Prospects is a British television comedy drama series that was written by Alan Janes and originally shown on Channel 4 in 1986. Created by Euston Films who had a pedigree of producing successful, gritty drama such as The Sweeney and Minder, it followed the exploits of two East End 'geezer' characters - Jimmy 'Pincy' Pince played by Gary Olsen and Billy played by Brian Bovell and their trials and tribulations of making a living in London's Isle of Dogs.
Comprising 12 episodes Prospects - with a comic slant, dealt with many of the major issues affecting British society at the height of the "Thatcherite" '80's including unemployment, crime, poverty, regeneration, social change and racism.
Prospects gained a cult following and ratings wise it performed well above expectation for Channel 4. At that time Channel Four received a large subsidy from the rival commercial network ITV in exchange for the right to sell airtime; this gave ITV a significant input into the management of the station. The success of Prospects and the fact that it was produced by a subsidiary of the ITV network's largest station Thames Television meant it was moved to a 9pm prime-time repeat slot on ITV in the Spring/Summer of 1987. This fuelled rumours that the network wanted to develop Prospects into a long-running comedy drama series. However despite seeing potential ITV declined the opportunity to develop it beyond the original first series.
Title | Air Date | Duration | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Season 1 | Episode 1 | The P to S Day | 1986-02-19 | 60 min |
Season 1 | Episode 2 | Partners in Brine | 1986-02-26 | 60 min |
Season 1 | Episode 3 | Uncle Harry's System | 1986-03-05 | 60 min |
Season 1 | Episode 4 | Dirty Weekend | 1986-03-12 | 60 min |
Season 1 | Episode 5 | Rodent Engineers | 1986-03-19 | 60 min |
Season 1 | Episode 6 | Standing on Your Own One Foot | 1986-03-26 | 60 min |
Season 1 | Episode 7 | Subterranean Pig Sick Blues | 1986-04-02 | 60 min |
Season 1 | Episode 8 | Flying Tonight | 1986-04-09 | 60 min |
Season 1 | Episode 9 | Four Men in a Boat | 1986-04-16 | 60 min |
Season 1 | Episode 10 | Follow the Yellow Brick Lane | 1986-04-23 | 60 min |
Season 1 | Episode 11 | Running All the Way (1) | 1986-04-30 | 60 min |
Season 1 | Episode 12 | Running All the Way (2) | 1986-05-07 | 60 min |