''The Stretch'' is a two-part British television

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

mini-series A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

, created and written by Stephen Leather and directed by Frank W. Smith. The series, produced by Paul Knight Productions, first broadcast on

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

on 12 November 2000, concluding the following week. The series follows career criminal Terry Greene (

Leslie Grantham Leslie Michael Grantham (30 April 1947 – 15 June 2018) was an English actor, best known for his role as "Dirty" Den Watts in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. He was a convicted murderer, having served 10 years for the killing of a West Germ ...

), who is sentenced to life for a murder he didn't commit. His wife Sam (

Anita Dobson Anita Dobson (born 29 April 1949) is an English stage, film and television actress, and singer. She is best known for her role from 1985 to 1988 as Angie Watts in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. In 1986, she reached number four in the UK Sing ...

) has two choices - to walk away from the criminal empire he'd built up, or to take it over. The series was filmed between the UK and Spain in 1999,“Den and Angie team up again,”

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

, 5 August 1999. and was billed as the channel's “Event of the Week” for the week ending 12 November 2000.Rupert Smith
“Partners in crime,”
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 13 November 2000. ''

'' called their chemistry in ''The Stretch'' “magical” and also praised “some tasty cameos and supporting performances.” The series' original score was composed by Dobson's husband, guitarist

Brian May Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen (band), Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Fredd ...

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

. The series was later novelised by Leather himself, the first time that he had adapted a screenplay into a novel, rather than the other way round. It was published on 1 February 2001, three months after the series initially aired. The series was also released on VHS on 20 November 2000, but remains unreleased on DVD.

Casting

Notably, it was the first time that Grantham and Dobson had been reunited on screen after working together on ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

'' during the late 1980s. As such, much of the publicity surrounding the series made note of the pair's on-screen reunion. Producer Paul Knight commented; "It was Anita herself who suggested that Leslie play her on-screen husband. Over the years they had talked about working together again, but nothing had appealed before ''The Stretch''." Grantham added, "When I read the script, I felt as though the lead roles had been written with me and Anita in mind."

Cast

as Terry Greene *

as Sam Greene * Nicholas Day as DCI Frank 'Raquel' Welch *

Daisy Beaumont Daisy Beaumont (born 5 May 1974) is an English actress. Career Beaumont's television work includes a variety of shows, among others '' The Border'', ''EastEnders'', '' Hotel Babylon'', ''A Touch of Cloth'', ''Agatha Christie's Poirot'', ''Mu ...

as Laura Nichols *

Graham McTavish Graham McTavish (born 4 January 1961) is a Scottish actor and author. He is known for his roles as Dwalin in ''The Hobbit'' film trilogy, Vlad Dracula Țepeș in the Netflix animated franchise ''Castlevania'', Loki in various Marvel animated pr ...

as Andy McKinley *

Alistair Petrie Alistair Petrie (born 30 September 1970) is a British actor. He has starred in ''The Bank Job'' (2008), ''Cloud Atlas'' (2012), '' Rush'' (2013) and '' Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'' (2016). Petrie has also starred in the Channel 4 television ...

as Jonathon Nichols * Jim Dunk as George Key * Ben Robertson as Micky Fox * Mark Cartmel as DI Doug Simpson *

Luke Goss Luke Damon Goss (born 29 September 1968) is an English actor, and drummer of the 1980s band Bros. He has appeared in numerous films including ''Blade II'' (2002) as Jared Nomak, ''One Night with the King'' (2006) as King Xerxes, '' Hellboy II ...

as Warwick Locke * Matthew Burgess as Jamie Greene * Joan Campion as Grace Greene * Hayley Wardle as Trisha Greene * Jon Welch as Laurence Patterson * Godfrey Walters as Preston Snow *

Chook Sibtain Joplin Sibtain, sometimes credited professionally as Chook Sibtain, is a British actor known for the Netflix series ''Safe'', his seasons at the National Theatre and as Tarak Ital on the ''Doctor Who'' special, "The Waters of Mars". He voiced Oli ...

as Richard Asher * David Telfer as Supt. Mark 'Blackie' Blackstock * James Smith as Supt. English

Episodes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stretch (Tv Series), The 2000s British crime television series 2000s British drama television series 2000 British television series debuts 2000 British television series endings Sky UK original programming 2000s British television miniseries English-language television shows Television shows set in the United Kingdom Television shows set in Spain