The Evolution Of Gambling As A Central TV Theme
Television is an entertainment niche that encompasses a myriad of categories, themes, settings and pastimes. This is what makes watching the latest TV shows or old classics so amazing! Many will have one central premise as their main plot device and build the rest of the action around that.
Good, recent examples of this include the crime-themed ITV drama Frauds, and What We Do in the Shadows, which puts a comedic twist on the vampire theme. It’s not uncommon to see TV series in the modern era based around gambling, and this has certainly been true in the last few decades.
But what has led to this and how has gambling evolved as a key TV theme?
Gambling’s growth around the UK
It’s fair to say that gambling has always been a popular activity for people across the UK. The country’s love affair for betting really took off when the first legal casinos opened in the late 1960s, though.
Recent years have seen a real explosion in the UK’s gambling sector and the number of people playing casino games has grown. The rise of online casinos has been pivotal to this and has helped bring gambling to a whole new audience. These digital gambling platforms partner with leading online slot providers to offer a top-class gaming experience.
The rising interest in gambling across the country over time has seen it gradually become a regular theme for TV shows. As public interest and mainstream acceptance of it have grown, producers have started to feel more comfortable basing shows around gambling.
Gambling’s evolution as a TV theme: the beginnings
The origins of gambling as a recognisable theme in UK TV starts in the 1970s. Before then, its taboo nature in British society had kept it off the screens and made it a theme that no show dared touch on.
New attitudes as the 1960s went into the 1970s changed all this, though. Networks now felt more able to include gambling themes in their shows and bring this to the screen.
One of the best examples is Minder, which began in the latter part of the decade. While not a show about gambling per se, many episodes featured scenes set in casinos or focused on casino card games. As a comedy-drama, this was often done with a light touch and showed gambling as a form of entertainment.
Next period of evolution for gambling in TV: the 1980s
Another of the best shows on UK TV to ever hit the screen was Only Fools and Horses. This ran for most of the 1980s and is one of the best-loved UK shows ever!
As with Minder, gambling was not the central theme but featured regularly. A good example is the classic 1982-episode Lucky Streak.
The ability for gambling to be included in such a massive show and not put people off proves how it had really started to evolve positively as a TV theme. Much of this was down to the comedic spin the show put on gambling, and the lighthearted nature of Only Fools and Horses itself.
As the decade wore on, grittier depictions of gambling started to be seen. Big Deal from the mid-80s is a good example and makes gambling its central narrative. It follows small-time London bettor Robby Box and takes a more serious, in-depth look at how gambling impacts his life.
1990s and 2000s: more realism with gambling themes
As the 1990s began, it became clear that shows were not only starting to make gambling their main theme but also take a grittier view on it. This saw less focus on gambling as entertainment as had been the case previously.
The Gambling Man, from 1995, starred Robson Green and put gambling into a period setting. Based on Catherine Cookson’s popular novel, it used high-stakes card play to comment on social mobility. It weaved gambling into its rags-to-riches narrative, while also showing the moral costs involved for Green’s character.
This more serious take on the gambling theme on UK TV continued with Sunshine in 2008. As with other small-scale dramas featuring the topic at this time, it had a central character (played by Steve Coogan) whose betting took him to dark places.
Both of these examples show that the theme of gambling was now not only more commonly seen on our TV screens but was also dealt with in a more serious, sober manner.
Bringing gambling up to date on TV
Gambling as a major TV theme has been fairly common in recent years, and 2012s The Syndicate from Kay Mellor highlights this. Although it’s based around lottery games rather than standard casino games, it focuses on how winning big amounts doesn’t automatically solve your problems.
Stan Lee’s Lucky Man aired on Amazon Prime a few years later and blended gambling with a more supernatural feel. It saw the main character acquire a special bracelet that altered his luck when playing casino games.
This show is interesting because it depicts a potential new evolution for the gambling theme in TV, where genres intertwine and a new perspective on the subject comes to the fore.
Gambling as a theme on TV: a story that isn’t finished yet
The examples here show just how gambling as a theme has evolved on our TV screens – from the earliest iterations in the 1970s/80s to how it’s represented now. It will be interesting to see where this theme goes next and how producers choose to represent it moving ahead.