''Cribb'' (''Sergeant Cribb'' in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

) is a television

police drama The police procedural, police show, or police crime drama is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasises the investigative procedure of police officers, police detectives, or law enforcement agencies as the protagonists, as ...

, which debuted in 1979 as a 90-minute TV film from

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), 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 on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...

in the United Kingdom. Later, thirteen 50-minute episodes were produced, which ran from 1980 to 1981. Adapted from

Peter Lovesey Peter Harmer Lovesey (10 September 1936 – 10 April 2025), also known by his pen name Peter Lear, was a British writer of Historical mystery, historical and Detective fiction, contemporary detective novels and short stories. His best-known ser ...

'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

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

around the time of the

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

murders in 1888, Alan Dobie starred as the tough

Detective Sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage from the Brit ...

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 criminal investigation, detectives belong in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth nations. A force's CID is disti ...

(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 novel by English writer Jerome K. Jerome describing ...

'' and the sale of

London Zoo London Zoo, previously known as ZSL London Zoo or London Zoological Gardens and sometimes called Regent's Park Zoo, 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 colle ...

's famous elephant,

Jumbo Jumbo (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 then tr ...

, to Barnum and Bailey's Circus. The stories included issues such as bare-knuckle prize fighting,

spiritualism Spiritualism may refer to: * Spiritual church movement, a group of Spiritualist churches and denominations historically based in the African-American community * Spiritualism (beliefs), a metaphysical belief that the world is made up of at leas ...

and Irish terrorism. Assisting Cribb was Detective Constable Thackery, played by

William Simons Clifford William Cumberbatch Simons (17 November 1940 – 21 June 2019) was a Welsh actor best known for his role as PC Alf Ventress in '' Heartbeat'', a role he played from 1992 to 2010. Early life Simons was born on 17 November 1940 in Swansea ...

. The 1979 pilot episode was entitled "Waxwork" and featured Carol Royle and

Susie Blake Susie Blake (born 19 April 1950) is an English television, radio and stage actress. She is best known for her portrayal of the snobbish TV announcer in '' Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV'' and of Bev Unwin in ''Coronation Street'', a role she p ...

and was produced and directed by June Wyndham-Davies.

Main cast

* Alan Dobie as Sergeant Daniel Cribb *

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. 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 Fictional British detectives British English-language television shows ITV television dramas Television shows produced by Granada Television Television series set in the 1880s Television shows set in London