John Woodvine

Acting

John Woodvine

Born — Died

1929-07-21 — 2025-10-06

Place of birth

Tyne Dock, South Shields, County Durham, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

100 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.   John Woodvine (1929-2025) was an English stage and screen actor who appeared in more than 70 theatre productions, as well as a similar number of television and film roles. Description above from the Wikipedia article John Woodvine licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known for

Midsomer Murders poster
7.5

The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.

Midsomer Murders

1997

Doctor Who poster
7.9

The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.

Doctor Who

1963

Casualty poster
6.2

Drama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department, charting the ups and downs in their personal and professional lives.

Casualty

1986

The Crown poster
8.2

The gripping, decades-spanning inside story of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Prime Ministers who shaped Britain's post-war destiny. The Crown tells the inside story of two of the most famous addresses in the world – Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street – and the intrigues, love lives and machinations behind the great events that shaped the second half of the 20th century. Two houses, two courts, one Crown.

The Crown

2016

Play for Today poster
6.6

Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.

Play for Today

1970

Shameless poster
7.6

The story of a young group of siblings pretty much abandoned by their parents, surviving by their wits - and humor - on a rough Manchester council estate. Whilst they won't admit it, they need help and find it in Steve, a young middle class lad who falls for Fiona, the oldest sibling, and increasingly finds himself drawn to this unconventional and unique family. Anarchic family life seen through the eyes of an exceptionally bright fifteen year old, who struggles to come of age in the context of his belligerent father, closeted brother, psychotic sister and internet porn star neighbors.

Shameless

2004

Film credits

2010s · 5 titles

2000s · 10 titles

Miss Potter poster
6.7

Beatrix Potter, the author of the beloved children's book "The Tale of Peter Rabbit", struggles for love, happiness and success.

Miss Potter

2006

Vanity Fair poster
5.8

In early 19th century England, orphaned Becky Sharp defies her poverty-stricken background and ascends the social ladder alongside her best friend.

Vanity Fair

2004

The Other Boleyn Girl poster
7.1

Based on the controversial novel by Philippa Gregory, "The Other Boleyn Girl" is a fictionalised account of the life of Lady Mary Boleyn who becomes mistress to England's king, Henry VIII, before being ousted by her younger sister, Anne. Mary leaves the Court to marry a commoner, but returns when Anne embarks on a reckless policy to save herself from ruin.

The Other Boleyn Girl

2003

The Trial of Tony Blair poster
6.0

Biting political satire starring Robert Lindsay as a beleaguered Tony Blair, who stubbornly refuses to see the danger he faces from a Special Tribunal on Iraq that has been set up to investigate war crimes

The Trial of Tony Blair

2007

Hamlet poster
7.3

David Tennant stars in a film of the Royal Shakespeare Company's award-winning production of Shakespeare's great play. Director Gregory Doran's modern-dress production was hailed by the critics as thrilling, fast-moving and, in parts, very funny.

Hamlet

2009

The Secret poster
6.1

A woman is held for ransom by a bitter past acquaintance who threatens to disclose a secret that could destroy her.

The Secret

2002

Beware the Moon: Remembering 'An American Werewolf in London' poster
6.7

Host Paul Davis takes a trip through some of the iconic backdrops of John Landis' 1981 werewolf classic An American Werewolf In London. The original cast and crew tell the story of how the film was made over a quarter of a century ago featuring rare footage and never before seen photos.

Beware the Moon: Remembering 'An American Werewolf in London'

2009

The Falklands Play poster
7.0

The Falklands Play is a dramatic account of the political events leading up to, and including, the 1982 Falklands War. The play was written by Ian Curteis, an experienced writer who had started his television career in drama, but had increasingly come to specialise in dramatic reconstructions of history. It was originally commissioned by the BBC in 1983, for production and broadcast in 1986, but was subsequently shelved by Controller of BBC One Michael Grade due to its alleged pro-Margaret Thatcher stance and jingoistic tone. This prompted a press furore over media bias and censorship.The play was not staged until 2002, when it was broadcast in separate adaptations on BBC Television and Radio.

The Falklands Play

2002

The Midnight Drives poster
NR

A divorcee takes his children on a trip to Cornwall.

The Midnight Drives

2007

Flick poster
4.0

Memphis cop Lieutenant McKenzie is called in to investigate a series of strange deaths and wierd sightings following the resurrection of a murder victim from the 1950s(a local boy) who is brought back to life in modern times and tries to find his teenage sweetheart who is now aged 62 and also to seek revenge for his death.

Flick

2008

1990s · 15 titles

Wuthering Heights poster
6.6

Young orphan Heathcliff is adopted by the wealthy Earnshaw family and moves into their estate, Wuthering Heights. Soon, the new resident falls for his compassionate foster sister, Cathy. The two share a remarkable bond that seems unbreakable until Cathy, feeling the pressure of social convention, suppresses her feelings and marries Edgar Linton, a man of means who befits her stature. Heathcliff vows to win her back.

Wuthering Heights

1992

Fatherland poster
6.3

Fictional account of what might have happened if Hitler had won the war. It is now the 1960s and Germany's war crimes have so far been kept a secret. Hitler wants to talk peace with the US president. An American journalist and a German homicide cop stumble into a plot to destroy all evidence of the genocide.

Fatherland

1994

Persuasion poster
7.2

In early 19th-century England, dire financial straits reacquaint the aristocratic Anne Elliot with her wealthy ex-fiance Frederick Wentworth. The two must choose between either putting the past behind them or listening to their hearts.

Persuasion

1995

Hornblower: The Duchess and the Devil poster
7.2

Acting Lieutenant Hornblower and his crew are captured by the enemy while escorting a Duchess who has secrets of her own.

Hornblower: The Duchess and the Devil

1999

The Trial poster
6.0

Joseph K. awakes one morning, to find two strange men in his room, telling him he has been arrested. Joseph is not told what he is charged with, and despite being "arrested," is allowed to remain free and go to work. But despite the strange nature of his arrest, Joseph soon learns that his trial, however odd, is very real, and tries desperately to spare himself from the court's judgement.

The Trial

1993

A Pinch of Snuff poster
NR

Receiving a tip from his dentist Jack Shorter, policeman Peter Pascoe takes a closer look at the Calliope Kinema Club, a film club notorious for showing adult entertainment movies. Shorter is convinced that one particular scene in a movie he recently saw was too realistic to have been staged with fake blood, but when Pascoe and his bluff superior Andy Dalziel starts investigating, they soon comes across the actress in question, Linda Abbott, who obviously didn't suffer from any harm and assures Pascoe that the concerns are unnecessary.

A Pinch of Snuff

1994

Leon the Pig Farmer poster
5.4

An irreverent comedy is set in motion when Leon Geller, a sensitive Jewish boy from London, accidentally learns that his is the product of artificial insemination.

Leon the Pig Farmer

1993

Who Bombed Birmingham? poster
8.5

Docudrama film exploring the efforts of World in Action researchers Ian MacBride and Chris Mullin in proving that the "Birmingham Six" only admitted to the bombing under extreme duress, and that the five IRA members were in fact responsible for the deadly attacks

Who Bombed Birmingham?

1990

Dragonworld poster
5.2

A young man must risk his life to save his fire-breathing friend from the unscrupulous owner of an amusement park.

Dragonworld

1994

The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship poster
8.1

Based on a Russian folk tale. A proclamation went out through all the land that whosoever could build a flying ship would win the hand of the Tsar's daughter. The youngest son of a simple peasant shows up to claim her, and the dumbfounded Tsar quickly has second thoughts, setting several 'impossible" tasks for 'The Fool of the World' and his remarkable friends.

The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship

1990

No artwork available
NR

An adaptation of the biblical sections of the novel The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.

Incident in Judaea

1991

No artwork available
7.0

Adaptation of Shakespeare's play, presented originally on television for schools in the UK.

Romeo and Juliet

1994

Hilary poster
9.0

A man tells his child an unusual bedtime story.

Hilary

1995

Pirate Prince poster
10.0

Jack Prince, a British renegade, joins a rebellion and becomes one of the most feared pirates in the Caribbean.

Pirate Prince

1991

No artwork available
NR

A father and son set up a firm of bailiffs to seize the property of poll-tax dodgers.

Little Richard Wrecked My Marriage

1992

1980s · 17 titles

An American Werewolf in London poster
7.4

American tourists David and Jack are savagely attacked by an unidentified animal while hiking on the Yorkshire Moors. After retiring to the home of a beautiful nurse to recuperate, David soon begins experiencing disturbing changes to his body and mind.

An American Werewolf in London

1981

Danny the Champion of the World poster
6.2

Somewhere in England, in the Autumn of 1955, a widowed father and his son live an idyllic life together. Only their gas station happens to sit on a piece of land that a local developer wants to buy. And when he won't take no for an answer, and sets government inspectors and social works onto Danny and his father, Danny and his father decide to get even with Hazell and his pheasant- shooting friends in a manner in keeping with their own family tradition.

Danny the Champion of the World

1989

Spaghetti House poster
6.3

Three black militants kidnap the waiters in an Italian restaurant in London. Soon the victims befriend their kidnappers.

Spaghetti House

1982

Glory Enough For All poster
10.0

Glory Enough for All is the 1988 television movie depicting the discovery and isolation of insulin at the University of Toronto by Frederick Banting and Charles Herbert Best. It won the 1989 Gemini award for best miniseries.

Glory Enough For All

1988

Murder with Mirrors poster
6.5

When Miss Jane Marple arrives at palatial Stonygates, one thing is certain. Before there's time to lather a warm scone with marmalade and place a tea cozy, murder most foul is bound to occur.

Murder with Mirrors

1985

Deceptions poster
6.7

Twin sisters -- one a European jet-setter, the other an unhappy New Jersey housewife -- impulsively decide to swap lives and identities for a week, with unforseen results.

Deceptions

1985

The Browning Version poster
6.4

Adaptation of Terence Rattigan's play produced for the BBC in 1985.

The Browning Version

1985

Countdown to War poster
6.8

Based on a play, the story details the dramatic negotiations between UK, France, Poland, Nazi-Germany and USSR from the day Czechoslovakia fell, until Britain's declaration of war on Germany caused by Hitler's invasion of Poland.

Countdown to War

1989

And a Nightingale Sang poster
5.2

Set in working class Newcastle, the Stott family fight their private battles against the backdrop of the conflict of World War II. Helen Stott, over thirty and with a limp, is resigned to being left on the shelf until she meets and falls in love with Norman, a serviceman from London. In contrast, her younger sister Joyce has quite a way with men, and finds herself a little too popular with the troops, especially when her husband pops up on leave from his regiment.

And a Nightingale Sang

1989

The Dog It Was That Died poster
5.0

Rupert Purvis jumps off a bridge onto a dog, causing problems for Blair, his superior at MI5. Blair must convince Hogbin, the agent who's been tailing Purvis, of which side Purvis is really on--once he finds out what it is.

The Dog It Was That Died

1989

Squaring the Circle poster
5.0

An account of how Lech Walesa and the "Solidarity" trade union confronted the might of Communist dictatorship in Poland.

Squaring the Circle

1984

Death Is Part of the Process poster
8.0

South Africa in the 60s. The campaign of sabotage is halted and the arrests continue. The Special Branch obviously have inside Information.

Death Is Part of the Process

1986

Pericles, Prince of Tyre poster
7.5

When Prince Pericles, visiting Antioch, discovers the dreaded answer to King Antiochus's riddle, he flees for his life straight into famine, shipwreck, love, fatherhood, and another shipwreck. He loses his wife and daughter, and doesn't find them again until the story moves us through resurrection, attempted murder, pirates, prostitution, and divine revelation.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre

1984

The Black and Blue Lamp poster
NR

Satirical and surreal play by Arthur Ellis, dealing with the manner in which the British police force has been represented on TV for four decades. In 1949 Tom Riley is arrested for the murder of PC George Dixon. As he awaits interrogation at the station he is mysteriously transported into an episode of The Filth - a 1988 police series where the hard men rule, where he is told by the local CID that he'll be confessing to the murder or else his genitals are getting cut off ! This black comedy questions whether the police have changed or is it the way film and television present them.

The Black and Blue Lamp

1988

A Month in the Country poster
NR

Ivan Turgenev's comedy features an attractive woman approaching middle age. At her husband's country estate, with an admirer in constant attendance, she loses her heart (and her common sense) to her ward's handsome tutor.

A Month in the Country

1985

The Marlowe Inquest poster
1.0

In an unscripted inquest, three practicing barristers interrogate actors portraying relevant figures of the 16th century in order to determine what really happened to the playwright and poet, Christopher Marlowe.

The Marlowe Inquest

1986

Duke Bluebeard's Castle poster
7.3

Judith arrives at Bluebeard's dark castle hoping her love can convince him to reveal the secrets behind the locked interior doors.

Duke Bluebeard's Castle

1989

1970s · 10 titles

The Devils poster
7.5

In 1634 France, charismatic Father Urbain Grandier becomes the target of a sexually obsessed nun’s witchcraft accusations, which corrupt church and state officials are all too happy to exploit.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The Devils

1971

Young Winston poster
6.2

This historical drama is an account of the early life of British politician Winston Churchill, including his childhood years, his time as a war correspondent in Africa, and culminating with his first election to Parliament.

Young Winston

1972

Doctor Who: The Armageddon Factor poster
5.5

The final segment of the Key to Time is at the heart of a devastating war between neighbouring planets Atrios and Zeos. The Fourth Doctor discovers that a sinister entity is manipulating events and the cost of obtaining the final segment may be more personal than he imagined.

Doctor Who: The Armageddon Factor

1979

Macbeth poster
7.5

Macbeth is a 1978 videotaped version of Trevor Nunn's Royal Shakespeare Company production of the play by William Shakespeare. Produced by Thames Television, it features Ian McKellen as Macbeth and Judi Dench as Lady Macbeth. The TV version was directed by Philip Casson. The original stage production was performed at The Other Place, the RSC's small studio theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. It had been performed in the round before small audiences, with a bare stage and simple costuming. The recording preserves this style: the actors perform on a circular set and with a mostly black background changes of setting are indicated only by lighting changes.

Macbeth

1979

The Walking Stick poster
7.0

A young woman's highly ordered and structured life is turned upside-down when she meets a handsome stranger at a party. Friendship soon develops into romance and for the first time in her life she is truly happy. This happiness is short lived, however, as little by little she discovers her partner has been lying to her about his past. It is soon revealed that he and his friends have been planning to rob the auction house that she works for and they require her inside knowledge in order to pull off the crime.

The Walking Stick

1970

Every Good Boy Deserves Favour poster
NR

Every Good Boy Deserves Favour is a stage play by Tom Stoppard with music by André Previn. It was first performed in 1977. The play criticizes the Soviet practice of treating political dissidence as a form of mental illness. Its title derives from the popular mnemonic used by music students to remember the notes on the lines of the treble clef. The filming was undertaken at a live performance at Wembley Conference Centre in April 1978, conducted by Previn.

Every Good Boy Deserves Favour

1979

The Baron: Mystery Island poster
7.0

The Baron and Cordelia find themselves held prisoner on a renegade ship up to no good. Two TV episodes of THE BARON edited into a theatrical movie.

The Baron: Mystery Island

1972

Butterflies Don't Count poster
10.0

A young priest is put in an agonising dilemma when he hears a confession of a murderer.

Butterflies Don't Count

1978

Assault on Agathon poster
6.5

CIA team in Greece tries to capture a major drug dealer.

Assault on Agathon

1975

Hamlet poster
8.0

Hamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the Prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.

Hamlet

1970

Series credits

Midsomer Murders poster
7.5

The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.

Midsomer Murders

1997

Midsomer Murders poster
7.5

The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.

Midsomer Murders

1997

Doctor Who poster
7.9

The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.

Doctor Who

1963

Casualty poster
6.2

Drama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department, charting the ups and downs in their personal and professional lives.

Casualty

1986

Casualty poster
6.2

Drama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department, charting the ups and downs in their personal and professional lives.

Casualty

1986

The Crown poster
8.2

The gripping, decades-spanning inside story of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Prime Ministers who shaped Britain's post-war destiny. The Crown tells the inside story of two of the most famous addresses in the world – Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street – and the intrigues, love lives and machinations behind the great events that shaped the second half of the 20th century. Two houses, two courts, one Crown.

The Crown

2016

Play for Today poster
6.6

Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.

Play for Today

1970

Shameless poster
7.6

The story of a young group of siblings pretty much abandoned by their parents, surviving by their wits - and humor - on a rough Manchester council estate. Whilst they won't admit it, they need help and find it in Steve, a young middle class lad who falls for Fiona, the oldest sibling, and increasingly finds himself drawn to this unconventional and unique family. Anarchic family life seen through the eyes of an exceptionally bright fifteen year old, who struggles to come of age in the context of his belligerent father, closeted brother, psychotic sister and internet porn star neighbors.

Shameless

2004

The Avengers poster
7.8

A quirky spy show of the adventures of eccentrically suave British Agent John Steed and his predominantly female partners. Jonathan Steed - an urbane, proper gentleman spy - teams with various assistants throughout the series' run, including Dr. David Keel, Cathy Gale, Emma Peel and Tara King, to repeatedly save the world from diabolical schemes plotted by equally diabolical evil-doers (among them robots and man-eating monsters).

The Avengers

1961

The Saint poster
7.4

Simon Templar is The Saint, a handsome, sophisticated, debonair, modern-day Robin Hood who recovers ill-gotten wealth and redistributes it to those in need.

The Saint

1962

BBC Play of the Month poster
5.2

A BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983.

BBC Play of the Month

1965

BBC Play of the Month poster
5.2

A BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983.

BBC Play of the Month

1965

Vera poster
7.4

A sharp detective with a messy life, DCI Vera Stanhope patrols her “patch” of northeast England, pursuing the truth in cases of murder, kidnapping, and blackmail. Vera is obsessive about her work and faces the world with caustic wit, guile and courage.

Vera

2011

Heartbeat poster
7.1

Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.

Heartbeat

1992

The Wednesday Play poster
5.2

An anthology series of television plays which aired on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured.

The Wednesday Play

1964

Peak Practice poster
6.5

Peak Practice is a British drama series about a GP surgery in Cardale — a small fictional town in the Derbyshire Peak District — and the doctors who worked there. It ran on ITV from 10 May 1993 to 30 January 2002 and was one of their most successful series at the time. It originally starred Kevin Whately as Dr Jack Kerruish, Amanda Burton as Dr Beth Glover and Simon Shepherd as Dr Will Preston, though the roster of doctors would change many times over the course of the series. Cardale was based on the Staffordshire village of Longnor for the final series, but was previously based in the Derbyshire village of Crich, although certain scenes were filmed at other nearby Derbyshire towns and villages, most notably Matlock, Belper and Ashover.

Peak Practice

1993

Z-Cars poster
7.3

Z-Cars or Z Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.

Z-Cars

1962

Z-Cars poster
7.3

Z-Cars or Z Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.

Z-Cars

1962

Z-Cars poster
7.3

Z-Cars or Z Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.

Z-Cars

1962

Screen Two poster
7.1

Series of single made-for-television dramas.

Screen Two

1985

Theatre 625 poster
7.2

Theatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and transmission being in the higher-definition 625-line format, which only BBC2 used at the time.

Theatre 625

1964

Thirty-Minute Theatre poster
4.2

An anthology of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short length, and which therefore attracted many writers who later became well known.

Thirty-Minute Theatre

1965

Playhouse poster
7.0

A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.

Playhouse

1974

Performance poster
6.3

An anthology series of various plays and dramatic performances.

Performance

1991

The Musketeers poster
7.1

Set in 17th century Paris, musketeers Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnan are members of an elite band of soldiers who fight for what is just. They are heroes in the truest and most abiding sense – men that can be trusted and believed in to do the right thing, regardless of personal risk.

The Musketeers

2014

Danger Man poster
7.3

Danger Man is a British television series which was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again between 1964 and 1968. The series featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. Ralph Smart created the programme and wrote many of the scripts. Danger Man was financed by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment.

Danger Man

1960

The Champions poster
6.5

After a plane carrying three Agents crashes in the Himalayas, they are rescued by an advanced civilisation secretly living in Tibet who grant them enhanced versions of the ordinary five senses, and intellectual and physical abilities.

The Champions

1968

ScreenPlay poster
6.0

Screenplay was a drama anthology television series, broadcast on BBC between 1986 and 1993. Numerous episodes were produced including one named "Boswell and Johnson's Tour of the Western Islands" starring Robbie Coltrane as English writer Samuel Johnson who in the autumn of 1773, visits the Hebrides off the north-west coast of Scotland. That episode was directed by John Byrne and co-starred John Sessions and Celia Imrie.

ScreenPlay

1986

Softly, Softly poster
7.5

Softly, Softly is a British television drama series, produced by the BBC and screened on BBC 1 from January 1966. It centred around the work of regional crime squads, plain-clothes CID officers based in the fictional region of Wyvern, supposedly in the Bristol area of England.

Softly, Softly

1966

New Scotland Yard poster
6.3

New Scotland Yard is a police drama series produced by London Weekend Television for ITV from 1972 and 1974. It features the activities of two officers from the Criminal Investigations Department in the Metropolitan Police force headquarters at New Scotland Yard, as they dealt with the assorted villains of the day.

New Scotland Yard

1972

The Chief poster
7.0

The Chief is a British crime drama transmitted on ITV from 20 April 1990 to 16 June 1995. Produced by Anglia Television, it centred on the politics at the top of a typical English police force in its continual battle to solve the problems the times, in this case the fictional Eastland of East Anglia.

The Chief

1990

ITV Play of the Week poster
4.0

A UK anthology series of single plays from major playwrights old and new. It ran from 1955 to 1974, producing about five hundred ninety-minute episodes from Granada Television. Season 1 also incorporates the Plays from the 'H.M. Tennant Globe Theatre' series, some of which were incorporated and labelled in listings as official Play of the Week episodes and some of which were played in place of Play of the Week episodes in alternative ITV regions. All 8 plays have been incorporated into this entry for convenience.

ITV Play of the Week

1955

Return of the Saint poster
7.0

Follow the swashbuckling exploits of Simon Templar, a modern-day Robin Hood of sorts.

Return of the Saint

1978

Strangers poster
7.2

Strangers is a 1978–82 ITV police procedural created and principally written by Murray Smith, based on characters created by Kenneth Royce in his novel series and subsequent 1977–78 television adaptation The XYY Man. Don Henderson and Dennis Blanch reprise their roles, respectively, of Detective Sergeant (DS) George Bulman and Detective Constable (DC) Derek Willis. A group of police officers are brought together from across the country to the north of England. There, the fact that they're not well-known gives them the advantage to infiltrate where a more familiar local detective could not. Despite being based around a comparatively small team of detectives, a regular feature in its early years is that few episodes feature the entire team, with most using just two or three regulars in any major role.

Strangers

1978

Juliet Bravo poster
6.5

Juliet Bravo was a drama that focused on two female police inspectors, neither of whom were called Juliet Bravo! These two inspectors worked in the small fictional town of Hartley, Lancashire. Jean Darblay was on the scene first and had trouble with her sexist colleagues. However she soon managed to gain their trust and prove a woman could be a successful police officer and housewife. Jean's call sign was Juliet Bravo. When she was promoted and moved on she was replaced by Kate Longton who not only took over the patch but also the headaches that went with it.

Juliet Bravo

1980

Softly Softly: Task Force poster
6.0

Softly, Softly: Task Force is a police based drama series which ran on BBC 1 from 1969 to 1976. It was a revamp of Softly, Softly, itself a spin-off from Z-Cars. The change was made partly to coincide with the coming of colour broadcasting to the BBC's main channel BBC1. The programme was due to be called simply Task Force, but reluctant to sacrifice a much-loved brand the BBC compromised this so it became Softly, Softly: Task Force.

Softly Softly: Task Force

1969

Sergeant Cork poster
7.2

Sergeant Cork is a British detective television series which first aired between 1963 and 1968 on ITV. It was a police procedural show that followed the efforts of two police officers and their battle against crime in Victorian London. In all 66 hour-long episodes were aired during the five-year run, although the last episode was not broadcast until January 1968, 16 months after the others. Journalist Tom Sutcliffe has credited it as a first example of the use of the Victorian-era policeman in a television crime series. A 1969 review in The Age opined that rather than suspense, the strengths of the series were its "excellent period settings and wonderfully thick pea-soupers" which "add up to splendid evocative stuff", as well as the performance of star John Barrie. At no time during the whole series is Sergeant Cork's first name given.

Sergeant Cork

1963

Churchill's People poster
5.0

Churchill's People is a British anthology series based on A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Winston Churchill's four-volume history of Britain and its former colonies. 26 episodes were produced by the BBC and initially broadcast from 30 December 1974 to 23 June 1975.

Churchill's People

1974

The New Statesman poster
7.5

The New Statesman is a British sitcom of the late 1980s and early 1990s satirising the Conservative government of the time.

The New Statesman

1987

Spender poster
7.2

Jimmy Nail plays tough cop Spender, forced to return to his native Newcastle after a failed undercover operation in London. He uses tough and unconventional methods to tackle the criminal underworld, but he must also deal with the friends, enemies and family he left behind, and never expected to return to. Sammy Johnson played Spender's sidekick Stick, while Denise Welch played Spender's wife.

Spender

1991