During the '70's, Leonard Rossiter had two hits running on British television, one was Yorkshire Television's 'Rising Damp', written by Eric Chappell, the other was David Nobbs' 'The Fall & Rise Of Reginald Perrin', which was screened by the BBC. ATV must have been envious and so took Rossiter under their wing and entrusted him with the leading role in 'The Losers'. The scripts were written by Alan Coren. Sadly, 'The Losers' did not score very many points with its audience. How Rossiter could have been so naive as to think this affair was worth his time I do not know.
Rossiter played the crooked Sydney Foskett, a down on his luck wrestling manager who is on the lookout for a new champ. Whilst visiting a fairground, he meets thick as two short planks Nigel ( who becomes nicknamed 'The Butcher' ) who despite his immense muscular strength is useless when it comes to fighting. Sydney uses this knowledge to his advantage and so sets Nigel up with rigged fights so he in fact gets paid for losing.
I have absolutely no idea how the show materialised as I gave up on it very early on. Rossiter failed to bring to Foskett the likability he brought to Rigsby and Perrin. He was simply wasted in the role. Alfred Molina too was no great shakes as Nigel.
The canned laughter, bad acting and lifeless scripts ensured that 'The Losers' earned the reputation of its title and so after only six episodes ATV threw in the towel and gave 'The Losers' early retirement. Rossiter later moved over to Thames Television to head another sitcom - 'Tripper's Day' - which alas turned out to be his final bow as he dropped dead of a heart attack in 1984 aged just 57.
Five of the six episodes are still in existence ( the final one being missing ) and, surprisingly, have managed to surface onto DVD. Do not be fooled into thinking 'The Losers' is a lost comedy classic. It is anything but, believe you me. Stick on a DVD of 'Rising Damp' or 'Reginald Perrin' instead.
Rossiter played the crooked Sydney Foskett, a down on his luck wrestling manager who is on the lookout for a new champ. Whilst visiting a fairground, he meets thick as two short planks Nigel ( who becomes nicknamed 'The Butcher' ) who despite his immense muscular strength is useless when it comes to fighting. Sydney uses this knowledge to his advantage and so sets Nigel up with rigged fights so he in fact gets paid for losing.
I have absolutely no idea how the show materialised as I gave up on it very early on. Rossiter failed to bring to Foskett the likability he brought to Rigsby and Perrin. He was simply wasted in the role. Alfred Molina too was no great shakes as Nigel.
The canned laughter, bad acting and lifeless scripts ensured that 'The Losers' earned the reputation of its title and so after only six episodes ATV threw in the towel and gave 'The Losers' early retirement. Rossiter later moved over to Thames Television to head another sitcom - 'Tripper's Day' - which alas turned out to be his final bow as he dropped dead of a heart attack in 1984 aged just 57.
Five of the six episodes are still in existence ( the final one being missing ) and, surprisingly, have managed to surface onto DVD. Do not be fooled into thinking 'The Losers' is a lost comedy classic. It is anything but, believe you me. Stick on a DVD of 'Rising Damp' or 'Reginald Perrin' instead.