Dixon of Dock Green

The most beloved of British serials that ran for 430 episodes for an entire generation - and no-one appears to have thought this worth commenting on! No series before or since has generated the viewer affection that PC George Dixon managed.

An extension of the tremendously popular Basil Dearden film of 1950 entitled THE BLUE LAMP, brit actor Jack Warner was so typecast in this role, he received truck-loads of fan-mail for almost twenty years addressed simply to "PC Dixon." He was loved and idolised by millions right up until his death from pneumonia in 1981.

I remember clearly the first episode in 1955, it was just one week after we got television...a tiny 12" screen in grainy black and white! I watched that show all my childhood. I grew up with the characters in it, yet PC Dixon NEVER changed. The epitome of one's concept of British dignity and decency, PC Dixon had a heart bigger than any. Selfless, tireless, incorruptible and representing pretty much everything that modern society has rid itself of, the stalwart of fictional Dock Green Police Station rode his bike from adventure to adventure. No smart comments, no punch-ups, bad language ANYTHING vaguely indelicate. Yet you KNEW after each episode that crime really does not pay and that we all had a choice in life.

I wish more than anything that I could meet PC Dixon today. He alone could re-establish my childhood beliefs and dreams.

I appeared in the 1973 episode "Eye Witness". Chatting inbetween takes with him Jack Warner told me that Raymond Burr (Perry Mason, Ironside) visited BBC Tv Centre at Shepherds Bush in the early 1970's and while there insisted on meeting Jack due to the fact that at the time Dixon of Dock Green was the longest running police drama in the world. Respect! Jack Warner was a real gentleman. He was also a brilliant snooker player for his age and I remember being surprised at losing to him This particular episode is of interest in that it features a speedboat chase, a car chase, a helicopter and a light aircraft all in the same story at a time when the likes of Miami Vice hadn't even been thought of!

A middle aged Jack Warner began playing the role of his life, that of Police Constable (PC) George Dixon, in the 1950 Ealing film THE BLUE LAMP, sadly perishing in that film at the hands of a very nasty and young Dirk Bogarde.

Beginning in 1955, DIXON OF DOCK GREEN went on TV air for 432 episodes until its demise in 1976. Naturally, Warner aged with the series but never lost his good humor, warmth, and his portrayal of a copper with a family who treats the public as extended family, always within the bounds of respect and the law, implementing his impeccable approach with stickler-like care. As another viewer remarked, no bad or even remotely thoughtless language ever departed the lips of any of the staff at Dock Green police station, and least of all PC Dixon.

I am not British and did not live in the UK in the heyday of this series... but it still says a lot to me. 8/10.

I'm afraid we all took this TV cop series for granted when it was on – you don't know what you've got till it's gone. 432 episodes were broadcast 1955-1976, over 400 of them junked by the BBC all the way up to 1975 and not many illegally filmed by any of the TV viewers at the time either. It was PC George Dixon's, sorry, Jack Warner's show, it suited his avuncular personality down to the ground. In his case familiarity bred warmth. His weekly homily could range from you to be on your guard for scams to children to know their kerb drill, and other such laudable aims. When he started to get too old to pound the beat and others took up the stories instead it started to lose that special feeling – the real world began to creep in. Saturday evenings were never the same again. When he stopped pounding the beat I think every copper in Britain must have done so too, and hardly any have been seen since.

The Roaring Boy broadcast 18.08.56: The programme was played live as was everything then and is one of a small group from the same period that managed to avoid being binned afterwards. Dixon has to check on whether army deserter skinny Kenneth Cope has been sighted in the neighbourhood, by going to see his girlfriend. He finds him and we're in for a tense psychological 15 minutes – as psychological as Dixon was ever likely to get anyway. The story was bookended with an old lady gossipping to the station Sergeant which was reminiscent of Mrs. Lopsided in The Ladykillers which Warner had recently been in, even managing to be a Superintendent there. Peter Byrne who played Detective Andy for all those years made a brief appearance – shortly before his marriage to Dixon's daughter Mary.

Unsensational and unrealistic as it may have been, 40 years ago it was as realistic as I wanted anything to get and want to get now. I don't need to graphically see how bad the baddies are because I don't consider myself to be one. And of course, were cops ever part of their communities as depicted at Dock Green? But great to see again to check how much our lovely society has progressed since then.

I've watched the available episodes, and enjoyed them all, what I did enjoy, was the progression of it, the early ones seem so much more gentle, the crimes reflect the era, in the 70's episodes, time has changed, so has society, and ultimately so did the crimes, the episodes from what I saw, got a little more gritty, with Warner perhaps a little less visible. Compared to The Sweeney and The Professionals though, it was so much milder.

I must commend the acting of Jack Warner, absolutely brilliant throughout, what a talented actor, it's no wonder millions tuned in to watch him. The supporting cast each play their part, an array of well known faces appeared. I loved Dixon's addresses to the camera, I wonder if people did actually take note of the messages, the one that stood out, was a message about allowing strangers into your home.

This must be one of the earliest Police crime dramas, it's certainly one of the longest running. I wish all remaining episodes would get a DVD release. It's a shame they haven't made all on hand commercially available.

The Doctor Who fan in me is eternally sad that so many episodes (97) are missing, however when you dig into the history of this show, and realise that 400 of the 432 are missing, that is heart breaking. We can only hope one day that more are found, sadly it seems the earliest are lost to history.

I can understand why it's so loved by fans, I thoroughly enjoyed the episodes I've seen, 8/10.