WALK into any middle-class, predominately white suburban park in America on a Saturday morning, or most weekday afternoons, and you will see throngs of children playing football, cheered on by their often over-zealous mothers.

These are America’s soccer moms. And they are a cultural and political force to be reckoned with — so much so that they have spawned a television show along the lines of the hit series Desperate Housewives.

Soccer Moms is just as likely to have British television executives reaching for their chequebooks as they go in search of the next generation of comedy/drama imports.

Because football is considered a safer and more genteel competitive sport than American football, a growing number of predominately college- educated, upper middle-class, suburban white women with school-age children and an overprotective streak began taking their children to soccer practice in the 1980s.

The soccer mom is typically seen driving her children to games or practice in the family’s massive, petrol-guzzling SUV and is associated with cramming their days with a glut of safe social and sporting activities where, on the sidelines, they scream “encouragement”.

Soccer moms like soccer because it requires minimal equipment (trainers and ball, as opposed to helmet, shoulder pads and knee pads), causes fewer injuries and appeals to other mothers who also drive big cars.

Soccer moms entered the popular and political lexicon in the early 1990s after a woman running for a seat on the city council in Denver, Colorado, was asked for her credentials. She replied: “Soccer mom”, and a demographic voting bloc was born.

Although soccer moms were considered an important constituency in Bill Clinton’s two election victories in 1992 and 1996, they are sought after by both Republicans and Democrats because they are considered classic swing voters: politically moderate, affluent and concerned about education, healthcare and family issues.

Disney, which produces Desperate Housewives, has great expectations for Soccer Moms, which promises the same mix of drama, comedy and nefarious activities invading the picket fences of the suburbs.

Kristin Davis, the Sex and the City actress, stars in the “light drama” which revolves around two suburban women who team up to moonlight as private investigators.

Soccer Moms features a similar winning ethnic mix to the Housewives of Wisteria Lane. Davis’s co-star is Gina Torres, a rising Cuban-American actress who played Cas in the Matrix film sequels.

Channel 4, Five and Sky will all be interested in the pilot episode when their executives fly to Los Angeles this month.

The move from comedy to drama by Davis, who played Charlotte York in Sex and the City, reflects a power-shift in television tastes. Long-running hit sitcoms such as Seinfeld, Friends, Frasier and Ms Davis’s previous vehicle have ended without successful replacements. Typical of the new must-sees for the executives is The Commuters, a drama revolving round three couples in the suburbs, the husbands of which all commute together on the train to New York City.

It was commissioned by CBS after the success of Housewives. David Arquette stars in the pilot one-hour episode designed to test demand.

If Soccer Moms fails to score, Disney is touting Commander-in-Chief, a “character-based, political drama about the first female President of the United States and her family”.

Geena Davis, the Thelma & Louise star, heads a high-powered cast as President Mackenzie Allen. The series is designed to attract female viewers to a West Wing-style scenario.

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