These Days

These Days (commonly 'TD' or 'TDS') is an urban, darkly emotional serial drama, produced by Arts TFN and published on the creative writing forum Pure Drama in three incarnations since 2011.
The first version - retroactively known as These Days 1.0 - aired from 2011-14, and the second from 2015-18 (These Days 2.0). Although the second version lasted longer than the first, less than half the amount of episodes were published in total. Both versions were eventually cancelled. A new version was announced in April 2019, and began airing monthly in real time on 1 January 2020. However this proved to be short-lived, and is now retroactively considered to be a pilot run. Another version was announced on 15 March 2021 and began publishing on 19 March 2021, but this too was quickly shelved. 
On 7 April 2024, after much development and several years of dormancy, a new version finally began with a 'hard launch'; no previous annoucements about its launch were made when it began publishing. The launch included, amongst other things, a Producer Interview feature, a Who What Where article and Episode 1 in full.
As of 11 July 2024, 2 episodes have been published to date.
==Premise==
The project is set in and around two fictitious Leicester suburbs. In 1.0, these were Middlehampton (suburban) and Newben (urban), both fictitious suburbs of Leicester. In 2.0, the name Middlehampton was replaced by Linford. Broadly speaking, Linford is residential and comprises the sets of Linford High School and Linford Park, a regularly-used outdoor setting which bridges Linford and Newben. By contrast, Newben is more urban with public buildings, including the sets of Leicester St. Mary's (hospital) and Sanco's (supermarket).
The project is well-known for its dark and gritty plots, particularly in the case of 1.0, which boasted a series of highly popular and dramatic storylines. For the current version, project guru Chloe Esyllt Jones has said she wants the project to have a lighter, warmer and more family-oriented feel to it, whilst not shying away from dark and gritty storylines handled with sensitivity.
In its first two forms, the project aired three days a week in TDS time (Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays), but in real time usually only once or twice a month, on a Friday or Saturday. In its current form, the project airs Tuesday-Friday in TDS time, but it only published sporadically in real time. 
As with previous versions, events are initially set in the near future (TDS time), but once caught up, fell behind real time, and so essentially set in the past. The current version began in April 2024, however episodes in TDS time commenced from September 2024.
To date, the project has won 28 forum awards in all (first two versions), including 'Best Soap' three times in a row.
For an in-depth guide to These Days, check out the official wiki.
==Theme Tune==
The theme tune in 2.0 is 'Distance' by Schiller ft. Kim Sanders. Noxy felt that the song's 'ethereal atmosphere and emotional lyrics' captured the essence of what the show was about. In 1.0 and 3.0, the theme is 'Unfinished Sympathy (Paul Oakenfold Remix)' by Massive Attack. In accordance with previous versions, there is no opening theme; instead, a recap of the previous episode (except in Episode 1) leads straight into the brief title card sequence, before the episode then begins.
==Final Cast (2.0)==
Status 	
Character 	
Actor 	
Duration (by episodes)
Regular 	
Lisa Wright 	
Anna Acton 	
1-75
Regular 	
Glen Wright 	
Samuel Anderson 	
1-75
Regular 	
Rosy Lyons 	
Emma Rigby 	
1-75
Regular 	
Danielle Harvey 	
Jodie Bagnell 	
1-75
Regular 	
Liam Hardacre 	
Shaun Blackstock 	
1-75
Regular 	
Liz Doyle 	
Lysette Anthony 	
1-75
Regular 	
Anita Johnson 	
Michelle Monaghan 	
1-75
Regular 	Lee Rogers 	Chris Fountain 	2-75
Regular 	Jack Matthews 	Joseph Whelan 	2-75
Regular 	Stephen Chapman 	Max Brown 	2-75
Regular 	Jason Warren 	John Partridge 	2-75
Regular 	Maxine Donnelly 	Denise Welch 	2-75
Regular 	Chandra Patel 	Nikki Patel 	2-75
Recurring	Bob Emerald 	Clive Mantle 	2-75
Regular 	Phil Donnelly 	David Crellin 	2-75
Regular 	Ed Marshall 	Ben Barnes 	2-75
Regular 	Carrie Donnelly 	Karen Gillan 	2-75
Regular 	Paul 'Woody' Woodley 	Will Merrick 	3-75
Regular 	Donna Lynch 	Samantha Mumba 	3-75
Regular 	Keeley Thompson 	Alice Barlow 	3-75
Regular 	Lindsay Adams 	Anna Shaffer 	3-75
Regular 	Tom Hornby 	Guy Burnet 	3-75
Regular 	Rachel Hornby 	Alice Connor 	4-75
Recurring	Finn Walker 	Luke Blackmore 	4-75
Regular 	Frankie Wells 	Eva McGillivray 	9-75
Recurring	DS Helen Symanski 	Kazia Pelka 	10-75
Regular 	Ricki Marshall 	Kate Maberly 	12-75
Regular 	Jade Hudson 	Gemma Atkinson 	14-75
Recurring	Kieran Woodley 	Richard Summers-Calvert	14-75
Recurring	Paige Hudson 	Charlotte Hewitson 	14-75
Recurring	Jodie 'JJ' Jacobson 	Eleni Foskett 	15-75
Recurring	Alan Stanley 	Philip Martin Brown 	23-75
Recurring	Parminder 'Pam' Patel 	Patsy Prince 	24-75
Recurring	Declan Jenkins 	Elliot Hanna 	26-75
Recurring	Jaimee Jenkins 	Roxanne Pallett 	27-75
Regular 	Mark Johnson 	Declan Bennett 	27-75
Regular 	Tony 'Dex' Dexter 	Chris Coghill 	27-75
Recurring	Jerome Curtis 	Micah Balfour 	35-75
Recurring	Trish Hobson 	Sue Johnston 	36-75
Reccuring	Kaiden 'Bomber' Bombwell	James Fletcher 	38-75
Reccuring	Martin Walker 	Steven Pinder 	41-75
Recurring	Saffron Lawson 	Madeleine Peart 	50-75
Regular 	Steph Lawson 	Katie Tranter 	50-75
Regular 	Casper Lawson 	Adam Philps 	50-75
Recurring	Neil Lawson 	Andrew Hayden-Smith 	53-75
Regular 	Matt Macauley 	Ben Ryan Davies 	63-75
Regular 	Baz Patel 	Salman Khan 	71-75
Regular 	Raj Patel 	Waris Hussein 	71-75
Guest 	Vanessa Wells 	Anna Passey 	73-75
Recurring	Marley Donnelly 	Uncredited (dog) 	73-75