Season 1
Footballers' Wives is a British television drama series created by Maureen Chadwick and Ann McManus which surrounds the fictional Premier League Association football club Earls Park F.C., its players and their wives against the backdrop of bitchiness, back stabbing, adultery and murder.
The series aired in the UK on ITV from 8 January, 2002 to 14 April, 2006. There are 42 hour-long episodes in five seasons.
The series originally aired in South Africa on SABC3 from 13 January, 2003 to 15 January, 2007. It was rebroadcast on SABC3 in 2012. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
A rebroadcast of Footballers' Wives premiered on SABC3 on Friday 9 March 2012, at 22h00. New episodes broadcast weekly. There are eight episodes in the first season.
Episode Synopses
Season 1
They're young, they're rich, they're sexy and they've got everything that fame and money can buy.
As the wives of players on the soccer team known as the Sparks, they should be having the time of their lives... but the reality is very different.
Three couples - Donna and Ian Walmsley, Tanya and Jason Turner and Chardonnay Lane-Pascoe and Kyle Pascoe - deal with marriage, sex, drugs, high fashion, fast cars, staggering salaries, catfights, mansions, copious affairs and life in the celebrity spotlight.
Jason and Tanya Turner are involved in an incident that leads to the club chairman, Frank Laslett, being hospitalised in a coma.
Jason's position as captain of the team is in jeopardy, when Salvatore Biagi, joins the team. They will stop at nothing to maintain their status of captain and the captain's wife.
Tanya starts having nightmares about Frank and uses cocaine to help her deal with it.
Tanya befriends the nurse who is caring for Frank and persuades her to encourage Frank's family to switch off his life support. Tanya stands at his bedside in so called support, but before it can be done, Frank comes out of his coma.
Tanya is terrified that her life will come crashing down, if Frank can remember the accident.
Kyle Pascoe and Chardonnay Lane are planning to get married. At Chardonnay's hen party, some crazed fans get out of hand. They cause a terrible accident, when the Hawaiian garland that she is wearing is set alight.
The fairytale wedding goes ahead as planned, however Chardonnay suffers from depression when the culprits are not punished for the terrible accident.
Ian and Donna Walmsley gave up their son for adoption over nine years ago. Donna starts searching for him, whereas Ian is not interested, as he has just landed a position in the first team. Donna finds their son and starts spending time with him.
Donna's sister Marie has an affair with Jason and Tanya catches them. Marie had idolised Jason before she arrived in the city and it was her goal to get him in the sack. She also spends time with Salvatore, which infuriates Jason.
Kyle's mother, Jackie discovers that she is pregnant and the father is Jason. He is not at all interested and wants her to have an abortion, but she can't go through with it.
At the same time Chardonnay finds out that she is pregnant and after her and Kyle announce it to the media, they find out that the doctor's office made a mistake. Jackie then comes up with a plan - for them to bring up her child as their own.
Seasons
Season 1 (8 episodes)
Channel: SABC3 | Premiere: 13 Jan 2003 | Finale: 3 Mar 2003 | Mondays, 21h30
Channel: SABC3 | Premiere: 9 Mar 2012 | Finale: 4 May 2012 | Fridays, 22h00
Season 2 (8 episodes)
Channel: SABC3 | Premiere: 10 Mar 2003 | Finale: 28 Apr 2003 | Mondays, 21h30
Channel: SABC3 | Premiere: 11 May 2012 | Finale: 29 Jun 2012 | Fridays, 22h10
Season 3 (9 episodes)
Channel: SABC3 | Premiere: 21 Jun 2004 | Finale: 16 Aug 2004 | Mondays, 21h30
Channel: SABC3 | Premiere: 28 Sep 2012 | Finale: 23 Nov 2012 | Fridays, 21h30
Season 4 (9 episodes)
Channel: SABC3 | Premiere: 6 Feb 2006 | Finale: 3 Apr 2006 | Mondays, 21h00
Channel: SABC3 | Premiere: 7 Dec 2012 | Finale: 15 Mar 2013 | Fridays, 22h35
Season 5 (8 episodes)
Channel: SABC3 | Premiere: 13 Nov 2006 | Finale: 15 Jan 2007 | Mondays, 21h00
Channel: SABC3 | Premiere: 22 Mar 2013 | Finale: 10 May 2013 | Fridays, 22h35