16 May 2007
I DON'T BELIEVE IT!
High Stakes, along with Believe Nothing and Hardware, was part of ITV's attempt at re-establishing their Sunday night "edgy comedy" slot a couple of years back. Starring Richard Wilson and written by Tony Sarchet (This Is David Lander), this highbrow sitcom set in the financial world was not quite in the same league as its more celebrated eighties counterparts, and suffered from some unrealistic and overblown pre-transmission publicity, but it was a likeable enough effort and it came as some surprise when the muted response to the first run led to the already-recorded second being shelved and eventually never transmitted.
Now, surprisingly enough, both series have been released on DVD. While there's hardly likely to be queues of devoted fans filling up their nearest high street DVD shop, this does bode well for other series that were haphazardly scheduled or just not transmitted at all. Any chance of a Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married box set?
Now, surprisingly enough, both series have been released on DVD. While there's hardly likely to be queues of devoted fans filling up their nearest high street DVD shop, this does bode well for other series that were haphazardly scheduled or just not transmitted at all. Any chance of a Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married box set?
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I remember interviewing Jack Shepherd for the second series of High Stakes - yet another ITV show that was never shown.
There's a roomful of one off dramas.
Whatever happened to Me and Mrs Jones, starring Robson Green as a journalist who falls in love with the prime minister, played by Caroline Goodall? Another interview I did (on Sept 11, 2001) that never saw the light of day.
And let's not forget:
Avenging Angels with Jessica Stevenson
Hereafter, with Dervla Kirwan and Stephen Tompkinson. Once a golden couple, they'd split up by the time they came to film this and wouldn't communicate on set allegedly. The results bore that out.
Distant Shores series 2
Blue Dove - a six part series about a family from the Potteries, starring Paul Nicholls
Bombshell - or Bombshelved, as I believe they call it at Shed Productions. Will never be shown.
Did they ever show Thursday The 12th?
There's a roomful of one off dramas.
Whatever happened to Me and Mrs Jones, starring Robson Green as a journalist who falls in love with the prime minister, played by Caroline Goodall? Another interview I did (on Sept 11, 2001) that never saw the light of day.
And let's not forget:
Avenging Angels with Jessica Stevenson
Hereafter, with Dervla Kirwan and Stephen Tompkinson. Once a golden couple, they'd split up by the time they came to film this and wouldn't communicate on set allegedly. The results bore that out.
Distant Shores series 2
Blue Dove - a six part series about a family from the Potteries, starring Paul Nicholls
Bombshell - or Bombshelved, as I believe they call it at Shed Productions. Will never be shown.
Did they ever show Thursday The 12th?
I wish there'd be a DVD release of 'Trust Me' a Screen One from 1992 starring Alfred Molina, and the previous colaboration of Jack Shepherd and Tony Sarchet. My off air copy's getting frailer all the time. Up there with Delve Special I think.
They did show Thursday the 12th, I remember, but not til about 2004. It was made in 2001, wasn't it?
I'd completely forgotten about Bombshell until you mentioned it - that was going to be "ITV2's first original drama", wasn't it? In that, it was too crap for ITV1.
To be honest, they should never have shown the first series of High Stakes, as it was an incredibly middle-class affair that was completely unsuitable for the ITV audience. Say what you like about Benidorm, but at least it's brash and pitched at the target ITV1 audience - ie, my mum.
I thought Distant Shores was a hit?
I'd completely forgotten about Bombshell until you mentioned it - that was going to be "ITV2's first original drama", wasn't it? In that, it was too crap for ITV1.
To be honest, they should never have shown the first series of High Stakes, as it was an incredibly middle-class affair that was completely unsuitable for the ITV audience. Say what you like about Benidorm, but at least it's brash and pitched at the target ITV1 audience - ie, my mum.
I thought Distant Shores was a hit?
Am I right in thinking a 2 x 90 minute ITV drama from Matthew Graham, made in 2002, called "Impact" about flight crash investigators (with Iain Glen, Sarah Parish, Hugh Bonneville and Dean Lennox Kelly) also never saw the light of day over here? It seems to have been broadcast all round the world...
# posted by 
: 10:20 AM
: 10:20 AM
Ooh I'd forgotten about Impact. I'm sure it'll never see the light of day.
Thursday 12th was made in early 2000 I think, and Bombshell was meant to ITV2. Blue Dove was going to on ITV3 but the controllers of ITVs 3 and 4 didn't want ITV1 or 2's casts offs, so it's likely we'll never see these things.
Thursday 12th was made in early 2000 I think, and Bombshell was meant to ITV2. Blue Dove was going to on ITV3 but the controllers of ITVs 3 and 4 didn't want ITV1 or 2's casts offs, so it's likely we'll never see these things.
I'm struggling to understand what the point of ITV2/3/4 - half the time they're showing Lovejoy or some other BBC show (something I find totally mystifying ), surely showing something new no matter how awful and given ITV1's output nothing can be that bad surly?
I read/heard (probably on the old OTT mailing list or MHP ) that ITV don't pay for this stuff till its broadcast so they're basically sitting on material they can't show without paying for it.
Could this be the real reason rather than the badness of the production .
I'd wondered what had happened to Robson 'Mum's Favourite' Green and The Spandau Ballet bloke , I hadn't seen any trailers for all the new dramas they were doing for ITV , it must be sitting in darkened cupboard gathering dust.
I read/heard (probably on the old OTT mailing list or MHP ) that ITV don't pay for this stuff till its broadcast so they're basically sitting on material they can't show without paying for it.
Could this be the real reason rather than the badness of the production .
I'd wondered what had happened to Robson 'Mum's Favourite' Green and The Spandau Ballet bloke , I hadn't seen any trailers for all the new dramas they were doing for ITV , it must be sitting in darkened cupboard gathering dust.
# posted by : 5:47 PM
: 5:47 PM
Is there a forum around to convince manufacturers/producers/whoever which DVDs should be released. I ask because there was a two-parter starring Martin Clunes, Tim & Sam West and Andrew Lincoln from 1996/7 called Over Here (written by John Sullivan) and its becoming a life's ambition to watch it again...
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# posted by : 8:19 AM
: 8:19 AM<< Home