''Police Surgeon'' is a

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...

made by

ABC Weekend TV ABC Weekend TV was the popular name of the British broadcaster ABC Television Limited, which provided the weekend service in the Midlands and Northern England regions of the Independent Television (ITV) network from 1956 to 1968. It was one ...

and starring

Ian Hendry Ian Mackendrick Hendry (13 January 1931 – 24 December 1984) was a British actor. He worked on several British TV series of the 1960s and 1970s, including the lead in the first series of '' The Avengers'' and '' The Lotus Eaters'', and played ...

as Dr Geoffrey Brent. Its 13 half-hour episodes were broadcast on ITV at 7 pm on Saturday nights from 10 September to 3 December 1960. It is seen as a precursor to the much more famous series '' The Avengers'', although there is no narrative connection.

Episodes

#Easy Money #Under the Influence...? #Lag on the Run #Smash But No Grab #Wilful Neglect #Diplomatic Immunity #A Home of Her Own #You Won't Feel a Thing #Sunday Morning Story #Three's a Crowd #Man Overboard #Operation Mangle #The Bigger They Are

Production

The series was created for ABC by

Sydney Newman Sydney Cecil Newman (April 1, 1917 – October 30, 1997) was a Canadian film and television producer, who played a pioneering role in British television drama from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. After his return to Canada in 1970, Newman w ...

. Most episodes were made at ABC's Didsbury Studios in Manchester, but a few were made at the newly refurbished

Teddington Studios Teddington Studios was a large British television studio in Teddington, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, providing studio facilities for programmes airing on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky1 and others. The complex also prov ...

in London. The series was first broadcast in September 1960 and starred

as a police surgeon who worked for the Metropolitan Police. The series was originally produced by Julian Bond, who was effectively co-creator of the series having had the idea from meeting a GP in the Notting Hill area of London whilst working on another television series. This doctor also worked as a police surgeon and Bond was interested in writing a series of "low key" dramas which would be distinct from the BBC's "police drama" output at that time in the shape of series like ''

Dixon of Dock Green ''Dixon of Dock Green'' was a BBC police procedural television series about daily life at a fictional London police station, with the emphasis on petty crime, successfully controlled through common sense and human understanding. It ran from 19 ...

'', and would deal with "social misfits". Sydney Newman had reservations about this concept but supported the creation of the series and Bond cast Ian Hendry in the lead role. Julian Bond felt uncomfortable as a TV producer, being more interested in the creative side and felt that he was not a robust manager. Leonard White took over as producer on the direction of Sydney Newman. A generous commercial deal had been struck with the police surgeon who was the inspiration for the series and had financial and creative rights in the series, aside from the script writing and just before the first episode was to be transmitted legal action was threatened by this individual, unless he could write the scripts and ABC television's legal department became involved. The series ran for merely 13 episodes and was then cancelled by Sydney Newman. It is possible that the reason for this was the legal and financial disputes surrounding the original concept, as ''The Avengers'' appears to have been devised as a hasty replacement that could also serve as a vehicle for its star, Ian Hendry. When ''Police Surgeon'' was cancelled, Newman took both Hendry and co-star

Ingrid Hafner Ingrid Hafner (13 November 1936 – 20 May 1994) was a British actress, born in London. Her father was Raoul Hafner, an Austrian helicopter pioneer, and her mother Eileen Myra McAdam was a descendant of Scottish-born John Loudon McAdam, the roa ...

to this series, and this may be why it is sometimes mistakenly claimed that ''The Avengers'' was a direct sequel to ''Police Surgeon'', with Hendry playing the same character in both. Although there were similarities, this was in fact not the case. This myth has possibly been encouraged because material relating to ''Police Surgeon'' is scarce, and that the first episode of ''The Avengers'' aired only one month after the final episode of ''Police Surgeon''.

Cast and crew

John Warwick played the regular character of Inspector Langdon, and Hafner played Nurse Gibbs. Guest actors who appeared in ''Police Surgeon'' include

Michael Crawford Michael Patrick Smith, (born 19 January 1942), known professionally as Michael Crawford, is an English tenor, actor and comedian. Crawford is best known for playing both the hapless Frank Spencer in the sitcom '' Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'' a ...

, Bernard Archard, Harry H. Corbett,

Geoffrey Palmer Geoffrey Palmer may refer to: Politicians * Sir Geoffrey Palmer, 1st Baronet (1598–1670), English lawyer and politician *Sir Geoffrey Palmer, 3rd Baronet (1655–1732), English politician, Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicestershire *Geoffrey Pa ...

, and Nigel Stock. Scriptwriters included Julian Bond, who was also story editor and, initially, producer. He was succeeded as producer by Leonard White, who went on to produce ''The Avengers''.

Archival status and availability

Only one episode of the series, "Easy Money", featuring Crawford, is known to exist. This episode was shown as part of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

's '' TV Heaven'' season, introduced by

Frank Muir Frank Herbert Muir (5 February 1920 – 2 January 1998) was an English comedy writer, radio and television personality, and raconteur. His writing and performing partnership with Denis Norden endured for most of their careers. Together they wro ...

, on 28 March 1992 and is included on the season 2 box-set of The Avengers as an extra.

References

External links