Gangsters (TV series)

Gangsters
Genre	Drama
Written by	Philip Martin
Directed by	Alastair Reid Roger Tucker Kenneth Ives
Starring	(See article)
Composer(s)	Dave Greenslade
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	12
Production
Producer(s)	David Rose
Location(s)	Birmingham, West Midlands, England, United Kingdom
Editor(s)	Oliver White
Running time	50 min.
Production company(s)	Pebble Mill Studios
Release
Original network	BBC1
Original release	9 September 1976 (1976-09-09) – 10 February 1978 (1978-02-10)

Gangsters is a British television series made by the BBC and shown from 1975 to 1978.

Production

Created by Philip Martin, and produced at the BBC's Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham by David Rose, Gangsters began televisual life as an edition of Play for Today in 1975, followed by two series transmitted in 1976 and 1978. The series, set in the multi-cultural criminal community of Birmingham, has remained a cult favourite, memorable for its strong violence, multi-ethnic cast (and realistic – and now rather shocking – depiction of the racism of the time) and highly stylised, post-modern approach to storytelling.

Gangsters featured references to film noir, gangster films, westerns, Bollywood and kung fu movies, as well as increasingly surreal end-of-episode cliffhangers and a bizarre final scene where the characters not only "break the fourth wall" but walk off the set.

The two series had quite different tones. The first was a gritty thriller whilst the second was more surreal, with more emphasis on the post-modern elements.

The theme music was an instrumental performed by Greenslade; in the last series it was adapted into a version sung by Chris Farlowe.

Cast

John Kline (Maurice Colbourne) – a tough, shady former SAS officer recently released from prison who becomes embroiled in the intrigues of the local underworld while attempting to go straight.
Khan (Ahmed Khalil) – Pakistani police detective who uses Kline as a pawn in his bid to nail the organised crime syndicates of Birmingham.
Anne Darracott (Elizabeth Cassidy) – a young woman and former heroin addict who becomes Kline's live-in lover.
Aslam Rafiq (Saeed Jaffrey) – the charismatic boss of a racket trafficking illegal immigrants.
Sarah Gant (Alibe Parsons) – glamorous undercover CIA agent out to nail the drug trade in the city, with a private mission to avenge the murder of her sister.
Kuldip (Paul Satvendar) – Rafiq's murderous henchman.
Malleson (Paul Barber) – a former thug who takes over his boss’ underworld empire after he is killed and proves to be a formidable adversary of Kline and Khan.
Shen Tang (Robert Lee) – the leader of a local Chinese Triad gang.
Lily Li Tang (Chai Lee) – the daughter of Shen Tang, who assists her father in the running of the Triad.
Rolf Day (Rolf Day) - The racist night club comedian who appears in the Rum Runner night club
The series' writer, Philip Martin, also appeared in multiple roles, playing the gangland boss Rawlinson in the original play, the hired assassin 'The White Devil' at the end of season two (though Martin was credited as Larson E Whipsnide, a reference to his WC Fields inspired performance as the character), and as himself, dictating the script to a typist, in cutaways throughout season two.

DVD release

The complete series of Gangsters was released on DVD (Region 2, UK) through 2 Entertain/Cinema Club in April 2006.

External links

The Play for Today series

Robin Redbreast (1970)
Alma Mater (1971)
Edna, the Inebriate Woman (1971)
Evelyn (1971)
The Foxtrot (1971)
The Rank and File (1971)
Traitor (1971)
Home (1972)
Horace (1972)
Hard Labour (1973)
Penda's Fen (1974)
The Cheviot, the Stag, and the Black Black Oil (1974)
Leeds United (1974)
The Evacuees (1975)
Funny Farm (1975)
Gangsters (1975)
Just Another Saturday (1975)
Rumpole of the Bailey (1975)
Double Dare (1976)
Bar Mitzvah Boy (1976)
Nuts in May (1976)
Abigail's Party (1977)
Spend, Spend, Spend (1977)
The Price of Coal (1977)
The Spongers (1978)
Licking Hitler (1978)
Red Shift (1978)
The After-Dinner Joke (1978)
Our Day Out (1978)
Blue Remembered Hills (1979)
Comedians (1979)
Just a Boys' Game (1979)
The Black Stuff (1980)
The Imitation Game (1980)
The Flipside of Dominick Hide (1980)
Another Flip For Dominick (1982)
Z for Zachariah (1984)
Brimstone and Treacle (1987, completed 1976)
Scum (1991, completed 1977)

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