Flashback: Z Cars

Following the death of television and film writer Troy Kennedy Martin Flashback takes a look at his iconic BBC police drama series Z Cars.

The series was set in the fictional town of Newtown which was on the outskirts of Liverpool – in contrast to most BBC dramas of the day which tended be London of South of England based. The first two seasons of the drama were oddly produced by the BBC’s documentary department rather than its drama department. A similar case happened with Doctor Who which was considered a children’s drama but was made by the corporation’s drama arm and not its children department – something which was an issue for producer Verity Lambert in the serial’s early days. However, before Z Cars was produced by the documentary department it took on a realistic, documentary feel which helped the drama prove quite successful with viewers and shy away from the ‘cosy’ image other cop serials suffered from.

The format of the series was mostly “story of the week” without long running story arcs popular in today’s dramas and mostly without multi-part storylines which is also another feature of modern drama. Each episode would revolve around patrolling officers and the various characters they would encounter in the line of duty. Because of the nature of the storylines the series covered, with the change in society during the 1960s, the series was unpopular with some critics. The most famous characters to feature in the series were Inspector Barlow, played by Stratford Johns, DS Watt, played by Frank Windsor, and ‘Fancy’ Smith played by Brian Blessed. Only one character remained with the series throughout its entire run, Bert Lynch played by James Ellis while actor John Phillips appeared in-frequently throughout its run as DCS Robbins, later Chief Constable.

The first “run” of the drama was between 1962 and 1965 after which the BBC decided to end the series and a spin-off series, Softly Softy was launched. The spin-off focused around the popular characters of Inspector Barlow, DS Watt and Sergeant Blackitt [Robert Keegan]. However, in 1967 the BBC had a change of heart and revived Z Cars as in the format of a twice weekly soap opera and as such much of its original edge was lost. The only actors to return for the revived series were James Ellis and Joseph Brady. In 1970 the series went colour in line with many television shows at the time and in 1971 the format of the series once again changed. The soap opera style format was changed in favour of seasons and 50 minute episodes.

Standard practice in television during the 1960s and 1970s were for episodes of shows to be wiped once copies had been made for oversea’s sales. This practice has resulted in many shows being poorly represented in the archives with some shows having virtually no episodes surviving. Doctor Who has over 100 episodes missing from the archives due to the wiping policy of the time while Midlands soap Crossroads has over 1000 episodes missing. Z Cars also suffers from missing episodes although the show’s original run between 1962 and 1965 has mostly survived. The 1967 revival in the twice weekly format is patchier as more episodes were produced during this period resulting in more episodes to be wiped. From 1967 to 1971 only a handful of episodes from each year and believed to still exist. In all 667 episodes of Z Cars were made during its 15 year run.

The series was the starting ground for many famous actors and actresses who went onto better things. Actor John Thaw who went onto find fame in other crime shows such as The Sweeney and Inspector Morse had a two-year stint in the series as DC Elliot between 1963 and 1964. Leonard Rossiter, perhaps best known for landlord Rigsby in Rising Damp, played DI Bamber for a year in the drama. Stephen Yardley who had regular roles in Secret Army, Howard’s Way, Family Affairs and the XYY Man appeared in the revived version of the show as PC May between 1967 and 1968. Actress Stephanie Turner appeared in the series between 1971 and 1975 as WPC Howarth and was the lead star of another BBC crime series, Juliet Bravo in the 1980s. Juliet Bravo was one of several dramas in the 1980s to raise the profile of high-ranking females within the police force. The Gentle Touch, which ran at the same time as Juliet Bravo, was another such series. John Challis, better known as Boycie in Only Fools and Horses and its spin-off The Green Green Grass, played Sergeant Culshaw between 1975 and 1978. Although Challis is better known for his comedy roles to modern audiences Z Cars was just one of the actors many drama roles as he also appeared in Wish Me Luck, Juliet Bravo, Doctor Who, The Sweeney and Soldier Soldier.

In 1978 the BBC decided to cancel the series following declining ratings and believing the drama had run its course. To end the series Frank Windsor reprised his role as Watt, the first time he had appeared in Z Cars since the show’s original cancellation in 1965. Since that time the actor had reprised the role alongside Stratford Johns in several productions such as Softly Softly. While Windsor was not the only actor to return to the series for its final episodes others who returned did not reprise their original roles. As stated above Z Cars spawned spin-off series Softly Softly which ran until 1969. This was followed up by Softy, Softly: Task Force which ran until 1976 while Stratford Johns hugely popular character of Inspector Barlow was spun-off too Barlow at Large, later just Barlow, which ran between 1971 and 1975. During this time Johns also appeared alongside Frank Windsor in Jack the Ripper and Second Verdict, both times playing their original characters.

Several years after the cancellation of Z Cars ITV launched its own police drama series The Bill and ever since the BBC has been searching for a successful successor to Z Cars to rival the ITV cop series. The corporation has had several attempts at finding a successful returning cop drama but with little success. While forensic dramas such as Silent Witness and Waking the Dead have proved popular with audiences its attempts to launch a “bobby on the beat” style drama have been less so. The late 1990’s saw it launch City Central, a Manchester based series, which had a successful first outing but its second season proved less successful. The early 2000’s saw the corporation return to the setting of Liverpool for Mersey Beat hoping it capitalise on Z Cars successful by using a similar location. While Mersey Beat ran for four years it was eventually axed and was never a huge ratings or critical success. More recently the BBC looked to the Holby City franchise to launch a cop-drama. Holby Blue was a spin-off from Casualty and Holby City and BBC bosses hoped its Holby branding would bring in the viewers. Cameo appearances from Casualty and Holby City characters though only brought short-term ratings and once they had put in their appearances ratings soon dived. Critics also blasted the drama for being yet another Casualty spin-off and for its lack of original story-telling. A third season of Holby Blue was planned by scrapped by the BBC due to poor ratings of the shows extended second season.

In 2000 Z-Cars was voted 63^rd in the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20^th century. Three years later it was voted 40^th greatest TV Show by the readers of the Radio Times. The series was recently covered in a BBC Four documentary looking at cop dramas on the television.