The Peaky Blinders comparisons have been flying around ever since filming on Dope Girls began, so it sounds as if the BBC was hoping that it might have a successor on its hands. Certainly, there are some superficial similarities between the two. Dope Girls is set in 1918 and deals with the aftermath of the first world war, as the surviving men return. But here, it’s the women who are in the spotlight, as the female workforce of the past four years suddenly find their newfound social status has been relegated once again. In mood and tone, however, it is less a return to Small Heath, and more of a predecessor to Cabaret.
Kate Galloway (Julianne Nicholson) is a businessman’s wife and wartime butcher, who falls on hard times after a family tragedy. Destitute and homeless, she heads to London, where Armistice Day is looming and the party of the century is about to kick off. With the help of a bright dancer named Billie (Umi Myers), who is as talented as she is troubled, Kate finds her way into the clubland underworld of Soho, where she spies the potential to apply her previous workplace-based knowledge, and sets the ball rolling on building a new empire of nightlife.
