''The Knock'' is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

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 ...

, created by Anita Bronson and broadcast on ITV, which portrayed the activities of

customs Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...

officers from the London City & South Collection Investigation Unit of

HM Customs and Excise HM Customs and Excise (properly known as Her Majesty's Customs and Excise at the time of its dissolution) was a department of the British Government formed in 1909 by the merger of HM Customs and HM Excise; its primary responsibility was the ...

. The series derived its name from the distinctive "''Knock knock knock''" command used over the radio to synchronise a raid. Five series were broadcast from 10 April 1994, until 11 November 2000. 37 episodes were made. The series had a rotating cast, with only a small number of cast members appearing throughout the series' run. The only three cast members to appear in every series were

Caroline Lee-Johnson Caroline Lee-Johnson is a British actress. She is best known for her starring roles in ''Chef!'' as Janice Blackstock and ''The Knock'' as Diane Ralston. Her work has been primarily in television, but she has also had roles in films, including '' ...

Trevor Byfield Trevor Mills Byfield (20 October 1943 – 11 October 2017) was a British character actor particularly well known for his roles on British television. In many of his later roles he was credited as Zig Byfield. Theatre work Prior to his work in t ...

and

Steve Toussaint Stephen Toussaint (born 22 March 1965) is a British actor and writer. He first gained prominence through his role in the ITV crime drama '' The Knock'' (1994–2000). Currently, he plays Lord Corlys Velaryon in the HBO fantasy series ''House o ...

. The series also adopted a number of different formats: while the early series interspersed various storylines and had running plots across the series; later series adopted a multi-part format resulting in two or three cases per series; while the final series adopted a stand-alone week by-week format. The series was axed in 2001 following poor viewing figures for the final series. This was blamed on the loss of several main cast members, a change in the format and the overall look of the series which changed dramatically following an overhaul by ITV executives in 1999.

Cast

Main cast

Guest cast

Anthony Valentine Anthony Valentine (17 August 1939 – 2 December 2015) was an English actor best known for his television roles: the ruthless Toby Meres in '' Callan'' (1967–72), the sadistic Major Horst Mohn in '' Colditz'' (1972–74), the suave titular g ...

as George Webster (Series 1—2) *

Ian Burfield Ian Burfield is an English actor, who has often played roles as police officers and detectives on television. He appeared in 12 episodes of ''The Bill'', 39 episodes of ''EastEnders'', and played the part of a Tweed Coat Fingerman in 2005 film '' ...

as Tommy Maddern (Series 1—2) *

Oliver Tobias Oliver Tobias Freitag (born 6 August 1947), known professionally as Oliver Tobias, is a Swiss-born, UK-based film, stage and television actor and director. Biography Born in Zürich, Switzerland, he is the son of the Austrian-Swiss actor Rob ...

as Allan De Montfort (Series 2) * Alan Gear as Swedish Sea Captain (Series 2-3) * John Vine as Jeffrey Faulds (Series 2) *

Lenny McLean Leonard John McLean (9 April 1949 – 28 July 1998) was an English unlicensed boxer, bouncer, bodyguard, businessman and actor. He was known as "The Guv'nor", "the King of the Cobbles" and "the hardest man in Britain". McLean's pugilist re ...

as Eddie Davies (Series 2—3) *

Colin Baker Colin Charles Baker (born 8 June 1943) is an English actor. He played Paul Merroney in the BBC television drama series ''The Brothers (1972 TV series), The Brothers'' from 1974 to 1976 and the Sixth Doctor, sixth incarnation of The Doctor (Do ...

as Desmond Dewhurst (Series 3) *

Dennis Waterman Dennis Waterman (24 February 1948 – 8 May 2022) was an English actor and singer. He was best known for his tough-guy leading roles in television series including ''The Sweeney'', ''Minder (TV series), Minder'' and ''New Tricks'', singing the ...

as John Danson (Series 3) * Fiona Dolman as Anna Ransley (Series 3) *

Michael Brandon Michael Brandon (born Michael Feldman; April 20, 1945) is an American actor. He is known for his role as James Dempsey in the British drama series ''Dempsey and Makepeace'' (1985–1986) and narrating the American dub of the children's televisio ...

as Greg Taylor (Series 4) *

Bryan Marshall Bryan Marshall (19 May 1938 – 25 June 2019) was a British actor, with a number of major credits in film and television to his name, in both Britain and Australia. Early life Marshall was born in Battersea, south London. He was educated at th ...

as Frankie Johnson (Series 4) *

Cherie Lunghi Cherie Mary Lunghi (born 4 April 1952) is an English film, television, theatre actress and voice-over artist. She is known for her roles in many British dramas. Her international fame stems from her role as Guenevere in the 1981 film ''Excalib ...

as Toni Maxwell (Series 4) *

Rik Mayall Richard Michael Mayall (; 7 March 1958 – 9 June 2014) was an English actor, comedian and writer. He formed a close partnership with Adrian Edmondson while they were students at Manchester University, and was a pioneer of alternative come ...

as Simon Reid (Series 5) * Steve John Shepherd as Rick Foster (Series 5) *

Jay Simon Jay Simon (born 17 December 1966) is an English actor best known for screen roles including: Doug in '' The Royal Treatment'', Alan Griever in '' Filthy Rich'', Senator Regulus in ''Roman Empire (TV Series)'', Papa Monster and Edisson in '' The ...

as Jan Lund (series 5) *

Martine McCutcheon Martine Kimberley Sherrie McCutcheon (formerly Ponting, born 14 May 1976) is an English actress and singer. She began appearing in television commercials at an early age and made her television debut in the children's television drama '' Bluebir ...

as Jenny Foster (Series 5) *

David Threlfall David John Threlfall (born 12 October 1953) is an English stage, film and television actor and director. He is best known for playing Frank Gallagher in Channel 4's series '' Shameless''. He has also directed several episodes of the show. In Ap ...

as Barry Connery (Series 5) *

Gillian Taylforth Gillian Taylforth (born 14 August 1955) is an English actress. She is known for her role as Kathy Beale on the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', as well as appearing as Jackie Pascoe on ITV's ''Footballers' Wives'' (2002–2006) and Sgt. Nikki W ...

as Anne Gilbraith (Series 5) * Danny Webb as John Gilbraith (Series 5)

Episodes

Series overview

Series 1 (1994)

The first series consists of seven episodes, and was broadcast from 10 April to 22 May 1994. It was released on DVD on 27 November 2006. The DVD release of the series has become hard to obtain. The series was rebroadcast in Australia for the first time in 2014. This series was repeated on ITV3 on 10 January 2017, 11 January 2017, 12 January 2017, 13 January 2017, 14 January 2017, 17 January 2017 and 18 January 2017.

Series 2 (1996)

The second series consists of thirteen episodes, and was broadcast from 28 April to 21 July 1996. It was released on DVD on 27 August 2007. The DVD release of the series has become hard to obtain. The series was rebroadcast in Australia for the first time in 2014. This series was rebroadcast on ITV3 on 19 January 2017, 20 January 2017, 21 January 2017, 24 January 2017, 25 January 2017, 26 January 2017, 27 January 2017, 28 January 2017, 31 January 2017, 1 February 2017, 2 February 2017, 3 February 2017 and 7 February 2017.

Series 3 (1997)

The third series consists of seven episodes, and was broadcast from 6 April to 18 May 1997. The series has never been released on DVD, and repeats have been very few and far between. This series was rebroadcast on

ITV3 ITV3 is a Television in the United Kingdom, British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. The channel was first launched on Monday 1 November 2004 at 9 pm, replacing Plus (British TV channel), Plus ...

on 8 February 2017, 9 February 2017, 10 February 2017, 14 February 2017, 15 February 2017, 16 February 2017 and 17 February 2017.

Series 4 (1999)

The fourth series consists of six episodes, and was broadcast from 7 January to 11 February 1999. This series was the last to feature many of the original cast members, including Enzo Squillino, Jr. and Andrew Dunn; and was also the last series to feature multi-part stories (in this case, two stories of three episodes each). The series has never been released on DVD, and although repeats have been very few and far between, the series was repeated in full from 13–20 June 2016, on

. This Series was rebroadcast on

on 21 February 2017, 22 February 2017, 23 February 2017, 24 February 2017, 28 February 2017 and 1 March 2017.

Series 5 (2000)

The fifth and final series consists of four episodes, and was broadcast from 21 October to 11 November 2000. This series saw a major overhaul in both the production team and cast; with

and Daniel Brown the only three cast members to return. The format of the series was also very different, featuring four stand-alone stories, with the running time extended to 105 minutes per episode, with advertisements. A new theme tune and title sequence was also introduced. The series has never been released on DVD, and although repeats have been very few and far between, the series was repeated in full from 21—24 June 2016 on

. This Series was rebroadcast on

on 2 March 2017, 3 March 2017, 9 March 2017 and 10 March 2017.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knock, The 1994 British television series debuts 2000 British television series endings 1990s British crime drama television series 2000s British crime drama television series British English-language television shows ITV television dramas London Weekend Television shows Television series by ITV Studios Television shows set in London