Apr 5, 2019
The Dick Francis Thriller: The Racing Game: Odds Against (1.1, Yorkshire Television, 1979)
"Mr. Halley, we've operated three times. You're hard, but you can't take any more - and we can't do any more for you. The nerves, the tendons, the sinews: they're gone for good."
"I'm a jockey."
"You were."
#the dick francis thriller#the racing game#odds against#yorkshire television#1979#lawrence gordon clark#dick francis#terence feely#mike gwilym#mick ford#james maxwell#susan wooldridge#rachel davies#gerald flood#holly de jong#michael turner#rosalie williams#david scase#roger milner#maurice bush#i bought this in network's last sale on a whim because it's a title i've noticed in a few acting faves filmographies. i somehow didn't#notice jm was in it until i saw the opening credits! so that was a nice surprise. in fact i hadnt realised a few things about it. i thought#it was one mystery in six parts but it turns out to actually be a case of the week sort of thing. the usp here is the racing angle and the#fact that lead character and jockey turned private detective gwilym only has one hand (something played on a lot in this first episode)#strong supporting cast full of familiar favourites (gerald flood and rachel davies especially). i've never read a dick francis book so#can't say how faithful this is. the title confused me because it implies their was a series of dick francis thrillers for tv of which the#racing game was just one (thus my thinking it was a six parter) but as far as i can tell this was a one off series of six#jm is excellent value as always and for once he isn't having a terrible time or feeling sorry for himself. in fact he's being a bit of a#dick and loving it! gwilym i'm not especially familiar with but there's no mistaking mick ford's familiar face#@thisbluespirit have you seen this one?