Footballers' Wives | |
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Opening credits title
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Created by | Maureen Chadwick Ann McManus |
Starring |
Susie Amy Peter Ash Sarah Barrand Jesse Birdsall Philip Bretherton Jessica Brooks Caroline Chikezie Nathan Constance Jamie Davis John Forgeham Craig Gallivan Lucia Giannecchini Helen Latham Julie Legrand Zöe Lucker Gary Lucy Marcel McCalla Katherine Monaghan Alison Newman Phina Oruche Ben Price Ben Richards Angela Ridgeon Jay Rodan Laila Rouass Daniel Schutzmann Cristian Solimeno Tom Swire Gillian Taylforth Chucky Venn |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
No. of series | 5 |
No. of episodes | 42 (List of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | Brian Park |
Producer(s) | Liz Lake Claire Phillips Sean O'Connor Cameron Roach |
Running time | 44 mins |
Production company(s) | Shed Productions |
Release | |
Original network | ITV |
Original release | 8 January 2002 | – 14 April 2006
Chronology | |
Related shows | Footballers' Wives: Extra Time |
Footballers' Wives (stylised as footballers wive$) is a British television drama surrounding the fictional Premier League football club Earls Park F.C., its players, and their wives. It was broadcast on the ITV network from 8 January 2002 to 14 April 2006. The show began with a multi-lateral focus on a variety of different types of relationships explored; however, from the third series onward, the primary focus was on a complex love triangle between Tanya Turner (Zöe Lucker), Amber Gates (Laila Rouass) and Conrad Gates (Ben Price).
The show, an "enormous hit," centered on the fictional 'Earls Park Football Club' (nicknamed 'Sparks'). The series, based on the book, Footballers' Wives Tell Their Tales, by Shelley Webb, wife of British footballer Neil Webb, was produced by Liz Lake, Claire Phillips, and Cameron Roach. Its executive producer was Brian Park. The show began as an ensemble of three different football-couple 'types'. But from the third series on, the show more or less revolved around the character Tanya Turner (Zöe Lucker). Lucker left the series halfway through series four, though she returned midway through the next series, by which time the series' ratings had fallen significantly, therefore certifying Lucker as the main star of the show although the series was cancelled in 2006.
On 11 January 2007, Channel 5's sister channel Five Life bought up the rights to broadcast the entire series. It has so far shown the first series, with the first episode shown on 7 March 2007 at 9pm. The series was then taken over by ITV. Fiver then started showing episodes from the second series. From June 2010, Footballers' Wives began appearing on the new channel CBS Drama being followed by a huge marketing campaign in print media and on the sides of buses.
In the earlier series, Earls Park Football Club's home games were played at the real life Selhurst Park, which is the home of Crystal Palace Football Club. From series three onward, stadium shots were filmed at White Hart Lane.