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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Television»Drama
    Drama TV Shows - 1950s TV Shows - 1960s TV Shows - 1970s 4 Mins Read

    Dixon Of Dock Green

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    1 9 5 5 – 1 9 7 6 (UK)
    367 x 25/45 minute episodes

    PC George Dixon was the first British copper to walk the beat.

    The character was first introduced in the Rank movie The Blue Lamp (1950) where he was shot dead by Dirk Bogarde after a mere 21 minutes.

    Five years later, on 7 July 1955, Ted Willis revived him and created a series that was to span 21 years and 367 episodes, always opening with Dixon’s matey greeting, “Evenin’ all”.

    It was the first television programme to be based on a film, and after being commissioned to write the initial six-part series, Willis was worried. “I didn’t know how I would be able to find six good stories”, he said. But eventually, he had 250 policemen on his payroll who fed incidents and true stories to him for the scripts.

    The kindly, tea-drinking Dixon (based on a real bobby from Leman Street in London’s East End) reflected the public image of the police at the time. He was the friendly local bobby with a kind word for everyone – There was very little serious crime in Dock Green.

    It would have been wholly inappropriate for George Dixon to rugby-tackle a suspect, spread-eagle him and bellow “you’re nicked” just for riding a bicycle without a rear light . . .

    dixondockgreen3

    Jack Warner made sure all details were authentic – For example, a policeman was not supposed to remove his helmet when entering a house but should take it off when asking an elderly lady about her dog licence (and the helmet had to be held under the arm when addressing a bishop!).

    The emphasis in Dixon of Dock Green was on small everyday police work, not major crimes as is the case with most cop shows today. The debut episode, “PC Crawford’s First Pinch”, was introduced by the Radio Times with the words “Murder cases are not so frequent as some crime writers would have us imagine”.

    Other characters also made the transition from the movie, such as Andy Crawford (later to become a Detective and to marry Dixon’s daughter, Mary), PC “Laudy” Lauderdale and Desk Sergeant Flint who lodged with Dixon’s mother.

    dixon14

    George Dixon was always a benevolent father figure to the local community, and in 1964 was promoted to Sergeant and became desk-bound, too old to pound the beat anymore.

    Jack had the perfect copper’s walk – like a penguin’s – thanks to a back injury sustained while playing a train driver earlier in his career. He finally retired in 1976 as the show seemed out of place now amongst the new breed of TV copper such as The Sweeney.

    Jack Warner died five years later aged 85. His coffin was carried by police officers from Paddington Green – a tribute to the enormous affection in which Jack Warner and George Dixon were, and still are, held – and the show’s theme tune An Ordinary Copper played over the church PA.

    Sadly, the majority of episodes of Dixon of Dock Green were either destroyed or lost and no longer exist.

    PC/Sgt George Dixon 
    Jack Warner
    DS Andy Crawford 

    Peter Byrne
    Mary Dixon/Crawford 

    Billie Whitelaw (1)
    Jeanette Hutchinson (2)
    Anna Dawson (3)
    PC Lauderdale 
    Geoffrey Adams
    Desk Sgt Flint 

    Arthur Rigby
    PC Willis 

    Nicholas Donnelly
    PC Tubb Barrell 

    Neil Wilson
    Sgt Grace Millard 

    Moira Mannion
    Cadet Jamie MacPherson 

    David Webster
    PC Bob Penney 

    Anthony Parker
    WPC Kay Lauderdale 

    Jocelyne Rhodes
    Inspector Cherry 

    Stanley Beard (1)
    Robert Crawdon (2)
    Duffy Clayton 

    Harold Scott
    Johnny Wills 

    Nicholas Donnelly
    Chris Freeman 

    Anne Ridler
    Alex Jones 

    Jan Miller
    PC Jones 

    John Hughes
    Michael Bonnet 

    Paul Elliott
    Jean Bell 

    Patricia Forde
    Bob Cooper 

    Duncan Lamont
    PC Swain 

    Robert Arnold
    Liz Harris 

    Zeph Gladstone
    Shirley Palmer 

    Anne Carroll
    PC Betty Williams 

    Jean Dallas
    PC Burton 

    Peter Thornton
    Det Sgt Harvey 

    Geoffrey Kean
    PC Roberts 

    Geoffrey Kenion
    Inspector Carter 

    Peter Jeffrey
    Ann Foster 

    Pamela Bucher
    Brian Turner 

    Andrew Bradford
    DC Pearson 

    Joe Dunlop
    PC Newton 

    Michael Osborne
    DC Webb 

    Derek Anders
    Sgt. Brewer 

    Gregory de Polney

    Audio

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