''The Losers'' is a British

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

that aired on

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 ...

in 1978. Written by

Alan Coren Alan Coren (27 June 1938 – 18 October 2007) was an English humourist, writer and satirist who was a regular panellist on the BBC radio quiz ''The News Quiz'' and a team captain on BBC television's ''Call My Bluff''. Coren was also a journalis ...

, it stars

Leonard Rossiter Leonard Rossiter (21 October 1926 – 5 October 1984) was an English actor. He had a long career in the theatre but achieved his highest profile for his television comedy roles starring as Rupert Rigsby in the ITV series '' Rising Damp'' fro ...

and

Alfred Molina Alfred Molina (born Alfredo Molina; 24 May 1953) is a British-American actor known for his work on the stage and screen. He first rose to prominence in the West End, earning a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Pla ...

. ''The Losers'' was made for

by ATV and was produced and directed by Joe McGrath. In ''The Losers'', Rossiter plays Sydney Foskett, a wrestling promoter who discovers a young new wrestler called "The Butcher", played by Molina, who Foskett ensures loses to get the public's love.

Cast

- Sydney Foskett *

- Nigel *

Joe Gladwin Joseph Gladwin (22 January 1906 – 11 March 1987) was an English actor, best known for his roles as Fred Jackson in Coronation Street, Stan Hardman in Nearest and Dearest, and Wally Batty in the world's longest-running sitcom, ''Last of the ...

- Dennis Breene

Plot

Sydney Foskett is a

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

promoter who discovers young new wrestler and part-time footballer, "The Butcher", whose real name is Nigel. Foskett, realising that the public love a loser, devises ways for "The Butcher" to lose without the dimwitted Nigel to know what is happening. Foskett often gets paid well for rigging the matches.

Episodes

''The Losers'' aired on

from 12 November to 17 December 1978. All episodes aired on Sundays at 9.15pm and are 30 minutes long. The broadcast masters for all six episodes were later

wiped Lost television broadcasts are mostly those early television programs which cannot be accounted for in studio archives (or in personal archives) usually because of deliberate destruction or neglect. Common reasons for loss A significant prop ...

for reuse, though episodes one through five were later found to have survived as poor quality off-air domestic video recordings. However the final episode, "Togetherness", is still missing from the archives and can be presumed lost. ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' obituary of Alan Coren in 2007 said the series "sank with all hands". #"A Star Is Born" (12 November 1978) #"The Naming of Parts" (19 November 1978) #"Ireland and back" (26 November 1978) #"All Down In Black and White" (3 December 1978) #"Sitting On a Goldmine" (10 December 1978) #"Togetherness" (17 December 1978)

DVD release

A region 2 DVD containing restored editions of the surviving episodes was released by Network on 21 January 2013

References

;General * ;Specific

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Losers (TV series), The 1978 British television series debuts 1978 British television series endings 1970s British sitcoms ITV sitcoms