Footballers' Wives - The Complete Series 5 (DVD)

When it started out Footballers Wives was sexy, raunchy and highly entertaining stuff, a programme that didn't take itself too seriously. Sadly series 5, although in parts enjoyable, is the worst series by far, and sadly led to the cancellation of this once great programme. The problem was that after four series Footballers Wives had absolutely nowhere left to go, leading to increasingly bizarre and stupid storylines, and terrible new characters ...
...programme also relied far too heavily on the luscious Zoe Lucker, who plays Tanya Turner in the show, one of the few original cast members.

For those of you not familiar with Footballers Wives the title is pretty self explanatory. Rather then focusing on things on the football pitch (like in Sky One's Dream Team) Footballers Wives focuses more on things off it, mainly on the trials and tribulations of the footballers wives and their ... more

When it started out Footballers Wives was sexy, raunchy and highly entertaining stuff, a programme that didn't take itself too seriously. Sadly series 5, although in parts enjoyable, is the worst series by far, and sadly led to the cancellation of this once great programme. The problem was that after four series Footballers Wives had absolutely nowhere left to go, leading to increasingly bizarre and stupid storylines, and terrible new characters who should have been sent back to acting school. The programme also relied far too heavily on the luscious Zoe Lucker, who plays Tanya Turner in the show, one of the few original cast members.

For those of you not familiar with Footballers Wives the title is pretty self explanatory. Rather then focusing on things on the football pitch (like in Sky One's Dream Team) Footballers Wives focuses more on things off it, mainly on the trials and tribulations of the footballers wives and their complex relationsips with their other halves. For me series 1 and 2 contained the best episodes, particularly the ones involving Tanya and her attempts to keep her wayward husband under control. Series 3 and 4 are also good, although the quality of the acting does go rather downhill, particulary with the introduction of Conrad Gates and his wife Amber, and the shine of the programme has rather worn thin at this point.

However series 5, although with some highlights such as the introduction of Joanna Lumley, was just not as good, with both the acting and storylines taking a backseat in favour of absurd plot developments, particularly the ones involving Amber Gates, and her attempts to kill Bruno for his part in Conrad's demise in the previous series. I also thought the introduction of Tanya Turner halfway through the series did nothing to save it, it just seemed like a desperate move by the producers to try and make the series more exciting. Although Tanya is one of the more entertaining characters, her role as superbitch has really passed its sell by date, and her rivalry with Lumley in this series is very much 'same old'.

The main characters in this last series are the Milligans, with Lucy very much the put upon (and beaten up) housewife of nasty footballer Bruno Milligan (played by Ben Richards). These two characters have been around since the last series, as have Amber Gates (Laila Rouass) and Shannon Lawson (Sarah Barrand) who have both lost their 'footballers wives' title as their husbands are either dead or have run off with another woman. New characters for this series are Liberty Baker and Tremaine Gidigbi, who are the only married couple in this series. For me they added nothing to the episodes, and were just plain annoying. The first few episodes of series five concentrates on Amber, Bruno and Lucy while the final few episodes concentrate on Tanya Turner and Eva De Wolffe (Joan Collins) and their fight for Earls Park hunk Paulo.

I much preferred the scenes between Earls Park manager Roger and his problematic relationship with sleazebag Garry, and also enjoyed some of the scenes between Bruno and Amber. Sadly though the Tanya Turner scenes, although in parts funny, are similar to her antics in the previous series and therefore lose their shine. Similarly, the new characters Liberty and Tremaine are extremely disappointing, with their love triangle storyline with a foreign girl not entertaining in any way. Gillian Taylforth is also one of the few original cast members left, but her character Jackie has run its course. All in all, this series sums up the steady demise of a once great programme.

Although entertaining, the final whistle has most definately come.

This DVD contains all 8 episodes of series 5.

 

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