Capital City (TV series)

Did You Know?

• A number of City bankers described the series as 'fairly inaccurate', 'confusing for the ordinary viewer', and lacking solid research.
• In one episode, the dealing room threatens to strike over handling a bond issue for a company that dumps toxic waste in poor African countries.

Cast

The main cast included William Armstrong as Max Lubin, Emily Bolton as Sylvia Roux Teng (from episode 13), John Bowe as Leonard Ansen, Denys Hawthorne as James Farrell, Dorian Healy as Jimmy Destry (to episode 13), Douglas Hodge as Declan McConnachie, Jason Isaacs as Chas Ewell, Joanna Kanska as Sirkka Nieminen, Richard LeParmentier as Lee Wolf, Trevyn McDowell as Michelle Hauptmann, Anna Nygh as Hannah Burgess, Joanna Phillips-Lane as Wendy Foley (to episode 14), Rolf Saxon as Hudson J. Talbot III, Saira Todd as Hilary Rollinger (from episode 15), and Briony Glassco as Gail Martin. Recurring and guest cast included Mark Burns as Peter Longman, Louise Lombard as Louise, Faith Brook as Katherine Talbot, Charlotte Cornwell as Petra Allunson, Julia Ormond as Allison, Ben Daniels as Colin de Selincourt, and Pia Henderson as Yolande.

Series trivia

The series was created by Andrew Maclear, who also wrote the 1989 film Dealers; the dealing room set from that film, reported to have cost £1,000,000 to construct, was retained for Capital City. Reuters Limited provided the dealing room equipment. Exterior scenes were shot throughout London, with landmarks such as Big Ben, the Palace of Westminster, Tower Bridge, the River Thames, and St Paul's Cathedral appearing as backdrops; stylised forms of these icons also featured in the on-air idents for Thames Television shown at the end of each episode. The music was composed by Colin Towns. The bank's address is given as 8 Gracewell Street, London EC2, and Lee Wolf's address as 56 Chalfont Court, 238 Baker Street, London NW1; neither address exists. In the final episode, Michelle and Declan are married and travel by water taxi to the airport for their honeymoon in Venice; their marriage is taken to have occurred on 1 September 1990 as shown on their travel documents.

Broadcast information

Capital City originally aired on Thames Television from 26 September 1989 to 20 December 1990; many other ITV regions also carried it, though participation and broadcast dates varied. Despite good ratings, the series ran for only two series because Thames deemed it too expensive as the company faced a franchise auction in 1991. It was rebroadcast on UKTV Gold and transmitted in Australia, the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, and Poland.