The original PLAY FOR TODAY was a great success but success can lead to failure . Think of how many great have a needless sequel . There's no way I would condemn this thriller series as " needless " but after re watching series one immediately following seeing PFT you're painfully aware GANGSTERS was meant as a one off teleplay and not a full series
This leads to some serious gaps in both logic and characterization . John Kline is now revealed to be a former SAS soldier . Fair enough it's not something you'd mention to every passer by but co-owner of The Maverick Club Dermot Mcavoy knows this and Dermot also happens to be a member of the provisional IRA who is using the club to launder funds for the provos . Hmmm a former SAS soldier and an IRA man as co-owners in a Birminham club ? Even if they were fairly ordinary gangsters it's difficult to imagine Kline ever trusting Mcavoy due to the events of the original teleplay . In fact the whole SAS/IRA thing seems to be written to introduce a highly ridiculous leftfield subplot involving an IRA unit . Ridiculous yes but one that's highly offensive considering two IRA bombs had murdered 21 people in Birmingham less than two years previously . Worse still the fact that it contains a rather farcical comic sequence makes it even more offensive rather than less
Most of the other subplots do work thankfully , but there's a lot of them . Basically all BBC drama serials in the 1970s suffer from a greater or lesser degree from being episodic when seen in the 21st century . It's also very VERY important to keep this in mind . Black and ethnic minorities were confined as comedy characters in shows such as LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR and MIND YOUR LANGUAGE and I doubt if there had ever been a show up till then with strong characters such as Khan , Malleson , Mangit etc . In fact the relationship between Khan and Mangit should be celebrated as being " groundbreaking " since it involves an extra marital relationship between a Pakistani Muslim policeman and an Indian Sikh woman . You'll never hear it discussed from the liberal establishment but even today there still remains cultural and sexual taboos within ethnic minorities and this very human subplot will possibly remain with you longer than the explicit sex and violence - probably because we're talking mid 1970s BBC sex and violence
Most of the cast do well . Paul Barber almost steals the show as Malleson . It might be a rather obvious performance but that's probably the point . Malleson comes across as a wannabe ghetto king and Barber's dialogue and performance is highly entertaining . Elizabeth Cassidy is outstanding as junkie Anne Darracott . In these days drug addiction was fairly uncommon but her performance is enough to let everyone know all they have to know about the dangers of class A drugs . Albie Parsons might do her best but her character seems to be a victim of bad plotting while again June Bolton as Mangit never comes across as being anything less than a three dimensional character living in the real world . The only really disappointing performance is male lead Colbourne but that's possibly a flaw of the writing on the part of Martin in which Kline seems over developed in some ways and under developed in others
The mix of sex , drugs and violence coupled with strong and racist language had my head spinning every Thursday night way back in the Autumn of 1976 . Over the years moral TV standards have fallen which means we have very good standards of adult drama coming from the US in the shape of HBO . Unfortunately this means something like GANGSTERS seems very tame in comparison in 2008 . It should be judged on its own terms from 1976 and despite its flaws it's a thriller series that still contains some strong aspects when watched today
This leads to some serious gaps in both logic and characterization . John Kline is now revealed to be a former SAS soldier . Fair enough it's not something you'd mention to every passer by but co-owner of The Maverick Club Dermot Mcavoy knows this and Dermot also happens to be a member of the provisional IRA who is using the club to launder funds for the provos . Hmmm a former SAS soldier and an IRA man as co-owners in a Birminham club ? Even if they were fairly ordinary gangsters it's difficult to imagine Kline ever trusting Mcavoy due to the events of the original teleplay . In fact the whole SAS/IRA thing seems to be written to introduce a highly ridiculous leftfield subplot involving an IRA unit . Ridiculous yes but one that's highly offensive considering two IRA bombs had murdered 21 people in Birmingham less than two years previously . Worse still the fact that it contains a rather farcical comic sequence makes it even more offensive rather than less
Most of the other subplots do work thankfully , but there's a lot of them . Basically all BBC drama serials in the 1970s suffer from a greater or lesser degree from being episodic when seen in the 21st century . It's also very VERY important to keep this in mind . Black and ethnic minorities were confined as comedy characters in shows such as LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR and MIND YOUR LANGUAGE and I doubt if there had ever been a show up till then with strong characters such as Khan , Malleson , Mangit etc . In fact the relationship between Khan and Mangit should be celebrated as being " groundbreaking " since it involves an extra marital relationship between a Pakistani Muslim policeman and an Indian Sikh woman . You'll never hear it discussed from the liberal establishment but even today there still remains cultural and sexual taboos within ethnic minorities and this very human subplot will possibly remain with you longer than the explicit sex and violence - probably because we're talking mid 1970s BBC sex and violence
Most of the cast do well . Paul Barber almost steals the show as Malleson . It might be a rather obvious performance but that's probably the point . Malleson comes across as a wannabe ghetto king and Barber's dialogue and performance is highly entertaining . Elizabeth Cassidy is outstanding as junkie Anne Darracott . In these days drug addiction was fairly uncommon but her performance is enough to let everyone know all they have to know about the dangers of class A drugs . Albie Parsons might do her best but her character seems to be a victim of bad plotting while again June Bolton as Mangit never comes across as being anything less than a three dimensional character living in the real world . The only really disappointing performance is male lead Colbourne but that's possibly a flaw of the writing on the part of Martin in which Kline seems over developed in some ways and under developed in others
The mix of sex , drugs and violence coupled with strong and racist language had my head spinning every Thursday night way back in the Autumn of 1976 . Over the years moral TV standards have fallen which means we have very good standards of adult drama coming from the US in the shape of HBO . Unfortunately this means something like GANGSTERS seems very tame in comparison in 2008 . It should be judged on its own terms from 1976 and despite its flaws it's a thriller series that still contains some strong aspects when watched today