Underplayed Gems

The Paradise Club (1989)

The Paradise Club poster
Genre
detective fiction
Country
United Kingdom
Length
2 seasons, 20 episodes
Rating
6.2 of 10 from 5 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this series is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

Two brothers inherit a nightclub from their mother who was the head of a South London criminal gang. One brother is a priest who tries to keep the other out of a life of crime.

grittycrime-focusedfamily-drivenearthydramaticatmosphericperiod-groundedtense

What happens

The Paradise Club is a BBC television crime drama series, broadcast between 19 September 1989 and 27 November 1990. The series starred Don Henderson and Leslie Grantham as Frank and Danny Kane, siblings who inherit a nightclub from their mother, Ma Kane, a matriarch of a criminal South London gang, after she tragically dies. At the start of the series, Frank is working as a priest but decides to return to London to steer his brother Danny away from crime. The series featured a large supporting cast, with Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden notably making an appearance in the episode "Rock and Roll Roulette". A total of 20 episodes were broadcast over the course of two series. The first two episodes of the first series were partly filmed in Broadway Market on the edge of Hackney, the location was apparently chosen for its authentic London character. Around the time of original broadcast, there was some criticism for possible negative stereotyping of ethnic minorities in the series. The series has never officially been released on DVD, due to issues surrounding clearance rights for the music used. The series is available on youtube. Notably, the series has yet to be repeated on any of the BBC's co-owned free-to-air digital channels, such as UK Gold or UKTV Drama (it has been aired on UK Gold). However, both series are available to purchase from Amazon, but these are VHS to DVD transfers of the original broadcast, in varying quality. A soundtrack album of music featured in the series was also released in 1989, and was available on CD, LP and Cassette. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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