''Gentlemen and Players'' is a

British television Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection ...

series produced by TVS Television for the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

network. An aspirational late 1980s drama series, ''Gentlemen and Players'' dealt with the struggles and intrigues involving two business rivals, Bo Beaufort and Mike Savage, set against a backdrop of high finance, opulent country homes and cricket.

Premise

Miles "Bo" Beaufort (

Brian Protheroe Brian Protheroe (born 16 June 1944) is an English musician, actor and narrator. He is best known for his first single, "Pinball", which was released in August 1974, and entered the UK Singles Chart at number 40 and reached a peak of number 22. ...

) is a rich " blue blood" financier who comes from a wealthy upper-class family. Mike Savage (

Nicholas Clay Nicholas Anthony Phillip Clay (18 September 1946 – 25 May 2000) was an English actor. Early life Clay was born in Streatham, London on 18 September 1946, the son of a professional soldier in the British Army's Royal Engineers. The famil ...

) is a self-made businessman from a more modest family background, who likes adventure. The two are old enemies, and when Savage returns from a stay in Africa (fleeing from a coup with a fortune in bonds), he chooses to settle with his wife Sandy (

Claire Oberman Claire Oberman (born 1956) is a Dutch-born New Zealand actress, known for her role as Australian nurse Kate Norris in the television drama '' Tenko''. Her other TV appearances include '' Fortunes of War'' as Mortimer, ''Paradise Postponed'' as ...

) and daughters in the affluent

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

village of Hunton Magna, in a Georgian mansion that is next door to Beaufort's home. Unhappy about his new neighbour, especially when he joins his local cricket club, Beaufort schemes and uses the

old boy network An old boy network (also known as old boys' network, ol' boys' club, old boys' club, old boys' society, good ol' boys club, or good ol' boys system) is an informal system in which wealthy men with similar social or educational background help ...

to hamper Savage's plans whenever possible. Rivalry between the two escalates as "old money" clashes with "new money".

Cast

Starring *Bo Beaufort -

*Mike Savage -

*Sandy Savage -

*Jane Somerville -

Edita Brychta Edita Brychta is a British actress. Early life Brychta began acting as a young child in the Czech film Kinoautomat, the world's first interactive movie, which was presented at Expo 67 in Montreal. At the age of 16, she joined London's Nationa ...

*Eleanor Beaufort -

Faith Brook Faith Brook (16 February 1922 – 11 March 2012) was an English actress who appeared on stage, in films and on television, generally in upper-class roles. She was the daughter of actor Clive Brook. Early years Although she was born in York ...

Recurring cast *Paula Savage - Debra Beaumont *Kimberley Savage - Claudia Gambold *Liz Beaufort - Sara Griffiths *Kate Beaufort -

Sadie Frost Sadie Liza Frost (née Vaughan; born 19 June 1965) is an English actress, producer and fashion designer, who ran fashion label Frost French (until its closure in 2011) and a film production company (Blonde to Black Pictures). Early life Frost ...

(Series 1 only) *Alex Castle - Osmund Bullock *Tom Fletcher -

Leslie Schofield Leslie Schofield (born 12 December 1938) is an English actor who is most famous in the UK for his role as Jeff Healy in the soap opera ''EastEnders'', whom he played from 1997 to 2000. His character was famous for unsuccessfully proposing to P ...

*Freddie Hall - Robert Ashby (Series 1 only) *Charles Neville -

Terence Harvey Terence John Humes (October 1944 – 7 September 2017), known professionally as Terence Harvey, was a British television actor. Among his many roles was the prosecution counsel in ''The Execution of Gary Glitter''. He also appeared in ''From Hell ...

*Sir Geoffrey Hinchcliffe -

Nicholas Selby Nicholas Selby (born James Ivor Selby, 13 September 1925 – 14 September 2010) was a British film, television and theatre actor. He appeared in more than one hundred television dramas on the BBC and ITV during the course of his career, includi ...

*PC Perkins - Lewis George *Jenny - Steffanie Pitt

Production and broadcast

Two series were made between 1988 and 1989, comprising 13 episodes in total, mostly filmed on location in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

. The first series, comprising seven episodes, was screened on ITV on Sunday nights at 7.45pm from 10 April - 22 May 1988. The second series, comprising six episodes, moved to Friday nights at 9pm, and ran from 28 April - 9 June 1989. The press release for the series by TVS Television described ''Gentlemen and Players'' as "A story of money, class and rivalry set in the world of finance and gracious country homes.", with ''The Guardian'' newspaper describing it as "a kind of ''

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

'' in Hampshire".

Reception

Writing in ''The Guardian'' in 1989 (at the end of the second series), critic

Nancy Banks-Smith Nancy Banks-Smith (born 1929) is a British television and radio critic, who spent most of her career writing for ''The Guardian''. Life and career Born in Manchester and raised in a pub, she was educated at Roedean School. Banks-Smith began her ...

mocked the "yards and yards and ''yards''" of blue and white striped shirt material (a typical garment for 1980s banking and business culture) that many of the characters wear. "Everybody in ''Gentlemen and Players'' wore blue striped shirts to show they are something substantial in the city. It is as if the noble blood in their veins were showing through the clear white Caucasian of their skins." Commenting on the casting of the series' array of unscrupulous businessmen, she noted "...Every untrustworthy face in

Equity Equity may refer to: Finance, accounting and ownership * Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them ** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business ** Home equity, the dif ...

was on parade. Some of whom had eyes that operated independently. One haracterhad a deeply unreliable moustache."

Episode list

Series 1 (1988)

Series 2 (1989)

Theme song

The theme song played over the end credits, "Life's A Game", was written by

David Lindup David Lindup (10 May 1928 – 7 January 1992) was an English composer, arranger and orchestrator best known for his collaborations with John Dankworth and his library music (often for KPM). Lindup composed music for TV series including '' The In ...

and performed by

Petula Clark Petula Sally Olwen Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress, and composer. She has one of the longest serving careers of a British singer, spanning more than seven decades. Clark's professional career began during the ...

. Produced by

Tony Britten Tony Britten is a British composer, best known for adapting the music and writing the text of the UEFA Champions League Anthem.Fly Records Fly Records is a British independent record label, established in 1970 by the independent music publisher David Platz, and initially managed by Malcolm Jones from the offices of Essex Music in London. History Platz had been producing records ...

Availability

There has been no domestic commercial release of ''Gentlemen and Players'' on any format in the UK. This is possibly due to ongoing rights issues after the production company, TVS, dropped out of the ITV network in 1992 and subsequently went through a number of take-overs. This problem affects the majority of the TVS programme archive as much of the original production paperwork and sales documentation has been lost during the intervening years.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0452558, title=Gentlemen and Players 1980s British drama television series 1988 British television series debuts 1989 British television series endings ITV television dramas English-language television shows Television shows produced by Television South (TVS) Television shows set in London Television shows set in Hampshire