''Cribb'' (''Sergeant Cribb'' in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

) is a television police drama, which debuted in 1979 as a 90-minute TV film from

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was its ...

in the United Kingdom. Later, thirteen 50-minute episodes were produced, which ran from 1980 to 1981. Adapted from

Peter Lovesey Peter (Harmer) Lovesey (born 1936), also known by his pen name Peter Lear, is a British writer of historical and contemporary detective novels and short stories. His best-known series characters are Sergeant Cribb, a Victorian-era police detec ...

's Sergeant Cribb

historical mystery The historical mystery or historical whodunit is a subgenre of two literary genres, historical fiction and mystery fiction. These works are set in a time period considered historical from the author's perspective, and the central plot involves th ...

novels and set in Victorian

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

around the time of the

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in the autumn of 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer w ...

murders in 1888,

Alan Dobie Alan Russell Dobie (born 2 June 1932) is an English stage, television and film actor and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Early life and career Dobie was born in Wombwell, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, to George Russ ...

starred as the tough

Detective Sergeant Sergeant ( abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other ...

who worked for the newly formed

Criminal Investigation Department The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is the branch of a police force to which most plainclothes detectives belong in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth nations. A force's CID is distinct from its Special Branch (though officers of b ...

(CID), determined to remove crime from the streets of London using the latest detection methods. The series portrayed life in Victorian England, and the programmes included many real historical events such as the publication of Jerome K. Jerome's ''

Three Men in a Boat ''Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)'',The Penguin edition punctuates the title differently: ''Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog!'' published in 1889, is a humorous account by English writer Jerome K. Jerome of a two ...

'' and the sale of

London Zoo London Zoo, also known as ZSL London Zoo or London Zoological Gardens is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a collection for scientific study. In 1831 or 1832, ...

's famous elephant,

Jumbo Jumbo (about December 25, 1860 – September 15, 1885), also known as Jumbo the Elephant and Jumbo the Circus Elephant, was a 19th-century male African bush elephant born in Sudan. Jumbo was exported to Jardin des Plantes, a zoo in Paris, and t ...

, to

Barnum and Bailey's Circus The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (also known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros., the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Barnum & Bailey, or simply Ringling) is an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Ear ...

. The stories included issues such as bare-knuckle

prize fighting Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (when not lowercase ...

and Irish terrorism. Assisting Cribb was Detective Constable Thackery, played by

William Simons Clifford William Cumberbatch Simons (17 November 1940 – 21 June 2019) was a Welsh-born actor best known for his role as PC Alf Ventress in '' Heartbeat'', a role he played for 18 years, from 1992 to 2010. Early life Simons was born on 17 Nove ...

. The 1979 pilot episode was entitled "Waxwork" and featured

Carol Royle Carol Buchanan Royle (born 10 February 1954) is an English actress. She is best known for playing Jenny Russell in the BBC sitcom '' Life Without George'' (1987—1989) and Lady Patricia Brewster in '' Heartbeat'' (1997—2003). Early life Born ...

and

Susie Blake Susie Blake (born 19 April 1950) is an English television, radio and stage actress. She is best known for her portrayal of the snobbish TV announcer in '' Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV'' and Bev Unwin in ''Coronation Street'', which she playe ...

and was produced and directed by

June Wyndham-Davies June Wyndham Davies (born 27 June 1929) is a British television producer and director. For her work as Co-Producer (with Pippa Cross) of the film ''August'' starring, and directed by Sir Anthony Hopkins, she won the BAFTA Wales award for Best Dram ...

Main cast

as Sergeant Daniel Cribb *

as Constable Edward Thackeray *

David Waller David Waller (27 November 1920 – 23 January 1997) was an English actor best known for his role as Inspector Jowett in the British television series ''Cribb''. He also appeared as Stanley Baldwin in ITV's ''Edward & Mrs Simpson'' (1978), and in ...

as Inspector Jowett

Episodes

Series 1

Series 2

DVD

''Cribb'' is available on Region 2 DVD as a box set, distributed by

Acorn Media UK RLJE International Ltd, d/b/a Acorn DVD, a British company that publishes and distributes DVDs, as well as selling home-video products and streaming videos with a particular focus on British television. History Launched in 1997, Acorn Media U. ...

. The series has been released in Region 1 by BFS Video.

Radio dramatizations

Six of the stories from Series 1 have also been dramatized for radio by Geoffrey M Matthews as part of the BBC ''Saturday Night Theatre'' strand.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0080208
''Cribb'' on DVD Verdict
1970s British crime television series 1970s British drama television series 1970s British mystery television series 1979 British television series debuts 1980s British crime television series 1980s British drama television series 1980s British mystery television series 1981 British television series endings English-language television shows ITV television dramas Television shows produced by Granada Television Television series set in the 1880s Television shows set in London