produced in widescreen format 1.78:1. Although most of Britain were still viewing standard screen televisions, the early years of the series were seen in a format of 14:9 on analog television and cropped to pan and scan for the DVD releases of the first three series. These early episodes have been re-screened on ITV3 and CBS Drama in their original format and were later re-issued in widescreen on DVD. Cast and characters Main Guest Special guest Episodes Series 1 (1999) From the beginning, Bad Girls dealt with controversial subject matter. Early episodes of the first series included particularly shocking moments such as a pregnant prisoner miscarrying in her cell, Zandra Plackett (Lara Cazalet) being viciously strip-searched by fellow inmates for concealed drugs, and Rachel Hicks (Joanne Froggatt) committing suicide due to being bullied. The central story arc of the first three series revolved around the developing romantic relationship between Nikki Wade (Mandana Jones), a prisoner serving a life sentence for the murder of a policeman who attempted to rape her girlfriend, and Helen Stewart (Simone Lahbib), the Wing Governor who spent much of series one engaged to her boyfriend, Sean. Furthermore, the script, unwilling to compromise the realism of the programme, contained much strong language (for example, the reference to Nikki Wade as a "rug-muncher" and Denny Blood's (Alicya Eyo) gloating over the likelihood of Rachel Hicks having "singed her minge"). Other storylines to feature prominently in series one included the pregnancy of a young drug addict Zandra, who decides to use an abortion as means to be sent to an outside clinic only for her to escape and make contact with her ex-boyfriend who has no interest in her or the baby, therefore she has no choice but to return to the clinic. In fear of losing her job over Zandra's escape, Officer Lorna Rose (Luisa Bradshaw-White) asks fellow Officer Dominic McAllister (Joe Shaw) to keep quiet about the escape which leads to Zandra blackmailing Lorna to bring drugs into the prison, when Shell discovers what Zandra is up to she decides to set Lorna up; the appeal of wrongly-imprisoned Monica Lindsay (Jane Lowe) (frequently referred to as "posh bitch" by other characters) and the illicit relationship between Jim Fenner (Jack Ellis), the male Principal Officer and Shell Dockley (Debra Stephenson), the resident bully, Original Top Dog and drug dealer, serving life for murder. Series 2 (2000) Nikki and