Police Woman is an American police procedural television series created by Robert L. Collins starring Angie Dickinson that ran on NBC for four seasons, from September 13, 1974, to March 29, 1978.

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Quick Facts Police Woman, Genre ...

Police Woman
Earl Holliman and Angie Dickinson in a 1975 publicity portrait for the show
Genre	Police procedural
Created by	Robert L. Collins
Starring	Angie Dickinson Earl Holliman Ed Bernard Charles Dierkop
Music by	Morton Stevens
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	91 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	David Gerber
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	48–50 minutes
Production companies	David Gerber Productions Columbia Pictures Television
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 13, 1974 (1974-09-13) – March 29, 1978 (1978-03-29)

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Based on an original screenplay by Lincoln C. Hilburn, the series revolves around Sgt. "Pepper" Anderson (Dickinson), an undercover police officer working for the Criminal Conspiracy Unit of the Los Angeles Police Department. Sergeant William "Bill" Crowley (Earl Holliman) was her immediate superior, and Pete Royster (Charles Dierkop) and Joe Styles (Ed Bernard) were the other half of the undercover team that investigated everything from murders to rape and drug crimes. In many episodes, Pepper went undercover (as a prostitute, nurse, teacher, flight attendant, prison inmate, dancer, waitress, etc.) to get close enough to the suspects to gain valuable information that would lead to their arrest.

Although Dickinson's character was called Pepper, sources differ as to the legal given name of the character. Most sources give the character's legal name as Suzanne. Others give it as Leanne^[1] or Lee Ann (the latter name is mentioned by Crowley in the second-season episode "The Chasers" and by Pepper herself in the first-season episodes "Fish" and "The Stalking of Joey Marr"). The Police Story episode entitled "The Gamble", which serves as a pilot for Police Woman, gives Dickinson's character's name as "Lisa Beaumont", although her character in "The Gamble" is a new officer, whereas on "Police Woman" she is a seasoned detective sergeant. On the Season 1 DVD release of Police Woman, Dickinson states that the producers and she decided not to go with the name Lisa Beaumont when the series first went into production and came up with the name Pepper.

Among the guest stars in the series' 91 episodes were: Edie Adams, Loni Anderson, Diane Baker, Frank Bonner, Rossano Brazzi, Melendy Britt, Rory Calhoun, Dane Clark, Joan Collins, Bob Crane, Patricia Crowley, James Darren, Ruby Dee, Sandra Dee, Danny DeVito, Elinor Donahue, Patty Duke, Geoff Edwards, Sam Elliott, Ned Glass, Audrey Landers, Rhonda Fleming, Erica Hagen, Kevin Hagen, Larry Hagman, Florence Halop, Mark Harmon, Chick Hearn, Robert Horton, Amy Irving, Bayn Johnson, Cheryl Ladd, Fernando Lamas, Barry Livingston, Ida Lupino, Carol Lynley, Monte Markham, Ian McShane, Don Meredith, Donna Mills, Juliet Mills, James Olson, Annette O'Toole, Michael Parks, Lee Paul,^[2] E. J. Peaker, Joanna Pettet, Kathleen Quinlan, Kim Richards, Kyle Richards, Cathy Rigby, Smokey Robinson, Ruth Roman, Tom Rosqui, Ricky Segall, William Shatner, Fay Spain, Michelle Stacy, Laraine Stephens, Philip Michael Thomas, Robert Vaughn, John Vernon, Patrick Wayne, Carole Wells, Adam West, Barry Williams, and Debra Winger.

Police Woman was one of the first hour-long television dramas starring a woman, after Get Christie Love, starring Teresa Graves, which preceded Police Woman by about eight months. Get Christie Love and Police Woman were the first American television shows to focus on female police officers. The syndicated 1957 series Decoy, starring Beverly Garland, was a 30-minute drama.

Dickinson received three Emmy nominations^[9] and a Golden Globe award for the show.

By the last season, Dickinson tired of appearing in scenes "where the phone rings while I'm taking a bath. I always want to look as sexy, beautiful and luscious as I can. But I'd prefer scripts where the sensuality is pouring out naturally for the whole 60 minutes". She, nonetheless, did not expect the show's cancellation in 1978.^[9] Dickinson said in 2019 that she somewhat regrets having done the series, since it left her with little time for other projects.^[10]

While the series never ranked above number 15 for the annual ratings, Police Woman hit number one for the week on two occasions during its first year, also hitting number one in several other countries where the program aired.

Police Woman influenced later shows such as Charlie's Angels, which People in 1978 described as a "three-shaker imitation".^[9] It caused an avalanche of applications for employment from women to police departments around the United States. Sociologists who have in recent years examined the inspiration for long-term female law enforcement officials to adopt this vocation have been surprised by how often Police Woman has been referenced.

President Gerald Ford rescheduled a press conference so as not to delay an episode of Police Woman, reportedly his favorite show.^[9]