Having been to Northern Ireland the people are I find very interesting. Even when I was over there during all the bombing back in the early 1970’s , the culture still shone through. I went as my best man for my wedding was getting maried over there. So stayed with her family and had time to see places like the Giants Causway and learn about the myths attached to it.
Listen, it’s seriously not a problem. I don’t expect hundreds or even tens of people to read these. Sadly, in today’s world the idea of spending time reading is out of fashion; everyone wants OMG and U must be j/k etc, and I’m not saying that’s you, but I do understand where you’re coming from. But I love to write, and research, and I spend a lot of time and energy doing these projects in the hope someone will read them. If not, that’s fine; nobody’s under any onus to. But as you say, one or two people may be interested, and have been in the future. I’ve been away for two years so you’ll forgive, I hope, the glut of posts and threads as I try to get back up to speed.
Thanks for your comment.
That’s good to know. Just for your own information though, I’m not from Northern Ireland, I’m from the Republic. I live in Dublin. We’re interesting people too, especially if you’re buying the drinks! 
Absolutely lovely people on your side of the Border. Graham the pal who was getting married went of to the republic side of the border and visited to Guiness factory. When they found out he was geting married they loaded up his car with Guiness. This just shows to me how nice the Irish are. Having travelled extensively to so many countries meeting people is something I really enjoy. Politicians are the worst representatives of any country.
just an idea? what about information on the area you live in and local traditions. Pub culture from what I have seen and witnessed in N.I with local bands and dance to get started with maybe
you will find I have posted quite a bit about where I live and videoed/photographed places of interest
A good idea. Unfortunately I was never one for pubs. I looked after my sister, who had MS, for 17 years, and she needed me all the time, so there was no opportunity. At the same time, even had there been, I’m not a fan of spending time in pubs and I could tell you very little about them. I’m also not a real tourist guide-type; I know about where I live, but that’s about it. Not to mention that right now I’m researching women in football for another project, and also the lead-up to World War II, to say nothing of popes and, um, The Twilight Zone, so I have plenty to be going on with. Very nice to be talking to you though. Hope you find something I write of interest at some point.
That would hold you back looking after a family member, but you have to consider yourself as well. Having been through a very rough patch in my life family wise I know the benefits of being able to get a break from what seems a set routine. Even a few days off make all the difference, Just to do what you want instead
Title: The Adventures of Boston Blackie
Year(s): 1951 - 1953
Nationality: American
First: Possibly the first cop show to feature an investigator not licenced by the city/state/country, in other words a private citizen
Protagonist: Freelance crime fighter
Main character(s): Boston Blackie, Mary
Seasons: Unsure: 3?
Episodes (total)*: 58
Sample episode chosen: Season 2, episode 8 “Queen of Thieves”
Category: Crime mystery
Style: Drama/comedy
Location(s): Los Angeles
Writer(s): Unknown (based on the books by Jack Boyle
Starring: Kent Taylor
First episode: Unknown
Last episode: Unknown
Gimmick/Hook (if any): In effect, the first series (maybe) to pit an ordinary joe - in fact, an ex-con - against the police, in terms of solving the crimes. Also possibly one of the first to use humour.
Spin-offs (if any): Unknown; already a major spin-off from a series of book, films and a radio show
I guess this guy must have been a celebrity in America, though this is the first I’ve ever heard of him. With 25 films running from 1918 - 1949 and a radio series preceding this television adaptation that ran for six years, this must have been one of the most successful of the early American TV crime series. Can’t tell you too much about it though. Oh wait I can, thanks to The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable Shows by Tim Brooks and Earle F. Marsh, which is going to be a great help to me, at least when it comes to American shows.
So, Boston Blackie was a retired safecracker and burglar, who, with his girlfriend Mary, managed to out-think the police and solve crimes before they did. His turnaround came when he had spent too much time in a bad prison and decided to start solving crimes instead of committing them. I don’t see how official, if at all, he was - it doesn’t say he was for hire, or even in business - and I think maybe he was just an amateur, which would then I think make him one of the first of that sort, more of which would crop up over the following decades. This idea would lead to a lot of conflict and tension between the “amateur sleuth” (sometimes, as in the case of Ellery Queen, an author of crime or mystery fiction) as the police bemoaned his lack of qualifications, knowledge and professionalism, and complained that he got in the way of their investigation, while most times he would solve it.
The Adventures of Boston Blackie also seems to be the first of these series that didn’t take itself too seriously; comic relief and jokes and jibes were used, lessening the impact of a murder or other crime, while, one would assume, not trivialising it. You would see this also happen in series such as Hart to Hart, Matlock, Diagnosis Murder and the like as time went on. As many of these shows possibly believed the idea of murder was too dark a subject for their audiences, they would lighten the mood with whimsical music, joky asides, quirks of the detective in question, or side plots that still linked into the murder but took people’s minds off it to some extent. Of course, they weren’t all about murder, but many were.
Watching one of the episodes it’s perhaps the first time - probably not, but the first for me - that someone says that classic cop show line “Just give me twenty-four hours!” Class. Quite funny, too, to see the headline scream “WOUNDED PICKPOCKET IN COMA!” As if anyone gave a fuck about a two-bit lowlife (hey, ya gotta get into the lingo of the time, ya dig? Or something). Perhaps jumping on the “legend” of Ma Barker, the bad guy here is a woman, an old woman, a sort of female Fagin with a very grown-up gang. Is this the first instance of a female criminal, setting aside Irene Adler in the Sherlock Holmes stories? I find it odd that the doctor consults so readily with Blackie about Archie, the pickpocket, who has come out of his coma with total amnesia. He doesn’t even ask Blackie if he is a relative, though I suppose it could be taken that the hero has already made this claim.
I like the Ford Model T he drives, even in 1952. Oh no wait: that’s the old lady. Blackie drives a much more modern sportscar. Well of course he does. Got a real sense of class about this guy; reminds me of Clark Gable. I can see what they mean about a sort of light-hearted approach; even the guy who was supposed to be shot, Archie, survives and so far nobody has been killed or even badly injured, and there’s a kind of, what, Pink Panther or maybe Raffles feel to the whole thing, as if it shouldn’t be taken too seriously. Even the music is light-hearted, unlike the darker, more dramatic music used in most of the other early shows. It’s a clever touch to have the narrator/guy who does the introduction be part of the show, a newspaper vendor who pops up, and as I saw with my perusal of Tales of Tomorrow and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, the curse of the sponsor hangs large over this show too, as I guess every major show had to have its sponsor and therefore allow them to advertise during breaks in the show.
The hard man, tough guy attitude of the time is encapsulated when one of Blackie’s agents comes to the house after having collected something for him which he complains is very embarrassing. Is it a pair of lady’s knickers? Perfume? A hat with a feather in it? No, it’s much worse: knitting needles and wool! Oh, misogyny abounds! Yet you have to laugh. The parlance of the time used is cute: “knock them down,” says the old lady, and “take care of him.” I mean, you know what she means, but the word kill is not used (although in this time it might be “rub out” - or was that the thirties?) - ah, euphemisms! I am glad to see that when we’re shown the embroidery the old woman is making, it says VIRTUE IS ITS OWN REWARD: many shows, even today - especially today - would have had an apostrophe in “its”. Good to see that proper English is being observed.
Okay I was wrong: some people are getting shot. I love how, when they are shot, they just fall forward as if they’re still as a board. Knees don’t buckle, arms don’t fly out, just a direct fall to the ground like trees being cut down. Also, not a sound as they go down, not even a “you dirty rat! You got me!” or any exclamation of pain. Talk about literal cardboard cut-outs! Yeah overall quite enjoyable, certainly one of the more light-hearted shows to be sure. Guess I can see why he was so popular at the time. Have a goosy.
Title: Casey, Crime Photographer (Or just Crime Photographer)
Year(s): 1951 - 1952
Nationality: American
Protagonist: Newspaper photographer
Main character(s): Jack Casey
Seasons*: 2
Episodes (total)*: 57
Sample episode chosen: None
Category: Crime mystery
Style: Drama
Location(s):Unknown
Writer(s): George Harmon Coxe
Starring: Richarl Carlyle (replaced at the end of season 1 by Darren McGavin)
First episode: Unknown
Last episode: Unknown
Gimmick/Hook (if any): Unknown, though being a photographer, while not new (see Superman) was something of a gimmick for a cop/detective show at the time
Spin-offs (if any): None
Another based on first novels, then a radio show and movies, Casey, Crime Photographer (often referred to without the name Casey) followed the adventures of a newspaper photographer who was able to help the police solve crimes. Well, I mean, you would have got that from the title, wouldn’t you? Unfortunately YouTube only has the radio show, and I don’t think I’m going to get much of a flavour of the show from that. There is also one of the movies, but we’re not concerned with films here, so we have to move on.
Title: Sherlock Holmes or, We Present Alan Wheatley as Mr. Sherlock Holmes in…
Year(s): 1951
Nationality: British
First: First ever adaptation of Sherlock Holmes on the small screen, excluding plays
Protagonist: Detective
Main character(s): Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson
Seasons: 1
Episodes (total)*: 6
Sample episode chosen: None
Category: Crime mystery
Style: Drama
Location(s): Various
Writer(s): C.A. Lejeune, based on the stories of SirArthur Conan Doyle
Starring: Alan Wheatley, Raymond Francis
First episode: “The Empty House”
Last episode: “The Second Stain”
Gimmick/Hook (if any): None
Spin-offs (if any): None, unless you count all the later Holmes series. This was the first ever to translate Doyle’s books to television, so in that sense can be said to be the grandfather of all series featuring the consulting detective that followed.
A very interesting beginning. While I wouldn’t class this as a cop show, it certainly deserves to be included, being of course one concerning the world’s most famous and favourite private detective. Running for only six episodes, the genesis of the programme is worth noting. The star of the show, Alan Wheatley, tells it thus: “C A Lejeune [the writer] gave me a marvellous notice in the Observer and she finished up by saying, “If the BBC have got any sense they will commission a series of Sherlock Holmes stories and ask Alan Wheatley to play Sherlock Holmes.” So the BBC, very unlike them, took this up and wrote to her and said, “All right, if you will do the scripts we will do the series,” and that’s how they came to be done…”
Incredible to think this was all done live. No recordings, no re-edits, no second chances. And no surviving episodes, of course, as it was never recorded. Imagine doing that today! The writer did insist on sticking to the spirit of the stories, so I imagine they were pretty close to the originals. There were some famous faces too. Bill Owen, known to British TV audiences for decades as the cheeky Compo in the long-running comedy Last of the Summer Wine played Inspector Lestrade, Sebastian Cabot, most famous as Santa in the classic Christmas movie Miracle on 34th Street, and as the voice of Bagheera the panther in Disney’s animated version of Kipling’s The Jungle Book, played Jabez Wilson in one episode, and John Le Mesurier, another famous face on British TV, mostly for his role as the long-suffering Sergeant Wilson in Dad’s Army appeared in one episode.
Title: Dragnet
Year(s): 1951 - 1959, 1967 - 1970, 1989 - 1991, 2003 - 2004
Nationality: American
First: First major cop show, first to survive into the 21st century, first to feature an iconic main character and first to accurately portray the police force. May also have been the first to recreate actual cases.
Protagonist: LAPD Cop
Main character(s): Joe Friday
Seasons*: 16
Episodes (total)*: 448
Sample episode chosen: Season 1 episode 1 (1951) “The Human Bomb”
Category: Police Procedural
Style: Drama
Format: Group
Location(s): Unknown (LA?)
Writer(s): Jack Webb (creator); Various from 1989 on following Webb’s death
Starring: Jack Webb, Ben Alexander, Harry Morgan (1967 revival); Jeff Osterhage, Bernard White (1989 series The New Dragnet); Ed O’Neill, Ethan Embry (2003 LA Dragnet)
First episode: “The Human Bomb”
Last episode: “Killing Fields”
Gimmick/Hook (if any): A voiceover at the start announced “What you are about to see is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.” This gave the idea the show was real (which of course it was not, or it would not be featured here) and also started a long-running joke where the “disclaimer” would be parodied with such claims as “names changed to protect the ignorant” and perhaps the famous opening to the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, where it says “Most of what follows is true.”
Spin-offs (if any): Three revivals after the main one: one which ran from 1967 - 1970, The New Dragnet, featuring new characters and actors ran from 1989 - 1991 and a final, Dick Wolf-helmed series, so entirely different in every way other than the title, from 2003 - 2004, which went under the title of L.A. Dragnet. Also three movies, one of which was a parody.
Probably the first major US cop show, Dragnet debuted in 1951 and over four incarnations kept going right into the twenty-first century, possibly making it the longest non-concurrent-running cop show on TV. The show had its origins even earlier, starting life as a radio series in 1949 and running for eight years. Dragnet was the first show which tried to portray police work as it was, and is: dangerous, often tedious, hardly glamorous and often thankless. It was responsible for helping to change the public’s attitude towards police, largely seen, through the medium of those private eye shows that came before, as ineffectual bumblers who needed someone else to solve their cases for them. It stands as the first “police procedural”, that is, one that shows the actual steps taken by the police in investigating and prosecuting crimes, rather than their arrival being announced by a siren or a door being broken down by pistol-wielding officers. It took people behind the scenes, showing them how hard a case can be to prove, to bring to court, and how, unlike some of the previous shows, it was 99% hard graft and maybe 1% luck that brought the guilty to justice.
The creator of the show, Jack Webb, began his career in radio, and indeed comedy, though his anger at the way the police were perceived through portrayals in TV shows led him to switch to drama, and Dragnet was born, as a way to show the public how undervalued their local cops were. I said above that the stories weren’t true, but that isn’t correct. I read now (not being an American, I’ve never seen the show and was only dimly aware of it through the Dan Akyroyd spoof movie) that he would take actual cases and replay them in a fictional setting, hence the disclaimer. So in some ways it almost was reality TV, nearly an early precursor of those many, many shows now where they act out reconstructions of cases of murder, rape and so on.
Let’s see what it was like then. I have no doubt there are plenty of episodes lying around the interweb. I’d like to get one from the original series and then maybe compare it to a later incarnation, but we’ll see how we go. Okay here’s the first episode. A suicide bomber in 1951? Would not have thought such a thing existed. Interesting that they should start off with something sensational like that. I guess they certainly grabbed the audience’s attention. This appears to have been one of the first, maybe the first cop show to use narration, as Friday explains what’s happening over the action. Very film noir in its way.
Yeah this is a seismic shift already, and so early in the history of TV crime drama. There’s no attempt to play this for laughs, no real effort to introduce us to working relationships, no quips, no unreasonable plotlines. It’s real - or real crimes re-enacted - so that leaves little room for any improvising. This is not entertainment, this is essentially education. This is Webb saying “you don’t know what it’s like to be a cop! Here, let me show you.” And he does. No incidental music, so that heightens the sense of reality, no sudden changes of heart by the characters: were this pure fiction, I might have expected the bomber’s brother, whom he had demanded be relased from prison or he’d set off his bomb in the police headquarters, might have tried to talk him out of it or disarmed him, unwilling to be an accessory to multiple murder. But real people don’t act that way, and these are real people, or at least, actors playing real people.
This certainly was one of the most successful cop shows on TV, and I’d venture to say the first really successful one, going on for 8 seasons in its initial run, then rebooted in 1967 for another three years, again in 1989 for two and finally “reimagined” by Dick Wolf in 2003. There were three movies, and just about everyone even now knows the theme tune. It must have helped changed the public view of police, and for that I’m sure LA’s finest were grateful. I do wonder though if it showed the other side of the force? It’s all very well praising and putting them on a pedestal, but those feet of clay tend to bring down any idol, and I can’t help thinking Dragnet may have been biased in favour of the police.
It can’t be denied though that it was the first “real” cop show, that it influenced a generation of series that came after it, not only in America but elsewhere. Shows like Hill Street Blues, Blue Bloods, Line of Duty and The District owe a huge debt to Webb and his pioneering show, as does nearly every other cop show. As for the police, well how many other civilians do you know who had an honour guard at their funeral provided by the LAPD? Not only that, but the LA Office lowered its flag to half staff and the badge Webb had worn during the show - 714 - was retired and is on display in the LA Police Academy.
Title: Mr and Mrs North
Year(s): 1952 - 1954
Nationality: American
First: First husband and wife crime fighting team
Protagonist: Freelance sleuths
Main character(s): Pam North, Jerry North
Seasons*: 2
Episodes (total)*: 56
Sample episode chosen: Season 1 episode 36 “Two Faced”
Category: Mystery
Style: Light-hearted drama
Format: Duo
Location(s): New York
Writer(s): Richard and Francis Lockridge
Starring: Barbara Britton, Richard Denning
First episode: “Weekend Murder”
Last episode: “Climax”
Gimmick/Hook (if any): Husband/wife team
Spin-offs (if any): None
One of the first of the husband and wife teams solving crimes in their spare time, a trope which became increasingly popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s, leading to such series as McMillan and Wife and Hart to Hart, this one seems to have been quite forward-looking in terms of sexual equality, as rather than just be along for the ride, the wife appears to be the brains, the one who solves all the crimes, while the husband just sort of tags along. Based on a series of novels, a movie and radio show, it was immensely popular and was no doubt one of the shows that irked Jack Webb, as it lampooned the local police force, showing them to be completely clueless to the extent that part-time, unprofessional amateurs could solve crimes and interpret and find clues they could not. It also looks to have been one of the first in which a mystery author turns to actual crime sleuthing, another thing that would become popular, culminating in the godawful Murder, She Wrote.
Have to say, it’s very disappointing. For so-called sleuths that can outfox the police, these two do nothing, at least in the episode I’m watching. They just kind of go along and participate in the taking of a criminal. Nothing special that I can see. Yeah, pretty poor. Maybe I just chose a bad episode, but I’m not interested in watching any more.
Questions abound though, and if this is typical of the Lockridge’s writing then all I can say is it’s piss poor. Why did the barber kill his wife/girlfriend (the relationship is not properly established, despite this being a fulcrum of the episode, so you’re left to make up your own mind) when it became clear she only went to the hotel not to have an affair but to blackmail the crook? What was his reasoning? You can’t say he didn’t know: he read the note and it was in fact he who prevailed upon the Norths to go to rescue her. If he loved her so much that he was willing to risk his life to save her, how could he then turn so violent for no reason? And why would Jerry North so quickly and easily turn on his friend the barber, selling him out to the cop without talking to the man to see why he had done what he did? And how in the name of god can any cop be so dense as to STILL not realise what he’s being told until the words “you murdered her!” are used? Terrible. Just terrible.
As for the woman being the brains, I don’t see it, not here. All Mrs. North does is flounce around after her husband, more concerned about the new hat she bought which he left in the barber’s than looking at any clues, which it says in the writeup she does. She might as well not be there for all the use she is. It’s very much a case of “I’ll solve it, dear; you just stand there and look pretty.” Not what they say the books are about at all. Meh.
Mid 1950s (1954 - 1956)
Title: Crime on Our Hands
Year(s): 1954
Nationality: British
First: First British police procedural, possibly
Protagonist: Unknown, possibly police officer
Main character(s): Unknown
Seasons: 1
Episodes (total)*: 6
Sample episode chosen: None
Category: Possibly Police Procedural
Style: Drama
Location(s): Unknown
Writer(s): Unknown
Starring: Geraldine McEwan, Jack Watling
First episode: Unknown
Last episode: Unknown
Gimmick/Hook (if any): Unknown
Spin-offs (if any): None
Virtually nothing is known about this show, as you can see. It’s said it was also recorded live, ran for six episodes and that’s about it. A pity, as it looks like it may have been one of the first British series to feature actual police, as in, the first of what is now known as a police procedural.
But we might be on more solid ground here?
Title: Colonel March of Scotland Yard
Year(s): 1955
Nationality: British
First: First show, so far as I can see, to mention the iconic Scotland Yard.
Protagonist: Police officer
Main character(s): Colonel March
Seasons: 1
Episodes (total)*: 26
Sample episode chosen: Season 1 episode 3 “Present Tense”
Category: Crime mystery
Style: Drama
Format: Solo
Location(s): Various, but presumably most at Scotland Yard
Writer(s): Carter Dixon/ John Dickson Carr
Starring: Boris Karloff, Ewan Roberts
First episode: “The Sorcerer”
Last episode: “Passage at Arms”
Gimmick/Hook (if any): At the beginning of each episode, Colonel March would sit down at his desk and write the title in his log book. This would then dissolve into a picture of an item to be featured in the episode.
Spin-offs (if any): None
With 26 episodes, this is surely the closest we come in the 1950s to a real series. Even today, many series don’t get that many episodes in a season. Starring the famous Boris Karloff, this may be why the show was first broadcast across the water in the USA before being seen by British television audiences. It was also part of the initial lineup of the new ITV (Independent TeleVision) channel which rose to take on the might and monopoly of the BBC. Again we have some serious guest stars, such as Christopher Lee, Joan Sims, a later mainstay of the Carry On film franchise, Richard O’Sullivan, who would become very well known to British audiences thanks to his roles in comedy series Man ABout the House and its spin-off Robin’s Nest, though it would be a while before they would recognise him, as he was only ten years old at the time, director John Schelsinger and Alan Wheatley, who had starred as Sherlock Holmes in the first ever TV adaptation of Conan Doyle’s stories, as related above. Also another connection to Dad’s Army, as John Laurie, who played Private Frazer, guest stars here too.
Linking to Holmes, this series was perhaps the first in which the lead character (and here eponymous) out-thinks the police by solving mysteries and murders they don’t have a clue about. This would then continue Doyle’s idea of a detective who is smarter than the police, though in this case March does work for them. Hmm. Here’s an episode I found.
Yawn. I tried to watch it but my god it was boring. I could feel my brain cells dying as the episode unfolded, and I couldn’t tell you how it ended or even what went on in it. Not a good start. Surprised this made the 26-episode mark. Oh well, no accounting for taste I guess.
Title: Dixon of Dock Green
Year(s): 1955 - 1975
Nationality: British
First: First “community policing” show, first to feature an ordinary police officer (i.e., not a sergeant, lieutenant, captain etc), first where the character directly addresses the audience and introduces (and ends) the show. George Dixon was the first purely British cop show star to attain lasting fame and cult status.
Protagonist: Police officer
Main character(s): PC (Police Constable) George Dixon
Seasons*: 22
Episodes (total)*: 432
Sample episode chosen: Season 2 episode 7 “Father in Law”
Category: Crime
Style: Drama
Format: Solo
Location(s): London
Writer(s): Ted Willis
Starring: Jack Warner
First episode: “PC Crawford’s first Pinch”
Last episode: Unknown
Gimmick/Hook (if any): Dixon would talk directly to the viewer, saying “Evenin’ all” and at the end of the show salute and greet them “Good night all”.
Spin-offs (if any): None
One of the longest-running police dramas from the early days, Dixon of Dock Green has had its detractors and its supporters. The first - possibly the only - police show not to focus on major crimes, violence, solving mysteries and glamour, it followed the eponymous police officer who was, at the start of the series, an ordinary officer, or “bobby”, on the beat. He was also a more mature man, creating a kind of father figure for the younger officers at the station, and possibly for some viewers too. The show was more concerned with small, petty crimes and social problems than the bigger stories covered by later series such as The Sweeney, Z-Cars and The Bill, taking a more relaxed and insular approach to policing, very much an example of community police work before there really was such a thing.
Because of this, it became very popular with the British police, whom it portrayed as basically good guys, normal blokes trying to keep everyone safe, and the nature of the episodes, with very little sensationalism and a homely approach, appealed so much to television audiences that many believed, as they used to of Sherlock Holmes, that George Dixon was a real person. I am quite surprised when I check out the credentials of the writer/creator. I assumed that with all this knowledge of the police Ted Willis had been in the force, but in fact I read he became General Secretary of the British Young Communist League! The relationship between the Reds and the police was seldom a good one, with Britain, certainly in the 1950s and 1960s, as worried about the Communist influence on their society as the Americans were. Still, with Britain under a Conservative government and at war at the time (1941) but with I guess Russia at the time on the side of the Allies following Hitler’s invasion of his former ally’s country, maybe it wasn’t seen as the big deal it would be later. Certainly, Willis ended up getting knighted, becoming a baron, so either his communist ties were swept under the carpet or he renounced them.
Willis seems to have been another who was told by a nasty teacher that he would never amount to anything, and had not the imagination to be a writer. In the end, it shows how much these fuckers know, as Ted Willis is now considered the most prolific TV writer in the entire world, and in his lifetime was the chairman of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain for six years. Why are teachers so dismissive and ignorant? Why don’t they want their pupils to get on? Matt Groening, Robbie Williams, the list goes on. No wonder people hate teachers.
An interesting point for a show set in the 1950s is that we see a female police officer, and she’s a sergeant. I feel that’s a little ground-breaking for a time when women in cop shows, certainly in America, and I think here too, were mostly relegated to wives, girlfriends, molls or secretaries. A forward-thinking writer, certainly. The show did receive much stick for its portrayal of the police as being too “soft” and “cosy”, like a family looking after each other, with less emphasis on kicking the nonce in, as others would do, and more on keeping the lines of communication open with the community. Nothing wrong with that, but how realistic was it I wonder? Still, one of the original unique cop shows, and it came from Britain. Definitely one of the longest-running, well outpacing even current series at twenty-two years.
I must admit, the episode I watched seemed more like an episode of The Waltons or some soap; can’t really say I was impressed. Still, that’s only one of hundreds, so who’s to say? Not much in the way of police action though.
Title: Fabian of the Yard (Known in America as Fabian of Scotland Yard or, for some reason, Patrol Car).
Year(s): 1954 - 1956
Nationality: British
First: First, possibly, British show to be based on the memoirs of an actual detective, also first to have that detective feature in the show as a writer.
Protagonist: Police officer
Main character(s): Inspector Robert Fabian
Seasons*: 1
Episodes (total)*: 36
Sample episode chosen: Episode 9 “Brides of the Fire”
Category: Police procedural
Style: Drama
Format: Solo
Location(s): London
Writer(s): Robert Fabian, Brock Williams, Ian Stuart Black
Starring: Bruce Seton, Robert Raglan
First episode: “The Extra Bullet”
Last episode*: “The Masterpiece”
Gimmick/Hook (if any): Based on the memoirs of a real police detective; featured him at the end explaining what had happened in the real case.
Spin-offs (if any): None
Taking their cue perhaps from the very successful American show Dragnet, the BBC commissioned a series based on the memoirs of Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent Robert Fabian. The series mostly only featured two recurring actors, the abovementioned, as other experts in this or that field came and went. The series took its cases from Fabian’s experiences working for Scotland Yard from the 1920s up to the 1950s, usually sensational cases which might be known to the audience, but which had at any rate been headline news in their day. At the end of each episode, Robert Fabian (now retired of course) would replace Bruce Seton at his desk, explaining how the actual case the audience had just witnessed a reconstruction of had proceeded, and how it had ended. I think it’s safe to say this was the first time (though not the last) that a police show featured the actual person upon whose memoirs it was based.
This is also the first British police show I’ve seen with narration. I suppose again you could say they were copying their American cousins, but then, with memoirs, you’d probably expect some sort of voiceover. Seems to be a slant on the old George Smith “Brides in the Bath” idea, except here he burns them, not drowns them. And he uses a cat, which is pretty damn odd, though I’ve seen how it accidentally tipped something into the bin in the opening scene, the thing then going on fire. Is it the same cat? The killer had gone out, and the door looked closed, so did he come back to save the cat? Or has he a number of cats? And how do you train a cat to do what you want? You can’t: they’re not like dogs. I should know, I’ve had cats all my life, and one thing they do is their own thing. Nobody can tell them, force them or especially train them to do anything.
The usual misogyny as Fabian complains about chasing after a “silly woman”. Gives you the impression that saving her life is a trial, something he’d rather not do but, dash it all, it’s his job, don’t you know! Up to him, he’d probably let her be killed. Oh I see the killer has a kitten now, so I guess we’re talking a different cat, which probably means he lets the cats die after they’ve carried out their tasks for him. Now I really hate him. Killing women, that’s one thing. Killing cats - especially kittens - now he’s a monster. But how does it work? I must admit, it’s quite funny that one frightened woman is easily able to slip through a cordon of twenty men and get clean away!
It’s highly elaborate how the guy burns down houses. I mean, it’s based on reality so I guess it happened, but it seems over-thought. He places a ruler halfway over the edge of a table (like the way we used to do it in school to then twang the end of it to make that sound, you know the thing) and puts a candle on one end, above a wastepaper basket. The other end has a toy mouse attached to it. The idea then being, I guess, that the kitten plays with the mouse, pushing the ruler and its now-lit candle over the edge and into the bin, where it all goes up in flames. But why? What’s the point? Why not just drop the candle in himself? It’s not like there’s anyone watching to see him do it, and there’ll be nothing left in the burned wreckage to prove he did it. Maybe it’s because the house is soaked in kerosene, so one spark and the whole thing would go up, too quickly for him to get away? So a kind of timer mechanism using a cat? Hmm.
It’s disturbing the way this guy Fabian sees women. He all but congratulates the guy the girl was going to marry when he pulls out, saving himself from having got involved with “such a silly woman” who would allow her life to be put in danger like that. It’s almost as if he’s blaming the woman for being duped by the guy, and she’s all but seen as someone who would have deserved her fate had he not saved her. Meh. Fucking English.
Title: The Vise
Year(s): 1955 - 1960
Nationality: American
Protagonist: Police Detective
Main character(s): Inspector Mark Saber
Seasons*: 5
Episodes (total)*: 156
Sample episode chosen: “The Penny Black”
Category: Crime
Style: Drama
Format: Solo
Location(s): London (originally America, no city stated)
Writer(s): Mark Grantham, Brian Clemens and others
Starring: Donald Gray
First episode: Unknown
Last episode: Unknown
Gimmick/Hook (if any): Saber has only one arm, and Gray is a real amputee. Take that, Ironside!
Spin-offs (if any): Saber of London
Weird one, this. Began life as a radio show (no surprise there) called ABC Mystery Theater, was copied basically by CBS, who didn’t even bother to change the title. Both shows ran on the radio on the same day, and often in the same time slot. Oversaturation, and the determination by both to stick rigidly to murders and nothing else, bored audiences and both shows ended around 1953. ABC then rebooted the series for TV, and it ran for a year in 1954 before being again rebooted in 1955 and retitled The Vise, itself an incarnation of an earlier ABC anthology series. Whew!
Anyway, later on the series was again changed, moved to London and titled, you guessed it. Saber of London. You can’t help wondering if this was in direct competition with BBC’s Fabian of the Yard, which was running at this time, and if you look at the opening titles, they’re so similar that I thought for a moment I was watching the latter show. Through all these changes the protagonist remained constant, though he was played by three different actors, between radio and TV. Mark Saber is the focus of the show, hence his name being eventually used for the title. Incidentally, if you want to know why the original title, apparently the show portrayed “people caught in the vise of fate due to their own misdeeds.” Well, now you do.
Seems the role of Saber has changed by now, from a police inspector to a private detective. If this was the BBC I would say typical: they’ve managed to make a murder case out of one of the most boring subjects imaginable, stamp collecting. But it’s ostensibly American, though played very much as a British series. Oh, and it looks like there are only two suspects in the murder, so I assume the butler did it. Sorry. But of course he did. Oh look: an early role for Gordon Jackson, known to UK viewers from the series Upstairs, Downstairs and later on The Professionals. Interesting to see him with hair.
Title: Highway Patrol
Year(s): 1955- 1959
Nationality: American
Protagonist: Police officer
Main character(s): Dan Matthews
Seasons*: 4
Episodes (total)*: 156
Sample episode chosen: “Lie Detector”
Category: Crime
Style: Drama
Format: Solo
Location(s): Unknown American city
Writer(s): Unsure; Frederick Ziv?
Starring: Broderick Crawford
Future stars who had cameos or guest slots: Leonard Nimoy, Clint Eastwood, Robert Conrad, Larry Hagman
First episode: “Prison Break”
Last episode:
Gimmick/Hook (if any): Looks like there were a lot of car/bike chases, plus the episodes were rewrites of actual crime reports.
Spin-offs (if any):
Òf course, I’m not American, but it kind of staggers me when the claim is made that this was, according to our friends Tim Marsh and Earle F. Marsh, “One of the most syndicated shows in television history.” I mean, I never heard of it, and even I have heard of Dragnet and other shows I’ve never seen. Apparently as above, this show used real-life crime reports across the country from which to draw its storylines (basically re-enacting the crimes; not sure you could call them storylines really) and though the state in which the Highway Patrol operated was never confirmed, it’s pretty obviously California. The protagonist, and about the only recurring character bar the narrator, didn’t even have a title, not even Chief. They knew him, perhaps in a tip forward of the hat to The Dukes of Hazzard, simply as boss, and he spent most of his time leaning, it says, on the door of his squad car barking orders and instructions into a bullhorn, many of which would include the code “ten-four!” something perhaps not that well known to the general TV audiences at that time, at least until the rise of CB radio, and also possibly the reason why the show was retitled Ten-Four in later reruns.
As you can see above, quite a few claims to later fame, including Leonard Nimoy and Clint Eastwood, and a further Star Trek link is that a struggling writer of westerns who would later be immortalised as the creator of that show wrote five episodes for this one. Whether Roddenberry and Nimoy ever met I don’t know, but I’d say it’s doubtful; in those days, writers wrote and sent in their scripts. They would hardly ever be present on the set. In terms of, to use a later popular phrase, keeping it real, Highway Patrol had two consultants on the staff, one a serving officer with the CHP (California Highway Patrol, as if you didn’t know) and one a retired one, to make sure all the technical details were correct. I guess you have to admire that kind of attention to detail in a show that seems to have been mostly about, as above, car chases, but there are episodes to watch, so I’ll confirm that shortly.
Highway Patrol seems to have had its dark side too. Broderick got so worn out with the filming schedule (two shows a week, would you believe?) that he turned to drinking and quit the show, snarling “We ran out of crimes” when asked for a reason for his departure and the end of the series. In America? Surely not. However this is where it turns dark. The creator, one Artie Ziff sorry Frederick Ziv forced Crawford to sign for one of his new shows, holding back his cut of Highway Patrol until he did so. That’s some Hollywood hardball right there! Perhaps fittingly, the new show was axed after one season. What happened to Broderick Crawford? Sure let’s check it out. Looks like he lasted another thirty years. But it always does to follow interesting links, and in an article about the man we find the lie, or partial truth, in the Wiki story: the hectic schedule didn’t drive (sorry) him to drink, it perhaps exacerbated his already heavy problem with alcohol, which had resulted in him getting so many DUIs that he was in fact banned from driving, so despite his role as basically a police chief, he couldn’t drive the car in the show, only for very short scenes, and someone else would have to take over if longer journeys were required.
In fact, it emerges that Crawford was so hard to deal with that Ziv was the only one willing to give him a job, and that Highway Patrol, despite its tough schedule, revitalised his career, which had hit a slump. Well, so it says, but the evidence isn’t there for me; in fact, he had starring roles in movies both before and just after the series, so I don’t know. It appears that in addition to being a hard drinker he was one of those Americans who eats three hamburgers for breakfast or something - ate a lot anyway - and put on a lot of weight, all of which no doubt contributed to the multiple strokes that ended his life in 1986.
So what’s it like? Well, the usual stentorian voiceover about who the “Highway Patrol” are (without naming any state) and then it’s pretty clear this isn’t going to be light-hearted, as a thief (looking rather like someone who has strayed off the path to a western movie, with his long kerchief mask) pistol-whips an old lady. I mean, it’s the 1950s, so you don’t see it, but he raises the gun and she goes down, and it’s pretty obvious what has happened. I must say, I find it rather amazing that the narrator tells us that she managed to identify the man. His face was almost completely covered, and she must be dazed from the attack. Maybe she recognised his voice? Oh no, I see: she recognised his hat and coat; he was a guest in the motel. Still a bit thin. What was so special about the hat and coat?
Good to see that they’re not sensationalising the lie detector here as some shows did back then, as if it was some all-seeing oracle that could determine a man’s guilt or innocence. Matthews tells him that the results are not admissible in court, which even back then they were not, and still are not. It’s a useful tool, but it won’t do a cop’s job for him. The nephew, when they return to the motel to re-question the old lady, is very adversarial and defensive, almost throwing an alibi at them before they’ve even asked for one. Very suspicious. You’d have to wonder, though, why they’re relying solely on her identification of the guy. If he had a gun, have they not dusted it for fingerprints? Where is the gun? Do they have it? I know DNA was not even discovered at this time, but fingerprinting was part of normal police SOP. Even when a witness comes forward with a book of matches the alleged attacker - or someone dressed like him anyway - gave him, nobody thinks to dust it to see whose fingerprints are on it?
Okay so the “witness” and the nephew are, to use the language of the time, in cahoots together. No wonder he stepped forward. It’s not that often people go out of their way to involve themselves with the police. I wonder why there’s the constant sound of an aircraft in the outdoors scenes? It’s not as if they’re doing any aerial shots. Maybe they’re filming near an aerodrome? Hey! Why has Mister Witness got the mask on? He’s coming at the aunt from behind (ooer!) and he clubs her before she even knows he’s there. Then he removes the mask. Who was it for? Idiot. That’s one tough old lady though! Pistol-whipped twice at her age and she’s still alive!
Meh, from what I read I expected something more exciting. No real car chases - hardly see cars at all - and no shots of Crawford barking into anything or leaning on anything. In fact, if anything I found him very laid-back. Maybe I just picked a bad episode, but that seemed a little cerebral and boring to me, making me surprised it was such a popular show. Definitely seen better.
Title: Meet McGraw
Year(s): 1957 - 1958
Nationality: American
Protagonist: Ex-con possibly
Main character(s): McGaw (“Just McGraw”)
Seasons*: 1
Episodes (total)*: 33
Sample episode chosen: Unknown
Category: Crime
Style: Drama
Format: Solo
Location(s): America somewhere
Writer(s): E. Jack Neuman
Starring: Frank Lovejoy
Future stars who had cameos or guest slots:
First episode: ?
Last episode: ?
Gimmick/Hook (if any): McGraw was not licenced as any sort of law enforcement official or even a private eye, and carried no gun
Spin-offs (if any): None
By all accounts, a case of an actor wasted on a poor show, Meet McGraw was nevertheless the first time, so far as I can see (authors and husband/wife teams aside) that someone outside of what we may call the sanctioned legal profession (cops, judges, lawyers, private eyes etc) features in one of these shows. Well, Boston Blackie, yes, and yer man the photographer, but two major differences: one, both of those were in some way linked to the police force, either liaising with them or working with them, whereas McGraw is entirely a law unto himself. Two: generally speaking, both of those other shows came across quite light-hearted, whereas this appears not to be. Like a one-man A-Team, it would appear, he offers help to those who need it and can’t go through the regular channels, or who have not been helped by the police. He has no first name, saying at the beginning of every episode “This is McGraw. Just McGraw. It’s enough of a name for a man like McGraw.” Just don’t call him Quick Draw, eh? Sorry.
The idea of the show being a waste of Lovejoy’s talents was posed by The New York Times in 1957, who said he “deserved a better show”. The Miami Herald agreed, saying that “Meet McGraw was weak in story lines but still a rewarding series thanks to Lovejoy’s acting abilities and good dialogue.” and describing Lovejoy as “a man of considerable talent and intelligence, completely devoid of pretension.” The show itself did not suffer from bad ratings but from the caprices of sponsorship: Proctor and Gamble, who had attached their name to the show, simply dropped it when it no longer suited their needs. Lovejoy remarked about ratings in general that “I’d be a hero on Monday and a bum on Wednesday.”
It’s very melodramatic, more like something out of the forties than the tail-end of the fifties; I can almost hear yer wan sigh “You’re saying this only to make me leave.” Very jazzy, everyone smoking, woman wrapped in furs: talk about cliches. What isn’t necessarily a cliche is that McGraw turns her down when he realises who she wants him to protect her from. Well, given that he doesn’t carry a gun and the jealous ex-husband seems to be some sort of big wheel in the underworld, I guess I don’t blame him. It’s hardly the “nice guy” image the writeup painted for him though, is it? Also he’s supposed to be tough, and even her barb that she thought he was, and therefore indicating she believes now that he is not, doesn’t move him. Usually that kind of accusation of cowardice, especially from a woman to a man, and doubly especially from a beautiful woman, gets only one kind of response. But he lets her leave, refusing the job.
Okay, now he has his chance to be that nice guy, when a sweet old lady comes in looking confused, and he brings her to the desk to ask after her sister. But while there her handbag is robbed. She faints, he does not go after the thief - here, this is looking a bit like a setup isn’t it? But then, it’s not like it was his wallet that was robbed, so I don’t understand yet. But yeah, when he turns around the lady has vanished. And then he finds his own wallet is in fact gone. Ah, you gotta love the parlance: “What kinda racket is this?” I see what they mean though about good writing in terms of the actual dialogue, and Lovejoy exhibits a certain Bob Hope character in the way he delivers his lines, almost, but not quite, breaking the fourth wall. Very little in the way of incidental/background music, and to be honest, it suffers for it; it’s like there’s something missing, which might be why Lovejoy has to fill the silences with quips and cracks.
I would however have to question his decisions. He’s turned this woman down because of who her husband is, and now he’s sitting in a car kissing her? I mean, is he not afraid of this Louis the Legbreaker or whatever the damn hell his name is? If he’s not, then why didn’t he take the commission? He’s already mentioned he’s not rich, so he could certainly do with the money. Bad writing? Possibly. Misogyny, certainly, as the pretty lady turns out to be the one trying to frame McGraw, a typical cardboard femme fatale. Oh dear. Yeah, pretty terrible. He was wasted in this show.
Title: M Squad
Year(s): 1957 - 1960
Nationality: American
First: First to use the word “squad” in its title, and I think also the first to refer to a specific police department, leaving aside the Highway Patrol. Also the first, I believe, to categorically root itself in a specific American state or city, this being Chicago (I know Dragnet was technically based in Los Angeles, but I don’t think they said that did they?); first to use full narration by the character, in the film noir style of Mike Hammer et al.
Protagonist: Police officer
Main character(s): Det. Lt. Frank Ballinger
Seasons*: 3
Episodes (total)*: 117
Sample episode chosen: Season 1, episode 10 “Diamond Hard”
Category: Crime
Style: Drama
Format: Solo
Location(s): Chicago
Writer(s): Various
Starring: Lee Marvin, Paul Newlan
Future stars who had cameos or guest slots: Angie Dickinson, DeForest Kelley, Leonard Nimoy, James Coburn, Charles Bronson
First episode: “The Golden Look”
Last episode: “The Bad Apple”
Gimmick/Hook (if any): Much of the story is narrated by Ballinger in a hard-boiled PI/film noir style
Spin-offs (if any): None, but this was definitely parodied by Police Squad (In Color!)
The first cop show to star a bona fide legend, M Squad (one would assume the M stood for, as Alfred Hitchcock told us, murder?) seems to be the first cop show I’ve come across where the protagonists work in a specific section of the police force. M Squad was a special department tasked with providing aid to solve crimes such as murder and other violent crimes, organised crime and corruption, perhaps not quite the Line of Duty of its day, but certainly unique at the time. In most other, certainly American, cop programmes, the action would inevitably take place within the homicide or violent crimes unit, but M Squad seemed to be a semi-autonomous department that moved between offices of the Chicago PD, almost like a group of crime consultants? Not entirely sure of course, but that’s the impression given by the synopsis on Wiki. Let’s see if our friends Marsh and Brook can provide any more insight.
Unfortunately, no. I do note this seems to be the first show whose theme was composed by a genuine music legend, the jazz musician Count Basie. Well he composed the theme for the second and third seasons, but still, very impressive. Despite the name, it appears Lee Marvin’s character generally worked alone, and as I assume all the stories centred on him, I’ve characterised it as a solo effort. All I can do then is look to see if I can find an episode, and make my own judgement about the show. Straight into the action anyway, with a hold-up in progress. Hmm. I find the cool jazz music very much at odds with the serious nature of bank robbery now to be honest. Doesn’t fit, for me. Okay once it begins I see now where the later spoof Police Squad (In Color!) parodied it. The narration from Marvin: “My name is Frank Ballinger, Detective Lieutenant of M Squad, a special detail of the Chicago Police” is turned into “My name is Frank Drebin, Detective Lieutenant, Police Squad, a special detail of the Police” decades later. Even the first name is the same, and Leslie Nielsen carried off Marvin’s laconic delivery very well.
This is the first time I’ve seen a cop spend time in a bar - something which would of course become very standard - and the second time we’ve been introduced to a bartender who is an ex-sportsman, in this case a boxer. Seems every athlete who gives up or has to give up his sport opens a bar. This is also the first show I’ve come across where a woman is being treated with some sort of regard and respect by the cop. When Marvin’s character says he wants to help the girl, that she has never been in trouble before, his captain shrugs “So what?” He’s not interested, but unless there is history between him and this Hazel, it seems Ballinger is genuinely fond of her and doesn’t want to see her hurt. A far cry from the way women have been treated so far, so was this a change in attitudes, or just a blip on the radar of inbuilt sexism and misogyny in cop shows of the fifties and sixties? A big future star in this other than Marvin is Angie Dickinson, who would go on to star in her own cult cop show, Police Woman and - well baste my steaming puddings! If that isn’t DeForest Kelley, Star Trek’s Doctor McCoy at the bar warning Ballinger about jostling him, (Sergeant Miller? Yeah, Sgt. Miller) I’m a Dutchman!
I wonder if the name of the bad guy - Mazarin - is a nod back to the Sherlock Holmes story about the Mazarin Stone, also a diamond, and this guy is a jewel thief. Interesting. First cop show where the cop and his boss are kind of at loggerheads: captain wants to prosecute Hazel, Ballinger says no, he’s shown as much more sympathetic than his boss. Also a decent closing monologue, which would feature more and more in these types of show. Pretty good all round.
