''Cribb'' (''Sergeant Cribb'' in North America) is a television police drama, which debuted in 1979 as a 90-minute TV film from

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...

in the United Kingdom. Later, thirteen 50-minute episodes were produced, which ran from 1980 to 1981. Adapted from Peter Lovesey's Sergeant Cribb

historical mystery The historical mystery or historical whodunit is a subgenre of two literary genres, historical fiction and mystery fiction. These works are set in a time period considered historical from the author's perspective, and the central plot involves th ...

novels and set in

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

around the time of the

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in the autumn of 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer ...

murders in 1888, Alan Dobie starred as the tough Detective Sergeant who worked for the newly formed

Criminal Investigation Department The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is the branch of a police force to which most plainclothes detectives belong in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth nations. A force's CID is distinct from its Special Branch (though officers of ...

(CID), determined to remove crime from the streets of London using the latest detection methods. The series portrayed life in Victorian England, and the programmes included many real historical events such as the publication of Jerome K. Jerome's ''

Three Men in a Boat ''Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)'',The Penguin edition punctuates the title differently: ''Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog!'' published in 1889, is a humorous account by English writer Jerome K. Jerome of a tw ...

'' and the sale of

London Zoo London Zoo, also known as ZSL London Zoo or London Zoological Gardens is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a collection for scientific study. In 1831 or 1832, ...

's famous elephant,

Jumbo Jumbo (about December 25, 1860 – September 15, 1885), also known as Jumbo the Elephant and Jumbo the Circus Elephant, was a 19th-century male African bush elephant born in Sudan. Jumbo was exported to Jardin des Plantes, a zoo in Paris, and ...

, to

Barnum and Bailey's Circus The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (also known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros., the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Barnum & Bailey, or simply Ringling) is an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Ea ...

. The stories included issues such as bare-knuckle prize fighting,

spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase) ...

and Irish terrorism. Assisting Cribb was Detective Constable Thackery, played by William Simons. The 1979 pilot episode was entitled "Waxwork" and featured

Carol Royle Carol Buchanan Royle (born 10 February 1954) is an English actress. She is best known for playing Jenny Russell in the BBC sitcom '' Life Without George'' (1987—1989) and Lady Patricia Brewster in ''Heartbeat'' (1997—2003). Early life Born ...

and Susie Blake and was produced and directed by June Wyndham-Davies.

Main cast

* Alan Dobie as Sergeant Daniel Cribb * William Simons as Constable Edward Thackeray * David Waller as Inspector Jowett

Episodes

Series 1

Series 2

DVD

''Cribb'' is available on Region 2 DVD as a box set, distributed by

Acorn Media UK RLJE International Ltd, d/b/a Acorn DVD, a British company that publishes and distributes DVDs, as well as selling home-video products and streaming videos with a particular focus on British television. History Launched in 1997, Acorn Media U ...

. The series has been released in Region 1 by BFS Video.

Radio dramatizations

Six of the stories from Series 1 have also been dramatized for radio by Geoffrey M Matthews as part of the BBC ''Saturday Night Theatre'' strand.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0080208
''Cribb'' on DVD Verdict
1970s British crime television series 1970s British drama television series 1970s British mystery television series 1979 British television series debuts 1980s British crime television series 1980s British drama television series 1980s British mystery television series 1981 British television series endings English-language television shows ITV television dramas Television shows produced by Granada Television Television series set in the 1880s Television shows set in London