Take a Chancer on Me

I had to rewatch some of the episodes of Chancer last night to relive those great moments of Clive in my village (even if for the purposes of TV, it was pretending to be Buckinghamshire). Exciting as it was to see him being chucked out of a car by some bird outside a nearby pub and for him then to hitch a lift into the village itself, walk past my old school (!) and make a call from a phone box that never existed, I think the series has lost something in the passing of time.

The first series was aired in 1990 and it really has a very dated, late '80s/early '90s feel about it.
I can't really remember the plot but Clive plays Stephen Crane/Derek/Chancer who is basically a bit of a one who gets involved with two birds, one of whom is the daughter of the owner of a posh, Warwickshire car manufacturer with whom Clive wants to go into business. He rips people off a lot and is quite cheeky with his sage advice in the form of, "Crane's law number one," which varies ("live fast, die young" or "it's not what you do, it's who knows you are doing it"). Also, time has done Mr Owen very well - he looks way better in Closer, Children of Men and The Golden Age (not to mention in person) than in Chancer, though that bizarrely sexy hint of a Coventry accent and cheeky glint in the eyes was there even way back when.

Sigh. I think I'm going to have to order the DVD boxset...