Old Favourites

Details of popular series from the past that are currently being reshown:


Dalziel & Pascoe was based on the books by Reginald Hill and first broadcast in March 1996. It was set in Yorkshire about a duo of detectives, the boorish Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel (Warren Clarke) and intellectual Detective Inspector Peter Pascoe (Colin Buchanan). After Recalled to Life and Dialogues of the Dead stories which are directly based on the books, the remainder of Hill's novels were not made into episodes. It was produced by BBC Birmingham to air on BBC1 and ran for twelve series.


Foyle's War is set during, and after, the Second World War in Hastings where Detective Chief Superintendent Foyle (Michael Kitchen) investigating crime and, frequently, the black market. He is assisted by his driver Samantha "Sam" Stewart (Honeysuckle Weeks) and Detective Sergeant Paul Milner (Anthony Howell). Foyle is a quiet, very moral, unassuming man who doggedly pursues his investigation to conclusion. He accepts his role as a policeman to be necessary and important but would prefer to be more directly involved in the war effort. He is assisted by DS Paul Milner who returned to the police after being invalided out of the army when he lost a leg in battle. His wife has difficulty coming to terms with his injury. The third main character is Samantha Stewart who is seconded to be Foyle's driver.


Inspector George Gently stars Martin Shaw as the eponymous inspector with Lee Ingleby as Detective Sergeant John Bacchus. The stories are set in the 1960s and set in Northumberland and County Durham. The stories are based on the books by Alan Hunter. Gently is an old-school detective trying to come to terms with a time when the lines between the police and criminals have become blurred.

Jonathan Creek is a crime mystery series based around a magician's assistant who solves seemingly explicable crimes through logical deduction and his specialised knowledge of illusions. The programme ran from 1997 regularly until 2004 with single episodes in 2009 and 2010. Jonathan is played by Alan Davies and was originally paired with author Maddie Magellan played by Caroline Quentin, then TV presenter Carla Borrego played by Julia Sawalha. Sheridan Smith has also starred in the specials as Joey Ross. Jonathan works for the illusionist Adam Klaus played by Stuart Milligan. The series won the BAFTA for Best Drama Series in 1998. Whilst the crimes being investigated can be quite grim, there is a lot of humour in the show. Guest stars have included Bob Monkhouse, Griff Rhys Jones, Rik Mayall, Jack Dee, Brian Murphy, Maureen Lipman, Bill Bailey and John Bird; although they played the roles straight.

Lewis stars Kevin Whatley plays Inspector Lewis and the much-loved Oxford policeman is parternered by Laurence Fox as his young colleague DS James Hathaway, who understanding with the inspector deepens with every case, while memories of Lewis's wife's sudden death continue to haunt him. Clare Holman plays pathologist Dr Laura Hobson and Rebecca Front is Lewis's boss, Chief Supt Jean Innocent.

Minder first appeared on ITV on 29th October 1979 but mad a return on Channel 5 early in 2009 after a  15 year break. The new show was made by Talkback Thames whilst the previous series were made by Euston Films (in co-operation with Thames Television and, later, Central Television and starred Shane Richie as Archie Daley, nephew of Arthur Daley, and taxi driver Jamie Cartwright played by Lex Shrapnel. This was a revival rather than a remake and the old characters were not recast. The older, more familiar, Minder starred Arthur Cole and Dennis Waterman as Arthur Daley and Terry McCann. Arthur was a dodgy importer-exporter, wholesaler and used-car salesman who needed a minder to keep angry customers and debtors at bay. The minder was Terry who had been a boxer and spent five years in jail for GBH and attempted armed robbery. Terry had an eye for the ladies and drove a white Ford Capri that he bought from "Arfer". Arthur and Terry were members of the Winchester private drinking club run be Dave played by Glynn Edwards. The series used many leading British actors.

New Tricks stars Amanda Redman, Alun Armstrong, James Bolam and Dennis Waterman as Sandra Pulman, Brian "Memory" Lane, Jack Halford and Gerry "Last Man" Standing. The show is about the Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad (UCOS) which is a unit set up by Deputy Assistant Commissioner Robert Strickland (Anthony Calf). The squad is formed of three detectives brought back from retirement by Superintendent Pulman. She has ended up heading the unit as "punishment" by her superiors for making the police service by shooting a dog during an armed raid to rescue a hostage. John Alan "Jack" Halford retired from the police to care for his wife who was involved in a hit and run car incident. Gerald "Gerry" Standing is a jack-the-lad ladies man and has three ex-wives. Brian Lane has a photographic memory and can recall the details of cases going back years. It began as a one-off episode broacast on 27th March 2003.


Pie In The Sky is a light-hearted police drama starring Richard Griffiths and Maggie Steed. It was created by Andrew Payne and originally broadcast on BBC1 from 1994 until 1997. The programme is different in that Detective Inspector Henry Crabbe is close to retirement and has been allowed leave due to a minor injury and because he is under suspicion (wrongly) of taking a bribe. He is still an on-duty policeman who can be called on to investigate crimes but is also free to be the head chef of the Pie In The Sky restaurant set in the fictional town of Middleton in the fictional county of Westershire. His wife is "officially" the owner of the restaurant as he, a serving policeman, cannot be. Henry is a highly intelligent, gentle and thoughtful man of high moral principle and his passion in life is food. His dream is to retire from the police service and run his own restaurant. However, his boss Assistant Chief Constable Freddie Fisher (Malcolm Sinclair) will not allow him to leave and calls upon him whenever he feels the need.

Poirot is an ITV drama series that has been on the air since 8th January 1989 starring David Suchet as the fictional Belgian detective. Apparently David Suchet was recommended for the role by the Christie family after seeing him playing the part of Blott in the TV adaptation of Tom Sharpe's Blott On The Landscape. Suchet read most of Agatha Christie's Poirot novels to prepare himself for the role. It is generally accepted that his portrayal is the most faithful to the books. The series has had a glittering cast that has included Hugh Fraser as the dependable Captain Hastings and Philip Jackson as Chief Inspector Japp and also featured Zoe Wannamaker, Joely Richardson, Samantha Bond, Hermione Norris, Damian Lewis, James Fox, Emily Blunt, Geraldine James, Elliot Gould and Roger Lloyd Pack. The programmes remain faithful to the books and as the themes become darker and more sombre as Poirot becomes older so do they on television.


A Touch Of Frost revolves around DS "Jack" Frost (actually William Edward Frost) (David Jason) based in the fictional town Denton (which although never specified is probably in Oxfordshire). He is a widower addicted to work. He is grumpy and adverse to modern policing methods preferring to rely on his hunches and "gut feeling". He has the grudging admiration of his "boss" Superintendent Norman Mullett (Bruce Alexander). He also breaks the rules when he feels it is necessary and can become too emotionally involved in his cases. On of his tricks is a ring of keys that he has collected over years of service which affords him entrance to premises  when he probably has no right to be there. He likes to be out on the street and has a good instinct for when he is being lied to. He can still be a success with the ladies and is the holder of the George Cross for his intervention at a shooting incident although he put the actual medal into the coffin of a colleague who was shot because he felt the youngster was braver than him. One of the main characters seen throughout the years is DS George Toolan (John Lyons). Other regulars are reporter Sandy Longford (Bill Stewart) and police archivist Ernie Trigg (David Jason's brother Arthur White).

Waking The Dead was crime drama featuring a cold case unit investigating murders that took place years ago and were never solved using new evidence that has come to light as well as contemporary forensic technology. The team is lead by the driven Peter Boyd (Trevor Eve) who is an angry workaholic, with psychological profiler Dr Grace Foley (Sue Johnston) and Spencer Jordan (Wil Jonson). The unit has had three forensic pathologists: Dr Frankie Wharton (Holly Aird), Dr Felix Gibson (Esther Hall) and Dr Eve Lockhart (Tara Fitzgerald). Mel Silver (Claire Goose) was a member of the team for four series and other members were Stella Goodman (Félicité du Jeu), Katrina Howard (Stacey Roca) and Sarah Cavendish (Eva Birthistle). The pilot was aired in September 2000 and was followed by nine series. Each story was split into two hour-long episodes shown on consecutive nights on BBC1. A third series episode won an International Emmy Award in 2004. The programme was also shown on BBC America and UKTV (Australia and New Zealand) and ABC1 Australia. The last episode went out on BBC1 on 11th April 2011.

Wycliffe stars Jack Shepherd as DS Wycliffe who is old school and deeply suspicious of new-fangled policing methods imposed on his windswept Cornish beat. Far from being idyllic Cornwall is alice with crime of all sorts including smuggling and murder. He has two trusted assistants; disillusioned DI Doug Kersey (Jimmy Yuill) and DS Lucy Lane (Helen Masters). Lane is being fast-tracked to greater things but her inexperience is telling. The series was based on the novels of WJ Burley and broadcast by ITV between July 1994 and July 1998. The programme was filmed in Cornwall with a production office in Truro. The series is noted for its picturesque landscapes and for working local themes into the programmes. Filming was carried out on location in Truro, Newquay, Camborne and Penzanze. Wycliffe and his team are responsible for a wide area that frequently takes them away from home. This causes problems for Wycliffe who is a family man married to a school teacher with two teenage children. His fellow officers who are single also find it difficult to form relationships outside their work colleagues. Each 60 minute episode deals with the investigation of a murder and the early episodes were based on the books.