The Cheaters (TV series)

In a contemporary review of the episode "Obituary for a Champion", Variety wrote: "The Cheaters is a gumshoe half-hour in the familiar penny-pinching production and penny-dreadful dramatic style familiar to the Danziger Bros overseas operation (in this case, England). In the New York preem on WNEW-TV, lead John Ireland, an insurance investigator, tracked the killer of a boxing champ. Woodenly he skulked through a static round of claptrap interiors, encountering a deadly roster of meller stereotypes – the hirsuted promoter (who done it); the alcoholic housekeeper; the punchy pug; the gimmick girl, etc. A John Roeburt script and storyline, as stiff and archaic as a celluloid collar, precluded any meaningful dramatics."^[2]

According to BFI Screenonline, "in missing a perfect opportunity to exploit the tough-cynical characteristics of the leading player, the 39 episodes moved with painful lethargy towards their predictable conclusions, with the most notable feature of this largely static series being John Ireland's carefully sustained somnambulistic performance."^[3]

• The Cheaters at IMDb
• The Cheaters at TV Guide
• The Cheaters at David Moore's Danziger fan site