Playing the Field

Playing the Field
Created by	Kay Mellor
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	5
No. of episodes	32
Production
Executive producer(s)	Charles Brand Tessa Ross Kay Mellor
Producer(s)	Kathleen Hutchison Hugh Warren Greg Brenman Lis Steele
Running time	60 minutes
Production company(s)	Tiger Aspect Productions
Release
Original network	BBC One
Original release	8 March 1998 – 10 February 2002

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 the Pete Davies' novel 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 1998–2002, 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; whilst 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

Episodes

Series 1

Episode	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	"Episode 1"	Paul Seed	Kay Mellor	8 March 1998
2	"Episode 2"	Paul Seed	Kay Mellor	15 March 1998
3	"Episode 3"	Paul Seed	Kay Mellor	22 March 1998
4	"Episode 4"	Catherine Morshead	Kay Mellor	29 March 1998
5	"Episode 5"	Catherine Morshead	Kay Mellor	5 April 1998
6	"Episode 6"	Catherine Morshead	Kay Mellor	12 April 1998

Series 2

Episode	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
7	"Episode 1"	Nicholas Laughland	Kay Mellor	18 February 1999
8	"Episode 2"	Nicholas Laughland	Kay Mellor	25 February 1999
9	"Episode 3"	Nicholas Laughland	Kay Mellor	4 March 1999
10	"Episode 4"	Nicholas Laughland	Sally Wainwright	11 March 1999
11	"Episode 5"	Robin Sheppard	Valerie Windsor	18 March 1999
12	"Episode 6"	Robin Sheppard	Valerie Windsor	25 March 1999
13	"Episode 7"	Robin Sheppard	Sally Wainwright	1 April 1999

Series 3

Episode	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
14	"Episode 1"	Dermot Boyd	Kay Mellor	1 February 2000
15	"Episode 2"	Dermot Boyd	Katie Baxendale	8 February 2000
16	"Episode 3"	Dermot Boyd	Jan McVerry	15 February 2000
17	"Episode 4"	David Innes Edwards	Kay Mellor	24 February 2000
18	"Episode 5"	David Innes Edwards	Kay Mellor	2 March 2000
19	"Episode 6"	David Innes Edwards	Katie Baxendale	9 March 2000

Series 4

Episode	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
20	"Episode 1"	Alrick Riley	Sally Wainwright	13 July 2000
21	"Episode 2"	Alrick Riley	Katie Baxendale	20 July 2000
22	"Episode 3"	Alrick Riley	Greg Snow	27 July 2000
23	"Episode 4"	Dermot Boyd	Sally Wainwright	3 August 2000
24	"Episode 5"	Dermot Boyd	Katie Baxendale	10 August 2000
25	"Episode 6"	Dermot Boyd	Russell Lewis	17 August 2000
26	"Episode 7"	Dermot Boyd	Greg Snow	24 August 2000

Series 5

Episode	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
27	"Episode 1"	Robert Knights	Gaynor Faye [1]	6 January 2002
28	"Episode 2"	Robert Knights	Gaynor Faye [1]	13 January 2002
29	"Episode 3"	Andrew Margetson	Sarah-Louise Hawkins	20 January 2002
30	"Episode 4"	Andrew Margetson	Sarah-Louise Hawkins	27 January 2002
31	"Episode 5"	Rob Bailey	Katie Baxendale	3 February 2002
32	"Episode 6"	Rob Bailey	Katie Baxendale	10 February 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 received a VHS release, nor has it been released on DVD.

References

1. As Gaynor Mellor.

External links

• Playing the Field at the Internet Movie Database