"Gangsters" - The Cult 'Play For Today' Drama Quiz

Answer: Birmingham

The 'Play For Today' series consisted of one-off 'modern plays' produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation. "Gangsters" was a revelation, dealing with big issues of the time: illegal immigration; protection rackets and drugs - and all with the criminals as the point of focus, the police involvement was an irrelevance. Unlike some of the other more pretentious plays, 'Gangsters" was more cinematic, owing more than a few nods to the 1971 movie "The French Connection".

The opening shots were, supposedly, of a Birmingham skyline at dusk.

In fact the footage was shot at dawn.

Answer: John Kline

Maurice Colbourne, a classically trained theatre actor, played the lead. The writer had wanted a name with a crisp, blunt resonance mimicking that of 'James Bond'. Colbourne had been rather dismissive about the part, and that made the producers want him even more. He was seen as a strong, even attractive, character. He performed many of his own stunts.

Answer: Howards' Way

"Howards' Way" (1985-1990) was the story of a boat-building family. "The Brothers" (1972-1976) was the story of a family involved in the road haulage business. "The Onedin Line" (1971-1980) was about a sailing company dynasty. All were huge ratings winners. The least said about "Laura and Disorder" (one series, 1989) the better...
Maurice Colbourne (birth name Roger Middleton) died of a heart attack on August 4 1989.

Answer: Maverick

The producers had wanted to use a real club and initially the proprietors were keen. However, they developed cold feet and a studio mock-up was created. The club was, supposedly, in the basement of a former cinema and had been named 'The Maverick' because John Kline, the joint owner, liked Western movies.

The 'Maverick' had a mixed list of entertainers, from comedians through singers to strippers. It had a multi-cultural clientele.

Answer: They were one and the same person

Phillip Martin had been trained at the Royal Academy for Dramatic Art (RADA), but had not acted for 10 years before he wrote "Gangsters". He was not even supposed to be in the play, but, as a read-though of the script evolved, it became clear he was ideal for the part. He spent three months living in Birmingham researching the play, and also used his ear for accents to pick up the 'Brummie' twang.
The director was Philip Saville, who later directed "The Long Good Friday" (1980).

Answer: Saeed Jaffrey

Saeed Jaffrey was born in India in 1929. The Internet Movie Database lists more than 160 projects between 1960 and 2008. He starred in many top British TV dramas, and big screen roles included appearances in 'Gandhi' (1982), 'A Passage to India' (1984) and 'My Beautiful Laundrette' [sic] (1985).

In "Gangsters" his character was heavily involved in illegal immigration and took money from immigrant workers while putting up a public persona of caring for them. Many of the "Gangsters" actors were picked out from the Birmingham ethnic population and had never acted before. One of them had been a taxi-driver and continued to drive at night throughout the shooting.

Answer: On a boat on the canal

Elisabeth Cassidy played the role of a Heroin user who was also involved in the distribution of the imported drugs on the canal system. Many years later Philip Martin, the writer, said that while researching the play, after a long and unproductive morning spent with Birmingham police drugs squad officers, he took them to lunch - on his BBC expense account - and one of them told him that if he was involved in importing drugs into the city, he would use the canals.

Answer: Rolls Royce

In a bid to avoid police in a haulage yard, two of the characters jumped out of the Rolls Royce without leaving it in 'park' or applying the brakes. The 'Roller' rolled on and struck a police car. There then followed a chase through the streets of Birmingham, with the 'baddies' having commandeered a police Triumph 2000 and the good guys having grabbed a police Range Rover.

Answer: £92,000

It was filmed on Super-16 movie stock. Quite a lot of the action was shot on hand-held cameras - not an easy task in the days before steadi-cams. Many of the scene were shot at night and one car chase took place through the city streets - without anyone being told about it.

Some in the BBC hierarchy were not initially convinced about the production, but a stage came when they realized that too much had been shot - and spent - to back out.

Answer: Paul Antrim

Antrim's character had been a partner of the hero and owed him money - which he did not want to pay. He tried to have the hero killed.

Answer: Greenslade

Dave Greenslade had never written a soundtrack before, and that was a plus for the producers. Greenslade, the group, were at the cutting edge of progressive pop and jazz fusion. Much of the music was written on a synthesizer.

Answer: English and Pakistani

Real-life comedians Rolf Day and Mohammed Asiq played the parts. Their jokes were certainly not politically correct, but were crude and based on racial stereotypes. The drama showed a mixed audience of all races enjoying the jokes, many of which would not be permitted on national television today. Philip Martin, the writer picked up most of the jokes on the streets of Birmingham. Martin was prepared to make social comments in the play, for example, the Irish club owner was seen laughing uproariously about jokes told about various races and then when an Irish joke was told, asked bitterly "what's funny about that?".

Answer: Bunny Johnson

Johnson played a gangland 'heavy' but was more beaten up than a beater-upper (I don't now if that's proper English, but you know what I mean).
Bunny Johnson was born in Jamaica on 10th May 1947, but made his home in England's 'Second City', Birmingham. Of 73 bouts, he won 55 (33 by a knockout). Johnson won the heavyweight title in January 1975, but enjoyed more success in the light-heavyweight division.

Answer: Paul Barber

Paul Barber played the second leading baddie in the original play, and took over the lead baddie role in the first of the two follow-up series. I can find a record of one appearance in 'Porridge', but Barber was better known as Denzil in 18 episodes of 'OFAH'. He also starred in 'The Full Monty' (1997) and appeared in many of British TV's top-rated dramas.
Three series of 'Porridge' were broadcast on BBC television from 1973 to 1977. Two Christmas specials, and a feature film followed. Ronnie Barker led the cast.
'Only Fools and Horses' ran for seven series in the UK between 1981 and 1991. Several 'Christmas specials' followed. It starred David Jason, and was a huge ratings winner. Jason had earlier had a role in 'Porridge'.

Answer: The hero drowned him in a river

In fact, electrocution was the fate of the stripper who had been befriended by the hero. "Gangsters" was also a story of retribution: the hero had killed the villain's brother in a fight and had served a jail term for manslaughter. The villain wanted revenge. Gangland heavies working for the villain had killed the stripper, whom the hero had befriended, thus giving him a revenge motive. Footnote: I remember being enthralled by "Gangsters" and the two subsequent series when they were first shown.

They appeared exciting, glamourous, dangerous and risque to a teenager They have been re-released on a boxed DVD set on the 2/Entertain label.