It was established in 1998 by Eileen Gallagher, Brian Park, Ann McManus and Maureen Chadwick, who previously worked together at Granada Television.

Starring Maureen Lipman, Jack Ellis and Melanie Hill, the show centred on two runaway teenagers and tackled head-on the serious subject of human cloning.

This was followed in 2008 by Rock Rivals, another ITV commission that starred Michelle Collins and Sean Gallagher as Karina and Mal Faith – the bickering judges on a phenomenally successful TV talent show.

The show, which will star Annette Crosbie and Alex Kingston,[5] is about four female ex-cons who find themselves in hiding in a remote Scottish village called Hope Springs after their plans to start a new life in Barbados go awry.

Following a successful workshop production in November 2004 at the New Players Theatre, London, the musical went on to premiere at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds in 2006.

Despite positive reviews, the musical closed less than two months later due to poor ticket sales, with the final performance staged on 17 November 2007.