First viewed : 1981
This was a genuinely groundbreaking series with an influence way beyond its genre and was a real Marmite show. You either loved it or couldn't be bothered with it. It intertwined professional and personal issues in the lives of its protagonists to a greater extent than any previous cop show. More revolutionary than that was the style, the use of free roaming hand held cameras , the background noise and apparently careless editing so that characters weren't necessarily on screen when they spoke their lines . This combined with the focus on urban poverty and difficult lives to give the series a verite feel ; you could almost believe you were watching a documentary set in a grimy, chaotic workplace were it not for the obvious charisma of stars Frank Furillo and Veronica Hamel. The series was also like a soap in that storylines ran across multiple episodes demanding a commitment from its viewers
I tuned in early on , lured by the advance publicity, and didn't like it. It was originally on ITV in the Minder slot but it was quickly obvious that it wasn't to going to attract that sort of mass audience and transferred to Channel 4, a more natural home, as soon as the new channel started broadcasting. I dipped in from time to time but never got absorbed enough to stay with it.
The series was showered with awards throughout its lifetime but started to lose its grip in its fourth season when Michael Conrad, one of the most popular actors, died and the formula began to seem a little stale. It was cancelled after seven seasons in 1987.
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