''New Scotland Yard'' is a police drama series produced by

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...

(LWT) for the ITV network between 1972 and 1974. It features the activities of two officers from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

force headquarters at

New Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London' ...

, as they dealt with the assorted villains of the day. The first three series ran from 1972 to 1973 and starred John Woodvine as Det. Chief Supt. John Kingdom and John Carlisle as Det. Inspector, later Det. Sgt., Alan Ward. But the series, scheduled on a Saturday night, failed to match the ratings of its more glamorous midweek sister programme, ''

Special Branch Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and intelligence in British, Commonwealth, Irish, and other police forces. A Special Branch unit acquires and develops intelligence, usu ...

''. The programme was resurrected for a fourth series in 1974, with an all-new cast headed by Michael Turner as Det. Chief Supt. Clay and

Clive Francis Clive Francis (born 26 June 1946) is a British stage, television and film actor. Early life Francis was born in Eastbourne, Sussex. He is the son of actors Raymond Francis and his second wife Margaret Towner. His father played Detective Chief ...

as Det. Sgt. Dexter. LWT were considered to have broken the rules of Saturday night broadcasting by showing a tough police drama in place of entertainment, but it was an inspiration for ''

The Sweeney ''The Sweeney'' is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London. It stars John Thaw as Detective Insp ...

''.http://www.dvdcompare.net/review.php?rid=2707

Dennis Waterman Dennis Waterman (24 February 1948 – 8 May 2022) was an English actor and singer. He was best known for his tough-guy leading roles in television series including ''The Sweeney'', '' Minder'' and '' New Tricks'', singing the theme tunes of th ...

, who went on to play a lead role in ''The Sweeney'', appeared in a 1973 episode of New Scotland Yard called 'My Boy Robby?'. The earlier unrelated ''

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

'' film series (1953–61) was made by Anglo-Amalgamated and was first aired on television by the

American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Calif ...

Main cast members

* John Woodvine as Chief Supt. John Kingdom (series 1–3) * John Carlisle as Det. Inspector, later Det. Sgt., Alan Ward (series 1–3) * Michael Turner as Chief Supt. Clay (series 4) *

as Det. Sgt. Dexter (series 4)

Critical reception

Reviewing the DVD release of series 1,''myReviewer.com'' noted "a fairly hard-hitting police drama even by today's standards"; and ''DVD compare.net'' called it " a fascinating issue-led series that is consistently good."

Episodes

Series 1 (1972)

Series 2 (1972–1973)

Series 3 (1973)

Series 4 (1974)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:New Scotland Yard (TV series) 1970s British drama television series 1972 British television series debuts 1974 British television series endings 1970s British crime television series Television shows set in London Detective television series