Yesterday ITV3 did a public vote on what they consider to be the best cop shows. In a past show Morse won the day, but if I remember on this occassion it finished 4th. Lewis also made the list, but not as high up.
The one thing I didn't understand from the 60s and early 70s era was that both Randall And Hopkirk and Jason King scraped into the top 50, yet The Saint and The Avengers didn't make the list at all. I also noted that while Dixon Of Dock Green (the series inspired by The Blue Lamp) also scraped through, there was no place for Z-Cars.
It was nice to see Jill Gascoine's The Gentle Touch and Juliet Bravo also make the list at about halfway. Both shows paved the way for Prime Suspect, showing women in high powered police jobs. The woman, who Helen Mirren, based her Jane Tennison role on said Jill as Inspector Maggie Forbes was accurtate in her potrayel of a widowed detective with a teenage son. PS though faring much better, wasn't as high up the list as I expected. The Sweeney with John Thaw, surprisingly only reached 10th place. David Jason's A Touch Of Frost was slightly ahead of TS
Among U.S made shows Chips was surprisingly IMO highly on the list with Starsky And Hutch, Kojack and in particular Cagney And Lacey faring well.
No for the top 3. Midsomer Murders was 3rd, with Life From Mars 2nd. I gather there is an American version of the show, instead of importing the British version. It's about a modern day dectective, who after an accident finds himself in the 1970s, at odds with a Detective Inspector of the ear, clearly inspired by John Thaw in The Sweeney.
In first place was a surprise, because while it was a UK hit, it never made the States. However, 70s show The Professionals is enjoying a succesful rerun on UK tv, playing to at least two new generations. The show was partly inspired by
Starsky And Hutch, in the sense it has a buddy, buddy theme. However, no disrespect to SAH, IMO TP is a far better show with better actors.
Anthony Andrews, an actor with great potential, was signed up to appear with Martin Shaw as Bodie and Doyle, but it wasn't working, so Anthony was reluctantly let go. Enter Lewis Collins, who sparked off brilliantly with Shaw. They called Collins a personality actor and Shaw classically trained and that this worked in their favour. The one thing that disappointed me, regarding this doc. no mention was made of Gordon Jackson, who was the star name of TP, playing the hugely impressive boss of CI5, George Cowley, in his own job every bit as powerful as M in the Bond films. He was hard, but fair with liberal leanings, which were uncommon in what was regarded as a right wing institution. He backed his men, Bodie and Doyle to the hilt, plus the fact he was still prepared to work in the field alongside younger employees, holding his own. the more sensitive Ray Doyle was an ex Police Constable, who applied and got a job with CI5, while the slightly darker William Bodie came form the elite army unit The SAS, who also served as a private soldier in places like Africa.
I just found out TP did get an American showing. Here's the U.S trailer
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