Game On

1 9 9 5 – 1 9 9 8 (UK)
18 x 30 minute episodes

Game On was like a dysfunctional, cruder version of Friends. It focused on three young flat sharers, each with his or her own personal problems.

Most screwed-up was “double-hard bastard” Matthew (Ben Chaplin for one season and then Neil Stuke), whose parents had died, leaving him the money to buy his Battersea flat, but who now suffered from agoraphobia and never ventured outside its door.

He whiled away his days watching tv, dressing up as macho film characters or polishing his surfboard – and occasionally exploring the secret and forbidden contents of the drawers in the room he lets to Mandy Wilkins (Samantha Janus).

Blonde but not dumb, Mandy worked as a temp and struggled to combat her bimbo image and build a real career, always finding herself taken advantage of, and never being able to say no to a man’s advances.

The third member of the trio was ingenious Martin (Matthew Cottle), a freckly bank worker and “sad ginger tosser” whose mother sent him frozen meals. Martin was desperate to find a girlfriend and savour his first sexual experience.

Constantly bullied by Matthew, Martin did eventually find a girl, in the shape of Irish nurse Clare (Tracy Keating), and was heartbroken when she dumped him and then gave birth to his child.

Mandy almost married into the aristocracy through her boss Archie (Crispin Bonham-Carter), and Matthew inadvertently hooked up with the gay Jason (Mark Powley).

Matthew Malone
Ben Chaplin (1)
Neil Stuke (2)
Martin Henson
Matthew Cottle
Mandy Wilkins
Samantha Janus
Clare Monohan
Tracy Keating
Jason
Mark Powley
Archie
Crispin Bonham-Carter