Matthew Cottle

Game On was a British television sitcom series about the lives of three 20-somethings from Herne Bay sharing a flat in Battersea in south-west London. The title, originally derived from a stock screen term used by 1980s early computer video games to initiate a competitive encounter, was taken from English urban slang speech of the 1990s lad culture which the principal character Matthew Malone was an exemplar of. It was directed by John Stroud, produced by Sioned William and the BBC Television Head of Comedy Geoffrey Perkins, and executive produced by Denise O’Donohue on behalf of Hat Trick Productions for the BBC.

After a successful first series, the option suffered somewhat from the loss its lead player Ben Chaplin, who quit the cast unexpectedly after receiving an offer of a film role in Hollywood on the back of his performance in Game On.

The first two series were written by Andrew Davies and Bernadette Davis. Davis wrote the final series alone.

The show’s theme tune was “Where I Find My Heaven” by the Gigolo Aunts. The single reached number 29 in the UK singles chart in May 1995.