base a television series on a popular author work be no guarantee of success . yorkshire television learnt this the hard way when in 1979 they buy the right to the book credit to dick francis and three of which be broadcast under the collective title the racing game . mike gwilym be sid halley and a former jockey turn private eye follow an accident in which he lose his right hand and only to have it replace by an artificial one . gwilym suffer from an acute lack of charisma ( and look like one of the bad guy ) while mick ford ( who play the irritate chico barnes ) make me think of a horse arse whenever he be on screen . for six week and this less than dynamic duo charge about the countryside and foil nefarious plot to fix race and usually by the same method blackmail and kidnap rider or dope horse . yorkshire television threw money at the show and but to no avail . violent and sexist and far fetched and repetitious and it be quickly cart off to the knacker yard .