The Cops

For those of you who don't know, Juliet Bravo was a successful, hard-hitting drama series set in a fictitious Northern town in the early to mid 1980s. Juliet Bravo (and its own predecessors) pushed the envelope on many an occasion.

There was only one UK cop series worth spit in the latter half of the 1990s - a tumultuous period for the British police services, under heavy fire for racism and their handling of corruption - and that was The Cops, perhaps known overseas as Stanton Blues, the fictional northern English town where most of the action took place.

The Cops would not be the first series to use cinema vertee hand held cameras; nor would it be the first to dwell on topical issues, or on the personal lives of individual officers (although it took a much more stark approach rather than histronics). What The Cops did so well was portray the police in a realistic manner - as people in uniform, doing a difficult and thankless job in a dilapidated environment almost overwhelmed by crime, decay and social problems.

Gloss and glamour were in very short supply on the harsh streets of Stanton. Stories were low-key, disquieting rather than melodramatic; violence was sudden and unexpected (including a contraversial death in custody - with all its repercussions), racism (which could cut both ways), malicious complaints, the possibility perjuring oneself, even mental health issues (some officers were walking examples of toxic masculinity); leadership obsessed with stats and targets hid behind management speak rather than make a decision; constables and skippers got on with it as best they could; gallows humour abounded. When the police advisor s withdrew their support some viewers might remember a parallel with another hard hitting (in its day) police series set in a fictitious Northern town - although unlike Z Cars, I suspect that The Cops had little to do with table manners!

During my own short lived career, practically every police officer who watched The Cops praised its authenticity (The Bill was held in derision as nothing more than a soap opera in fancy dress); crucially The Cops never declined into mediocrity or absurdity, remaining true to itself until the end. This was Britain's answer to The Wire over ten years before the latter was even conceived - The Cops, the men and women of Stanton, the descendants of Juliet Bravo.

The world is full of TV cop shows; 'The Cops' is my favourite, and in some senses, it's barely a cop show at all. Instead, it's a raw, funny, character-led drama, about lonely people trying to hold it together on both sides of the law. It is a bit grim: we rarely see anyone happy, but the portraits that are painted are very rounded: it forces us to sympathise in one episode with someone who has acted unforgivably in the previous one. The cast are all great; the hand-held camera work feels a bit dizzying at times but adds to the air of realism. But above all else, there's a willingness to leave the audience discomfitted on display which few programes since had the courage to emulate. In my opinion, it's one of the best drama series ever made.

This was a drama that refused to allow you any easy entertainment, had you quite disorientated at regular intervals, made 'minor' dramatic events absolutely absorbing, and was transfixing from the start nearly to the finish, which I felt slackened off a bit. There are hardly any clear moral rights and wrongs. The actors are mostly completely amateur, but obviously brilliantly schooled by the producers/director in how to be realistic. Just every so often the BBC can come with work such as this, like 'Bodies' which make standard police/hospital/etc. dramas seem absurdly unreal by comparison. I came out of these programmes feeling genuinely stirred, and, as if I'd really been involved in something.

The Cops is one of the most forceful drama series produced in the UK in recent years. In essence a documentary-style police drama, its real triumph lies in its deep characterisation (no good cops, no bad cops - just people) and its stunning method acting. John Henshaw's Roy is a particularly devastating example of the power of this series. This is TV that pulls no punches - gripping storylines and amazing camerawork are just a part of it.

I recently got to see this classic, short-lived TV series again for the first time in seven or eight years, and had forgotten how brilliant it really was. Intelligently scripted, convincingly performed by a largely unknown cast, and filmed with a gritty realism that brings to mind the works of great British directors like Ken Loach and Alan Clarke.

Much of the drama came from mundane, everyday situations, and it always avoided over-blowing story lines for dramatic effect. At times, though, it pulled no punches, and had the power to really bring home the harsh realities of modern-day urban life.

Watching this again highlights how far down the pan shows like 'The Bill' have gone over recent years, playing more and more like soap opera trash. I can't remember this show ever being repeated by the BBC and it's never had an official DVD release - with the rubbish that's cluttering up our TV screens lately, it must surely be ripe for rediscovery!