Renford Rejects

Infobox Television
show_name = Renford Rejects


caption = "Renford Rejects" title card (later series)
genre = Situation comedy
camera = Single camera
picture_format =
audio_format =
runtime = 22-26 minutes approx.
creator =
developer =
producer =
executive_producer =
presenter =
starring = Matthew Leitch Martin Delaney Paul Parris Charlie Rolland Roger Davies Alex Norton Holly Davidson Adam Dean Bill Homewood Tom Weller Lucy Punch Megan Bertie Mohammed George
theme_music_composer = Nicky Wire
opentheme = Australia
endtheme = Australia
country = UK
location = UK
language = English
network = Nickelodeon
first_aired = 23 February 1998
last_aired = 28 March 2001
num_series = 4
num_episodes = 52
list_episodes = List of Renford Rejects episodes
website =
imdb_id = 0163181
tv_com_id = 11246

"Renford Rejects" was a teen sitcom produced and broadcast by Nickelodeon UK between 1998 and 2001. The show briefly aired in the United States on Nick GaS. It airs on Nickelodeon UK at 10:00pm GMT. (11:00pm GMT replay.)

The show concerned a five-a-side school football team, made up of aspiring players who had been turned down by their school's main team. They were named "Renford Rejects" when a rival player sabotaged their league entry form, but decided to stick with the name as it suited their "outcast" nature.It is now being aired on Nickelodeon at 10.00pm GMT every day in the UK.

Cast

The regular cast, as is often the case with teen sitcoms, went through a number of changes as its four series went by; however, characters who remained throughout the run included :
* Jason Summerbee (Martin Delaney) - The team's captain, an average working-class teen who in his head was a genius player destined for the top. Often seen wearing a Hull City AFC Away Shirt
* "Bruno Di Gradi" (Paul Parris) - Real name Barry Grade, he believed he was an "Azzuri" superstar, and so constantly spoke in an Italian accent despite really being English.
* Ben Phillips (Charlie Rolland) - The poetry-loving, bespectacled goalkeeper. Ben was noted for playing in a variety of [http://www.philosophyfootball.com Philosophy Football] shirts.
* Vinnie Rodrigues (Roger Davies) - Just as the Renford players fantasised about being great footballers, Vinnie fantasised about being a famous commentator and anchorman. He frequently presented to-camera reports on the team, and in his fantasies famous presenters such as Jim Rosenthal often appeared as his co-anchor.
* Eddie McAvoy (Alex Norton) - Owner of the local cafe "Graceland", and a fanatical Elvis fan, Eddie often helped out the team, and even coached them later in the series. A running gag was that his wife Priscilla (the implication being that, as an Elvis fan, he had married her for her name) could always be heard, but her face never seen. However she does appear as other characters such as a nurse and an old friend of Eddie's
* Basil and Terry Stoker- The Rejects' fiercest enemies. Basil (Bill Homewood) was the school's football coach and had been responsible for not picking the Rejects players for his team; his dimwitted son Terry (Tom Weller), meanwhile, played for rival team the Razors, whom Basil also coached. Terry was also responsible for giving the Rejects their name.

In the first two series, the team were coached by Stewart Jackson (Matthew Leitch), an upper-class older boy who had been the school team's star player until an injury (caused by Terry Stoker) prevented him from playing. By the third series, however, he had recovered from his injury and joined as a player. He left in the 40th episode.

For the first two series, Ronnie Supra (Adam Dean) was the fifth player. He was recognisable as always wearing the latest fashions, always combing his hair on the pitch during games and being the son of the sponsor for the team's strips - his father's firm 'Supra Drain', in which was said that Ronnie would someday work. After series two, Ronnie left the Rejects to start his own Agency, and would appear in one episode of series three to help the Rejects when their local pitch was under threat of having houses built on it.

In series four, Stewart was replaced by Dennis Quayle (Mohammed George), who became the player/manager, and who successfully trained the Rejects to qualify for the European Beach Football Championships.

During each of the series, the rejects had a girl playing for their team. The first, was Robin Walker (played by Holly Davidson), who was also by far the team's most skilful player, but joined the Rejects due to not being allowed to play for the school team. Davidson left to further her acting career at the end of the first series (Robin was written out by leaving the Rejects to play for the Chelsea ladies' team), and her replacement Sue White (Lucy Punch). However, her lack of footballing ability was more in keeping with the rest of the Rejects team, as was that of her own replacement Mia Smith (Megan Bertie), who outlasted her predecessors by staying for the third and fourth series.

Guest stars

A number of famous guest stars from the world of football appeared as themselves throughout the course of the series. These included Ian Rush, Gianfranco Zola, Martin Keown, Shaka Hislop, Roberto di Matteo, Kasey Keller, Harry Redknapp, Jim Rosenthal, Bob Wilson, Stan Bowles and various members of England's 1966 World Cup-winning team.

Music

As with many similarly-themed series, "Renford Rejects" used a popular contemporary indie song as its theme tune - in this case, "Australia" by the Manic Street Preachers.

"Renford Rejects" also used an edited version of Rob Dougan's Clubbed To Death (Kurayamino Mix) from his breakthrough album Furious Angels when the Rejects rivals, "The Razors", would appear on screen.

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0163181/ IMDb Entry]
* [http://www.hollydavidson.me.uk/ Holly Davidson Website]