Call the Cops - Z Cars

Series about the history of British TV police dramas looks at Z Cars, which changed not only police drama but British television as a whole when it debuted in the early 1960s. Following neither the theatrical model of the BBC drama department nor the cinematic model of studio feature film, it was something new - live performance, but shot as if it might be documentary. That method impacted on the way both the writers and the performers went about their work, creating an excitement on screen that drew huge audiences. Behind the scenes, the pressure and intensity saw performers such as Alan Stratford Johns tend to egotism and Frank Windsor puncture the tension with constant practical jokes. Interviewees including Brian Blessed, James Ellis, Frank Windsor, Douglas Fielding, original producer David Rose, creator Troy Kennedy Martin and later producer Rockerick Graham discuss both the original run of the show and its return in the late 1960s after a two year hiatus.