Waterfront Beat is a BBC television police procedural drama series, broadcast between 6 January 1990 and 20 February 1991. The series follows the work of a group of police detectives stationed in the Liverpool docks. The series was created by writer Phil Redmond, famed for his work on Channel 4 soap Brookside.[1] The series was highly regarded as the BBC's first attempt to rival The Bill, following a similar weekly format to the ITV counterpart. A total of sixteen episodes were broadcast over the course of two series. The programme featured a large ensemble cast, with John Ashton, Rupert Frazer, Geoffrey Leesley, Denis Lill and Brian McCardie leading the cast throughout both series.[2]
| Waterfront Beat | |
|---|---|
 Title card | |
| Genre | Police procedural |
| Created by | Phil Redmond |
| Written by | Phil Redmond Andy Lynch |
| Directed by | Various |
| Starring | John Ashton Rupert Frazer Geoffrey Leesley Denis Lill Brian McCardie Helena Little Stuart Golland Jane Hazlegrove Bruce Alexander Ray Polhill Damien Walker |
| Theme music composer | Steve Wright |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 16 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producer | Phil Redmond |
| Production locations | Liverpool, England |
| Cinematography | Graham Brown |
| Running time | 50 minutes |
| Production company | BBC Studios |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC1 |
| Release | 6 January 1990 – 20 February 1991 |
BBC executives stated that the series would "look at the way one non-metropolitan, urban police force comes to terms with economic regeneration by reorganising its City Division, in turn creating a separate Inner City Waterfront Division", and that the series would explore "aspects of police work not normally featured and disabuse us of the notion that TV crime is always cracked in 50 minutes."[3] However, despite initial acclaim, Waterfront Beat was axed after just two series. The series has never officially been released on DVD.[4]
Cast
edit- John Ashton as Detective Chief Supt. Don Henderson (Series 1—2)
- Geoffrey Leesley as Det. Supt. Frank Mathews (Series 1—2)
- Bruce Alexander as Chief Supt. Alan Briscoe (Series 1—2)
- Rupert Frazer as Supt. Peter Fallows (Series 1—2)
- Denis Lill as Assistant Chief Constable Williams (Series 1—2)
- Roger Walker as DI Cyril Jacobs (Series 2)
- Mark Moraghan as DS 'Macker' McVay (Series 1—2)
- Owen Teale as DS Mike McCarthy (Series 1)
- Eve Bland as WDS Jackie Byrnes (Series 1—2)
- Helena Little as WDC Jane Long (Series 1—2)
- Stuart Golland as Sgt. Trevor Simon (Series 1—2)
- Brian McCardie as PC Ronnie Barker (Series 1—2)
- Gordon Cameron as PC Jeff Morgan (Series 1—2)
- Ray Polhill as PC 'Jacko' Jackbridge (Series 1—2)
- Philip Middlemiss as PC Barry Smith (Series 1)
- Richard Good as PC Bob 'Snake' Nelson (Series 2)
- Jane Hazlegrove as WPC Madeline Forrest (Series 1—2)
- Damien Walker as Tony Henderson (Series 1—2)
- Tommy Boyle as Denny Hagland (Series 1—2)
- Martin Matthews as Brian Dawes (Series 1—2)
- Denise Stephenson as June Henderson (Series 1)
- Gillian Kearney as Helen Collins (Series 2)
Episodes
editSeries 1 (1990)
edit| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | British air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Day Zero" | Richard Standeven | Phil Redmond | 6 January 1990 | |
|
Stolen cars and a murder inquiry are the least of problems for the new Divisional Commander, Don Henderson, who arrives on his first day at the unit to find that not only is his new office out of action, but that the whole building is under refurbishment. | |||||
| 2 | "Hard Cheese" | Romey Allison | Phil Redmond | 13 January 1990 | |
|
PC Barker discovers his first body, and deals with a hijack at a bio-engineering factory. Henderson gets attacked across the conference room table, then ends up in a siege when he takes his wife out for lunch. | |||||
| 3 | "Wild Things" | Ken Horn | Phil Redmond | 20 January 1990 | |
|
Henderson locks horns with ACC Williams, and Mike and Jane hunt a gang of sheep rustlers. Ronnie gets his first arrest and leaves Smithy feeling sheepish. | |||||
| 4 | "Tied Up" | Ken Horn | Phil Redmond | 27 January 1990 | |
|
The Police Underwater Recovery Team investigate after a motor cruiser is almost hit by bin bags thrown from a bridge, causing further problems for Frank, Mike and Jane. As the stolen car racket continues; Ronnie is worried when he realises his new bike is disappearing bit by bit. | |||||
| 5 | "Under the Knuckle" | Richard Bramall | Phil Redmond | 3 February 1990 | |
|
A fraud squad raid hits Fallows and McCarthy. Henderson receives attention from the media, while Smithy ends up paying too much attention to Madeline. | |||||
| 6 | "Big Fish" | Ken Horn | Phil Redmond | 10 February 1990 | |
|
Ronnie is injured in the line of duty. Don and June have a dinner date with the Fallows; and Mike, Jane and Frank catch a big fish in their net. | |||||
| 7 | "Covert Operations" | Richard Standeven | Phil Redmond | 17 February 1990 | |
|
Don avoids an important meeting with ACC Williams to meet up with the Russians. Frank is forced to watch Hagland in the absence of Mike and Jane, who have the wine store robbers under surveillance in the Lake District. | |||||
| 8 | "Homeboy" | Richard Bramall | Phil Redmond | 24 February 1990 | |
|
Don moves house with June and finds a new home for his division. Ronnie is excited about his first appearance in court, and Madeline acts as a decoy in an attempt to identify the skip murderer. | |||||
Series 2 (1991)
edit| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | British air date[5] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Pirates" | Robert Gabriel | Phil Redmond | 2 January 1991 | |
|
The division are kept busy by a gang of pirates operating on the river, and Ronnie finds himself in engaged in the hot pursuit of a potentially volatile suspect. | |||||
| 2 | "Microlights" | A.J. Quinn | Phil Redmond | 9 January 1991 | |
|
An old crime is given a new twist when a group of armed robbers take to the air. | |||||
| 3 | "Repossessions" | Chris Lovett | Andy Lynch | 16 January 1991 | |
|
Ronnie tries to crack a mortgage mystery. | |||||
| 4 | "Stake Out" | Robert Gabriel | Andy Lynch | 23 January 1991 | |
|
The division are in shock when the bin bag murders turn up quite a different sort of body. | |||||
| 5 | "EPOS" | A.J. Quinn | Phil Redmond | 30 January 1991 | |
|
An armed robbery takes place at a DIY store where the fraud squad have a surveillance operation running, which results in members of the division going undercover to catch the perpetrators. Ronnie unexpectedly loses his hair. | |||||
| 6 | "Pickup" | Brian Morgan | Phil Redmond | 6 February 1991 | |
|
The division investigate when a young girl's body is washed up on a beach. WDC Long is volunteered to accompany DS Matthews to Rhodes, and Ronnie infiltrates a racist gang to investigate a number of attacks on a newsagent. | |||||
| 7 | "Acid Ship" | Chris Lovett | Andy Lynch | 13 February 1991 | |
|
A beach murder leads Jackie and Jane to an offshore acid party, leading the drugs squad to go partying undercover for a raid, but things don't go according to plan. Ronnie is finding the pressure too great after infiltrating a gang of right-wing extremists. | |||||
| 8 | "Dilemma" | A.J. Quinn | Phil Redmond | 20 February 1991 | |
|
The division are pleased with an important breakthrough in the bin-bag murders. DS McVay has a theory about stolen corpses, and Ronnie confronts the racists. | |||||
References
edit- ^ Scouse sultan of soap, Andy Beckett, The Independent, 20 May 1995
- ^ "Waterfront Beat [24/02/90] (1990)". bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on 26 April 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ TV.com. "Waterfront Beat". tv.com. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ "Waterfront Beat on DVD at TVShowsOnDVD.com". tvshowsondvd.com. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ "Search Results – BBC Genome". BBC. Retrieved 29 April 2017.