''Cuffs'' is a crime drama series depicting the lives of front-line police officers within

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

and the surrounding area of

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

serving within the fictional South Sussex Police service. The series aired on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

, with episode one first transmitted on 28 October 2015. On 17 December 2015, the day after the final episode, the BBC confirmed that the show had been cancelled after one series in order to "create space for new shows". The announcement was criticised by many of the actors and a petition was created in an attempt to encourage the BBC to create another series. Attempts, however, were unsuccessful.

Synopsis

The series focuses on the personal lives of the characters, against a backdrop of typical incidents faced by modern front-line police officers and more comedic ones such as hooligans harassing

naturists Naturism is a lifestyle of practising non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms a ...

on a nudist beach and reports of 'dog-napping' in a middle-class neighbourhood. The eight-part series was the first police-based drama to be broadcast by the channel since the ''

Holby City ''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama ''Casualty'', and pr ...

'' spin-off, ''

HolbyBlue ''HolbyBlue'' (also known as ''Holby Blue'') was a British police procedural drama series. The show revolves around the daily lives of a number of police officers working at Holby South police station. The cast for series one included Jimmy Akin ...

'' was aired in 2007, and it shared the same eight o'clock slot.

Principal cast

Main characters

* Ashley Walters as PC Ryan Draper – Jake's partner and Tutor Constable. He is a widower and father of a son and daughter. * Jacob Ifan as PC Jake Vickers – the son of Chief Superintendent Robert Vickers. He is gay and is struggling as a new recruit. *

Amanda Abbington Amanda Abbington (born Amanda Jane Smith; 28 February 1974) is an English actress. She is best known for playing Miss Mardle in ''Mr Selfridge'' and Mary Watson in '' Sherlock'', the BBC adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stor ...

as DS Jo Moffat – an investigator who is having an affair with Robert. She is divorced and lives alone with her ageing

German Shepherd The German Shepherd or Alsatian is a German breed of working dog of medium to large size. The breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz using various traditional German herding dogs from 1899. It was originally bred as a herding dog, for he ...

. * Peter Sullivan as Chief Superintendent Robert Vickers – Jake's father. His wife is suffering from cancer. *

Shaun Dooley Shaun Dooley (born 29 March 1974) is an English actor, narrator and voice-over artist. Early life Dooley was born in Barnsley in Yorkshire. He studied at the Arden School of Theatre in Manchester between 1992 and 1995. Career Dooley's fir ...

as DC Carl Hawkins – a junior investigator originally from Yorkshire. He is married with children and trying for another with his wife. *

Paul Ready Paul John Ready (born 1977) is a British actor. In 2013–2014, he played Lee in ''Utopia''. In 2016, he played Kevin in ''Motherland''. In 2018, he played the role of Rob MacDonald in the BBC television series '' Bodyguard'', and Harry Goodsi ...

as DI Felix Kane – a mysterious and stoic senior investigator with a troubled personal life. * Alex Carter as PC Lino Moretti – an out-of-shape cop who is proud of his Italian heritage. He is Donna's partner. *

Eleanor Matsuura Eleanor Matsuura is a British actress best known for her roles as Yumiko in '' The Walking Dead'', Hannah Santo in '' Spooks: The Greater Good'', Bev in ''Utopia'' and as PC Donna Prager in ''Cuffs''. Early life Matsuura was born in Tokyo and r ...

as PC Donna Prager – Lino's partner, and an authorised

Taser A taser is an electroshock weapon used to incapacitate people, allowing them to be approached and handled in an unresisting and thus safe manner. It is sold by Axon, formerly TASER International. It fires two small barbed darts intended to ...

officer.

Supporting characters

*Karen Bryson as Custody Sgt Melanie Pyke *

Bhavna Limbachia Bhavna Jayanty Limbachia (born 21 April 1984) is a British actress. She is known for her roles as Alia Khan in ''Citizen Khan'' and Rana Habeeb in ''Coronation Street''. Career Limbachia studied photography, fashion and textiles at college, t ...

as PC Misha Baig – a Muslim police officer stationed at Brighton Central police station. *

Robbie Gee Robbie Gee (born 24 March 1970) is a British actor, best known for his ''Desmond's'' character "Lee Stanley", for appearing in Guy Ritchie's crime caper '' Snatch'', and for his comedy roles in TV series like ''The Real McCoy'' and ''The Crouc ...

as Inspector Graham Webb, the duty inspector at Brighton Central police station. *Andrew Hawley as Simon Reddington – a lawyer and the

duty solicitor A duty solicitor, duty counsel, or duty lawyer, is a solicitor whose services are available to a person either suspected of, or charged with, a criminal offence free of charge, if that person does not have access to a solicitor of their own and us ...

at Brighton Central police station who has an attraction to Jake. *

Clare Burt Clare Burt is an English actress and singer, best known for her stage work and for her appearance on the television series ''The Bill''. Biography As a child she attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School. Burt is a member of the National Theat ...

as Debbie Vickers – Robert's wife and Jake's mother who is fighting cancer. *Pippa Nixon as Alice Gove – Donna's wife, an artist.

Episodes

Broadcast

Internationally, the series premiered in New Zealand on TV One in January 2016.

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

in Australia later began airing the show in February 2016.

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 4568288 2015 British television series debuts 2015 British television series endings 2010s British crime drama television series 2010s British LGBT-related drama television series 2010s British police procedural television series 2010s British workplace drama television series BBC crime drama television shows English-language television shows Television series by Tiger Aspect Productions Television shows set in Brighton