The Paradise Club (1989)

Genre

detective fiction

Country

United Kingdom

Length

2 seasons, 20 episodes

Rating

6.2 of 10 from 5 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

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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