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AS ITV TURNS BACK THE CLOCK FOR PRIME SUSPECT 1973, MARION McMULLEN LOOKS AT THE ARRESTING YEARS OF THE EARLY TV COP SHOWS
DODGY conmen, tricky thieves and even pesky pets have all kept the boys in blue busy over the years.
BBC opened the police casebooks early with Fabian Of Scotland Yard in the 1950s, but it was Dixon Of Dock Green that became the TV face of the friendly British bobby.
However, the first appearance of PC George Dixon could easily have been his last. He was fatally shot by Dirk Bogarde’s young tearaway character in the 1949 film The Blue Lamp ... but six years later was back from the dead and fighting fit for the BBC’s spin-off series.
Actor Jack Warner went on to appear in more than 400 episodes of Dixon Of Dock Green over 21 years and finally earned his sergeant’s stripes in 1964.
Each episode began with him wishing viewers a cheery “Evenin’ all” before offering a brief introduction to what lay ahead, including the famous episode when Toto the baby elephant ran amok in the station.
Dock Green itself was set in a fictional area of London’s East End and featured a young Billie Whitelaw as Dixon’s daughter Mary. Michael Caine, James Bond star Sean Connery, EastEnders veteran June Brown and Penelope Keith all had early roles in the series.
The friendly neighbourhood bobby dealt with his final case in 1976, but by then viewers had already found a new breed of gritty cops in Z Cars.
Set in the fictional northern town of Newtown it saw Brian Blessed, James Ellis and Colin Welland as the long arm of the law. Rising Damp star Leonard Rossiter also appeared in eight episodes as Detective Inspector Bamber.
The police drama began in 1962 and was largely transmitted live in the early days. Stratford Johns, who played Detective Chief Inspector Barlow, later revealed he would often be physically ill before ggoingg into the studio to film the liveve scenes.
Writer Troy Kennedyedy Martin said he came up withh the idea for Z Cars after listeningning to police radio broadcastsasts when he was ill withh mumps. The Police Federation complainedned about the early storylines, but the series quickly became a TV favourite and was watched by around 14 million viewers at its height.
Z Cars ended in 1978 with a storyline about a dangerous gas leak and a corrupt police officer, but Stratford Johns and Frank Windsor, who played Detective Sergeant John Watt, went on to star in spin-off series Softly, Softly in 19661966. Set in the fictional tour oof Wyvern, Softly, Softly was seen in colourc for the first time on NovembeNovember 20, 1969 and Stratford Johns went on to appear in Barlow At LargLarge on BBC 1 in 1971. It ran for 29 episodeepisodes and saw him promoted to DDetective Chief SuperintenSuperintendent and working with ththe Home Office. UnfortunatelyUnfort manyma episodes of the BBC’s early police dramasdr were nev never archived and hhave been lost over the years. ITV had NewN Scotland Yard starrings John WoodvineWoodvin in 1972, but it took crcrime drama in a new dirdirection in 1975 with The Sweeney. The hourlong episodes centred around Scotland Yard’s Flying Squad with John Thaw as DI Jack Regan and Dennis Waterman as Detective Sergeant George Carter.
The crime drama began life as a play called Regan, written by Ian Kennedy Martin, and was shown on ITV in 1974 as part of Armchair Theatre. It was quickly developed into a series with hard-hitting storylines revolving around the two coppers who did not play by the rule book.
Former Flying Squad officer Jack Quarrie was the series advisor and the sometimes brutally realistic drama was attracting 19 million viewers a week at one point.
Television clean-up campaigner Mary Whitehouse was not impressed though and complained: “We do not accept that police officers as a matter of course are foul-mouthed, sadistically violent and promiscuous.”
John Thaw was no stranger to cop roles and first played a policeman in the 1960s in the series Redcap.
Stars were also literally queueing up to appear in The Sweeney – Morecambe and Wise appeared on the show as themselves and Diana Dors played an irate mother-in-law of a criminal who Regan had arrested on his wedding day. George Cole’s appearance in the episode entitled The Tomorrow Man led to him later being cast in Minder with Dennis Waterman.
Bringing a female perspective to the force, Helen Mirren came along in 1991 as the chain-smoking determined DCI Jane Tennison and now ITV has gone back in time to show her early life on the police force in Prime Suspect 1973 – which begins on Thursday at 9pm.
It’s all a far cry from the days of Dixon Of Dock Green. Actor Jack Warner was 80 years old when the BBC series ended in 1976 – making him Britain’s oldest bobby.