First viewed : 11 June 1994
I remember discussing this one -off drama with a friend while on a walk the following day and summing up its appeal thus :"football, walking and a decent bird in the buff, what more could you want ?"
Fair Game was a comedy drama about a love triangle set against the backdrop of the 1970 World Cup and the concurrent general election. Carl ( Jonathan Kerridge ) is persuaded by his girlfriend Ellie ( Lena Headey ) to walk the Coast To Coast Walk wth her though he'd much rather stay at home and watch the football. Their footsteps are dogged by a flash Italian Marco ( Massimo Bellinzoni ) who has designs on Ellie ( and who wouldn't ? ). Any keen walker would immediately spot the glaring anomaly in the plot , namely that Wainwright didn't publish the Coast to Coast Walk until 1973. I'm also pretty sure that the location for Carl and Ellie's nude frolic in the pool was Janet's Foss near Malham, about 30 miles south of the route.
Despite that, it was an entertaining story which pushed a lot of my buttons. I enjoyed Carl's visit to the common room at one of the youth hostels and his hasty retreat when he finds everyone singing Little Boxes in there. Carl has a triple disappointment to contend with in losing his girl, in part due to erectile dysfunction, England's defeat to West Germany and Heath's victory in the election.
There was some padding. I didn't find Marco's back story very interesting and Prunella Scales's geriatric hippy was an irritation.
Unfortunately the liberal use of contemporary hits on the soundtrack has made it difficult to find in full.
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