September 2011 Archives

By Roz Laws

THINK of the archetypal bobby on the beat, and odds are you'll think of PC George Dixon.

Played by veteran actor Jack Warner, Dixon of Dock Green enjoyed a remarkable career and was still to be found behind the desk at the station long after he really should have retired.

In fact, his longevity was even more of a miracle than it appeared. He'd already been dead once.

Dixon first appeared in a 1950 Ealing Studios film, The Blue Lamp, in which he was shot and killed by criminal Tom Riley (played by Dirk Bogarde, no less). But it was decided to resurrect him for a TV series.

And what a series! Dixon started out as the bobby with a heart of gold, a wise widower raising an only daughter, Mary (played first by Billie Whitelaw and later by Jeanette Hutchinson).

After the death of his son in the war, the gentle copper took a paternal interest in young detective Andy Crawford (Peter Byrne), who would go on to marry 23-year-old Mary.

Initially subtitled "Some Stories of a London Policeman", each episode started with Dixon saluting the camera and saying: "Good evening all", changed to just "Evening all" in the 1970s.

Episodes finished with a few words from Dixon on the evils of crime, before wishing viewers "Goodnight, all". At the end of a series, he would tell the audience he was "going on holiday for a few weeks" so that they wouldn't worry about not seeing him around.

It was the most popular police procedural of its day but as the 1970s brought more realistic cop series from both sides of the Atlantic to the British public, Dixon of Dock Green seemed increasingly out of touch with the times.

Writer Ted Willis always maintained that all the stories were based on fact, and that Dixon was an accurate reflection of what goes on in an ordinary police station.

But 1956 episode The Rotten Apple was an exception. PC Tom Carr (Paul Eddington) was found to have been burgling houses while on his beat - and it was one of the few times that Dixon was seen to lose his temper.

He furiously declared that there was nothing worse than "a bent copper", forced Carr to take off the uniform jacket he was "not fit to wear", and then promptly arrested him.

He moved up through the ranks, of course, becoming desk sergeant. But by the final years of the series Warner was getting elderly and looking increasingly implausible even in a desk job.

The actor had increasing difficulty moving about, helped slightly by a treatment involving bee stings, and in the final series, when Warner was 80, Dixon was retired and re-employed as a civilian collator.

At its peak Dixon of Dock Green pulled in close on 14 million viewers and even when it had to go up against the gritter, more realistic Z-Cars, gentle George still attracted more than 11 million fans.

It was briefly revived in 2005 as a radio drama with David Calder as George Dixon, David Tennant as Andy Crawford, and Charlie Brooks as Mary Dixon, and did well enough to warrant a second series.

And here's a final fascinating fact. The Blue Lamp movie was produced by Michael Balcon, a former pupil of George Dixon School in Birmingham, and that's how Britain's most famous bobby got his name!

Downton Abbey convincingly won last night's ratings war against Spooks, by a considerable margin of 9 million to almost 5 million.

And it was probably the better drama - just. Maggie Smith was on fine form as always as the Dowager, and I loved the heartbreaking 'nearly' romances between Bates and Anna and Matthew and Lady Mary.

But Spooks was particuarly good and unusually humorous. When it came to good lines delivered in a dry style, Harry beat the Dowager hands down.

He had at least three corking moments.

"In one particularly dark moment, I actually considered gardening," he said of his enforced leave, before going on to disparage golf (which is the only sensible view to take) and complain about his replacement fiddling with his chair.

"It took me 10 years to get that right," he said. You can forget all your schematics and motion recognition software, the only gadget a spy really needs is a comfy office chair.

Forget immortality, the thing that most amazes me about Torchwood is Captain's Jack's indestructible blue military coat.

What amazing alien fabric is this made of? It really is a coat that can survive anything. In just the last episode, it went through several explosions and bloody encounters without getting ripped or in the least bit dirty. Extraordinary!

The Miracle Day series finale was bonkers but still gripping.

"I still don't get it. The Blessing - what is it?" said Gwen, echoing my thoughts.

Not that we got a coherent explanation from Jack, who waffled on about the 'nothingness', Huon particles, Racnoss energy and an expansion of their hibernation matrix.

Of course! That's what I thought it was all about, too.

My favourite bit was definitely the cat fight between Gwen and Jilly, which ended with the Welsh girl screaming "How much bloody lipstick can you wear?".

Call me shallow and a girlie, but that's what this series has really been about for me. You can leave your morphic polar fields, I was just transfixed by the clothes and make-up.

ITV are considering plans to integrate the 6pm news into an hour-long bulletin featuring both national and regional news.

From what I can gather, this sounds like it would be a real mess. A few top stories from the London studio, then they'd hand over to Birmingham, then back to London and so on.

ITV regional news is bad enough as it is, since they merged the East and West Midlands operations and now try to cover far too wide an area.

No offence to our eastern neighbours, but I really have no interest in things happening in Lincoln. That's not what I call the Midlands.

This latest suggestion would appear to be further eroding the concept of regional news - i bet local stories would be edged out in favour of national ones.

Let's hope ITV don't decide to carry on with this flawed plan.

"Wow, a little emotional," said Turtle at the end of Entourage.

And yes, it was. The very last episode (boo!) seemed far too rushed as they contrived to bring about pat happy endings for everyone - come on, marrying Vince off to someone he'd only known for 24 hours? - but it was still rather good.

I'm glad that Ari and his wife got back together, that Lloyd has been set free to become a great agent and that Turtle is now a millionaire.

The last episode even had the requisite guest cameo that every good drama needs, when Jim from Neighbours, aka Alan Dale, popped up after the credits. Though he failed to do his signature collapsing on the floor with a heart attack.

Entourage rounded off what had been quite an emotional weekend all round, viewing wise.

I found myself tearing up at Doctor Who on Saturday, during brilliantly poignant scenes between Amy and Rory. Rory is really coming into his own in this series, so well done Arthur Darvill.

I admit I also felt rather choked up at The X Factor on Saturday when barmaid Sami Brookes sang.
I know they try to emotionally manipulate viewers and I have become more immune to it. I wasn't in the least bit moved on Sunday when 16-year-old Liverpudlian blonde Amelia Lily was put through. She was pretty and talented but she knew it.

Far more interesting was Sami, who sang One Moment In Time with heartfelt passion and admitted she didn't look like a pop star because she's a size 18. She still charmed the judges. Now she really is what the X Factor is all about.

I give up. The world of reality TV just got beyond bonkers.

A man made mildly famous by a reality show on Channel 4 wins a reality show on Channel 5. Though Paddy Doherty really can't be called a Celebrity, despite his winning Celebrity Big Brother.

He wouldn't have been my choice for a winner. He's a chauvinist - how dare he call his wife 'woman'? - who can hardly string a sentence together and earned money from the nasty pursuit of bare knuckle boxing.

His current media career is all thanks to Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, yet he had the cheek to criticise the show for portraying him in a bad light.

But the really mad thing about this new Big Brother on Channel 5 is that they packed the Celebrity house with non-stars - Bobby Sabel, come on - and left their real celebrity, Pamela Anderson, to go in the normal house.

The new series of Big Brother starts tonight. I can't see Pam sticking around for too long, but it'll certainly be worth tuning in just for her. And to see what freaks they've chosen for this year, of course.

I have to say, I'm rather impressed by the line-up of stars on Strictly Come Dancing.

Unlike Celebrity Big Brother, I've actually heard of almost all of them! Still not quite sure who Chelsee Healey is, other than she is either a bad or pretentious speller, but I don't think she deserved the horrendous outfit the BBC gave her to wear in the promotional shots.

I'm particularly excited at the prospect of Jason Donovan donning the sparkly lycra.

I am also pleased to see so many older contestants. Last year was a brilliant series for the feisty mature woman, as Pamela Stephenson, Felicity Kendal and even Ann Widdecombe proved that turning 60 is no barrier to having fun.

So this time we've got Lulu, Edwina Currie and Anita Dobson, plus Nancy Del'Olio who might be any age from 47 to 53 but who believes she looks 30.

She dresses as if she were a teenager and is likely to be the one flashing the most flesh, even exposing more than Holly Valance if the first BBC photos are anything to go by. Just put it away, Nancy!

On paper, it looked like it ought to be a winner. Combining Simon Cowell with Ant and Dec, plus a £1 million prize - we'd be gripped, surely?

That's clearly what ITV thought when they devoted more than a dozen hours of primetime telly to Red or Black?

But the gamble has failed, badly. I sat through all of the first show on Saturday, in the hope it might get more exciting, and to make sure that that annoying Angel from Big Brother a few years ago didn't get to spin the giant roulette wheel.

She didn't - instead it was a convicted thug, sentenced to five years in prison for assault, who opted for red and got to take home the million. What a worthy winner, eh?

I gather someone won again tonight, though I couldn't be bothered to sit through it all again. It's so drawn out and not at all exciting, despite the big name guest stars, pyrotechnics and efforts of Ant and Dec.

There are too many people involved to get to know any of them and feel we can root for anyone.

And the lack of skill involved means we feel any eventual winner doesn't really deserve the prize.

There need to be a few more tactics and challenges. Even Deal Or No Deal, another game of chance, involves more complex decision making rather than just guessing one of two colours.

And we are given time to learn a little more about the contestant and decide whether we want them to win or not.

It'll be interesting to see whether ITV sticks with the schedules and continues to waste so many hours with more Red Or Black? this week, because I reckon viewing figures will plummet.

It shows that Cowell isn't as amazingly talented as he, and the TV bosses he has deluded, believes.

Maybe next time when he goes 'Hey, I've got this great idea for a telly show!', we won't all blindly believe what Simon says.