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| Z-Cars | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | Troy Kennedy Martin Allan Prior |
| Starring | James Ellis Brian Blessed Stratford Johns Frank Windsor Jeremy Kemp Joseph Brady Colin Welland |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 12 |
| No. of episodes | 801 (462 missing) (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 25 minutes & 45 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC1 |
| Release | 2 January 1962 – 20 September 1978 |
| Related | |
| Softly, Softly Softly, Softly: Task Force Barlow at Large/Barlow Jack the Ripper Second Verdict | |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
Z-Cars or Z Cars (pronounced "zed cars") was a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.
The series differed sharply from earlier police procedurals. With its less-usual Northern England setting, it injected a new element of harsh realism into the image of the police, which some found unwelcome.[citation needed]
Z-Cars ran for 801 episodes, of which fewer than half have survived. Regular stars included: Stratford Johns (Detective Inspector Barlow), Frank Windsor (Det. Sgt. Watt), James Ellis (Bert Lynch) and Brian Blessed ("Fancy" Smith). Barlow and Watt were later spun into a separate series Softly, Softly.