The Losers (TV series)
| The Losers | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Starring | Leonard Rossiter Alfred Molina Joe Gladwin |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company | ATV |
| Original release | |
| Network | ITV |
| Release | 12 November – 17 December 1978 |
The Losers is a British sitcom that aired on ITV in 1978. Written by Alan Coren,[1] it stars Leonard Rossiter and Alfred Molina. The Losers was made for ITV by ATV and was produced and directed by Joe McGrath.[2]
In The Losers, Rossiter plays Sydney Foskett, a wrestling promoter who discovers a young new wrestler called "The Butcher", played by Molina, who Foskett ensures loses to get the public's love.
Cast
- Leonard Rossiter - Sydney Foskett
- Alfred Molina - Nigel
- Joe Gladwin - Dennis Breene
Plot
Sydney Foskett is a wrestling promoter who discovers young new wrestler and part-time footballer, "The Butcher", whose real name is Nigel. Foskett, realising that the public love a loser, devises ways for "The Butcher" to lose without the dimwitted Nigel to know what is happening. Foskett often gets paid well for rigging the matches.[2]
Episodes
The Losers aired on ITV from 12 November to 17 December 1978. All episodes aired on Sundays at 9.15pm and are 30 minutes long.[2] The broadcast masters for all six episodes were later wiped for reuse, though episodes one through five were later found to have survived as poor quality off-air domestic video recordings.[3] However the final episode, "Togetherness", is still missing from the archives and can be presumed lost.[4] The Times obituary of Alan Coren in 2007 said the series "sank with all hands".[1]
- "A Star Is Born" (12 November 1978)
- "The Naming of Parts" (19 November 1978)
- "Ireland and back" (26 November 1978)
- "All Down In Black and White" (3 December 1978)
- "Sitting On a Goldmine" (10 December 1978)
- "Togetherness" (17 December 1978)
DVD release
A region 2 DVD containing restored editions of the surviving episodes was released by Network on 21 January 2013[3]
References
- General
- "The Losers - Episode List". British TV Resources. 2006. Retrieved 21 October 2007.
- Specific
- ^ a b "Obituary - Alan Coren". The Times. 20 October 2007. Retrieved 26 December 2015. (subscription required)
- ^ a b c Lewishohn, Mark (2003). Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy. London: BBC Worldwide. ISBN 0-563-48755-0.
- ^ a b "Network ON AIR > The Losers". networkonair.com. Archived from the original on 15 January 2013.
- ^ "Missing or incomplete episodes for programme THE LOSERS". LostShows.com. Retrieved 19 March 2008.
External links
- The Losers at IMDb