But Fiona Bell’s Maimie was an amazing and very welcome dose of oestrogen on a stage that was dominated by testosterone and varying degrees of bullish men. Drake breaks up with his girlfriend only to realize that he may have made the wrong decision. Drake must decide whether he wants to settle down or continue to play the field. In the opening comments, Drake talks about the time when he was a little kid and when he had the hottest babysitter ever while Josh talks about how he had the cutest little turtle ever. Playing the Field is a BBC television drama series following the lives of the Castlefield Blues, a fictitious female football team from South Yorkshire. 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 1998 to 2002, with scripts by, amongst others, Kay Mellor, Sally Wainwright and Gaynor Faye.

But there are so many subtle sub-plots - the role of women, contraception, the church - thinly veiled behind the field itself and the battle to own it that no one character ever really monopolises the limelight. But Padraic McIntyre has breathed new life into this anniversary production and the result is nothing short of outstanding. But that will be nowhere close the guilt, regret, resentment and fear that lingers in Flanagan’s Pub and Keane’s characters long after the curtain has gone down. During the end credits, Drake tells Josh that he hates Josh's girlfriend because her idea was to make Tori smart thinking that Josh said she did it since the 1950s. Drake also knows that he miss kissing Tori. A few seconds later, he and Josh get up from the couch and begin to leave. This dark humour that Keane is famous for is sprinkled throughout the play and this cast, under McIntyre’s direction, pulled it off spectacularly well.Her meltdown over her 10th pregnancy was bizarrely one of the most laugh-out-loud hilarious moments of the play, despite the fact it was a disturbing reflection on the role of women in society in 1950s Ireland. UK / BBC One – Tiger Aspect / 25×50 minute episodes 6×60 minute episodes / Broadcast 3 March 1998 – 10 February 2002 Series 5, which was broadcast in 2002 has not received a VHS release, nor has it been released on DVD. Even after 50 years, John B Keane’s The Field has lost none of it’s relevance, compelling power or dark humour.

executive producer: for Rollem Productions Ltd. / executive producer: Rollem Productions Ltd. (32 episodes, 1998-2002) When Drake mentions Willy Wonka to Josh, he reveals that from Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory. This is Torrey DeVitto's second appearance in the series, she previously guest starred in Season 2's " Driver's License" as Denise Woods.

Creator: Kay Mellor / Theme Music: Alison Moyet, Peter Glenister / Sung by Alison Moyet / Producers: Greg Brenman (Season 1), Hugh Warren (Season 2), Kathleen Hutchison (from season 3) , Lis Steele (2002) The obvious standout performance is the inimitable Michael Harding as the Bull McCabe, a spell-binding actor whose pyhsical size is only matched by his masterful stage presence.

The Field is running at Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre until Saturday at 7.30pm every evening and 3pm matinee on Saturday. But the beauty of The Field, like with so much of Keane’s work, is that the themes are timeless and could be happening in any community, in any country in the world at any time. With each successive season the football played less of a part but by that stage we were pretty involved with the characters anyway. Quite a few of the players have since gone on to achieve major sucess.Liza is later mentioned in Dr. Phyllis Show, which reveals she is the daughter of the show's titular host. Comedy drama series Playing The Field focused on the lives, on the pitch and off, of a group of women in South Yorkshire who play football together for the Castlefield Blues ladies team. His arrival inevitably precipitates a crisis in the village, which can only be settled by rape, murder and a public auction, accompanied by no end of wise epigrams by the wizened local inhabitants, who have been waiting a generation for their chance to mutter profound sayings about the land and the people who live on’t. Harris growls and howls and looks like Lear as he wades about in the bitter sea and strides through the mud and peat, and there is no doubting this is a good performance, but in the service of a hopeless cause.

The ending is extremely abrupt and for anyone who doesn’t know the original story based on the true 1959 murder of Moss Moore in Co Kerry, there may be a sense of unfulfillment. In the opening sequence when Drake and Josh speak to the camera, Josh says that his pet turtle, Sheldon passed away when he was in third grade. However in the episode, Two Idiots and a Baby when Josh is dangling from the gutter, you hear Josh say that he was in this situation because he didn't feed Sheldon in kindergarten, causing Sheldon to pass on. The Field" is a grim allegory of hard life on the land - a symbolic play, transplanted uneasily to the greater realism of the film medium, where what we might accept on the stage now looks contrived and artificial. This was not a work that called out to be filmed. Once filmed, it calls out to be forgotten. But it will always have a footnote in cinematic history, because Richard Harris’ work has been nominated for an Academy Award in the best actor category. It is likely that his kindergarten teacher got another turtle named Sheldon and that one likely died as well.

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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.