The Syndicate
2012 · 4 seasons · 23 eps · ★ 7.6 · Drama
Ended
A drama exploring how winning the lottery transforms the lives of ordinary people.
Created by Kay Mellor
Network: BBC One
Your Rating
Where to Watch
Cast
-
Lorraine Bruce Denise Simpson - L Liberty Hobbs Gemma Hepworth
- R Ruben Reuter Shane Sanderson
-
Elizabeth Berrington Dawn Stevenson -
Lenny Henry Godfrey Watson -
Melanie Hill Julie Travers -
Cara Theobold Sarah Travers -
Richard Rankin Sean McGary -
Anthony Andrews Lord Hazelwood -
Alice Krige Lady Hazelwood -
Sam Phillips Spencer Cavendish -
Siobhan Finneran Mandy Atkinson
More from Kay MellorSee all →
Gifted · 2003Gifted
★ 9.02003
MovieThrillerDrama
Jamie Gilliam is a bright young rising star with Castlefield City, a first division club on the verge of promotion to the premiership. When lapdancing student Sharon goes out to a club with friends she bumps into him and ends up going back to his place. She wakes up the next day feeling ill and not being able to remember how she got naked in his bed. When she later goes to the police charging rape no-one believes her and the club settles with her privately to keep her quiet. But is Jamie as clean cut as he appears?
My Left Nut · 2020My Left Nut
★ 8.22020
SeriesComedy
Based on the award-winning stage play, "My Left Nut" is a three-part coming of age comedy drama about friendship, family, grief and testicles. The series follows school-boy Mick and his journey after discovering a swelling on his testicle. He can't tell his dad; he died seven years ago. He can't tell his mum Patricia; she's got a million other things on her plate. He can't tell his schoolmates; there's an upside to rumours about the bulge in your trousers… And it’s not like it’s going to complicate things between Mick and his first girlfriend anyway, right?
Fat Friends · 2000Fat Friends
★ 7.92000
SeriesDrama
Fat Friends is an ITV drama created by Kay Mellor, broadcast from 12 October 2000 to 24 March 2005. It follows a group of overweight people, their laughter and pain and addresses the absurdities of dieting in our modern age. It examines people and how they relate to one another and use body weight as an excuse for all sorts of failings in their relationships, or not living their lives to the full.
Four cast members—Ruth Jones, James Corden, Sheridan Smith, and Alison Steadman—went on to appear in Gavin & Stacey.
All Creatures Great and Small · 1978All Creatures Great and Small
★ 7.81978
SeriesComedyDrama
The trials and misadventures of the staff at a country veterinary office in Yorkshire. James Herriot, a young animal surgeon, moves to a small Yorkshire town to begin his first job.
Dramarama · 1983Dramarama
★ 7.31983
SeriesSci-Fi & FantasyDrama
Dramarama is the name of a British children's anthology series broadcast on ITV between 1983 and 1989. It tended to feature drama of a science fiction or supernatural bent. The series was created by Anna Home, then head of children's and youth programming at TVS, however production responsibilities were divided amongst most of the regional ITV franchise holders. Thus, each episode was in practice a one-off production with its own cast and crew, up to and including the executive producer.
Dramarama was largely a place for new talent to prove themselves and was a launching pad for the likes of Anthony Horowitz, Paul Abbott, Kay Mellor, Janice Hally, Tony Kearney, David Tennant and Ann Marie Di Mambro. It was one of Dennis Spooner's last credits.
One of Dramarama's episodes, "Dodger, Bonzo And The Rest", gained so much popularity that it was turned in to its own series the following year. It starred Lee Ross and was based around a large foster home. The episode "Blackbird Singing In The Dead of Night" was developed by Granada into the TV series Children's Ward. It was also repeated for the first time since its original broadcast on 5 January 2013, during CITV's 30th anniversary Old Skool Weekend. The Series 7 episode "Back To Front" – notable for featuring a mirror image of the Yorkshire Television logo card at the end – was repeated on 6 January 2013, again as part of CITV's 30th anniversary Old Skool Weekend.
Jane Eyre · 1997Jane Eyre
★ 7.11997
MovieDramaRomance
After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meets the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Edward Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?
Girls' Night · 1998Girls' Night
★ 6.81998
MovieComedyDrama
Two British best friends and in-laws Dawn and Jackie work together at a factory. When Dawn is diagnosed with a brain tumor Jackie shares $100,000 she's got from her secret lover with Dawn to fulfil her dream - a visit to Las Vegas. They buy two tickets and fly there...
The Chase · 2006The Chase
★ 6.52006
SeriesDrama
Set around the employees of Yorkshire's 'Chevin Chase Veterinary Surgery', sisters Anna and Sarah Williams couldn't be more different: hardworking mother Anna runs the clinic with her father, while glamourous Sarah left for London years ago. A wedding brings them all together, but long-simmering secrets may soon tear them apart.
Fanny & Elvis · 1999Fanny & Elvis
★ 6.41999
MovieRomanceComedy
Yorkshire writer Kate finds out her biological clock is ticking down the same day that her husband leaves her. To get over the financial crisis this creates she takes in car-dealer Dave. He's homeless as Kate's husband has moved in with his wife. This leaves the problem of how to get promptly pregnant. Surely not with increasingly interesting Dave. They can't even agree on a baby's name - he thinks Fanny is silly and she finds Elvis, well, inconceivable.
In the Club · 2014In the Club
★ 6.32014
SeriesDrama
In The Club follows six pregnant women and their partners as they get ready for the arrival of their babies at the local parenting class. Housewife Diane, schoolgirl Rosie, newlywed Jasmin, businesswoman Roanna, midwife Vicky and writer and teaching assistant Kim all have their own issues to deal with.
A Passionate Woman · 2010A Passionate Woman
★ 5.92010
SeriesDrama
1950s period drama based on the true story of a housewife and mother whose life is turned upside down by a handsome Polish man at her local dance hall.
Band of Gold · 1995Band of Gold
★ 5.51995
SeriesCrimeDrama
Band of Gold is a British drama series written by Kay Mellor and produced by Granada Television. It was initially broadcast on ITV between 1995 and 1997. Starring Geraldine James, Cathy Tyson, Barbara Dickson and Samantha Morton, the series revolves around the lives of a group of women who live and work in Bradford's red-light district.
Three seasons were produced (the third under the moniker of Gold, with only a small number of characters from the first two series).
Playing the Field · 1998Playing the Field
★ 5.31998
SeriesDrama
The on-the-field trials and tribulations and the off-the-field lives, loves and infidelities of 'The Castlefield Blues', an under funded, badly managed ladies football team from South Yorkshire in the north of England whose loyalty to the team, the game and each other far exceeds their chances of ever winning the championship.
Children's Ward · 1989Children's Ward
★ 5.31989
SeriesDramaKids
Children's Ward is a British children's television drama series produced by Granada Television and broadcast on the ITV network as part of its Children's ITV strand on weekday afternoons. The programme was set – as the title suggests – in Ward B1, the children's ward of the fictitious South Park Hospital, and told the stories of the young patients and the staff present there. Aimed at older children and teenagers, Children's Ward was a long-lived series for a children's drama, starting life in 1988 as a contribution to the Dramarama anthology strand, "Blackbird Singing In The Dead of Night", then first broadcast as a series 1989 and running from then until 2000.
The series was conceived by Granada staff writers Paul Abbott and Kay Mellor, both of whom went on to enjoy successful careers as award-winning writers of adult television drama. At the time, they were both working on the soap opera Coronation Street, and had recently collaborated on a script for Dramarama.
Abbott, who had been through a troubled childhood himself, had initially wanted to set the series in a children's care home rather than a hospital, but this was vetoed by Granada executives. During the course of its run, however, Children's Ward won many plaudits for covering difficult issues such as cancer, alcoholism, drug addiction and child abuse in a sensitive manner. The programme won many awards, including in 1996 a BAFTA Children's Award for Best Drama, won by an episode in which a serial killer lures children to him via the internet and is – highly unusually for children's television – not eventually caught.
Between The Sheets · 2003Between The Sheets
★ 5.22003
SeriesComedyDrama
Between the Sheets is a 2003 British six-part miniseries. A carnal, comedic drama based around the love life and sexual hang-ups of several different couples all linked in some way. Emotional, touching, and sometimes humorous, the story follows these couples as they're forced to face their demons.
Strictly Confidential · 2006Strictly Confidential
★ 4.32006
SeriesDrama
Strictly Confidential is a six-part drama, written by Kay Mellor and originally shown on ITV during November and December 2006.
It stars Suranne Jones as Linda, a bisexual ex police officer turned sex therapist, who shares a practice in Leeds with her brother-in-law, played by Tristan Gemmill. Her life is complicated by the fact that her husband Richard, her business partner's brother, played by Christian Solimeno, has low fertility and cannot give her the baby she wants. She is all for asking his brother to be a sperm donor, which does not sit well with his wife. Linda's husband is also not keen on the idea at all but lets Linda go ahead and ask his brother who consents to be a sperm donor. Sexual tension becomes obvious between the pair, and they soon begin sleeping together, with disastrous consequences for all involved, especially Angie, Linda's ex-lover who is still very much in love with Linda.
More Like This
Cracker · 1993Cracker
★ 6.61993
SeriesCrimeDrama
The wise-cracking Edward 'Fitz' Fitzgerald is a brilliant but flawed criminal psychologist with a remarkable insight into the criminal mind.
This Life · 1996This Life
★ 7.31996
SeriesDrama
Five aspiring lawyers are aiming for the top - but behind the scenes they're a mess of love, drugs and excess.
Queer as Folk · 1999Queer as Folk
★ 7.81999
SeriesDrama
Stuart Jones has got it all. He's rich, drop-dead gorgeous and always the centre of attention. He can be forgiven the arrogance because he's pretty close to perfection. His best mate Vince Tyler is funny, adorable and definitely a babe but, unlike his friend, has zero confidence in himself. Since time began, Vince has carried a torch for Stuart but his love remains firmly unrequited. They're both 29, hitting Canal Street every night, stalwarts of the scene but just starting to wonder where else their lives may be going. Then along comes Nathan Maloney. Young, wild and coming out with a vengeance, he crowbars his way into their world and once he arrives, nothing is ever the same again.
Afterlife · 2005Afterlife
★ 7.22005
SeriesSci-Fi & FantasyDrama
University lecturer Robert Bridge becomes involved in a series of supernatural events surrounding medium Alison Mundy.
Happy Valley · 2014Happy Valley
★ 7.92014
SeriesCrimeDrama
Happy Valley is a dark, funny, multi-layered thriller revolving around the personal and professional life of Catherine, a dedicated, experienced, hard-working copper. She is also a bereaved mother who looks after her orphaned grandchild.
Prime Suspect · 1991Prime Suspect
★ 7.81991
SeriesCrimeDrama
Highly skilled Detective Inspector Jane Tennison battles to prove herself in a male dominated world.
Heartbeat · 1992Heartbeat
★ 7.21992
SeriesCrimeDrama
Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.
Lipstick on Your Collar · 1993Lipstick on Your Collar
★ 6.91993
SeriesComedyDrama
During the Suez Crisis of 1956, two young clerks at the stuffy Foreign Office in Whitehall display little interest in the decline of the British Empire. To their eyes, it can hardly compete with girls, rock music, and the intrigue of romantic entanglements.
Sugar Rush · 2005Sugar Rush
★ 7.12005
SeriesDramaComedy
Sugar Rush is an Emmy Award–winning British television comedy drama series developed by Shine Limited and broadcast by Channel 4, based on the Julie Burchill novel of the same name. It follows the trials and tribulations of teenager Kim Daniels, who is dealing with all the usual adolescent issues, plus one - she thinks she might be gay. Her family has recently moved to Brighton from London, and she finds herself with a huge crush on her new best friend, Maria `Sugar' Sweet. Sugar has a bit of a wild side, and frequently gets Kim into trouble, though Kim can find trouble on her own as well. Despite attractions to other girls, and a few attempts at being interested in guys, Kim continues to long for Sugar.
Ultimate Force · 2002Ultimate Force
★ 6.52002
SeriesAction & AdventureDrama
This covert combat series focuses on the Red Troop, an elite group of soldiers from the British military's Special Air Service group.
The Midnight Romance in Hagwon · 2024The Midnight Romance in Hagwon
★ 7.12024
SeriesDrama
A secret and sweet real-life romance between veteran academy instructor Seo Hye-jin and her flirty student Lee Joon-ho, who returns after 10 years and stirs her heart.
Ossan's Love Thailand · 2025Ossan's Love Thailand
★ 9.32025
SeriesDrama
An average worker is suddenly confronted with love confessions from his boss, his coworker, and his childhood friend – at the same time!
Cold Feet · 1998Cold Feet
★ 7.71998
SeriesComedyDrama
Follow the lives and loves of a group of thirtysomethings in a heart-warming comic drama as they try to find true love - or at least keep their relationships on track. In this wry and funny look at a generation which is as confused as it is liberated by the choices it faces, will the chill in their feet put out the passion that burns in their hearts?
Midsomer Murders · 1997Midsomer Murders
★ 7.51997
SeriesCrimeDrama
The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.
