The Cops (British TV Series)
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''The Cops'' is a
British television Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection ...
police procedural The police show, or police crime drama, is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of a police officer or department as the protagonist(s), as contrasted with other genres that focus on eith ...
drama series created by Jimmy Gardner, Robert Jones, and Anita J. Pandolfo, that first broadcast on
BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
on 19 October 1998. Produced by
World Productions World Productions is a British television production company, founded on 20 March 1990 by acclaimed producer Tony Garnett, and owned by ITV plc following a takeover in 2017. History The company's first major series was the police drama '' Betwe ...
, the series follows the lives of one shift of uniform officers based at Christie Road Police Station in the fictional town of Stanton,
Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...
. Billed as another attempt by the
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to rival ''
The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused on ...
'', the series was notable for its documentary-style camerawork and uncompromising portrayal of the police force. Although the series featured a number of notable actors across three series,
Katy Cavanagh Kathryn Sarah Collins Jupe (born 12 December 1973), known professionally as Katy Cavanagh, is an English actress. She is known for portraying the role of Julie Carp in the ITV soap opera '' Coronation Street'' from 2008 to 2015. She also had reg ...
, Rob Dixon, and
John Henshaw John Joseph Henshaw (born August 1950) is a British actor, best known for his roles as Ken Dixon the landlord in ''Early Doors'', Wilf Bradshaw in ''Born and Bred'' and PC Roy Bramwell in '' The Cops.'' Often associated with characters who are ...
remained as the principal cast throughout. The series was primarily filmed in
Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...
, Greater Manchester. The first series was so controversial in its depiction of the police force that official police advice was withdrawn before the second series went into production. A total of twenty-four episodes were broadcast across three series, although the third series saw a slight change in the series format, featuring three two-part episodes each loosely tied together with an ongoing story arc. Although the second series attracted strong viewing figures and critical acclaim, resulting in the commission of a third series, creator Robert Jones later confirmed that the third series was written as a way of 'bringing ''The Cops'' to a close', with the final episode broadcast on 11 April 2001. The first series was released on VHS on 24 January 2000, available as four individual volumes or as a complete box set. Both the second and third series remain commercially unreleased. All three series received a single re-run on
UKTV Drama Alibi is a British pay television channel that was launched on 1 November 1997 as UK Arena. It was renamed UK Drama in 2000, and then UKTV Drama in 2004, and assumed its current name on 7 October 2008. History The channel originally launched ...
in the early 2000s, although have not been repeated since.


Reception

The programme won back-to-back
British Academy Television Awards The BAFTA TV Awards, or British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the BAFTA. They have been awarded annually since 1955. Background The first-ever Awards, given in 1955, consisted of six categories. Until ...
in the Best Drama Series category in 1999 and 2000, and was nominated for a third time in 2001, narrowly losing out to ''
Clocking Off ''Clocking Off'' is a British television drama series which was broadcast on BBC One for four series from 2000 to 2003. It was produced for the BBC by the independent Red Production Company, and created by Paul Abbott. It was effectively an ant ...
''. Gordon Beverage, writing for the official 2000 BAFTA magazine, wrote; "All it took was a line of coke and the nation was hooked. It was a masterstroke from one of British television’s most successful directors, but then that’s what we’ve come to expect from
Tony Garnett Tony Garnett (3 April 1936 – 12 January 2020) was a British film and television producer, and actor. Best known for his thirteen-year association with director Ken Loach, his work as a producer continued into the 21st century. Early life and ...
." "Who else would have the nerve and ingenuity to kick-off a new police drama with a WPC snorting Class A in a toilet cubicle? ''
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 ...
'' it definitely isn’t, much to the chagrin of the duty office, not to mention the numerous members of the force who had hoped for something a little less provocative with ''The Cops''. But pulling punches is not Tony’s style." Critical reception was also extremely positive, with Mark Walker for
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
writing; "It's grim up North for the cops in ''The Cops''.
Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...
,
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
(
sic The Latin adverb ''sic'' (; "thus", "just as"; in full: , "thus was it written") inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any e ...
) doubles for the fictional Northern town of Stanton; Bolton's not such a bad place in reality, but here it looks like war-torn
Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
. Unlike their soft Southern counterparts, the cops in Stanton swear copiously, get involved in fistfights and generally behave badly. Little wonder when you contemplate the grim reality of their daily round among all the "dirty, thieving, lying scumbags" they have to deal with." "This is
soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
masquerading as documentary, shot in subjective fly-on-the-wall fashion and with semi-improvised dialogue that enhances the documentary feel. There's no hummable theme tune and every episode leaps without preamble in media res into the thick of the action. The result is a show with all the character-driven tension of a soap combined with the voyeurism and unpredictability of docudrama. It's an original combination that makes for compulsive viewing."


Cast

*
Katy Cavanagh Kathryn Sarah Collins Jupe (born 12 December 1973), known professionally as Katy Cavanagh, is an English actress. She is known for portraying the role of Julie Carp in the ITV soap opera '' Coronation Street'' from 2008 to 2015. She also had reg ...
as PC Mel Draper * Rob Dixon as Sgt. Edward Giffen *
John Henshaw John Joseph Henshaw (born August 1950) is a British actor, best known for his roles as Ken Dixon the landlord in ''Early Doors'', Wilf Bradshaw in ''Born and Bred'' and PC Roy Bramwell in '' The Cops.'' Often associated with characters who are ...
as PC Roy Brammell * Clare McGlinn as PC Natalie Metcalf * Steve Jackson as PC Mike Thompson (Series 1—2) * Jack Mardsen as PC Danny Rylands (Series 1—2) *
Danny Seward Danny Seward is a British television actor and singer-songwriter who was born in Salford, Greater Manchester, England. He started his career at the age of 15 under the tuition of David Johnson at the Oldham Theatre Workshop. He landed his first TV ...
as PC Dean Wishaw *
Parvez Qadir Parvez Qadir is a British actor from Rochdale. He appeared as Jaz in all three series of the BBC television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via ...
as PC Jaz Shundara * Steve Garti as PC Colin Jellicoe * Mark Chatterton as Ch. Insp. Newland *
David Crellin David Crellin (born 1961) is an English actor. Crellin, who was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, is known for roles in ''Emmerdale'' as Billy Hopwood, BBC 2's BAFTA award-winning series '' The Cops'' as Alan Wakefield, and ''Coronation Stree ...
as DS Alan Wakefield *
Ken Kitson Kenneth Kitson (born 1946, Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England) is a British actor who has been active on British television since the early 1970s. After leaving his job as a printer, he trained at East 15 Acting School, and made his scr ...
as Insp. Stowe * Paulette Williams as PC Amanda Kennett (Series 2) * Kitty Simpson as PC Karen McQuire (Series 3) * Michael McNally as PC John Martin (Series 3) *
Sue Cleaver Susan Owen ( Cleaver; born 2 September 1963) is an English actress. She is best known for portraying the role of Eileen Grimshaw on the ITV soap opera, ''Coronation Street'', which she has played since 2000. Early and personal life Cleaver wa ...
as Duty Sgt. Standish (Series 1) *
David Prosho Dave Prosho (born 1965, Leicestershire) is an English actor. He studied drama at University of Winchester (then known as King Alfred's College) on the Drama, Theatre and Television Studies course, from 1983 to 1986. Prosho is best known for hi ...
as Duty Sgt. Michaelson (Series 2—3) * Margaret Blakemore as Cindy, CAD Operator * Mark Benson as SOCO Joe Smail


Episodes


Series 1 (1998)


Series 2 (1999)


Series 3 (2000—2001)


References


External links


''The Cops''
at
World Productions World Productions is a British television production company, founded on 20 March 1990 by acclaimed producer Tony Garnett, and owned by ITV plc following a takeover in 2017. History The company's first major series was the police drama '' Betwe ...

''The Cops''
at the
British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cops, The 1998 British television series debuts 2001 British television series endings 1990s British crime drama television series 1990s British police procedural television series 1990s British workplace drama television series 2000s British crime drama television series 2000s British police procedural television series 2000s British workplace drama television series BBC crime drama television shows English-language television shows Television shows set in Manchester Television series by World Productions