''The Manageress'' is a television series about a woman who becomes manager of a professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team. It ran from

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

and had two seasons. The series starred

Cherie Lunghi Cherie Mary Lunghi (born 4 April 1952) is an English film, television, and theatre actress, known for her roles in many British TV dramas. Her international fame stems from her role as Guinevere in the 1981 film ''Excalibur''. Her long list of ...

as Gabriella Benson and

Warren Clarke Warren Clarke (born Alan James Clarke; 26 April 1947 – 12 November 2014) was an English actor. He appeared in many films after a significant role as Dim in Stanley Kubrick's ''A Clockwork Orange''. His television appearances included ''Dalzi ...

as the chairman of the second division club. It was independently produced for Channel 4 by

Glenn Wilhide Glenn Wilhide (born 1958) is an American screenwriter and television producer. Early life and family Wilhide was born in Maryland, USA, to American parents. His family moved to the UK when he was a child and he was educated at Leighton Park S ...

and Sophie Belhetchet at their production company, ZED Ltd. It was written by Stan Hey and Neville Smith and directed by Christopher King. The series aired for two series of six episodes on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

in 1989 and 1990. The first-season episodes were published by Penguin Books in novel form in 1989. The author was named as Stan Hey. The series was dubbed into French for French television and the title was translated as ''Miss Manager et ses footballeurs''. German title was ''Unser Boss ist eine Frau''.

Cast

– Gabriella Benson *

– Martin Fisher *

Tom Georgeson Tom Georgeson (born 8 August 1937) is an English actor, known for his television and film work. His most notable credits have been supporting parts in '' Between the Lines'' (1992–94) and in three dramas by Alan Bleasdale: ''Boys from the Bl ...

– Eddie Johnson *Adam Bareham – Anthony Coombs *

Paul Clarkson Paul Clarkson is an English actor, theatre director and teacher. He was born and educated in Worcester and trained at LAMDA from 1979–81. He has been Assistant Director at the Swan Theatre, Worcester, Associate Director at Derby Playhouse thea ...

– Keith Nicholl *Glyn Grimstead – Trevor Coughlan * Chris Walker – Brian Rimmer *Paul Geoffrey – Simon Benson *David Cheesman – Charlie O'Keefe *

Robbie Gee Robbie Gee (born 24 March 1970) is a British actor, best known for his ''Desmond's'' character "Lee Stanley", for appearing in Guy Ritchie's crime caper '' Snatch'', and for his comedy roles in TV series like ''The Real McCoy'' and ''The Crouc ...

– Tony Morris *Mark Adams – Perry Gardner *

James Garbutt James Garbutt (12 September 1925 – 6 April 2020) was a British actor who was active on television from the 1960s. Born in Houghton-le-Spring, County Durham in 1925, James was an RAF pilot and was trained in the United States and stationed in ...

– Cedric Deness * Alan Rowe – Charles Edwards * David Sibley – Steve Simms *

Jill Johnson Jill Anna Maria Johnson (born 24 May 1973) is a Swedish country and pop singer, songwriter and TV-host. She performed in the Melodifestivalen 1998 contest, winning with the song "Kärleken är" ("Love Is"), and represented Sweden at the Eurovis ...

– Marjorie *

Shay Gorman Shay may refer to: People Shay is an Irish Gaelic name, a variant of the name Shea. It is derived from Seamus, which is anglicized from Ó Séaghdha. Shay is also a Hebrew unisex name, meaning gift, deriving as a variation of Shai. Mononym * Shay ...

– Norman Williams * Mark Haddigan – Dave McGregor *

Mark McGann Mark Anthony McGann (born 12 July 1961) is an English actor. Early life He attended the De La Salle Grammar School, Liverpool. Mark's father Joe was a Royal Naval Commando who died in 1984, and his mother Clare was a teacher. His three bro ...

– Gary Halliwell *

Stephen Tompkinson Stephen Phillip Tompkinson (born 15 October 1965) is an English actor, known for his television roles as Marcus in '' Chancer '' (1990), Damien Day in ''Drop the Dead Donkey'' (1990–1998), Father Peter Clifford in ''Ballykissangel'' (1996–9 ...

– Jim Wilson * Joe Dixon – Terry Moir *

Patrick Drury Patrick Drury (born 19 August 1945) is an English character actor best known for playing shopkeeper John O'Leary in the Channel 4 television comedy ''Father Ted'' and Ivan in ''The Beiderbecke Connection''. Early life Drury was educated at ...

– Mark Sadler *Gavin Kitchen – Kevin Hedworth *Anthony Trent – Ken Allen *Paul McKenzie – Paul Kennedy

Episode List

Season One

# A Man's Game # Fit # The Management Reserves the Right # Collapsible Brollies # One of Us # Home and Away

Season Two

# Doing the Business # Pingvin Lakrids # Steal Your Heart Away # A Hundred and Ten Percent # A Match for Anyone # At the End of the Day

References

External links

*
The Manageress
at the BFI database 1989 British television series debuts 1990 British television series endings 1980s British drama television series 1990s British drama television series Channel 4 television dramas British sports television series English-language television shows Television shows set in the United Kingdom {{UK-tv-prog-stub