She’s Back – Part 1

Band of Gold returned in October 1997 under a new name, Gold, and with a new shape. The four women of the first series are down to two. Tracy is dead, Anita and Joyce are gone, and the story now follows Rose and Carol into lives that have changed beyond recognition. She's Back is the first of three two-part stories, shown on Monday nights rather than Sundays.

Carol is rich. Curly's inheritance has moved her from the Ingram estate to his large house in a smart part of town, and she is spending the money as fast as it arrives, without much idea of what to do with it. When she goes back to visit Colette in the house Colette shared with Tracy, the gap between her old life and her new one is plain. Curly's nephew, Vinnie, has not accepted his loss. He hires a private detective to prove that Carol is still working as a prostitute, which could cost her the inheritance.

Rose has gone the other way. She has taken a job as a community liaison officer, working with the police to clean up the darker side of life on the Lane. The woman who once ruled the street is now part of the system that tried to control it, and the episode's interest lies in whether she can do the job without betraying the women she used to work beside.

Her first test is a case. Paula, a beautiful escort, is implicated in two killings, and one of the victims is a police officer, Mace. Paula disappears, and Rose is drawn into the hunt for her.

Kay Mellor wrote this opening story, but the retooling is evident. The series is now built around crimes that Rose and Carol help to solve, rather than around the daily lives of women on the street. Television Heaven's later assessment is that Gold became a more conventional, plot-driven crime drama and lost the intimacy of the earlier series, and the change is visible from the first episode.

The strength of the new premise is Rose's job, which gives the series a fresh angle on its old subject. The weakness is the loss of the ensemble. Barbara Dickson, Samantha Morton and the rest gave the first two series their range, and the new characters have to establish themselves quickly. Sheree Folkson directs both parts. Nicola Wheeler takes over the role of Colette.