''King and Castle'' is a British television

crime drama Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

series, made by

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

and screened on ITV, that first broadcast on 20 August 1985. The series stars

Derek Martin Derek Martin (born Derek William Rapp; 11 April 1933) is a retired English actor. Beginning his career as a stuntman, he moved into acting and played many roles on UK television. One of his most widely known roles is Charlie Slater on the BBC ...

as Ronald King, a Detective Sergeant with the Metropolitan Police, who is obliged to leave the force when he is investigated by the anti-corruption squad. His first venture outside of the police involves setting up his own Debt Collection Agency, known as 'The Manor', where he partners with mild-mannered martial arts expert David Castle (

Nigel Planer Nigel George Planer (born 22 February 1953) is a British actor, writer and musician. His television credits include playing Neil in the sitcom '' The Young Ones'' and Ralph Filthy in the sitcom '' Filthy Rich & Catflap'', as well as narrating th ...

). Created by

Ian Kennedy Martin Ian Kennedy Martin (born 23 May 1936) is a British television scriptwriter who created the action drama series ''The Sweeney'' (1975–78). Career He began his television career in the 1960s, first as a script editor on the military police dr ...

, who had previously devised ''

The Sweeney ''The Sweeney'' is a British police drama television series focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London. It stars John Thaw as Detective ...

'' for Thames, along with ''

Juliet Bravo ''Juliet Bravo'' is a television in the United Kingdom, British television police procedural drama series, first broadcast on 30 August 1980, that ran for six series and a total of 88 episodes on BBC One, BBC1. The theme of the series concerned ...

'' and ''

The Chinese Detective ''The Chinese Detective'' is a British television police procedural drama series, first transmitted by the BBC between 1981 and 1982. The series was created by Ian Kennedy Martin, who had previously devised '' The Sweeney'' and ''Juliet Bravo' ...

'' for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, ''King and Castle'' started out as an episode of Thames' ''Storyboard'', a series of stand-alone dramas intended as potential pilots for series. Described as a combination of the rough-and-tumble of ''The Sweeney'' with the knowing wit of ''

Minder A minder is the person assigned to guide or escort a visitor, or to provide protection to somebody, or to otherwise assist or take care of something, i.e. a person who " minds". Government-appointed persons to accompany foreign visitors are of ...

'', two series of six episodes each followed in 1986 and 1988. In 1986, a paperback tie-in novel was also released to accompany the first series. The complete series of ''King and Castle'', including the ''Storyboard'' pilot, was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

via Network in April 2011 and July 2012 respectively.

Cast

as Ronald King *

as David Castle * Mary Healey as Miss Willmott *

Andrew Cruickshank Andrew John Maxton Cruickshank (25 December 190729 April 1988) was a Scottish actor, most famous for his portrayal of Dr Cameron in the long-running UK BBC television series ''Dr. Finlay's Casebook'', which ran for 191 episodes from 1962 until ...

Mr. Hodinett * Laura Davenport as Deidre Aitken (1986) * Rowena Roberts as Hilary McLean (1988) *

Paul Brooke Paul Brooke (born 22 November 1944) is a retired English actor. He made his film debut in 1972 in the Hammer film '' Straight on till Morning'', followed by performances in '' For Your Eyes Only'' (1981), ''Return of the Jedi'' (1983), ''Scanda ...

as Edward Hallday-Mostyn (1986) *

Shirley Stelfox Shirley Rosemary Stelfox (11 April 1941 – 7 December 2015) was a British actress, known for her portrayal of the character Edna Birch, a moralising busybody in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'', and as Rose, the vampy sister of the snobby an ...

as Betty (1988) *

Lucy Speed Lucy Renee Speed (born 31 August 1976) is an English actress best known for her television roles as Natalie Evans in the BBC One soap opera ''EastEnders'' appearing in 526 episodes between 1994 and 2004, and as DS Stevie Moss in the ITV polic ...

as Susie (1988)

Episodes

Pilot (1985)

Series 1 (1986)

Series 2 (1988)

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, id=0181235, title=King and Castle (Series) 1985 British television series debuts 1988 British television series endings 1980s British drama television series 1980s British crime television series ITV television dramas Television series by Fremantle (company) Television shows produced by Thames Television Television shows set in London British English-language television shows