This ten-part BBC drama series starred sports reporter Ken Wordsworth (David Warner). Beset by financial problems brought about by a costly divorce (because of his nomadic, alcoholic life), Ken reluctantly left one of Fleet Street’s most respected highbrow Sunday newspapers to work for a tabloid at the bottom end of the market, lured away by the salary and a huge expense account. Cue some legendary drinking sessions in a pub called The Inkwell.
Ken was also torn between the demands of being a good father to his outspoken teenage son Charlie (Lee Whitlock) and the temptations of being a single, free-wheeling man.
Deputy sports editor Frank McNab (Richard Ireson) resented the arrival of “the Poet LKaureate of sport” at the tabloid, while rival tabloid journalist Steve Stevens (Peter-Hugo Daly) – who would stop at nothing for a story – embodied the demands of a tabloid newspaper.
The series was written by ex-sports writers Andrew Nickold and Stan Hey. Each episode was set against the background of a different sport – football, tennis, horse racing, cricket, rugby, golf, boxing, the London Marathon, the Henley Regatta and . . . er . . . Under-60s bowls.
Ken Wordsworth
David Warner Reg
Eric Allan Alison
Gil Brailey Charlie Wordsworth
Lee Whitlock Russell de Vries
David Horovitch Steve Stevens
Peter-Hugo Daly Frank McNab
Richard Ireson Ruby
Tilly Vosburgh
Episodes
Away from Home | Grass Roots | Dark Horses | Old Partners | Two Tribes | Running Feuds | Jobs for the Girls | Fathers, Sons and Lovers | Power Games | Our Man on the Spot
