The ads promoted the Shane Longman "brand", rather than "Capital City", and featured images of cast members in character.
[1] One television critic stated: "All of this would have been quite novel and exciting three years ago, but the world has turned, the market has crashed and we have all seen enough of other people's Porsches to last a lifetime... City hustlers do not look very heroic any more, just extravagantly paid.
The primary characters come across as likeable and – in contrast to the Gordon Gekko "greed is good" stereotype often associated with their industry – as possessing a moral and/or social conscience; in one episode, the entire dealing room threatens to go on strike in protest against handling a bond issue on behalf of a company which dumps toxic waste in poor African countries and demand that Shane Longman introduce policies which enable them to avoid dealing with clients whom they regard as unethical.
The dealing room computers used what appeared to be a DOS operating system; mobile phones were the size of bricks; the primary methods of long-distance "instant" communication were still the land line telephone, fax and telex; and smoking – banned in England, within most public buildings, in 2007 – was still allowed in the workplace as well as inside restaurants, bars and other public places.
The main cast (in alphabetical order as shown in the series credits) included: Recurring support and guest cast included Mark Burns as Peter Longman, grandson of the bank's founder, the eponymous Shane Longman, and 30 per cent shareholder; Louise Lombard who appeared as Louise, a 17-year-old runaway who is befriended by Chas[7] and is later assaulted by Jimmy;[8] Faith Brook as Katherine Talbot, Hudson's mother; Charlotte Cornwell as Petra Allunson; Julia Ormond as Allison; Ben Daniels as Colin de Selincourt; and Pia Henderson, as Yolande, with whom Sirkka has a brief relationship.