|
Z-cars
''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police and CID detectives in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978. ''Z-Cars'' ran for 801 episodes, of which fewer than half have survived. Regular stars included Stratford Johns (Detective Inspector Barlow), Frank Windsor (Det. Sgt. Watt), James Ellis (Bert Lynch), and Brian Blessed ("Fancy" Smith). Barlow and Watt were later spun into a separate series '' Softly, Softly''. Origin of the title The title comes from the radio call signs allocated by Lancashire Constabulary. Lancashire police divisions were lettered from north to the south: "A" Division (based in Ulverston) was the detached part of Lancashire at the time around Barrow-in-Furness, "B" Division was Lancaster, and so on (see Home Office radio). The TV series took the n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Softly, Softly (TV Series)
''Softly, Softly'' is a British television police procedural series produced by the BBC and screened on BBC1 from January 1966. It was created as a spin-off from the series ''Z-Cars'', which ended its fifth series run in December 1965. The series took its title from the proverb "Softly, softly, catchee monkey", the motto of Lancashire Constabulary Training School. Newsletter 853, Saturday 12 October 2013 Series outline ''Softly, Softly'' centred on the work of regional Law enforcement in the United Kingdom, police crime squads, plainclothes Criminal Investigation Department, CID officers based in the fictional region of Wyvern, supposedly in the Bristol area of England. It was designed as a vehicle for Detective Chief Inspector Charles Barlow and Detective Inspector John Watt (played by Stratford Johns and Frank W ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Ellis (actor)
James Ellis (15 March 1931 – 8 March 2014) was a Northern Irish actor and theatre director from Belfast who had a career stretching over sixty years. Originally a stage actor and director in his native city, he moved to London in the early 1960s. After gaining recognition in Great Britain through the ''Z-Cars'' (1962–78) police series on BBC1, he appeared in many other television and film roles. He was also a translator. Early life Jimmy Ellis was born in Belfast, attended Methodist College Belfast and later studied at Queen's University Belfast and trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Career He began to act with the Belfast-based Ulster Group Theatre in 1952. He first appeared in a revival of the Louis D'Alton play,Robert Welch (ed), ''The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 131-32 ''They Got What They Wanted'' (1947). Ellis became established as the company's young male lead in such plays as ''April in Assagh'', w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Windsor
Frank Windsor Higgins (12 July 1928 – 30 September 2020), known professionally as Frank Windsor, was an English actor, primarily known for his roles on television, especially policeman John Watt in ''Z-Cars'' and its spin-offs. Early life Windsor attended Queen Mary's Grammar School, Walsall, and studied speech training and drama at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Career Windsor played Detective Sergeant John Watt in ''Z-Cars'' from 1962 to 1965, and thereafter its spin-offs '' Softly, Softly'' (1966–1969), '' Softly, Softly: Task Force'' (1969–1976), '' Jack the Ripper'' (1973), and '' Second Verdict'' (1976). He also returned as Watt for the final episode of ''Z-Cars'' itself in 1978. In 1969, Windsor appeared in the pilot episode of ''Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)'' in the episode " My Late Lamented Friend and Partner" as Sorrensen, a wealthy businessman with a murderous streak. His lighter side was demonstrate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stratford Johns
Alan Edgar Stratford Johnson (22 September 1925 – 29 January 2002), known as Stratford Johns, was a British stage, film and television actor known for playing the role of senior CID officer Charlie Barlow, a character he originated in the long-running BBC police series ''Z-Cars'', and continued to play in several spin-off series in the 1960s and 1970s. Early life Johns was born and grew up in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. After serving as a deckhand in the South African Navy during World War II, he worked for a time in accountancy before becoming involved in amateur theatre. Career In 1948, Johns bought a one-way ticket to Britain and learned his craft working in repertory theatre at Southend-on-Sea for almost five years. He began to appear in British films from the mid-1950s, including a bit part in the classic Ealing comedy '' The Ladykillers'' (1955). He ran a small hotel in London during the 1950s, and was a member of the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Thea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Troy Kennedy Martin
Troy Kennedy Martin (15 February 1932 – 15 September 2009) was a Scottish-born film and television screenwriter. He created the long-running BBC TV police series ''Z-Cars'' (1962–1978), and the award-winning 1985 anti-nuclear drama '' Edge of Darkness''. He also wrote the screenplay for the original version of ''The Italian Job'' (1969). His last film was ''Ferrari'' (2023), which was posthumously released. Biography Early life He was born in Rothesay, Isle of Bute, and educated at Finchley Catholic Grammar School and Trinity College, Dublin. He had a younger brother Ian, who is also a television writer best known for creating '' The Sweeney''. 1960s He began writing for BBC Television in 1958, beginning with the play '' Incident at Echo Six'', and he wrote four further plays for the BBC over the following three years, before in 1961 creating his first series, ''Storyboard'', a six-part anthology series that consisted both of original scripts and adaptations. The same y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Verdict
''Second Verdict'' is a six-part BBC television series from 1976. It combines the genres of police procedural and docudrama, with dramatised documentaries in which classic criminal cases and unsolved crimes from history were re-appraised by fictional police officers. In ''Second Verdict'', Stratford Johns and Frank Windsor reprised for a final time their double-act as Detective Chief Superintendents Barlow and Watt, hugely popular with TV audiences from the long-running series ''Z-Cars'', '' Softly, Softly'' and '' Barlow at Large''. ''Second Verdict'' built on the formula of their 1973 series ''Jack the Ripper'' in which dramatised documentary was drawn together with a discussion between the two police officers which formed the narrative. ''Second Verdict'' also allowed for some location filming and, when the case being re-appraised was within living memory, interviews with real witnesses. The episodes were: * "The Lindbergh Kidnapping" (27 May 1976) * "Who Killed the Princes i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeremy Kemp
Edmund Jeremy James Walker (3 February 1935 – 19 July 2019), known professionally as Jeremy Kemp, was an English actor. He was known for his significant roles in the miniseries '' The Winds of War'' and '' War and Remembrance'', the film ''The Blue Max'', and the television series '' Z-Cars''. Early life Kemp was born 3 February 1935 in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, the son of engineer Edmund Reginald Walker and Elsa May, daughter of Dr. James Kemp, of Sheffield. Edmund Walker was of a Yorkshire landed gentry family that had owned at various times Aldwick Hall at Rotherham, Silton Hall at Northallerton, Ravensthorpe Manor, and Mount St John, at Thirsk."Jeremy Kemp Biography (1935–)" Film Reference. Retrieved 27 January 2017. Kemp attended Abbotsholme School in Staffordshire from 1943 to 1953. He studie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barlow At Large
''Barlow at Large'', later ''Barlow'', is a British police procedural television programme broadcast in the 1970s, starring Stratford Johns in the titular role. Johns had previously played Barlow in the ''Z-Cars'', '' Softly, Softly'' and '' Softly, Softly: Task Force'' series on BBC television during the 1960s and early 1970s. ''Barlow at Large'' began as a three-part self-contained spin-off from ''Softly, Softly: Taskforce'' in 1971 with Barlow co-opted by the Home Office to investigate police corruption in Wales. Johns left ''Softly, Softly'' for good in 1972, but returned for a further series of ''Barlow at Large'' in the following year, Barlow having gone on full-time secondment to the Home Office. This second series, rather than telling one story in serial form, as the 1971 series had, was instead ten 50-minute episodes, each with a self-contained story (this would be the format of all subsequent series). In this series, Barlow was supported by Norman Comer as Detective S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allan Prior
Allan Prior (13 January 1922, Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, – 1 June 2006) was an England, English television scriptwriter and novelist, who wrote over 300 television episodes from the 1950s onwards. He was founder-writer of influential police drama ''Z-Cars'' with Troy Kennedy Martin and wrote five of the first ten episodes and a total of 136 episodes for ''Z-Cars'' and spin-off series ''Softly, Softly (TV series), Softly, Softly''. He also wrote several episodes of the 1970s science-fiction series ''Blake's 7''. Along with producer Gerard Glaister he co-created the BBC drama series ''Howards' Way'' in 1985. He wrote more than thirty original plays for television, from episodes of ''Armchair Theatre'' to later works including ''The Charmer (TV series), The Charmer'' (1987) and ''A Perfect Hero'' (1991). In 1995 his radio play ''Führer'' was BBC Radio 4's flagship drama for its End of the War in Europe anniversary programmes. His daughter is the Steeleye Span sing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack The Ripper (1973 TV Series)
''Jack the Ripper'' is a six-part BBC police procedural made in 1973, in which the case of the Jack the Ripper murders is reopened and analysed by Detective Chief Superintendents Barlow and Watt (Stratford Johns and Frank Windsor, respectively). These characters were hugely popular with UK TV viewers at the time from their appearances on the long-running police series ''Z-Cars'' and its sequels '' Softly, Softly'' and ''Barlow at Large''. The programme was presented partly as a discussion between the two principals in the present day, interspersed with dramatised-documentary scenes set in the 19th century. The series discusses suspects and conspiracies, but concludes there is insufficient evidence to determine who was Jack the Ripper. The experiment was seen to be a success, and the formula was repeated in 1976 with ''Second Verdict'', in which Barlow and Watt cast their gaze over miscarriages of justice and unsolved mysteries from the past. Cast * Stratford Johns as DCS Charlie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barlow (television Series)
''Barlow at Large'', later ''Barlow'', is a British police procedural television programme broadcast in the 1970s, starring Stratford Johns in the titular role. Johns had previously played Barlow in the ''Z-Cars'', '' Softly, Softly'' and '' Softly, Softly: Task Force'' series on BBC television during the 1960s and early 1970s. ''Barlow at Large'' began as a three-part self-contained spin-off from ''Softly, Softly: Taskforce'' in 1971 with Barlow co-opted by the Home Office to investigate police corruption in Wales. Johns left ''Softly, Softly'' for good in 1972, but returned for a further series of ''Barlow at Large'' in the following year, Barlow having gone on full-time secondment to the Home Office. This second series, rather than telling one story in serial form, as the 1971 series had, was instead ten 50-minute episodes, each with a self-contained story (this would be the format of all subsequent series). In this series, Barlow was supported by Norman Comer as Detective S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed ( ; born 9 October 1936) is an English actor. He is known for his distinctive bushy beard, booming voice, and exuberant personality and performances. He portrayed PC "Fancy" Smith in ''Z-Cars''; Augustus in the 1976 BBC television production of ''I, Claudius (TV series), I, Claudius''; List of Blackadder characters#King Richard IV of England, King Richard IV in the The Black Adder, first series of ''Blackadder''; Prince Vultan in ''Flash Gordon (film), Flash Gordon''; Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, Bustopher Jones and Old Deuteronomy in the 1981 original London production of ''Cats (musical), Cats'' at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, New London Theatre; Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter, in ''Henry V (1989 film), Henry V''; Boss Nass in ''Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace''; and the voice of Clayton and the Tarzan yell in Disney's ''Tarzan (1999 film), Tarzan''. In 2016, Blessed was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
