z Cars / dixon Memories...

[John Wilson]

Evenin' all....

You may want to move this to the Dixon thread...


Z cars

I can recall John Slater's Det.Sgt. Stone onscreen 'Heart attack' - he was in a reception area (Hotel ?) and covered in sweat he mumbles: 'I'm a Police officer...' next it cut away to another scene

when we returned to Stone a ambulance has arrived & they put him on a strecther & whisk him off...

Next Newtown Nick get a phone call....I think it's Bert Lynch who gets the message & tells Det. Inspr Goss (Derek Waring)

I hope that's accurate...from memory ( sorry I can't recall the episode tile tho')

maybe Det. Sgt. Stone had eaten too much 'Special K' cereal John Slater was always advertising...? ;D

John was apparently really recovering....I can only assume this was an acted performance...whatever he had a break and DID return I'm glad to say

John Slater later sadly died on the same day (I think) as another famous TV Copper John Gregson (Commander George Gideon in 'Gideon's Way') I do recall both were given tributes on the same edition of 'News at Ten'

Later colour Z Cars was still excellent (even if the final series theme arrangement was dreadful)
- Brian Blessed was just "crowing on" about HIS earlier era & alot of incorrect 'Dis-information' re the show's later colour years has been put about since by actors and writers from early on....! (they ought to be arrested ! )

Z Cars memories I have are an episode titled:
'Faces' - Bert Lynch spots a face he recognises from a old Missing Persons poster

'Have You Seen Davy Richards ?' - one of the Detectives has been after this villain for years...it ends up him discovering from a grass that Richards is at the bottom of a disused mine shaft...

'Fatac' - P.C. Quilly (I think) is the lone copper faced with a bad smash up involving a lorry carrying chemicals - the trapped driver speaks with him...after a heroic days work all he gets is a 'Boolc*king' from both Police, Fire Service, & Ambulencemen chiefs alike ...some days you can't win !

John Collin was great as Det. Sgt. Cecil Haggar (crumpled mac long before Columbo got one) - in one they are all looking for a sex killer...Except Cecil Haggar who doggedly goes off on his own after a photopgraphy theft of cameras....and tracks down the guy (who of course turns out to be the sex killer)

The Chief Constable is delighted - warmly shakes Haggar's hand & tells the (Red faced with anger) senior Detectives:
'I told you that's what this case needed...a good old fashioned british Bobby on it...!'

A pleased with himself Cecil Haggar beams... ;D

Derek Waring was good as Det. Inspr Goss, later Tommy Boyle was Madden.

I also recall Dudley Foster was in 'Z cars' circa 1962 for a while...while George Sewell was det, Inspr Brogan circa 1967

Barlow & Watt etc made the show of course...but others later continued the good work long after they went all 'Softly Softly' & 'At Large'...

Dixon:

A very young John Thaw is a bent copper in one where a furious Dixon barks at him:
'Get that uniform off...GET IT OFF'

in a later colour one a guy is gunned down in the street - very realistic (a woman drops her shopping & screams in horror) - this gave lie to the bleat of 'Sweeney' fans that it was so much MORE 'Hard hitting' a police series than dear old 'Dixon of Dock green' ever was...

'Firearms Were Issued' - is one I think BBC still have re an enquiry held at the station after a police shooting clears the Police marksman - such enquiries were standard proceedure yonks ago NOT as the media would have us think only post Stockwell...

I can't recall what episodes these come from but an intro &outro by George Dixon remain clear in my mind...

Intro:
'Evenin' all....you know when you've been on the force as long as I have, you get to thinking you have seen it all...
....BUT you never have...!'

and Outro: (** Names I can't recall so I've inserted two 'Likely sounding lads' ! ;D)

'Well there you are...**Perkins got 18 months while **Stanley went down for three years ! - but the morale here is if you see something you think is 'Dodgy' don't hesitate...phone us !
- A Gang of crooks in jail is worth a hundred false alarms...
....Good night all'

I just wish I could remember the two stories that went in between these !

I look forward to ANY BBC DVD's of both these famous Police Series

[Deleted]

Mar 22, 2012 12:18:10 GMT @John Wilson said:

'Fatac' - P.C. Quilly (I think) is the lone copper faced with a bad smash up involving a lorry carrying chemicals - the trapped driver speaks with him...after a heroic days work all he gets is a 'Boolc*king' from both Police, Fire Service, & Ambulencemen chiefs alike ...some days you can't win !

That sounds identical to an episode of The Bill (with the same title) from around 1990. You might be mixing the two up!?

I loved Sgt. Haggar too. A pity a lot of his episodes are missing. I recall the story he was introduced into the series as well. That era of Z-Cars has effectively been forgotten due to lack of repeats and a focus on the earlier (50 minute) version.

[Deleted]

Then of course there was the famous storyline in which Skinner was murdered and a handful of episodes dealing with the investigation. I think that storyline is still intact. Came as a shock at the time, back in the days when TV shows didn't give you spoilers months before the event which is part of what makes today's TV so lame. The element of surprise. Would like to see that. Bernard Holley's character also met a grisly end I believe but sadly I think that was in 1971, so no chance of seeing that again.

[Deleted]

Glad someone else recalls those incidents too! I remember the shock value of those two characters coming to a sticky end. I'd got used to seeing them regularly and they were quite effective storylines which give the lie to the idea that Z-Cars was always tame in it's later years.

[Deleted]

Sadly, I've never seen those, born too late for that but met quite a few people over the years who recalled them vividly, emphasising the shock factor. The three most recalled "shock" deaths seem to be Toby Wren at the end of Doomwatch series 1, Skinner in Z Cars and Adric in Doctor Who. I do remember seeing the original transmission of Earthshock and Adric's death coming as a surprise... and sad to say, a welcome surprise at that!

Ian Cullen was in it for quite a few years and was very popular so to kill his character off at such a time was a brave bold move that certainly left it's mark. I've seen a handful of 1970 to 1973 episodes and have enjoyed all of them. There was one 2 parter from August or September 1972 - think it was the last two parter in fact - which had a dramatic climax for Quilley that kicked a punch when I saw it a few years ago! Though I'm sure there will be some dull episodes, I can't say I've seen one of Z Cars... I've enjoyed all the ones I've seen - they're compelling, enjoyable and well written hence why I wish the BBC would stop letting them sit there gathering dust in the archive.

[Deleted]

Ah, yes. I remember seeing Toby Wren's death in Doomwatch as well. A real surprise as he was a popular character and I was certain he'd find a way to get out of the situation until the very last minutes!

[andrew stephenson]

The episode with Quilley and the trapped truck driver is entitled "Contact" (2,2,1976).

The episode where Haggar tracks down a murderer is entitled "Hunch" (22,3,1976).

Both still exist in the archives

I've seen just about all the surviving colour episodes of Z CARS (1972-78), DIXON (1970-76) and SOFTLY SOFTLY - TASK FORCE (1969-76)... Many superb episodes in all series, shame their not commercially available.

[Stephen Doran]

Im glad im not the only one who recalls John Slater Advertising Special K! ;D¬ board=general thread=7038 post=69759 time=1332418690]Evenin' all....

You may want to move this to the Dixon thread...


Z cars

I can recall John Slater's Det.Sgt. Stone onscreen 'Heart attack' - he was in a reception area (Hotel ?) and covered in sweat he mumbles: 'I'm a Police officer...' next it cut away to another scene

when we returned to Stone a ambulance has arrived & they put him on a strecther & whisk him off...

Next Newtown Nick get a phone call....I think it's Bert Lynch who gets the message & tells Det. Inspr Goss (Derek Waring)

I hope that's accurate...from memory ( sorry I can't recall the episode tile tho')

maybe Det. Sgt. Stone had eaten too much 'Special K' cereal John Slater was always advertising...? ;D

John was apparently really recovering....I can only assume this was an acted performance...whatever he had a break and DID return I'm glad to say

John Slater later sadly died on the same day (I think) as another famous TV Copper John Gregson (Commander George Gideon in 'Gideon's Way') I do recall both were given tributes on the same edition of 'News at Ten'

Later colour Z Cars was still excellent (even if the final series theme arrangement was dreadful)
- Brian Blessed was just "crowing on" about HIS earlier era & alot of incorrect 'Dis-information' re the show's later colour years has been put about since by actors and writers from early on....! (they ought to be arrested ! )

Z Cars memories I have are an episode titled:
'Faces' - Bert Lynch spots a face he recognises from a old Missing Persons poster

'Have You Seen Davy Richards ?' - one of the Detectives has been after this villain for years...it ends up him discovering from a grass that Richards is at the bottom of a disused mine shaft...

'Fatac' - P.C. Quilly (I think) is the lone copper faced with a bad smash up involving a lorry carrying chemicals - the trapped driver speaks with him...after a heroic days work all he gets is a 'Boolc*king' from both Police, Fire Service, & Ambulencemen chiefs alike ...some days you can't win !

John Collin was great as Det. Sgt. Cecil Haggar (crumpled mac long before Columbo got one) - in one they are all looking for a sex killer...Except Cecil Haggar who doggedly goes off on his own after a photopgraphy theft of cameras....and tracks down the guy (who of course turns out to be the sex killer)

The Chief Constable is delighted - warmly shakes Haggar's hand & tells the (Red faced with anger) senior Detectives:
'I told you that's what this case needed...a good old fashioned british Bobby on it...!'

A pleased with himself Cecil Haggar beams... ;D

Derek Waring was good as Det. Inspr Goss, later Tommy Boyle was Madden.

I also recall Dudley Foster was in 'Z cars' circa 1962 for a while...while George Sewell was det, Inspr Brogan circa 1967

Barlow & Watt etc made the show of course...but others later continued the good work long after they went all 'Softly Softly' & 'At Large'...

Dixon:

A very young John Thaw is a bent copper in one where a furious Dixon barks at him:
'Get that uniform off...GET IT OFF'

in a later colour one a guy is gunned down in the street - very realistic (a woman drops her shopping & screams in horror) - this gave lie to the bleat of 'Sweeney' fans that it was so much MORE 'Hard hitting' a police series than dear old 'Dixon of Dock green' ever was...

'Firearms Were Issued' - is one I think BBC still have re an enquiry held at the station after a police shooting clears the Police marksman - such enquiries were standard proceedure yonks ago NOT as the media would have us think only post Stockwell...

I can't recall what episodes these come from but an intro &outro by George Dixon remain clear in my mind...

Intro:
'Evenin' all....you know when you've been on the force as long as I have, you get to thinking you have seen it all...
....BUT you never have...!'

and Outro: (** Names I can't recall so I've inserted two 'Likely sounding lads' ! ;D)

'Well there you are...**Perkins got 18 months while **Stanley went down for three years ! - but the morale here is if you see something you think is 'Dodgy' don't hesitate...phone us !
- A Gang of crooks in jail is worth a hundred false alarms...
....Good night all'

I just wish I could remember the two stories that went in between these !

I look forward to ANY BBC DVD's of both these famous Police Series [/quote]

[Dean Williams]

Mar 23, 2012 9:22:26 GMT Stephen Doran said:

Dixon:

A very young John Thaw is a bent copper in one where a furious Dixon barks at him:
'Get that uniform off...GET IT OFF'

That's Paul Eddington in 'The Rotten Apple'.