The Paradise Club

My expectations were high for this, as it was written by Murray Smith who created the far superior Strangers. Unfortunately The Paradise Club failed to reach the same heights.

It was clichéd , stagey and dated even by the end of the 80s. Many of those clichés might possibly have been overlooked if the acting by the leads had been of an acceptable level.

Don Henderson was unwell when the series was filmed, and this was all too apparent in the finished programme. However Henderson was an old trooper and his performance, although diminished by ill health, was far superior to that of his co-star Leslie Grantham.

Grantham was a cockney criminal in real life and apparently thought that qualified him to play one in a TV series. Unfortunately he had zero charisma and the acting ability of Roger Moore on tranquilisers. Grantham always looked as though he was reading his lines of a card. Wooden would be an understatement.

Another dreadful 80s cliché was the upper class ( allegedly) glamorous cop played by Kitty Aldridge. Yawn!

The series is not out on DVD and wouldn't be worth buying if it was.