WPC 56

I've just read on WPC 56 official Social networking page, that there's no more WPC56? Yet the 3rd series was the BEST by far?! Wow BBC heads, you are not keeping up!

The new WPC Annie Taylor is amazing! Why would the BBC take this off?

The programme has improved ten fold with the new WPC & the amazing new, thrilling story lines, it so deserves/ed an evening slot!

Seasons 1 & 2 were (although good) no where near as strong as season 3. and was like starting over a brand new programme. Claudia Jessie, a much stronger actor which impacted on the character's strength! SHAME ON YOU BBC for taking off this amazing show?! I bet you are keeping Doctors though? no offence, I see that Claudia Jessie got nominated best storyline in the soap awards in Doctors? might be a clue there BBC?

Unbelievable!

The negative of the show is that much of it is predictable. The powerful men have to act macho and the woman is not respected as an equal. The woman has much better instincts as a copper than the men who've been on the police force for years. The worst of the coppers is, predictably, almost a 2-dimensional character, at least through the 2 seasons I've seen so far.

The positives include that there are some sensitive male characters who give Gina a chance. The supporting cast is excellent. The plots are interesting and appropriate to the times. And the attention to detail (sexism, racism, brutality, repressed sexuality, clothing, sets, hair styles, makeup, music, dialog) makes me almost believe it really is 1956 on the set.

Having lived through the 1950s (age 11 in 1956) I can attest that much of what we see on this show was very much like this. In many work places women were considered to be either eye-candy or efficient old maids who had no life outside of their employment, This continued well into the 60s until the women's movement had some clout. It would have been even more so for Gina who would have been about 10 years older than I was in 1956.

Gina's character has to be independent enough to take on a nontraditional job, tough enough to be a cop, yet still have a sensitive side. I think Jennie Jacques manages to pull it off well.

Just as you're settling in to a series the BBC pull the plug, no reason given, no apology to the legions of fans who loved the show.

They have done it many times over the years, sometimes leaving you in suspense as to what happened next with a cliff hanger. There was a thread not tied up at the end of this serious with the obnoxious. Ass chief constable, I would have liked to see what happened to him.

This joins the likes of Survivors (2008), Tripods, Home Fires and Invasion Earth. The BBC are funded by us but never listen to what we have to say. Dr Who a case in point.

It's been gone too long now to bring it back, which is a shame.

The worst thing about this series is the highly irritating harmonica in the theme song and incidental music. It's at a high pitch and grates the nerves. Thank goodness for the "Skip Intro" button in BritBox. I had to skip past the incidental music within the show to avoid it as I couldn't bear it anymore. It's amazing how background music can ruin an entire series.

The beautiful Jennie Jacques plays the lead role of WPC Gina Dawson. Although the series revolves around her there are many intelligently woven threads in the plot that give all the other players a good chunk of airtime, too. None of them disappoint, either. Things wind up nicely after five episodes but there's still a little wriggle room for another series and I, for one, hope that their is.

After all the time and trouble that the producers, cast and crew went to, to get this right I'm surprised that this was aired just after lunch during the week where probably not many people got the chance to see it. That was an extremely irresponsible decision by the faceless suits at the beeb who think they know something about television.

The story is well paced and intelligently laid out. The details, language and props were first rate and appropriate. The cast, photography and script were also all top notch. This is intelligent television drama... something the Americans are becoming good at and which we Brits have rather lost our way on.

Much, much better than that dreadful garbage, Prime suspect.