Z-Cars or Z Cars (pronounced "zed cars") was a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.

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Quick Facts Z-Cars, Created by ...

Z-Cars
Created by	Troy Kennedy Martin Allan Prior
Starring	James Ellis Brian Blessed Stratford Johns Frank Windsor Jeremy Kemp Joseph Brady Colin Welland
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	12
No. of episodes	801 (462 missing) (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	25 minutes & 45 minutes
Original release
Network	BBC1
Release	2 January 1962 (1962-01-02) – 20 September 1978 (1978-09-20)
Related
Softly, Softly Softly, Softly: Task Force Barlow at Large/Barlow Jack the Ripper Second Verdict

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The series differed sharply from earlier police procedurals. With its less-usual Northern England setting, it injected a new element of harsh realism into the image of the police, which some found unwelcome.

Z-Cars ran for 801 episodes, of which fewer than half have survived. Regular stars included: Stratford Johns (Detective Inspector Barlow), Frank Windsor (Det. Sgt. Watt), James Ellis (Bert Lynch) and Brian Blessed ("Fancy" Smith). Barlow and Watt were later spun into a separate series Softly, Softly.

The title comes from the radio call signs allocated by Lancashire Constabulary. Lancashire police divisions were lettered from north to the south: "A" Division (based in Ulverston) was the detached part of Lancashire at the time around Barrow-in-Furness, "B" Division was Lancaster, and so on (see Home Office radio). The TV series took the non-existent signs Z-Victor 1 and Z-Victor 2. The title does not, as sometimes suggested, come from the cars used, Ford Zephyr and Ford Zodiac. The Zephyr was the standard traffic patrol car used by Lancashire and other police forces, while the Zodiac was only used for specialist tasks such as traffic duty. Also, the term "Z-car" was used by British newspaper publishing companies to refer to any type of police vehicle.

Z Cars as an idea came to creator Troy Kennedy Martin as he listened to police messages on his radio while trying to relieve the boredom of being ill in bed with mumps.^[1] It was set in the fictional Newtown, loosely based on the real-life modern suburb of Kirkby, one of many housing estates that had sprung up across Britain in the post-war years, and its ageing neighbour Seaport.^[2]

The stories revolve around pairs of officers patrolling that week. Riding on changing social attitudes and television, the social realism, with interesting stories, garnered popularity for Z Cars. It was initially somewhat unpopular with real-life police, who disliked the sometimes unsympathetic characterisation of officers. Being set in Northern England helped give Z Cars a regional flavour when most BBC dramas were set in Southern England. It directly challenged the BBC's established police drama Dixon of Dock Green, which at that point had been running for seven years but which some considered 'cosy'.^[3]

The one character present throughout the entire run (though not in every episode) was Bert Lynch, played by James Ellis (though John Phillips as Det. Chief Supt. Robins reappeared sporadically during the show's run – by the end of the series he had become Chief Constable). Other characters in the early days were Stratford Johns (Det. Chief Inspector Barlow), Frank Windsor (Det. Sgt. Watt), Robert Keegan (Sgt. Blackitt), Joseph Brady (PC "Jock" Weir), Brian Blessed ("Fancy" Smith) and Jeremy Kemp (Bob Steele). Also in 1960s episodes as David Graham was Colin Welland, later a screenwriter. Other British actors who played regular roles in the early years included Joss Ackland. Although he played no regular role in the series, future Monkee Davy Jones appeared in three episodes,^[vague] and 1963 saw two future well-known faces join the regulars - Leonard Rossiter played DI Bamber in eight episodes and John Thaw, later known for his roles in The Sweeney and Inspector Morse, appeared in four as a detective constable who had to leave the force because he had a "glass head" – he could not drink alcohol when socialising and mixing with the criminal fraternity, very much part of a detective's job.

Z-Cars ran for 801 episodes.

The original run ended in 1965; Barlow, Watt and Blackitt were spun off into a new series Softly, Softly. When the BBC was looking for a twice-weekly show to replace a series of failed 'soaps' (one example being United!), Z Cars was revived. The revival was produced by the BBC's serials department in a twice-weekly soap opera format of 25-minute episodes, and only James Ellis and Joseph Brady remained from the original show's run. It was shown from March 1967, both 25-minute segments each week comprising one story.

It ran like this until the episode "Kid's Stuff" (broadcast on 30 March 1971), shown as a single 50-minute episode for the week, proved the longer format would still work. Thereafter, Z Cars was shown in alternating spells of either two × 25 minute episodes or the single 50-minute episode each week over the next 16 months. This arrangement ended with the showing of the final two-parter, "Breakage" (Series 6, parts 74 and 75, on 21 and 22 August 1972 respectively), after which the series returned permanently to a regular pattern of one 50-minute episode per week.^[4]

The Z-Cars theme tune was arranged by Fritz Spiegl^[7] and his then wife, composer Bridget Fry, from the traditional Liverpool folk song "Johnny Todd".^[7] It was released on record in several versions in 1962. Johnny Keating's version (Piccadilly Records, 7N.35032) sold the best, reaching No. 8 on the Record Retailer chart and as high as No. 5 on some UK charts, whilst the Norrie Paramor Orchestra's version, on Columbia DB 4789, peaked at No. 33. A vocal version of the theme, using the original ballad's words, was released by cast member James Ellis on Philips Records PB 1230; this missed the charts.^{[8][citation needed]}

The song in Spiegl and Fry's arrangement is used as an anthem by English football clubs Everton and Watford, playing as the teams enter the pitch for their home games, at Goodison Park and Vicarage Road respectively.^[9][10] It is also used for similar purposes at the Borough Park home of Workington A.F.C.^[11]

The tune has also been used as music for the hymn "Father, Hear the Prayer We Offer".^[12]

Softly, Softly, a 1965 spin-off, focused on the regional crime squad, and ran until 1969, when it was again revised and became Softly, Softly: Task Force, running until 1976. The character of Barlow (Stratford Johns) was one of the best-known figures in British television in the 1960s and 1970s. He was given several seasons of his own solo series, Barlow at Large (later Barlow) which ran from 1971 to 1975. Barlow joined Watt (Frank Windsor) for the 1973 serial Jack the Ripper. The serial's success led to a further spin-off entitled Second Verdict in which Barlow and Watt looked into unsolved cases and unsafe convictions.

Windsor made a final appearance as Watt in the last episode of Z-Cars, "Pressure", in September 1978, with Robins (John Phillips), the detective chief superintendent from the original series who had risen to chief constable. Jeremy Kemp, Brian Blessed, Joseph Brady and Colin Welland also appeared, though not as their original characters.

In a 2000 poll to find the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th century conducted by the British Film Institute, Z-Cars was voted 63rd.^[13] It was also included in television critic Alison Graham's alphabetical list of 40 "all-time great" TV shows published in Radio Times in August 2003.^[14]

• Z-car (disambiguation)