Probation Officer was a British TV series that ran from 1959–1962 about probation officers.[2] It was made by Associated Television and starred John Paul, Jessica Spencer, David Davies and John Scott.[3][4] Other actors who appeared in the series include Henry Oscar, Honor Blackman, Windsor Davies and Billy Milton.[5]
| Probation Officer | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | Drama |
| Written by | Julian Bond Peter Yeldham Phillip Grenville Mann |
| Directed by | Peter Sasdy Christopher Morahan Royston Morley Josephine Douglas |
| Starring | John Paul John Scott Jessica Spencer David Davies Henry Oscar A. J. Brown Jack Stewart Humphrey Heathcote Derek Benfield[1] |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 109 |
| Production | |
| Producers | Antony Kearey Rex Firkin |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production company | Associated Television |
| Original release | |
| Network | ITV |
| Release | 14 September 1959 – 14 September 1962 |
It was created by Julian Bond and was the first ever one-hour TV drama to screen on ITV.[6] Bond spent months researching the show from real life cases.[7]
Cast
edit- John Paul as Philip Main (53 episodes, 1959-1961)
- John Scott as Bert Bellman (33 episodes, 1959-1962)
- Jessica Spencer as Maggie Weston (32 episodes, 1960-1962)
- David Davies as Jim Blake (20 episodes, 1959-1960)
- Henry Oscar as Magistrate (15 episodes, 1960-1961)
- A.J. Brown as Judge (12 episodes, 1959-1961)
- Jack Stewart as Andrew Wallace (10 episodes, 1959-1960)
- Honor Blackman as Iris Cope (9 episodes, 1959)
- Humphrey Heathcote as Jailer (9 episodes, 1959-1961)
- Windsor Davies as Bill Morgan (8 episodes, 1962)
- Bernard Brown as Stephen Ryder (8 episodes, 1961-1962)
- Betty Hardy as Miss Randell (7 episodes, 1959)
- John Barrett as Clerk of Court (6 episodes, 1960-1962)
- Derek Benfield as George Cooper (1 episode, 1960)[8]
Archive status and home media
editLike many British TV series of the same vintage, the archive holdings of Probation Officer are incomplete, with approximately three-quarters of the episodes missing.
In 2017, Network released "Volume One" on DVD, containing 12 existing episodes from the first series (Episodes 1-3, 5-8, 13-16 & 22 - Episode 8 is missing one courtroom scene) as a three disc DVD boxset. No further releases followed.
References
edit- ^ "Probation Officer (1959-1962)".
- ^ Marcus, Laurence (December 2000). "Probation Officer". Television Heaven.
- ^ "Probation Officer[12/09/60] (1960)". BFI. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021.
- ^ "Probation Officer[30/11/1959] (1959)". BFI. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020.
- ^ "Probation Officer[31/08/62] (1962)". BFI. Archived from the original on 30 November 2020.
- ^ "Probation Officer – Series One, Episode Two". 24 December 2016.
- ^ Probation Office at UK TV Index Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Probation Officer (1959-1962)".
External links
edit- Probation Officer at IMDb
- Probation Officer at UKTV
- Probation Officer at Cherished Television
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