Background to the story

Shifting Skin

Beauty, it’s said, is only skin deep. Yet surely physical perfection has never been more eagerly sought than today.

Look at TV programmes like ‘Extreme Makeover’ or ‘Ten Years Younger’. Look at the endless list of celebrities who’ve had ‘work done’. Look at the ads in the back of any women’s (or men’s) magazine. Look at one of the most common reasons why women take out a personal loan: cosmetic surgery.

You can draw many conclusions from the west’s ever-growing need for such procedures. Practitioners in the industry will claim it’s just a harmless step on from applying make-up. Others see it as an unhealthy symptom of a modern day obsession with outer appearances. I saw it as a great opportunity to delve into the risky and costly business of changing how you look by means of the knife.

Of course, buildings, neighbourhoods and – in the case of Manchester – entire cities can undergo facelifts too. Since the IRA bomb of 96 and the Commonwealth Games of 02, large parts of Manchester have been transformed beyond all recognition.

But despite attempts to reinvent itself, many areas on the edge of the city’s gleaming new centre are as dilapidated as ever. The dirty old town captured by Lowry in his paintings – mills, warehouses, factories – now lie derelict, abandoned and rotting. It makes a great backdrop for a story about people who hide dark and violent urges behind veneers of respectability.