Z Cars

TV Series
1962–1978
TV-14
50m

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

410

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

2,509

302

James Ellis, John Slater, and Gary Watson in Z Cars (1962)

Crime Drama

A gritty drama which follows the work of the police force in the fictional town of Newtown in the North of England.A gritty drama which follows the work of the police force in the fictional town of Newtown in the North of England.A gritty drama which follows the work of the police force in the fictional town of Newtown in the North of England.

Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

410

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

2,509

302

Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 2 wins

Episodes799

Browse episodes

TopTop-rated13 seasons16 years

Trivia
The series suffered from the BBC's lack of a proper archiving policy until 1978. It was BBC policy before 1978 to wipe master tapes and reuse them for other programs, hence saving money and storage space. From a full tally of 799 episodes, 466 (broadcast between 1962 and 1974) are thought to no longer exist. Additionally, some colour videotaped editions only survive as monochrome film copies. The final four seasons, broadcast between September 1974 and September 1978, exist in their entirety.

Goofs
While taping 'moving vehicle' shots in studio, as technology was nowhere near as advanced as it is currently, it was so much simpler to use a 'stripped' version of the vehicles involved. Many such were missing their entire front ends and windscreens to facilitate both filming and sound recording. Continuous film was played on the screen behind, to give the impression that the vehicle was actually on the move during recording. Immediately after one such shot, actor Brian Blessed (PC 'Fancy' Smith) stepped out of the Z-car, and, having left his cap on the dashboard, reached in through the vacant windscreen space to retrieve it. Blessed himself spoke of this during a talk show some years later, but apparently neither the film crew nor the director noticed.

Alternate versions
Also available in a computer colorized version.

Connections
Edited into Total Cops (2003)

Soundtracks
Z Cars
("Johnny Todd")
Composed by Bridget Fry
[series theme tune]

User reviews8

Review

Featured review

Huh? the most successful crime series on British TV and no-one's noticed?

Now I realise (finally) how old I am. Here we have the greatest crime serial/series ever screened in the UK, which ran for 667 episodes yet not ONE in 20 million visitors to IMDb has sought to comment on it? If ever the expression "F--- me" had relevance, this is it! (and I apologise for the profanity!)

"Z cars" was simply essential viewing. An innovative crime show like nothing had ever been seen on TV. Hard, raw, how it really WAS for Z-Victor One and two. Why "Z" cars? simple! because the cops drove Ford Zephyrs...at the time probably the quickest of the English sedans. For years, my own father lusted after a Zephyr but died long before he could ever own one. A quarter of a century later, I bought one in Australia for $295 and that car kept us mobile for three years. I called it Z-Victor 3!

"Z Cars" was a demographic of underworld life in the Midlands and the hands-on Police methods used to combat what was seen then as a spiralling crime-wave! Frank Windsor as Detective John Watt, James Ellis as PC Lynch, Brian Blessed as "Fancy" Smith, Jeremy Kemp as PC Bob Steele and Joseph Brady as "Jock" Weir became household names. So too was Stratford Johns as Detective Inspector Charlie Barlow who was so popular, he ended up with his own spin-off series BARLOW AT LARGE.

This was the 60's and I tell you, I wouldn't have missed it for the world!