Renford Rejects
Renford Rejects is a teen sitcom produced and broadcast by Nickelodeon UK between 1998 and 2001. The show briefly aired in the United States on Nick GaS.[1] Reruns are now broadcast on Nickelodeon UK again at 1:50 am and 2:15 am.
| Renford Rejects | |
|---|---|
 Renford Rejects title card (later series) | |
| Genre | Situation comedy |
| Starring | Matthew Leitch Martin Delaney Paul Parris Charlie Rolland Roger Davies Alex Norton Holly Davidson Adam Dean Bill Homewood Peter Kane Tom Weller Mark Smith (Gladiator) Lucy Punch Megan Bertie Mohammed George Owen Fenton Samuel Mertus Ben Mertus |
| Theme music composer | James Dean Bradfield |
| Opening theme | Australia |
| Ending theme | Australia |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 52 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Production location | United Kingdom |
| Camera setup | Single camera |
| Running time | 34 minutes |
| Production company | Helion Pictures |
| Distributor | Viacom International Inc. |
| Release | |
| Original network | Nickelodeon |
| Original release | 23 February 1998 – 28 March 2001 |
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. The show currently plays at night from 1:50 am to 2:40 am on U.K. Nickelodeon.
Filming
Series 1 was filmed in Autumn 1997, Series 2 in Autumn 1998, Series 3 in Autumn 1999, and Series 4 in Autumn 2000.
The show was filmed at Willesden Sports Centre, London, NW10 3QX. Eddie McAvoy's Gracelands Cafe was filmed at 118 College Road, Willesden, London NW10 5HD.
The 'Cafe' closed in April 2019.
Cast
The regular cast, as is often the case with teen sitcoms, went through a number of changes as its four series went by.
| Actor | Character | Position | Seasons | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| Martin Delaney | Jason Summerbee | Renford Rejects Team's Captain | Main | |||
| Matthew Leitch | Stewart Jackson | Renford Rejects Team's Coach | Main | |||
| Holly Davidson | Robin Walker | Renford Rejects Team's First Girl, Chelsea Ladies Team's Member | Main | Recurring | ||
| Paul Parris | Bruno Di Gradi | Renford Rejects' Team Member | Main | |||
| Charlie Rolland | Ben Philipps | Renford Rejects' Goalkeeper | Main | |||
| Adam Dean | Ronnie Supra | Renford Rejects' Team Fifth Member | Main | Guest | ||
| Roger Davies | Vinnie Rodriguez | Commentator, Cameraman | Main | |||
| Lucy Punch | Sue White | Renford Rejects Team's Second Girl | Main | |||
| Megan Bertie | Mia Smith | Renford Rejects Team's Third Girl | Main | |||
| Mohammed George | Dennis Quayle | Renford Rejects' Second Coach | Main | |||
| Tom Weller | Terry Stoker | Razor Captain, Renford Rejects' Rival | Recurring | Main | ||
| Alex Norton | Eddie McAvoy | Owner of the local cafe "Graceland" | Main | |||
Main characters
- 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. He is often seen wearing a Hull City jersey. He seems to be a pampered child who tends to tell lot of lies. In Season 1 when the team makes a trip to London, he starts to say lies for not go with them but everybody realize although they pretend not to notice, with Robin's help he eventually goes to London too. Also in other episode his friends bullying him for have the issue about telling lies generating a complex situation with all of them, specially with Robin. Apparently Jason have a crush on her, but when he realize that Robin manipulates him for get a ticket to a football game, he resents her, she also gets mad with him when she discovers that the ticket was not for see famous players. In season 2 Robin appears in few episodes, but both (Jason and Robin) are happy to interact with each other. The only one who seems not have problems with Jason is Stewart, who in most chapters acts as his older brother, defending and supporting him, there's a good chemistry between both.
- Stewart Jackson (Matthew Leitch) In the first two series, the team were coached by him, 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. He supports Chelsea and often wears Chelsea shirts. By the third series, however, he had recovered from his injury and joined as a player. He left after the 40th episode.
- "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. He often wears Italian football shirts.
- Ben Phillips (Charlie Rolland) - The poetry-loving, bespectacled goalkeeper.
- Vinnie Rodrigues (Roger Davies) - Just as the Renford players fantasied about being great footballers, Vinnie fantasied 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.
- Ronnie Supra (Adam Dean) for the first two series was the fifth player. He was recognizable 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.
- Robin Walker (played by Holly Davidson), who was also by far the team's most skillful player, but joined the Rejects due to not being allowed to play for the school team. Some male Rejects appear to have a crush on her, most notably on Jason and Stewart, but Robin apparent crush on Jason was just to get an invitation to a soccer game. During each of the series, the rejects had a girl playing for their team, Robin was the first. 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). Robin appeared in season two first episodes, and is spotted that her invitation to Chelsea ladies' team was suggested by her replacement, Sue (originally was her plan for taking Robin's place), although Robin is very grateful to Sue the rest of the team is quite upset with her (Sue) for losing their star player (Robin).
- Sue White (Lucy Punch) - Unlike Robin, Sue's lack of footballing ability was more in keeping with the rest of the Rejects team. In Season 2 Episode 1, at first she was Ben' replacement, she was goalkeeper for the match against the Razors, but only to flirt with Terry whole game made this not achieve anything. Sue realized that she had no chance to get into Reject's Team but anyway she got Robin's place, and is spotted that Robin's invitation to Chelsea ladies' team was Sue's original idea. Her character was unpopular and suffered much for not being Robin, so was written out.
- Mia Smith (Megan Bertie), who outlasted her predecessors by staying for the third and fourth series. Like Sue, it seems that Mia doesn't have good skills. She often came up with new ideas for the team which often went wrong.
- 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.
- Terry Stoker (Tom Weller). The Rejects' fierce enemy, played for rival team the Razors, whom father, Basil, is the coach. Terry was also responsible for giving the Rejects their name. In first season it seems that Terry has a love interest in Robin, as Jason and Stewart, but in second season he (Terry) definitely had a crush on Sue and do not interact with Robin anymore.
Supporting/Recurring Characters
- Basil Stoker (Bill Homewood) Terry's father, was the school's football coach and had been responsible for not picking the Rejects players for his team. He was very cruel and strict. Stoker along with his son, often tried to find ways to either outdo or humiliate the Rejects.
- Priscilla McAvoy (Sally Kinghorn), Eddie's wife and co-owner of Graceland. A running gag was that she (the implication being that, as an Elvis fan, Eddie 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.
- Peter Grade (Peter Kane), the younger brother of Barry Grade (Paul Parris) who did not adopt his older brother's tendencies when it came to his cultural identity. "Baby Pete" became the official team mascot for The Rejects when Barry's mother could not take care of him due to conflicts with her job. The Rejects having a baby as a mascot added to their "outcast" nature. He first appeared in Season 3 Episode 3 and made appearances in Season 3 Episode 8 and Season 4 Episode 6, leaving after the 48th episode "The Mascot".
- John Phillips (John McCarthy), little brother of Ben Phillips, subject of a lot of Ben's poetry as baby John suffered from a birth defect that caused a lot of stress for the Phillips family. Ultimately, one of Ben's poems wins a contest and brings publicity to John's defect which sparks the Rejects to start a charity in his name.
Also appearing was James Corden, who appeared in Don Bruno as Razor #1, where he, along with Terry Stoker, threatened to make Bruno eat his shirt; and Natasha Dilleyston (she appeared in "Heartbreak Hotel and "Ben In Tights"). She played Ben's "love interest" Justine. The episode "Ciao Bambino" featured EastEnders actress Leila Birch, playing Bruno's love interest Gina. Birch and Parris went on to become engaged in real life after meeting on the show.[2] The club trainer Leo was played by Mark Smith, who had recently left the ITV show Gladiators.
The show also featured several comedians in guest roles, including Tony Slattery ("Boyband"), David Baddiel ("Reject TV") and Alexei Sayle ("Action").
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, Jon Harley, John Terry, Kasey Keller, Harry Redknapp with the West Ham first team, 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.
"Ready to Go" by Republica and "Tubthumping" by Chumbawamba were songs often heard during a match.
"A Girl Like You" by Edwyn Collins, was the song for Robin in the first season, also "Who Do You Think You Are" by Spice Girls was Sue's song on her debut in season two.
References
- "TV NOTES; Games Children Watch - New York Times". Nytimes.com. 1998-11-04. Retrieved 2013-09-10.
- "THAT'S THE ENDER LEILA!; As temptress Teresa, gorgeous Leila Birch has been breaking hearts in EastEnders for three action-packed years. Now she's gone - but with a treasure-chest of memories. Here she shares them with SUE CRAWFORD. - Free Online Library". Thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 2013-09-10.