Bernard Hepton

Bernard Hepton

Born: October 19, 1925
Died: July 27, 2018
in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, UK
Bernard Hepton (born 19 October 1925 - 27th July, 2018) was a British actor of stage, film and television.

Hepton was known as a particularly versatile character actor. He trained at Bradford Civic Theatre school under Esme Church along with actors such as Robert Stephens. He had extensive stage experience as an actor, under Sir Barry Jackson in addition to a spell as Artistic Director of Birmingham Rep and Liverpool Playhouse.

On television, he played Toby Esterhase in the BBC Television adaptations of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People, and George Smiley in the radio adaptations. He also played the Kommandant in Colditz (1972–74), and later appeared for the same production team as Albert Foiret in three seasons of Secret Army (1977–79). Before that he had made a guest appearance in an episode of the first series of Catweazle in 1970 where he played a naturalist. Other notable performances included Thomas Cranmer in both The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970) and Elizabeth R (1971).

He played Sam Toovey in the 1989 television adaptation of Susan Hill's ghost story The Woman in Black.

On radio Hepton played the role of Albert, in Stranger In The Home by Alan Dapre, also the role of The Old Man in the Corner, the Baroness Orczy amateur, and mostly sedentary, sleuth in the BBC dramatizations called The Teahouse Detective (1998–2000).

His appearances in feature film were less frequent. He made a brief appearance as Thorpey, a gangster in the classic British film Get Carter (1971), and had another small role, as Milton Goldsmith, in Voyage of the Damned (1976).

He was a fan of the Rugby League team Hunslet Hawks and also played stand-off for them in the 1952/53 season, winning a Yorkshire Cup Medal.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Bernard Hepton, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Movies for Bernard Hepton...

The Baroness and the Pig
Title: The Baroness and the Pig
Character: Soames
Released: September 2, 2002
Type: Movie
A rich American woman and her French husband start a Parisian salon.
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Title: Midsomer Murders
Character: Harold Winstanley
Released: March 23, 1997
Type: TV
The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.
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Emma
Title: Emma
Character: Mr. Woodhouse
Released: October 2, 1996
Type: Movie
Emma Woodhouse has a rigid sense of propriety as regards matrimonial alliances. Unfortunately she insists on matchmaking for her less forceful friend, Harriet, and so causes her to come to grief. Through the sharp words of Mr. Knightley, and the example of the opinionated Mrs. Elton, someone not unlike herself, Emma's attitudes begin to soften.
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Title: Dandelion Dead
Released: October 30, 1994
Type: TV
This is a dramatisation of the true story of Major Herbert Rowse Armstrong, a solicitor and magistrate's clerk who lived in the small Welsh town of Hay-on-Wye. In 1921 he was arrested and charged with poisoning his domineering wife, Catherine, and later attempting to poison a business rival, Oswald Martin, by administering arsenic to them. At his trial, Armstrong claimed that he had bought the arsenic simply to kill the dandelions on his lawn. However he was convicted of murder and executed in 1922.
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In The Cold Light Of Day
Title: In The Cold Light Of Day
Character: Len
Released: June 15, 1994
Type: Movie
It is the late 1930s and some British households still eagerly await the arrival of electricity. When a pylon is erected in the garden, Morris's mother can't wait to show off her Swedish lumbago belt and toaster. But Morris is gripped by a deeper passion that will change his life - one that will not be illuminated for 50 years.
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The Old Devils
Title: The Old Devils
Character: Malcolm Cellan-Davies
Released: March 16, 1992
Type: Movie
An adaptation of the novel by Kingsley Amis about a group of university friends reunited in retirement. Alun Weaver has found success as a celebrated London-based writer. After returning home to Wales with his alluring wife Rhiannon he reunites with old friends who chose to remain in the valleys. Long dormant romance are rekindled and rivalries resurrected in this turbulent story of ageing, friendship, lust, nostalgia and nationalism.
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Title: A Perfect Hero
Character: Arthur Fleming
Released: May 17, 1991
Type: TV
Starring Nigel Havers as a recovering WWII pilot trying to adapt to life after being shot down. After suffering horrific facial burns when the bomber he is piloting is shot down, Hugh Fleming (Havers)'s once promising future lies in ruins. Abandoned by his girlfriend, and forced to sit out the war while his former colleagues fight on, Fleming's only hope lies with an offer of help from renowned plastic surgeon Angus Meikle (James Fox). Based on the 1980 Christopher Matthew book 'The Long-Haired Boy'. Loosley based on the true story of Richard Hillar with some aspects adapted from Hillary's 1943 book 'The Last Enemy'.
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Eminent Domain
Title: Eminent Domain
Character: Slowak
Released: April 12, 1991
Type: Movie
A high-ranking Polish politburo member is banished from the party, and must find out why. Set in 1979 Poland before the Solidarity events.
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The Woman in Black
Title: The Woman in Black
Character: Sam Toovey
Released: December 24, 1989
Type: Movie
When a friendless old widow dies in the seaside town of Crythin, a young solicitor is sent by his firm to settle the estate. The lawyer finds the townspeople reluctant to talk about or go near the woman's dreary home and no one will explain or even acknowledge the menacing woman in black he keeps seeing.
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Stealing Heaven
Title: Stealing Heaven
Character: Bishop
Released: May 20, 1988
Type: Movie
Abelard, a famous teacher of philosophy at the cathedral school of Notre Dame, falls in love with one of his students, Héloïse d'Argenteuil. A sixteen-year old girl raised in a convent, Héloïse has an intellectual curiosity and rebels against the status of women in 12th century Europe. When others begin to suspect their relationship, Heloise's uncle Fulbert and the bishop of Paris work together to put a stop to it. Héloïse becomes pregnant with Abelard's child, and they are married in secret. Abelard struggles for acting against the will of God, yet is unable to escape his love for Heloise.
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Title: The Contract
Character: Henry Carter
Released: January 3, 1988
Type: TV
A British spy helps a Russian scientist to defect from the Soviet Union by taking a perilous journey through the Eastern Bloc.
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Title: The Charmer
Released: October 18, 1987
Type: TV
The Charmer was a 1987 British television serial set in the 1930s, and starring Nigel Havers as Ralph Ernest Gorse, a seducing conman and murderer, Rosemary Leach as Joan Plumleigh-Bruce, the smitten victim widow and Bernard Hepton as Donald Stimpson, Plumleigh-Bruce's would-be beau, who vengefully pursues Gorse after he has conned her. It was made by London Weekend Television for ITV, and based on the 1953 novel Mr. Stimpson and Mr. Gorse by Patrick Hamilton, the second work in the Gorse Trilogy. The series was repeated in February and March 1990. ITV3 also repeated the series in full at 01:45am from 5 September 2009. Narrative repeats were on Mondays from 7 September 2009 at 10:05am.
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The Disputation
Title: The Disputation
Character: Raymund de Penjaforte
Released: December 21, 1986
Type: Movie
In 1263, King James I of Aragon organizes a debate between representatives of Judaism and Christianity regarding whether or not Jesus was the Messiah.
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The Holcroft Covenant
Title: The Holcroft Covenant
Character: Commander Leighton
Released: September 20, 1985
Type: Movie
A man who was a confidant of Adolf Hitler dies and leaves a fortune to make amends for his Nazi past—but his son has to search the world to find it.
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Shadey
Title: Shadey
Character: Captain Amies
Released: May 31, 1985
Type: Movie
A young man discovers that not only does he have the ability to read minds, but that if he holds a camera next to his head he can transmit the thoughts he sees onto film.
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Title: Bleak House
Character: Krook
Released: April 10, 1985
Type: TV
Bleak House is BBC television drama first broadcast in 1985. The serial was adapted by Arthur Hopcraft from Charles Dickens' novel Bleak House and it was the second adaptation by the BBC.
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Title: Mansfield Park
Character: Sir Thomas Bertram
Released: November 6, 1983
Type: TV
Drama series based on the novel by Jane Austen. Mansfield Park is the magnificient country residence of Sir Thomas Bertram and his family. It is here that their poor relation Fanny Price is brought up. Never allowed to forget her good fortune, Fanny is ignored by her cousins, with the exception of Edmund, who alone treats her with care and affection. But will she ever be able to win a valued place in the household and the heart of the man of her dreams?
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Gandhi
Title: Gandhi
Character: G.O.C.
Released: December 1, 1982
Type: Movie
In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed.
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Title: Smiley's People
Character: Toby Esterhase
Released: September 20, 1982
Type: TV
Called out of retirement to settle the affairs of a friend, Smiley finds his old organization, the Circus, so overwhelmed by political considerations that it doesn't want to know what happened. He begins to follow up the clues of his friends past days, discovering that the clues lead to a high person in the Russian Secret service, and a secret important enough to kill for.
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Title: An Inspector Calls
Character: Inspector Goole
Released: August 17, 1982
Type: TV
A made-for-television adaptation of the J. B. Priestley play of the same title.
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An Inspector Calls
Title: An Inspector Calls
Character: Inspector Goole
Released: August 17, 1982
Type: Movie
An Inspector Calls is a play written by English dramatist J. B. Priestley, first performed in 1945 (in Russia) and 1946 (in the UK). It is considered to be one of Priestley's best known works for the stage and one of the classics of mid-20th century English theatre. The play's success and reputation has been boosted in recent years by a successful revival by English director Stephen Daldry for the National Theatre in 1992. This is the 1982 BBC TV film adaptation
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Title: Kessler
Character: Albert Foiret
Released: November 13, 1981
Type: TV
Drama series about the attempts to unmask Ludwig Kessler, the fictional head of the Gestapo in Belgium from the series SECRET ARMY, who escaped punishment, changed his name to Manfred Dorf, and became a successful businessman.
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Title: Bergerac
Character: Sir Geoffrey Newton
Released: October 18, 1981
Type: TV
Bergerac is a British television show set on Jersey. Produced by the BBC in association with the Seven Network, and first screened on BBC1, it stars John Nettles as the title character Detective Sergeant Jim Bergerac, a detective in Le Bureau des Étrangers, part of the States of Jersey Police.
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Title: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Character: Toby Esterhase
Released: September 10, 1979
Type: TV
George Smiley, the aging master spy of the Cold War and once heir apparent to Control, is brought back out of retirement to flush out a top level mole within the Circus. Smiley must travel back through his life and murky workings of the Circus to unravel the net spun by his nemesis Karla 'The Sandman' of the KGB and reveal the identity of the mole before he disappears.
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Title: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Released: September 10, 1979
Type: TV
George Smiley, the aging master spy of the Cold War and once heir apparent to Control, is brought back out of retirement to flush out a top level mole within the Circus. Smiley must travel back through his life and murky workings of the Circus to unravel the net spun by his nemesis Karla 'The Sandman' of the KGB and reveal the identity of the mole before he disappears.
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Title: Secret Army
Character: Albert Foiret
Released: September 7, 1977
Type: TV
World War II drama about covert organisation Lifeline helping allied airmen escape after being shot down in occupied Europe, working with the Resistance and hiding from the Gestapo.
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Voyage of the Damned
Title: Voyage of the Damned
Character: Milton Goldsmith
Released: December 22, 1976
Type: Movie
A luxury liner carries Jewish refugees from Hitler's Germany in a desperate fight for survival.
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Title: I, Claudius
Character: Pallas
Released: September 20, 1976
Type: TV
Acclaimed blackly comic historical drama series. Set amidst a web of power, corruption and lies, it chronicles the reigns of the Roman emperors - Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula and finally Claudius.
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Title: I, Claudius
Released: September 20, 1976
Type: TV
Acclaimed blackly comic historical drama series. Set amidst a web of power, corruption and lies, it chronicles the reigns of the Roman emperors - Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula and finally Claudius.
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Barry Lyndon
Title: Barry Lyndon
Character: Diner at Feast for Lord Wendover
Released: December 18, 1975
Type: Movie
An Irish rogue uses his cunning and wit to work his way up the social classes of 18th century England, transforming himself from the humble Redmond Barry into the noble Barry Lyndon.
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The House on the Hill
Title: The House on the Hill
Character: Psychiatrist
Released: January 20, 1975
Type: Movie
A court had to decide what to do about Ellen, an elderly lady living on her own in a deteriorating rented property.
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Paradise Restored
Title: Paradise Restored
Character: Oliver Cromwell
Released: November 8, 1974
Type: Movie
A fictionalised biography of the latter years of the poet, John Milton. Now an old man, blind and out of favour, Milton seeks to leave a plague-ravaged London and set-up home in the countryside.
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Title: The Squirrels
Released: July 8, 1974
Type: TV
The Squirrels is a British television sitcom, written by Eric Chappell, who went on to create the Yorkshire Television sitcoms Rising Damp and Only When I Laugh. It ran for 3 series and 28 episodes and was made and broadcast from 1974 to 1977 on the ITV network, by ATV. Phil Redmond, the creator of now defunct Soap-Opera Brookside, was also a writer for the series.
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Private Practice
Title: Private Practice
Character: Derek
Released: November 22, 1973
Type: Movie
Why does Sylvia Payne, with her successful husband and luxurious home, get in such a flap about her daughter's schoolfriend coming to visit?
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Title: Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
Released: February 15, 1973
Type: TV
Meet Frank Spencer, an eager young man trying to find his way in the world. He's enthusiastic, well-meaning... and disaster-prone.
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Title: Colditz
Character: Kommandant
Released: October 19, 1972
Type: TV
Colditz is a British television series co-produced by the BBC and Universal Studios and screened between 1972 and 1974. The series deals with Allied prisoners of war imprisoned at the supposedly escape-proof Colditz Castle when designated Oflag IV-C during World War II, and their many attempts to escape captivity, as well as the relationships formed between the various nationalities and their German captors.
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Henry VIII and His Six Wives
Title: Henry VIII and His Six Wives
Character: Cranmer
Released: July 13, 1972
Type: Movie
Adapted from the BBC2 serial The Six Wives of Henry VIII. 1547, King Henry VIII's life has taken a turn for the worse and he is forced to look back over his life and the many loves which had brought him his three children, only one of which was the desired male heir to secure the Tudor dynasty.
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Follow The Yellow Brick Road
Title: Follow The Yellow Brick Road
Character: Colin Sands
Released: July 4, 1972
Type: Movie
Jack Black is a disturbed actor who believes himself to be trapped in a television play, followed around by an invisible camera.
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Title: The Organization
Character: Rodney Spurling
Released: April 16, 1972
Type: TV
The Greatrick Organization is a faceless, multi-million-pound concern dedicated to making more millions. In its headquarters we meet an assortment of middle and junior executives. Their lives may look cozy enough, but appearances are deceptive. All they have to do is carry on being loyal corporate slaves until they're 60 or 65, but there are a hundred different ways to put a foot wrong...
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Title: The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes
Character: Mr. J.T. Laxworthy
Released: September 20, 1971
Type: TV
Adaptations of mystery stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's contemporary rivals in the genre.
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The Mosedale Horseshoe
Title: The Mosedale Horseshoe
Character: Derek
Released: March 23, 1971
Type: Movie
The story of four Lakeland walkers who attempt to climb a fell. The fells represent the highlight of their year. They all have dull and uninteresting jobs and their only chance of relieving the boredom is in the fells After five years of weekends together they had never managed to reach the top of the Horseshoe, but were always defeated by something trivial. By the sixth year their combined failure to get to the summit took on the proportions of a tragedy especially they all saw it matching the situation in their everyday lives. Filmed on location
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Title: Elizabeth R
Character: Archbishop Cranmer
Released: February 17, 1971
Type: TV
This historical mini-series documents the reign of Elizabeth I with each episode focusing on one dramatic period in the lengthy reign of the Virgin Queen, including her ascension to the throne, her various marital intrigues, her problems with her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, and the threatened invasion of the Spanish Armada.
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Get Carter
Title: Get Carter
Character: Thorpe
Released: February 3, 1971
Type: Movie
Jack Carter is a small-time hood working in London. When word reaches him of his brother's death, he travels to Newcastle to attend the funeral. Refusing to accept the police report of suicide, Carter seeks out his brother’s friends and acquaintances to learn who murdered his sibling and why.
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Robin Redbreast
Title: Robin Redbreast
Character: Fisher
Released: December 10, 1970
Type: Movie
After the break-up of a long-term relationship, urban sophisticate Norah seeks refuge in a remote house in the country.
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Title: Play for Today
Released: October 15, 1970
Type: TV
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.
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Title: Catweazle
Character: Cyril Fitton
Released: February 15, 1970
Type: TV
A medieval wizard (though not a very good one) Catweazle is transported to the modern age... A British television series, created and written by Richard Carpenter which was produced and directed by Quentin Lawrence for London Weekend Television under the LWI banner, and screened in the UK on ITV in 1970. A second season in 1971 was directed by David Reid and David Lane. Both series had thirteen episodes each, with Geoffrey Bayldon playing the leading role. The series was broadcast in Ireland, Britain, Gibraltar, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Czechoslovakia, Nicaragua and Quebec. The first episode is available to view in full at the BFI Screenonline site.
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Title: Manhunt
Character: Simon
Released: January 2, 1970
Type: TV
Manhunt is a World War II drama series consisting of 26 episodes, produced by London Weekend Television in 1969 and broadcast nationwide.
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Title: The Six Wives of Henry VIII
Character: Archbishop Thomas Cranmer
Released: January 1, 1970
Type: TV
Series of television plays written by six different authors. Each play is a lavish dramatization of the trials and tribulations surrounding Henry and his wives. Keith Michell ties the episodes together with his dignified and magnetic performance as the mighty monarch.
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Title: The Main Chance
Character: Bridges
Released: June 18, 1969
Type: TV
The Main Chance was a British television series which first aired on ITV between 1969,1970,1972 and 1975. A drama, it depicts the sudden transformation in the life of solicitor David Main who relocates from London to Leeds.
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Title: Great Expectations
Character: Wemmick
Released: January 22, 1967
Type: TV
A humble orphan suddenly becomes a gentleman with the help of an unknown benefactor.
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The Devil's Eggshell
Title: The Devil's Eggshell
Character: Lord Portmanteau
Released: June 28, 1966
Type: Movie
The discovery of mysterious egg-shaped objects at the sites of a series of disasters lead people to believe that we are being attacked by alien beings, but it is revealed to be a conspiracy.
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Title: BBC Play of the Month
Character: Lord Portmandeau
Released: October 19, 1965
Type: TV
Play of the Month is a BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays which were usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983; the producer most associated with the Play of the Month was Cedric Messina. Some of the 121 episodes are missing from the archives, having been junked in the 1960s and 1970s. Unless stated otherwise, the indication that the play is "lost" is taken from the lostshows.com website page as of 25 May 2013.
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Title: Z-Cars
Released: January 2, 1962
Type: TV
Z-Cars or Z Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.