Z Cars

Picture shows: Frank Windsor as DS John Watt and Stratford John as DCI Barlow with James Ellis and Jeremy Kemp in the background. This still was taken on location in 1961 to publicise episode 2, 'The Limping Rabbit' TX 9 January 1962. 

The first episode of Z Cars – broadcast on 2 January 1962 – brought a new type of police drama to British screens. It showed modern police in squad cars – Ford Zephyrs – dealing with the problems of the fictional Lancashire town of Newtown and with their own lives. Influenced by the kitchen sink dramas of the time, it quickly revealed the police were as human as everyone else. The show was created by Troy Kennedy Martin and proved an immediate hit, with viewing figures soon hitting 14 million.

The drama began with a new crime patrol unit put together in response to the murder of a policeman – differentiating it from the cosy world of Dixon of Dock Green and bobbies on the beat. DCI Barlow (Stratford John) recruited DS John Watt (Frank Windsor) to head up the new motorised unit. Together they recruited PCs Smith (Brian Blessed), Weir (Joseph Brady), Lynch (James Ellis) and Steele (Jeremy Kemp) to the two car unit - call sign Z for Zulu. Filmed sequences frequently took the programme out of the studio and served to reinforce the realism.

Z Cars’ popularity was reflected in the pop charts in April 1962, when the theme tune reached number two. The show ran until 1978 and spawned spin-offs Softly, Softly and Softly Softly Task Force. Today it is taken for granted that any police drama will show the tangled lives of the officers, even as they fight crime.