Was it ever the plan to kill off Fletch when he returned at Christmas? No it was not the plan to kill him. We were going to make him manager. Then we gradually realised that we had probably done everything we could do with the character. He'd loved three women - Lynda, Abi and Gina. He'd had a kid, won the FA Cup, got relegated and promoted and spiked and blackmailed. he'd been the hero and the villain. As time goes on either one starts to do more and more incredible things with characters or they become part of the furniture. We never wanted that to happen. We wanted Fletch to go out in his own blaze of glory. Arguably he indirectly caused all the other death and the drama of the final episode. That seems fitting. We do hope to work with Terry again in some capacity.
Holly, Sofia & Tommy; As these characters were all dealt rather swift exits, would you say that they did pan out as you had hoped on screen? It happens when you take on new actors or non actors you are hoping to turn into actors, that things don't pan out as well as you hoped. I think maybe we should have stuck with them all a bit longer. All offered good things.
With this seasons 'cliffhanger' presuming a lot of them are dead - I seem to believe that there have been more deaths in Harchester than in the Vietnam War. What inspires to have so many deaths rather than other exists? I do sympathise with this point of view. The cemetery in Harchester seems to have a whole field devoted to HUFC and its players and staff. One wonders why anyone would sign with the club some times. In this case, we wanted a definite ending - and a new beginning. We needed the finality of death. Otherwise people might be wondering endlessly whether old characters were coming back. We wanted to point people very firmly towards the future.
Can you afford to kill off most of the cast? Yes it is all a huge risk but it felt to us like the time had come to get DREAM TEAM 'back to basics'. There hasn't been as much FUN as their should have been this series. Or last. It all got a bit big and dark and issue led - racism, homosexuality etc. Don't get me wrong. I am very proud that we tackled these things but the show was beginning to drift away from what it had originally been in early series. Also we felt some characters had run their course. Fletch (see above) where was he going to go now his playing days were over, except to be manager. Curtis - in a bit of a culde sac with religion etc. Stone - felt we'd done his best stories in a series. Ditto Jodie. Presley, not really going anywhere. So we have taken a big deep breath and said 'let's start again'. It's a very risky thing for any show to try to do and we may come a terrible cropper but it's that or run out of steam. We already have some good new characters. And I have seen a casting tape on Friday that made me feel very positively about some hot new talent we can bring to the show. The vital thing about DT is to keep it fresh and new, keep it moving. Else it will die as most shows eventually do.
If you can do it without giving too much away, can you let us have any clues on who is retained next season? Can't tell you that. Sorry. You'll have to wait and watch.
Have you started casting for the new series yet, I guess there will be a lot of new faces, so have any new stars been cast or spotted yet? We are getting some brilliant people coming through. We are particularly looking out for great looking new girls. We have found three new boys so far. One - I have to say to female forum users - is just knee meltingly gorgeous!
How long did it take to think up the ending to season 8? The shape of the ending was always in place. Barker versus new HUFC manager, Barker managing West Ham - boy did we sweat towards the end of the season when it looked like West Ham weren't even going to make the play offs. But we didn't know that we would be killing Fletch or anyone else. We knew we needed a bigger hook than just the football but we did not know what it was going to be til a few weeks before we wrote the scripts...or was it days. It's all a bit of a blur right now.
Season 8 has ranked very highly with the fans but where does it rank with you? I think I preferred series 2 and 6 But this would be my third favourite. The reason was that - as I said above - it got a bit heavy and issued oriented for my personal taste - although I have to say I was fully involved in that process. And I think we did not have enough strong women actors/characters. I loved Series 2 because of the Lynda and jerry Block combo, because of the Luis fletch rivalry, because it was Fletch's heyday as a character, and because Harchester won the FA Cup at Wembley against Manchester United. Also perhaps because the show was still so new. (That's why we are reinventing. i want to get back to that freshness if we can). Series 6 I loved because of the big strong single story about Doyle betting against the club. It was another great Fletch series. It introduced Rachel Brady as Abi who is one of my all time favourite actresses on he show.
How much do you take note of the opinion of forum posters? Do you often let actors /actresses / storylines go or alter them depending on what is said on these boards? We take a huge amount of note of you all. Cast and production team are on here either Sunday night or Monday morning. All the writers in particular log on. As I have said before, you are our '12th man' on the team. Shanice and Byron didn't last long, did they. Why do you think that was?
Is Dream Team still very much in your long term plans are are you thinking of moving onto new things in the not too distant future. We all want Dream Team to stay as long as possible and it is amazing it has lasted longer than most television shows, but aren’t you running ot of ideas? That's like saying let's stop the Premiership because isn't it the same every year. Teams play each other. They lose, they draw, they win. But somehow it never is boring. There is such a turnover of characters in football and every year there seems to be some new talking point. Some new characters. We had the year of the foreign players - Cantona, Klinsmann. The year of the Beckhams. The year the money went mad. The year the money dried up. The year of roasting. the year of Wayne and Colleen. It is very hard keeping a show like DT or indeed any drama fresh. We always wonder by the end of 31 scripts, when two or three of us have been story-lining and writing them and we are quite exhausted - how can we turn round in a few weeks time and do this all again. But having seen the characters and stories we have coming up, and some of the casting tapes for next series - frankly I can't wait.
1. The documentary, Stranger than Fiction, will launch the new series.
2. Series 9 will be 31 episodes with a 90 minute Christmas Special.
3. Lynda Block is due for release from Harchester Women’s Prison and set to return to the Lair. Who else could heal the town and the club after a tragedy like this?
4. DT9 will be followed by DREAM TEAM RETRO where we will see Fletch as a schoolboy player and Fletch's dad, along with Frank Patcham and other historic figures from the old days of the Dragons, playing against Glen Hoddle, Ian RTush, Ossie Ardiles etc, using all our usual techniques with real life football footage. The series is three hours long. It will tell the story of HUFC in the run up to the 1986 World Cup. It will be scheduled in the run up to the 2006 World Cup.
5. DT castings will provide four new players and their wives and girlfriends. We have some cute guys and gals and a couple of well known faces.
First of all I would like to thank Jane for taking the time tonight to come online and answer our questions. Also, for producing a brilliant series..... (I think it rates very highly with most the fans!!!). Thank you. My pleasure. Good luck to the Hammers tomorrow. Have a good summer. Thanks for being a truly great bunch of fans!
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