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Playing the Field

Field	Value
image	Playing the Field.jpg
runtime	60 minutes
creator	Kay Mellor
executive_producer	Charles Brand
Tessa Ross
Kay Mellor
producer	Kathleen Hutchison
Hugh Warren
Greg Brenman
Lis Steele
channel	BBC One
first_aired
last_aired
country	United Kingdom
language	English
num_series	5
num_episodes	32
company	Tiger Aspect Productions

Tessa Ross Kay Mellor Hugh Warren Greg Brenman Lis Steele

Playing the Field is a BBC television drama series following the lives of the Castlefield Blues, a fictitious female football team from South Yorkshire.

Outline

Inspired by Pete Davies's book I Lost My Heart to the Belles – which was written about a real-life club, the Doncaster Belles – Playing the Field ran for five series, from 8 March 1998 to 10 February 2002, with scripts by, amongst others, Kay Mellor, Sally Wainwright and Gaynor Faye.

Despite being set in South Yorkshire, much of the location filming took place in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, although the fifth (and final) series was filmed around Leeds. The theme song, "Blue" by Alison Moyet, was originally a B-side track about the singer's love of Southend United FC. A young Marsha Thomason – who has since appeared in U.S. shows Las Vegas and Lost – featured in the first three series of Playing the Field. The first four series have been released on DVD in the UK, but the fifth has yet to be made available.

Main cast

Lorraine Ashbourne – Geraldine Powell
Melanie Hill – Rita Dolan
Jo McInnes – Jo Mullen
Lesley Sharp – Theresa Mullen
Marsha Thomason – Sharon 'Shazza' Pearce
Saira Todd – Gabrielle 'Gabby' Holmes
Debra Stephenson – Diane Powell
Tracy Whitwell – Angie Gill
Emma Rydall – Mikey
Olivia Caffrey – Kate Howard
Gaynor Faye – Holly Quinn
Claudie Blakley – Kelly Powell
James Nesbitt – James Dolan
Tim Dantay – Dave Powell
Nicholas Gleaves – Rick Powell
Ralph Ineson – Luke Mullen
Chris Walker – Matthew Mullen
John Thomson – Eddie Ryan
James Thornton – Scott
Lee Ross – Ryan Pratt
James Ellis – Mr. Mullen
Brigit Forsyth – Francine Pratt
Elizabeth Spriggs – Mrs. Mullen
Ricky Tomlinson – Jim Pratt
Jason O'Mara – Lee Quinn
Tom Moore – Martin Dolan
Stephanie Putson – Heidi
Kelli Hollis – Lizzie Makin

Episodes

Series overview

Series 1 (1998)

Series 2 (1999)

Series 3 (2000)

Series 4 (2000)

Series 5 (2002)

Ratings

Episode No.	Airdate	Total Viewers	BBC Weekly Rank
2.1	18 February 1999	8,160,000	18
2.2	25 February 1999	7,490,000	22
2.3	4 March 1999	7.200,000	22
2.4	11 March 1999	Under 6,050,000	N/A
2.5	18 March 1999	7,090,000	24
2.6	25 March 1999	7,710,000	18
2.7	1 April 1999	7,770,000	17

Episode No.	Airdate	Total Viewers	BBC Weekly Rank
3.1	1 February 2000	Under 6,490,000	N/A
3.2	8 February 2000	7,430,000	18
3.3	15 February 2000	7,730,000	17
3.4	24 February 2000	6,010,000	30
3.5	2 March 2000	6,930,000	22
3.6	9 March 2000	6,290,000	27

Episode No.	Airdate	Total Viewers	BBC Weekly Rank
4.1	13 July 2000	6,440,000	12
4.2	20 July 2000	5,310,000	25
4.3	27 July 2000	5,670,000	24
4.4	3 August 2000	5,760,000	19
4.5	10 August 2000	5,450,000	26
4.6	17 August 2000	5,650,000	27
4.7	24 August 2000	6,020,000	18

Episode No.	Airdate	Total Viewers	BBC Weekly Rank
5.1	6 January 2002	6,160,000	17
5.2	13 January 2002	5,250,000	25
5.3	20 January 2002	5,290,000	25
5.4	27 January 2002	Under 4,700,000	N/A
5.5	3 February 2002	Under 4,430,000	N/A
5.6	10 February 2002	Under 4,490,000	N/A

Home media

The first four series of Playing the Field have been made available via Universal Playback.

Playing the Field: Series 1 & 2 (VHS) – 23 October 2000
Playing the Field: Series 3 & 4 (VHS) – 23 October 2000
Playing the Field: Series 1 & 2 (DVD) – 29 January 2007 (released as "Seasons 1 & 2")
Playing the Field: Series 3 & 4 (DVD) – 23 April 2007 (released as "Seasons 3 & 4")

Series 5, which was broadcast in 2002 has not yet received a VHS release, nor has it been released on DVD.

References

As Gaynor Mellor.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1998-british-television-series-debuts 2002-british-television-series-endings 1990s-british-drama-television-series 2000s-british-drama-television-series bbc-television-dramas television-series-by-banijay television-series-by-tiger-aspect-productions british-english-language-television-shows television-shows-set-in-south-yorkshire

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