Rules of the Game is a four-part British television drama series, directed by Jennifer Sheridan and written by Ruth Fowler. It stars Maxine Peake as a sportswear executive who deals with the fallout of an employee's shocking death in her company's office building. It aired on BBC One from 11 to 19 January 2022.
Contents
Synopsis
Sam (Peake) is the chief operating officer at a family-run sportswear business in Northern England. When an employee turns up dead in the foyer, seemingly by suicide, Sam is forced to reflect on the company's problematic culture and events stretching back an entire decade, and another death.
Cast
Maxine Peake as Sam
Rakhee Thakrar as Maya
Susan Wokoma as DI Eve Preston
Kieran Bew as Gareth Jenkins
Ben Batt as Owen Jenkins
Dario Coates as DS Peter Alan
Callie Cooke as Tess Jones
Megan Parkinson as Gemma Thompson
Tanya Vital as Beth Taylor
Katherine Pearce as Carys Jenkins
Zoë Tapper as Vanessa Jenkins
Alison Steadman as Anita Jenkins
Amy Leeson as Amy Dixon
Dominic Vulliamy as Duncan Stephenson
Production
Fowler was inspired to write the series by the Harvey Weinstein scandals. The series was filmed in Manchester, the north west of England and also in Frodsham.
Reception
Lucy Mangan of The Guardian awarded the first episode four stars out of five, praising the writing and its weaving together of commentary and mystery elements, and dubbed Peake's work 'another barnstorming performance'. Anita Singh of The Daily Telegraph also gave it four out of five stars, calling the show 'high on entertainment value'. Ed Cumming from The Independent gave the first episode two out of five stars, claiming 'the script and performances have all the subtlety of a boss’ hand up a skirt at the Christmas do.'.