PICK OF DIGITAL & ON DEMAND TV

NYPD BLUE, DISNEY+

AFTER Hill Street Blues, Steven Bochco co-created another brilliantly authentic police drama, which arrives on Disney+ today. NYPD Blue first hit the airwaves in 1993 and it’s as good as anything that came along in the feted HBO era, five years or so later (Oz, The Sopranos etc). That’s especially impressive when you consider it was made for a U.S. broadcast network, with all the taste restrictions that entails. David Caruso (who would go on to play CSI: Miami’s Horatio Caine) was its star, until he left the show on unpleasant terms — Bochco called him ‘cancerous’ — but its real beating heart is Dennis Franz (pictured far right with Caruso) as Detective Andy Sipowicz, a layered character with many demons. Sipowicz is an alcoholic with a short fuse and some unsavoury opinions, but there are hidden depths, too, to be revealed over the show’s 12 seasons. Franz was also in Hill Street Blues, playing Detective Sal Benedetto in the gritty and hugely influential 1980s cop show, which is available to watch on All4.