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Last modified on Mon 1 Mar 2021 13.19 EST Philip Martin, who has died aged 82, was a writer whose work for television synthesised gritty, often bleak and sometimes violent subjects with sly, offbeat humour and an innovative approach to the medium. His groundbreaking series Gangsters (1976-78) began as a one-off Play for Today on BBC1, shot on location in Birmingham, where Martin had embedded himself for weeks in order to authentically capture the city’s underbelly. A revenge story, it had a backdrop of seedy strip clubs and dodgy business deals as Maurice Colbourne, playing the anti-hero John Kline, uncovered a web of crime and illegal immigration. It was a raw, violent work with the odd surreal twist (including a pair of standup comedians acting as a chorus), deftly directed by Philip Savile with an unusually strong and well written array of leading parts for black and Asian actors. ....