains Catherine. Warm-hearted Iris has an especially close relationship with her sisters. 'She's very maternal and I think she sees caring for her younger sisters as a rehearsal, really, for the day she has her own family, which is a huge ambition for her – it's what she wants from life,' says Catherine, who landed the role of Iris just a year after graduating from the Birmingham School of Acting. 'She loves them to bits and she's looking out for them all the time. She's always monitoring their behaviour and trying to keep them steadfast and strong – especially because they're at the stage where they're possibly a bit more streetwise than she is because she spends an awful lot of time in the house.' Not that Iris resents that, adds the actor. 'She has her moments but generally she's not unhappy to do it. But that doesn't mean she's a soft touch. I think you see that as the stories go on – the more that is thrown at her, the stronger she becomes. She might be the quieter of the sisters but she's by no means the weakest. She's got a lot of weight on her shoulders and I think she deals with it well.' One thing Iris does lack, however, is a shoulder to cry on. 'She's often the agony aunt – the first person the family turn to when they've got problems or something's troubling them. She's quite emotional but, when it comes to her own problems, she finds it harder to find someone to talk to.' There is, of course, always Dadda, the charismatic and mercurial head of the family, for whom Iris has the greatest respect. But in times of trouble, she is more likely to turn to her priest, Father Melia (Scot Williams), says the actor. 'Iris and Dadda share a lot of the same values but Dadda doesn't share Iris's faith, which is very important to her. Ultimately, though, nine times out of 10, their morals and objectives are the same and so they make a good team and guide the family as best they can.' Fascinated by the period in which Lilies is set, Catherine threw herself into research for the role and found a very handy resource right on her doorstep. 'I didn't know a great deal about the First World War or what was happening on the home front, particularly in terms of how it affected the women and their responsibilities. But I knew a good deal more after speaking to my great grandma,' she explains. 'She was growing up in Salford at the time, one of 14 children, and so she experienced a lot of change around her and lost a lot of people. She told me all about what went on and showed me some old photos. 'It was a very sad time and I don't think there was anybody who was untouched by it; everything was changing so dramatically. But it was amazing how people came together at home. The community feel at that time must have been incredible and I don't think, in my lifetime, we'll ever see anything like that again. 'It felt lovely filming some of those scenes, the big street scenes, where everyone knew everyone and everyone helped each other out – it was such a nice feeling.' There was, however, one aspect of her research that Catherine was even keener to get her teeth into. 'The chocolate making!' she laughs. 'I learnt how to do it at a place called The Chocolate House in Blackburn and it's much harder than it looks. It's a real craft. The most difficult part was dipping the truffles into the chocolate to coat them because I just kept losing them in the pot and having to fish around for them. Not very professional! 'But I got the hang of it in the end and I've even been making them at home. The only downfall is that now I keep eating them...' Leanne Rowe plays May May (20) was a very pretty child and this has had a lasting impact on her nature. Vivacious, impulsive and wonderfully stubborn, she commands attention wherever she goes. But her craving for luxury leads her to a life of servitude in the home of a wealthy couple, the Brazendales. The tensions between her birthright as a Moss and the dreams she aspires to lead her into desperate danger. Actress Leanne Rowe had to literally stay whiter than white while filming her role as May Moss, one of three sisters, in BBC One's heart-warming new drama series, Lilies, writes Doreen Brooks. Heidi Thomas's story is set in the tough docklands area of Liverpool in 1920 – an era in which families struggling to survive after the deprivations of the First World War were unlikely to leave their terrace houses on sunbathing expeditions. 'It was a five-month shoot in Liverpool through the whole summer and we weren't allowed to get a drop of sun on our faces,' explains Essex-born Leanne. 'We had to be whiter than white. 'You have the problem of continuity and we started filming in May so the weather was getting hotter. If I'd gone home at the weekends and had a little sunbathe, all of a su

Its really good... I missed the first episode because I was watching Soapstar Superstar last week but I really enjoyed it this week I will watch it again - what did I miss in the 1st one? Gaynor :-)

last weeks episode took me back to the days when we were scratching around for the right coins for the gas meter.lol Cant remember putting money in the electric but remember the gas one clearly as if that ran out it was always a major thingy checking that we turned the stove and fire of before putting the money in.

What a good programe makes you realise just how tough things where . Mind you I'm sure in sometimes they still are

It is good, my kind of story.

Yes 21 Chidren omg i have 2, and 2 .5 grankids lol i have lots of rellies on here , My hubby says they bred like rabbits LOL Lilxx

best thing I've watched in a long time , brill...

Lil i got ur email OMG that was awful im so glad i didnt see it Rosex