Riviera Police

Yes I'm now 69 but was 19 when this series first aired on London Redifusion t.v. back in 1965.My hormones were in overdrive then and later on in 1982 I visited the magazine and newspaper library at Colindale near Edgware, Barnet in north London to arrange for a copy of the T.V.Times for 30/8/65 advertising this glamorous new TV series with "Christa Nelli" (a judge's daughter) on the front cover in a bikini.She was my ideal pinup of what a glamorous Italian actress should look like.A very dark head of hair, sensual eyes and curvy figure.I even painted her in oils being a talented amateur artist.Later I tracked down as many of her rather sordid films on DVD which were commercially available.She was born in Austria in 1946 the same year as me so I was sad to read she died aged 29 in 1975 of a fatal illness - read her biography.She was later billed as Doris Christonel and finally as Krista Nell.The series Riviera Police was OK but forgettable and I awarded it 6/10 but sadly Krista only appeared in the first episode.Her best film was "Tanz des Satans" (Dance with the Devil) 1971.

This 1965 series has an excellent theme by Laurie Johnson. Laurie was no newcomer to writing for the screen. In 1959 he had written the theme for the successful British police TV series 'No Hiding Place' and scored 'Tiger Bay', a thriller starring John Mills, his then young daughter Hayley and Horst Buchholz (later to find fleeting fame in 'The Magnificent Seven'). Aside from writing for TV in the sixties he would score 'The First Men in the Moon', Ray Harryhausen and Charles H. Schneer's cinematic working of the H.G. Wells novel, Michael Winner's comedy 'You Must Be Joking', Stanley Kubrick's 'Dr. Strangelove (or – How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb)' and 'Hot Millions' featuring a bizarre cast which included Peter Ustinov, Bob Newhart, Dame Maggie Smith, Caesar Romero and Karl Malden. He also composed the themes for the British TV series 'Animal Magic', 'Echo Four-Two', 'Freewheelers', 'Whicker's World' and 'This is Your Life' and most predominantly 'The Avengers', 'Jason King' and 'The Professionals'. The original title of the tune was Latin Quarter, and the original recording can be found on numerous, cheap CD compilations under either of the titles, usually Latin Quarter. They don't write 'em like this anymore!

I remember this series when it came out in 1965, but unfortunately it was not very well received. It was not amongst the shows that everyone at school was talking about.

I can only really say that it was not as popular as: 'No Hiding Place', 'Gideons Way', 'The Avengers,' and all the other detective programmes that pioneered the great crime procedural dramas that we watch today.

The programme had a very catchy theme tune, an envious view of beautiful and exotic locations, and had an array of many popular actors. Therefore, it is uncertain as to why this show only survived one series and thirteen episodes. However, as with a lot of programmes of the 1960s and late 1950s, the cancellation of a second and third series could have been due to it being shown at a time when there was a more popular show on BBC 1 or BBC 2 ( I think Terry Scott was on BBC 1 at the same time; and "The Virginian" on BBC 2).

It is ironic that a show with well-known actors and exotic locations, does not always make a programme popular. Maybe viewers prefer to watch programmes that mirror their own lives; or are based in locations that they have visited; or filmed in areas where they have lived.