| The Expert | |
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&sq=&lang=&file=File:The_Expert_film_magazine_cover_(1968-2).jpg) Radio Times cover, June 1968 | |
| Genre | Detective Drama |
| Created by | |
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| Opening theme | Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 13, B. 41, third movement |
| Composer | Antonín Dvořák |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 62 (14 missing) |
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| Running time | 50 minutes |
| Production company | BBC |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC2 |
| Release | 5 July 1968 – 26 November 1976 |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
The Expert is a British television series produced by the BBC between 1968 and 1976. It ran for 62 episodes over four series.
The series starred Marius Goring as Dr. (later Professor) John Hardy, a forensic pathologist based in Warwickshire working for the Home Office. It was essentially a police procedural drama, with Hardy bringing his forensic knowledge to solve various cases. He was sometimes assisted in his work by his wife Jo, a GP, played by Ann Morrish; the cases he investigated were usually in conjunction with detectives Fleming (Victor Winding) and Ashe (Michael Farnsworth) of the Warwickshire police.
The fourth series (from 1976) was produced and transmitted several years after the first three (which were broadcast between 1968 and 1971). Several changes were made to the show, as only Goring returned from the original cast. Hardy was now a widower living in Oxford; the only other regulars in this final batch of shows were his secretary Susan Bartlett (Virginia Stride) and his lab assistant Price (Jeremy Sinden).
The Expert was created and produced by Gerard Glaister. The series was one of the first BBC dramas to be made in colour, and throughout its four series had guest appearances from (among others) John Carson, Peter Copley, Rachel Kempson, Peter Vaughan, Clive Swift, Geoffrey Palmer, Peter Barkworth, Jean Marsh, Ray Brooks, George Sewell, Anthony Valentine, Jeff Shankley, Bernard Lee, Lee Montague, Geoffrey Bayldon, Mike Pratt, Edward Fox, André Morell, Brian Blessed, Nigel Stock, Philip Madoc and Warren Clarke.