Talk:Gangsters (TV series)
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After seeing it again on DVD after 30 years I wrote a review, which follows. This has not appeared anywhere else. I'm not sure if this is suitable for a Wikipedia Discussion page, but if the Powers That Be wish to delete, modify or promote it that's fine by me - AG, Stockport.
Birmingham, England, the time of production (1974-77). Ex-SAS man JOHN KLINE is released early from his jail sentence for manslaughter. He had killed, in a fistfight, a mobster demanding protection money from the Maverick nightclub that Kline jointly owned. All Kline wants is his back money from the club and to leave Birmingham. But his business partner, Irishman DERMOT MCEVOY, doesn't have the money, so Kline is forced to stay to live off the Maverick's takings and keep the pressure on McEvoy. RAWLINSON, brother of the man Kline killed and head of the Birmingham underworld, wants revenge; Kline's death would also suit McEvoy. And Kline discovers why he was released early when KHAN, a government agent, tries to recruit him to penetrate organised crime in Birmingham. Other figures include:
ASLAM RAFIQ, a suave leader of the Asian community, who smuggles Asians illegally into Britain and then demands continuing hush money from them
KULDEEP, Rafiq's excitable henchman
JASHIR SINGH, an illegal immigrant who crosses Kuldeep and faces deportation and separation from his wife and children
MALLESON, Rawlinson's West Indian hatchet man
ANNE DARRACOTT, Rawlinson's secretary and a heroin addict
DINAH CARMICHAEL, a stripper at the Maverick with whom Kline takes up
This 110-minute early multicultural TV play provided the break for Maurice Colbourne, who played Kline and went on to the title role in the yachting fraternity series Howard's Way. Saeed Jaffrey, who played Rafiq, also went on to stardom. Gangsters scriptwriter Philip Martin, a pioneer of Z Cars and Softly Softly, plays Rawlinson. In the opening scene most of the main characters are at the nightclub, which provides a focus throughout, with multiracial Birmingham as backdrop. The climax has Kline and Khan facing execution until the police appear; hunter and hunted then exchange roles in a chase through Birmingham, ending at Spaghetti [road] Junction. This gritty play was successful and led to two TV series following the further exploits and interactions of the characters. The first series picks up loose ends to develop the plot, as Khan presses Kline to work against a shadowy syndicate of outwardly respectable people that has replaced Rawlinson's empire, including Rafiq. Dinah Carmichael has been replaced by glamorous American SARAH GANT, to whom she bears an uncanny resemblance. Malleson is running his own racket. McEvoy unwisely exploits his IRA connections. Khan is attracted to Jashir's lonely wife, and faces unexpected resistance to his crimebusting schemes from his new boss. Kline and Anne Darracott get together. By the end all loose ends are tied up. In the second series the grittiness is replaced by surrealistic elements as Kline and Khan work against heroin smuggling Chinese Triad gangs and local kingpin SHEN TANG and his glamorous daughter LILY LI TANG (who is briefly engaged to Rafiq). A series of Triad assassins tries to eliminate Kline, from Kung Fu expert RED STICK to ultimate killer WHITE DEVIL (a ham role for Philip Martin, who also appears writing the script!) Khan's anglophile father arrives from India and is rudely educated to the reality of modern life in England.
