Article: Taking police from A to Z

TO a tune based around the folk song Johnny Todd, Z Cars burst onto TV screens on January 2, 1962, and changed the view of millions towards the police for ever. Initially running as a live BBC show for four years, a staggering 637 episodes followed and set a weekly crime drama record for British television.

Troy Kennedy Martin's scripts hooked 14m fans by ending the Dixon Of Dock Green world of community policing and showing scenes where coppers made mistakes, villains sometimes went free and a blind eye could be turned to a policeman hitting his wife.

Ford Zephyrs were shown roaring into action around the fictitious new development of Newton, just north of Liverpool, and the older docklands ...

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