TV detectives

[antongould]

I don't think Vera is Morse's type (or vice versa indeed.

Could it be that this thread is becoming mildly regionalist with these none too complimentary remarks about Lewis and Vera? At the last census only 38% of us still kept coal in the bath!

[Nick Armstrong]

Could it be that this thread is becoming mildly regionalist with these none too complimentary remarks about Lewis and Vera? At the last census only 38% of us still kept coal in the bath!

[Northender]

Could it be that this thread is becoming mildly regionalist with these none too complimentary remarks about Lewis and Vera? At the last census only 38% of us still kept coal in the bath!

A bath! You've got a bath? That's luxury that is...we keep our coal in the budgie's cage (it's alright, we had to eat the budgie when we ran out of lentils).

[antongould]

Good call Pab - in which case, what about that fine actor Alex Jennings?

I think Dominic West would do an excellent job as Finn - but then who wouldn't he be good as? And he has done Private Passions and so, obviously, has a massive musical hinterland.

[aeolium]

Any 'Z Cars' fans out there?

Not so much the programme, as Stratford Johns' part in it. He was very good in the spin-off series Softly, Softly, too (and in plenty of other roles).

And Barry Foster in Van der Valk cannot go unmentioned - he was a much underrated actor imo.

[amateur51]

Not so much the programme, as Stratford Johns' part in it. He was very good in the spin-off series Softly, Softly, too (and in plenty of other roles).

And Barry Foster in Van der Valk cannot go unmentioned - he was a much underrated actor imo.

Stratford Johns, Frank Windsor, Robert Keegan, that fine Irish actor James Ellis who played Bert Lynch, Brian Blessed, Colin Welland, etc etc. It was a great series, truly ground-breaking re the police and the representation of them on TV, and as aeolium says it lead to some good spin-offs (spins-off?) too.

All I remember of Van der Valk is the theme-tune Eye Level

[salymap]

I think the detective stories of VC Clinton Baddeley, surely an old BBC producer.were on TV years ago and wonder if anyone has memories of them?

I have two of the books, print too small for me now though

[Pegleg]

Z-cars? Blimey, I was still in short trousers when that first hit our TVs in 1962. A great cast and always very gritty, quite a revelation after watching Jack Warner as PC Dixon.

No mention of the "We're the Sweeney son and we ain't had our dinner!" yet. I know, I should shut it.

Not really a detective at all, but as we're reminiscing, what about Callan?

I enjoyed the recent radio4 extra re-broadcast of Brian Cox as the Victorian Edinburgh detective Inspector McLevy. Who needs TV when you have your imagination.

[Nick Armstrong]

Z-cars? Blimey, I was still in short trousers when that first hit our TVs in 1962.

Nappies here!

[Richard Tarleton]

No mention of the "We're the Sweeney son and we ain't had our dinner!" yet. I know, I should shut it.

Pegleg, see #20 and #61. But yes, noone else has picked it up. Created by Ian Kennedy-Martin, whose brother Troy had created (I think) Z Cars, and who wrote later episodes of The Sweeney. It was grittily realistic, not least because they didn't always win.

[Richard Tarleton]

Re The Sweeney - during the Winter of Discontent I was a long-term volunteer at a well-known RSPB nature reserve in East Anglia, living in a derelict caravan near reception. It was a long and frozen winter as some may recall. One weekend a volunteer turned up who was a card-carrying member of the Sweeney. He was a birdwatcher in his spare time to get away from the stress of the job. He dossed in my caravan. He drove - yes, a bronze Ford Granada. I was in the habit of cycling over to a relative's house a few miles away on Saturday nights for a bath and a meal. He lent me the Granada. His one instruction: "Listen, son, don't bend it". I was on eggshells, but...bliss.

[amateur51]

Re The Sweeney - during the Winter of Discontent I was a long-term volunteer at a well-known RSPB nature reserve in East Anglia, living in a derelict caravan near reception. It was a long and frozen winter as some may recall. One weekend a volunteer turned up who was a card-carrying member of the Sweeney. He was a birdwatcher in his spare time to get away from the stress of the job. He dossed in my caravan. He drove - yes, a bronze Ford Granada. I was in the habit of cycling over to a relative's house a few miles away on Saturday nights for a bath and a meal. He lent me the Granada. His one instruction: "Listen, son, don't bend it". I was on eggshells, but...bliss.

[Nick Armstrong]

He drove - yes, a bronze Ford Granada. I was in the habit of cycling over to a relative's house a few miles away on Saturday nights for a bath and a meal. He lent me the Granada. His one instruction: "Listen, son, don't bend it". I was on eggshells, but...bliss.

Did he say it in the full, gravelly John Thaw?

[Pabmusic]

If I've missed them, I apologise, but I thought Dalziel and Pascoe were good (though the series went on too long, so that they became 'multi-purpose stories' in the end). The books are good.

There are several series that have not been filmed. Warren Clarke in younger days would have been excellent as Peter Diamond (Peter Lovesey's curmudgeonly detective, who's crying out for TV treatment).

And then of course there's Matthew Shardlake (C J Sansom). Kenneth Branagh was once tipped to play him.

The series I'd most like to see, though, would be Mike Ripley's Fitzroy Maclean Angel. A contemporary equivalent of the young Denis Waterman would be needed, though.

[Northender]

Not many US series have been mentioned. I used to enjoy 'Hill Street Blues' for its overlapping storylines, but found Columbo's mannerisms irritating and not really relevant to the plot (cf. e.g. Morse, whose prejudice and snobbery often lead him initially to jump to the wrong conclusion).