I don’t believe it!

High Stakes, along with Believe Nothing and Hardware, was part of ITV’s attempt at re-establishing their Sunday night “edgy comedy” slot a couple of years back. Starring Richard Wilson and written by Tony Sarchet (This Is David Lander), this highbrow sitcom set in the financial world was not quite in the same league as its more celebrated ’80s counterparts, and suffered from some unrealistic and overblown pre-transmission publicity, but it was a likeable enough effort and it came as some surprise when the muted response to the first run led to the already-recorded second being shelved and eventually never transmitted.

Now, surprisingly enough, both series have been released on DVD. While there’s hardly likely to be queues of devoted fans filling up their nearest high street DVD shop, this does bode well for other series that were haphazardly scheduled or just not transmitted at all. Any chance of a Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married box set?