King and Castle

King and Castle
GenreCrime drama
Created byIan Kennedy Martin
Written by
  • Ian Kennedy Martin
  • Andy De La Tour
  • Nigel Planer
Starring
Theme music composerSound Lab
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series2
No. of episodes12 (list of episodes)
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox television with "list_episodes" parameter using self-link. See Infobox instructions and MOS:INFOBOXPURPOSE.
Production
Executive producerLloyd Shirley
Producers
  • Chris Burt
  • Peter Duguid
CinematographyPhilip Blowers
Running time60 minutes
Production companyThames Television
Original release
NetworkITV
Release20 August 1985 (1985-08-20) –
14 June 1988 (1988-06-14)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

King and Castle is a British television crime drama series, made by Thames Television and screened on ITV, that first broadcast on 20 August 1985.[1] The series stars Derek Martin as Ronald King, a Detective Sergeant with the Metropolitan Police, who is obliged to leave the force when he is investigated by the anti-corruption squad. His first venture outside of the police involves setting up his own Debt Collection Agency, known as 'The Manor', where he partners with mild-mannered martial arts expert David Castle (Nigel Planer).

Created by Ian Kennedy Martin,[2] who had previously devised The Sweeney for Thames, along with Juliet Bravo and The Chinese Detective for the BBC, King and Castle started out as an episode of Thames' Storyboard, a series of stand-alone dramas intended as potential pilots for series.[3] Described as a combination of the rough-and-tumble of The Sweeney[4] with the knowing wit of Minder,[5] two series of six episodes each followed in 1986 and 1988. In 1986, a paperback tie-in novel was also released to accompany the first series.[6]

The complete series of King and Castle, including the Storyboard pilot, was released on DVD via Network in April 2011 and July 2012 respectively.

  1. ^ Evans, Jeff (2011). The Penguin TV Companion (4th ed.). London: Penguin. p. 532. ISBN 9780241952917.
  2. ^ "King and Castle". Ian Kennedy Martin official website. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  3. ^ "BFI Collections Database". British Film Institute. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  4. ^ Cornell; Day & Topping (1996). The Guinness Book of Classic British TV (2nd ed.). Enfield: Guinness Publishing. p. 397. ISBN 0851126286.
  5. ^ Rogers, Dave (1988). The ITV Encyclopedia of Adventure. London: Boxtree. pp. 297–298. ISBN 1852832177.
  6. ^ "Paperback tie-in book". Trash Fiction. Retrieved 23 April 2017.