The lives of characters who live, love, and suffer through their association with the charismatic charms of gangster Harry Starks.The lives of characters who live, love, and suffer through their association with the charismatic charms of gangster Harry Starks.The lives of characters who live, love, and suffer through their association with the charismatic charms of gangster Harry Starks.
- Won 2 BAFTA Awards
- 5 wins & 8 nominations total
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe original novel, "The Long Firm", contained five stories. "Red Hot Poker", "Dissolution Honours", "The Rank Charm School", "Jack the Hat", and "Open University". The first episode of the television show, "Teddy's Story" was an amalgamation of "Red Hot Poker" and "Dissolution Honours". The episode "Ruby's Story" was an adaptation of "The Rank Charm School", "Jack the Hat" became "Jimmy's Story", and "Open University" became "Lenny's Story". In "Jack the Hat", the main support character was the factual Jack "The Hat" McVitie. For legal reasons, he could not be included, so the character of Jimmy was adopted from the first chapter of the book "Red Hot Poker", to replace Jack in this episode.
- GoofsWhen Harry and Teddy go to Nigeria (in 1964), we see cars driving on the right-hand side of the road. Nigeria drove on the left until 1972.
- Quotes
Lord Teddy Thursby: Now look, Harry, you know I can't abide violence. I'm just no good at that sort of thing.
Harry Starks: Good thing I'm an expert, then.
Lord Teddy Thursby: I'm not hitting anyone, if that's what you're thinking.
Harry Starks: I just want you to reassure him - talk to him, make him see the error of his ways. Then *I'll* hit him.
- ConnectionsFollowed by He Kills Coppers (2008)
Featured review
The BBC rest on their past reputation . There's little good I can say about the BBC in the 21st century as they force feed us TV dinners of quiz shows , hidden camera shows and DIY shows , recipes that leave TV critics like myself under nourished . But my compliments to whatever TV chef cooked up THE LONG FORM for our televisual delight
Mark Strong plays Harry Starks a homosexual gangster in 1960s London .
Episode 1 ) Harry and his new boyfriend travel to Nigeria to pull off a scam
Episode 2 ) Harry tries to set up a club while his new boyfriend Tommy has a sexual relationship with starlet Ruby Ryder
Episode 3 ) A rent boy is found murdered and mutilated so Harry tries to track down his killers
Episode 4 ) Newly released from prison Harry tries to start a new life in Spain with a limp wristed criminologist
That's the premise of each episode but it's impossible to describe how well they play out on screen . For much of the episode Harry is off centre and it's the supporting characters that carry the audience through the story . It also has a wonderful sense of dark humour like the bit where an obviously stoned Judy Garland tries to sing only to have the club goers pelt and boo her , or the scene where Harry is described as a deviant by a criminologist : " Deviant ? Deviant ! - Calling me a f***in' nonce ! "
This show has you laughing out loud one minute and curling your toes the next with some graphic violence because there's nothing Harry enjoys more than tying someone up in a chair and inflicting violence on them usually with a white hot object
There's little negative I can say about THE LONG FIRM . I could be pedantic and point out small errors like the episode set in 1967 has a clip from a DOCTOR WHO story from 1968 but that would be cruel . The ending is slightly disappointing but nothing is perfect and expect this show to pick up a major amount of awards at next years BAFTA's
And if the BBC can produce drama of this quality then why do we have to put up with a unfufilling TV diet of garbage ? The BBC can still make classic drama when it wants to . I guess they just don't want to
Mark Strong plays Harry Starks a homosexual gangster in 1960s London .
Episode 1 ) Harry and his new boyfriend travel to Nigeria to pull off a scam
Episode 2 ) Harry tries to set up a club while his new boyfriend Tommy has a sexual relationship with starlet Ruby Ryder
Episode 3 ) A rent boy is found murdered and mutilated so Harry tries to track down his killers
Episode 4 ) Newly released from prison Harry tries to start a new life in Spain with a limp wristed criminologist
That's the premise of each episode but it's impossible to describe how well they play out on screen . For much of the episode Harry is off centre and it's the supporting characters that carry the audience through the story . It also has a wonderful sense of dark humour like the bit where an obviously stoned Judy Garland tries to sing only to have the club goers pelt and boo her , or the scene where Harry is described as a deviant by a criminologist : " Deviant ? Deviant ! - Calling me a f***in' nonce ! "
This show has you laughing out loud one minute and curling your toes the next with some graphic violence because there's nothing Harry enjoys more than tying someone up in a chair and inflicting violence on them usually with a white hot object
There's little negative I can say about THE LONG FIRM . I could be pedantic and point out small errors like the episode set in 1967 has a clip from a DOCTOR WHO story from 1968 but that would be cruel . The ending is slightly disappointing but nothing is perfect and expect this show to pick up a major amount of awards at next years BAFTA's
And if the BBC can produce drama of this quality then why do we have to put up with a unfufilling TV diet of garbage ? The BBC can still make classic drama when it wants to . I guess they just don't want to
- Theo Robertson
- Aug 2, 2004
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