EP 68 : Cop Shows

A staple of the tv schedules are the 'cop shows' with every generation having their favourites. Will the Pick 3 panel, with three decades of separation, have any crossover in their selections for the best tv cop shows that they have watched. Gareth showing up with bleached blonde hair, jacket with the sleeves rolled up and a pair of electric blue Espadrilles certainly gave a huge nod to his 80's heyday! As usual their were some strong opinions and some interesting choices.

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Transcript

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Three men with three decades of separation debate three tough choices every week. This is the Pick Three Show. Welcome to another episode of the Pick Three Show, where each week the Picmaster General challenges his panel of experts to discuss, debate, and deride the choices of their colleagues. With three decades of separation between the panelists, there are always some variances in opinion, but as we always say, there are no wrong choices, just poorly argued opinions. Today the PMG was in a more playful mood after some pretty deep discussions over recent weeks, and with Andy still recovering from the sudden loss of Bonzo, the catfish, in our Burning House episode. So today's topic is about your choice of top three cop shows, and this might be the very time where the age differential between the panel becomes more obvious. Martin was cautioned for riding a moped through a German fountain in nineteen seventy-seven. Gareth was prosecuted for jaywalking in the late nineteen eighties, and Andy tried to have his brother arrested for selling him a dodgy Porsche in the nineties. So it is fair to say we have all had our close encounters with the fuzz. To set the mood for today's discussions, we have again taken our stakeout van out of the garage and parked up at the bottom of Cadogan Park in South Belfast so that we can observe the comings and goings at the local cop shop. Unusually, we were all meant to arrive together, but for the first ninety minutes of the stakeout, Gareth and I have been watching alone. So anyway, now that you're here, Andy, and Gareth and I have exhausted most of the other small talk that we had for this morning, how did you boys find today's topic? I find it quite good. I find it whenever you think of cop shows, you there's not that many on at the moment that I would watch. But thinking back, some of the best TV I've watched over the years has been good cop shows. And why did you bring a set of handcuffs with you? He was kind of I thought no one could notice those. He's on an eye type later. Exactly. Did you see just whenever we were waiting or did you see Steve Nolan going in? It must be filming that Peelers. I did. I did. I I didn't actually quite recognise him because his frame has changed a little bit. Have you watched series one? No. Oh super. No, I haven't yet, but everyone keeps telling me I have to. Absolutely. I know Debbie is watching it, and but you know, I I have to work. Do what? Lots of things. It's not just the factory doesn't end as early, you know, as as you boys. Management are already, they've had their tea and their feet up in front of the telly by seven. I haven't seen much overtime coming through. Do you noted this last one? Do you know after our recent uh day where Andy at short notice cancelled recording season? After you previously had cancelled at short notice before. Well, I'd a reason for it. He apparently was he was invoking the sick child clause for the second time. It's not even the first time. But it wasn't that. I was fairly understanding it. It was immediately that Gareth sent me a message saying, Well, I'm available to record. I'm not on unpaid leave. No, no, I couldn't see that. No, I would never do that. So, my point about cop shows at the moment, do you find that there were things you used to watch years ago? A staple of TV. These days, probably not as many around. No, no, not as many around. You're totally right. Remember, like for example, the bill that was on three or four times a week, wasn't it? Yeah. Well, it was a soap opera effectively. Yeah, it is, but still Reg Hollands. Was it Reg Holland was always in it? Reg was in it more or less from the start to the finish. You know, but anyway, yes, used to watch it back then, but it's well, an awful lot of actors got their start in places like The Bill or Coronation Street or some of these sort of long-running soaps or casualty. Yeah. Colby City. It used to be the staple of sort of a lot of BBC. Let's get a good cop drama, guaranteed numbers. But many, many years ago, the very first cop show I remember, and my parents loved it, was Dixon of Doc Green. Now that is way beyond your time. And upboard. And it was an actor called Jack Warner, and he basically he was a policeman on the beat. And at the start of every episode, he would walk up into frame and evening all and would then tell, outline a bit of the story. Then you'd see the story, and then he'd come on at the end and do sort of the moral of the story. But it was a it was very weird. And then you wouldn't remember Z cars either. No. No. Now none of these are my choices, so I mean it's well heartbeat was was that not Heart Heart to Heart? Oh no, Heart to Heart then. Heart to Heart was the thing. But Heartbeat was very but then Heart to Heart, Stephanie and Jonathan. Yeah, it was awful. And what was the name of the butler? Max. Oh, was it Max? Okay. Was that I'd never heard Lazarus American? Oh yeah, Heart Heart was a staple of something. Robert Wagner and Stephanie Parsh. And tell me, did you growing up prefer the American type of ones over the UK? They were the ones that got the bigger audience figures. I mean, there were some decent ones from the UK, but they weren't as gritty. Uh and the storylines were always a bit more. But I mean, think back to the classic in the 80s that we all got hooked into, which was Miami Vice. Oh yeah. Which was a real step beyond. We thought Miami Vice was the coolest thing we'd ever seen. And yet it still doesn't make my list. And you still wear slip-on shoes with no socks on, I noticed. Espidrilles. If if you're going to wear them, you have to know what they're called. You know, but you see, that's because I have a Sunny Crockett hairstyle, you know, which is the highlights through it and all the rest of the locks. Whereas you're practically bold. I wish. What about what about your listener feedback? Was there a mixed bag from them? Mixed bag. I think we'll actually not throw that out now because we're going to start saying things that uh give stuff away. All right. I'll jump in if you want. Oh, you arrive late. But you want to go first again? Okay, just give me a few. I'll take some ownership here. Um it'd be the first time. Number three is one that I watched at the weekend and laughed from start to finish. And you might be thinking, why would you be laughing at a cop show? This was genius. And it reminded me of sort of weeknights in the mid-90s, and it is the thin blue line with Rowan Atkinson. I never went down that line, but up there with the top. So I UK Gold and Sky was flicking down, it was like half an hour, it's just started, and it was his wife's birthday, and it was sheer calamity for a minute one. And I remember just going, This is what good TV used to be like in the in the 90s. It was half an hour, not great stories, but great performances. And actually, by the end of it, the the CID guys who thought they were too cool, and Rowan Trand that sort of engaged with them and they're ignoring him. It was just fantastic. And I remember watching it going, this time is perfect. Number three, thin blue line. Who was the character in that show that reminds me of Gareth? No, no, I'm I'm not even gonna answer that there because I know I know they answered that there, but it's not me. And for the listeners, it is definitely not me. He's very sensitive. No, but uh very, very, very funny. It was uh so it was, and and Ron Atkinson, was that written by Ron Atkinson? I think it was, yeah. Well it's just extremely good, so much innuendo throughout the world. But you see, back then you were allowed to. What you don't realise is if you look back into that era, if you watch things like Are You Being Served or something, the innuendo in those programmes is wild. It's wild. It's only because people back then were far less aware of some of the things they were getting away with. Oh yeah. I I watched Alo A Low on the plane back from Dubai recently. I was in stitches, and the innuendo in that was unbelievable. Exactly the same mindset for thin blue line. I watched, not expecting much, but by the end hysterics. And I was like, if you get a chance, if it's on TV and you flick it out, give it 10 minutes. It's one of those ones that you see in UK goals go, I can just give myself some time and that they're no very good, great choice. I think certainly at the moment, because there's such a wide choice of stuff to watch, you tend to watch one or two episodes of something and then give up on it. I really try, if I pick something to watch, I try and watch it to the end. But when you do want to fill in for something like that and you just want to fill half an hour, looking at some of those older sitcoms is well worth doing. And if you want a policed procedural, then obviously you go to the thin blue line. Yeah, very little procedural, but a lot of laughter. Oh, it's so good. Number three. I have to say it's not a choice I was expecting, but I I think it's an actually and again, it not unusually it's a slightly left field choice from Andy. I what I would love is our listeners saying to me, Oh, then blue line, I forgot all about that forgot about it 30 years. What people have said to us many, many times is that they they suddenly remember things and they want to go back and look at certain things. You boys were right when you brought your very simple idea to me that nostalgia might play quite well. Oh, and there's a compliment there somewhere if we dig far enough. I know. Well, you you are gonna have to dig quite far down. Yeah, my number three. I'm gonna potentially guess that it might be in Martin's list at some stage. Way out there, first one come to mind, Starsky and Hutch. It doesn't appear on my list, but it was a very pivotal show. Oh. And I was of an age when Starsky and Hutch came out that quite a lot of my friends started buying those huge big chunky cardigans and thinking they looked cool. Well, I'll call Can I Let You Into Secret? They didn't. Oh, true, true. Friday night, I can still remember the being allowed to stay up late because I was sort of young, I was it probably late 70s. Yeah, so I'll probably eight or nine, ten. Stay up late to watch Starskey and Hutch. So first of all, the treat of being able to stay up late. And I can remember only the opening credits on it. I can't really remember much of the stories apart from I think Starsky was shot at some stage. Was it a catchy uh jingle to Starsky? So opening credits, you had the Grand Torino car with the red with white stripe, you had Starsky jumping on the car and from a height and landing on his bum. You had you know Huggy Burr, oh, who was so cool, which was Antonio Vargaris with this weird name, but Huggy was cool as you know. Then you had the grumpy lieutenant, and then this the bit were, as you said, the two cardigans and it was the rain, uh grey, uh wherever it was said. And I said, I can't remember much of the stories, but I remember everything was brilliant. Well, what I remember most is cardboard boxes because they nearly always at some point drove down an alleyway in pursuit of somebody with cardboard boxes flying in every direction. That was the other thing, and the other thing was the patented move was the slide across the bonnet. Yes, yeah, the slide across the bonnet with running towards the car and then sliding across the bonnet and pivoting to get into the car. And Starsky was cool. He was his name was Paul Michael Glazer, okay, and then we had David Sowell, and David Soul then went on to be records coming out. He did, uh and Silver Lady. Yep. Oh, you see? This is this is what we do here. We drag things from the Rodex. To our listeners who might be a little bit younger, was this the first US cop show that really made mainstream? No, because over here you would have before that you would have had Kojak. Okay, you wasn't that great. Well, wait and see what the listeners say. Who loves you, baby? And uh you would have also had uh Cannon. Frank Cannon, who was uh most hilarious because Frank Cannon was by his very name, he was built like a cannonball. He was short and wrong. Oh, he was and I never believed he could catch anybody because I mean he would finally suddenly stand there in front of them and catch them when they'd they'd done all the running. You never saw Frank Cannon running. And then you had Ironside and the Rockford Files with the Rockford Files, that's what Jeff Rockford. Yeah, what was the guy in the wheelchair called? Ironside Ironside. So these are all very wheelchair at the end, Ironside going effectively your code. They'd look to go run away backwards again, and of course the two other people had come in to every episode. So it sounds like Stars Gate Hot was very much different to that. It was, but it was way out there. It was way out there better than everything. It was the Miami Vice of the 70s. It was the precursor to Miami Vice in many ways in popularity terms, absolutely. Great, and the car, the car was that's I have to apparently it apparently it drove like an absolute pig. Oh but uh you know it it looked the part, it's a bit like the 18 van. Yeah, it's iconic, but it's in rail terms. Was it really much of a performance vehicle? Absolutely not. You could put that car in front of anyone who is knows the 70s, whatever, and then they had to go immediately start getting hunted. There's that, and then there's the General Lee, which is the 80s, which is another car just a good old car. Who currently owns the General Lee? I you'll say someone like Bubba Watson. It is Bubba Watson. Bubba Watson bought the General Lee at a point in time. Right, bizarre, I do that. Yeah, but that's it fits him perfectly. Absolutely. Good. I'm going with a bit of class for my number three. One that pretty much everybody in here is will definitely agree on, and certainly from the listener feedback, it's a very popular choice, and that's Line of Duty. Because Line of Duty is such a good story, but I didn't watch any of it bizarrely until four series had gone by. I went back and was able to binge binge watch. People were talking away about it, and I was going, nah, I've never got around to watching it. And we started watching it at a point in time, and of course, then it's brilliant because you have four series to work your way through, and then the fifth series came out, and then we had a bit of a wait for the sixth series. And what's the great news at the moment? Filming at the moment, they're filming at the moment, series seven is uh is going to come out. So, line of duty, we're about to get a little bit more. It was the whole element of line of duty. A, for us, it was set in Belfast a lot of the time. Or filmed in Belfast. Filmed in Belfast, sorry, rather than set in Belfast, you're absolutely right. Thank you for the correction. I hate being really enjoyed it. I hate being factually incorrect. And should this not appear in the final editing on that you know, at least you'll have had your well done, Gareth. But excellent podcast is filmed in Belfast, and I was driving home from work one day and I pulled out of my car park and I was passing what is in fact the Invest Northern Ireland headquarters, and there was like a SWAT team running into the building, and I went, Flipping heck, something's happened. And then you noticed the cameras in the first time went, Oh, good, it's line of duty filming, because I thought, Flipping heck, we've got an incident going on. Great choice. It's my number one, and it's my number one as well. Really? I only made my number three. It is incredible. I still remember Garth and I were playing golf, and I hadn't watched season one, and I just finished, and you're like, you have to watch that night player. I remember going back up, Nicole Garth says it's it's a cop drama set in Belfast. Let's give it a go. Technically, it's filmed in Belfast because apparently I was corrected on that only like a minute and a half ago, which means that edit may not have over there that would be good. Honestly, incredible. Yeah, the storytelling, the plots, the twists, especially in the first season, the twists are brilliant. With the most unsatisfactory resolution at the end of every season. Yeah. Every season you think they're going to crack it, they're going to get there, and then something happens, and there's an unsatisfactory ending in terms of do you like your stories tied up in a neat bow at the end so that you can actually go, Yes, I watched the whole story and I got a satisfactory resolution? Or do you like this sort of oh no? There's there's other problems for them to solve it. The last not giving anything away, but the last season was very much panned by critics saying it wasn't as good as the others, but I felt that actually it was still a good eight out of ten. It's just we're comparing it to all the other ones. I have watched Line of Duty all seasons, probably three times. Yeah. I've only ever watched them once, and I may well go back and start and rewatch it later in the summer. Way maybe in a different series or whatever, which then appears in a further series. So there's lots of little subplots going on, and that is classic writing. And I worry now that whenever we you watch stuff on Netflix or you know, recent films or whatever, you can see it coming. Yeah. Easy. It's it's real, you know, very linear. Yeah, it is. Whereas in line of duty and the and my other which would be my number two choice, there's various little subplots going on that rear their heads in later times. We started watching season one a few weeks ago again. Oh, did you? And the account then too gets killed in the first sort of few minutes and it gets traced back, and you go, ah, because like season four and five, that big crime family all linked to that. But you're right, you yeah, you have to go back and you see the little things in the internal meetings going, ah, look what he's doing. He's turned his head, he's took them away. Brilliant. Well, was the greatest scene ever you watched was the one where what's his name was getting interviewed in the it was the Invest and I building at that stage. Oh, the tension, the tension, and then he dotted and then he then he ran after he escaped and ran then down all through Belfast. That you could hardly thought if he gets away, that's it. What an athlete because he was running, uh he ran out, and then he's running down Royal Avenue, and he's running full tilt, he goes around the corner, and then the next time they pick him up, he's somewhere on the Donegal Road, and then he's down in the village area, Tate's Avenue, and all the rest. And I'm going, Vicki McClure is chasing him. Yeah, and Vicki McClure arrives holding the gun steady as a rock. She's just running three miles, maybe four miles. Doesn't he say something as he dies or something? Doesn't he? Yeah, there's something I can't remember. But there's something something you go, yeah. Yeah. Interestingly, the the scene that really got me was in season one, and that was where Martin Comston's character was his hand was in the vice, and they were about to cut his finger off. And I'm going, oh my word, this is done. This is done. This is what's the way out of this? Yeah. I thought that was insanely tense. Yeah. Yeah. That was one of the scenes that you know really hooked me and went, No, they're not messing around with this series. It's great writing. I have to say, love it. When's it when's the next season's night? I think they're filming it now, so it'll probably be next year. I think the way it works is they'll film it, they'll edit it, and then they'll show it, Andy. So if they're filming it at the moment, it'll be six months from now. Yeah. What he's trying to do there is. I know, yeah. Okay. Okay, okay, six months, yeah. No, let's make a note for now. But if you're listening to this several weeks from when we've recorded it, it'll be less time you have to wait. It'll not be more time. Good choice, Martin. Really good choice. I didn't think it was rocket science, and I thought quite a number of people, especially people here in Northern Ireland, who became hooked on it as much for the fact that they were seeing sights from around the city as watching the story. The story was great, but it was enhanced, I think, for us because we watch it. Now, don't get me wrong, it's a UK hit full stop, you know, everyone. Oh, yeah, and they just see them swarming. Brilliant. No, it is it is a very, and I mean again, Hastings and the interviews, they pioneered the interview scenes that were long and detailed. Yeah, quite real time. Not once was I bored. Yeah, no. I agree with that. Because you're going, this is the way they're they're having to do it in a wake because there's too many, there's too many American ones where you they walk into the interview and they ask three questions and the guy folds at question number three. But but I think the balance you mentioned, Ted Hastings, like first couple of seasons they comments of people, oh what a character and all. And then they phase that slightly out and realized it was his internal struggle. And actually that till in a lot of ways was much more interesting character. But all of it because what they proved there was the imperfections of even the people who were in. I mean, Martin Comston, his character, sorry, has a A drug problem. At a point in time, Vicki McClure's character has various confidence issues and not getting the recognition and then being undercover and finding out that she's hated part of the time. And then the attention turns to whether Hastings is in fact H. Oh, yeah. And then you begin to go, oh no, do not that be the case. And then you find like we mentioned earlier once like the bill. Used to watch the bill, this is great. All these lads having a laugh and joke catching everyone. And you can see people go, Oh, it'd be great to work in the police. Not one bit of watching line of duty do you think it'd be a great job to work in the police? And if you watch the local series that's been done at the moment, Peelers, you know, you no hope. You're not going to want to join the police anytime soon. Andy, number two. Number two, a similar theme to my number three, a comedy look at the police world is Brooklyn 99. Absolutely hilarious from start to finish. I've watched a couple of seasons of it and it's very enjoyable. I didn't stick with it all the way, I didn't make it compulsory viewing, but I actually found it very, very funny. There's a magnificent bit where the uh lieutenant uh shows off Andy Sandberg's uh locker. Yeah, yeah. And he's saying, Well, what is the difference between this and a trash can? One's my locker. No, they're both a trash can. But Lieutenant Holt is very Martin-like. He sends every message with kind regards, Captain Holt. So he'll be saying, I'm outside here, kind regards, Captain Holt. And even if he's getting mugged, kind regards, Captain Holt. But his whole character is about this team of just degenerates who he has to look after, and sort of it's it's brilliant. Great storytelling, great characters. Everyone's got their own little quirks about them. You would fire it on Netflix and from episode one be hooked. It's that good. And I would say to our listeners who go, Nah, I don't really think police comedy. Do you want them to keep the cough in? Which would you like? I'm never quite sure. I'm never quite sure if it was a deliberate I just want to be noticed cuff, or whether in it's a I'd like to add it as annoying cuff. But yeah, uh Brooklyn 99. Brilliant. I've never watched it, although my kids love it. Yeah. I've just not and I've never been a real fan of American humor apart from Modern Family. I think there's similarities to Modern Family. Oh, right. Like there is laugh. Like Big Bang, I would put in the same camp where I could fire it on at any time and laugh. I know it's quite it's quite tricky. It's for intelligent people. So number two. Good choice. Brooklyn 99. No, I I think it's it's a solid choice. Okay. Um, and I'm amazed again, but look, it it amazes me all the time when we do these types of episodes, the stuff that one of us has seen and the other two have never even heard of or haven't ever seen. And you go, how could you not know about this? I have seen enough of it to know that it's quite enjoyable. Did I stick with it religiously to the end? No. But if it if an episode was on, would I happily watch it? Yes. Good. Number two, if you got so number two, interestingly, whenever I was getting doing my three, star skiing hotch, line of duty, immediately it came into my list. Boom, straight off. Nothing was going to be a good one. Yeah, that was your third choice and your first choice. So funnily enough, you had to search for your second choice. I had to search for my second choice, yeah. And I had a lot of options. Uh Miami Vice, because it was just that it was the 80s, the time. It's your era. My era, I loved it. Happy Valley, yeah, Luther. Or I'm not sure if you've ever seen The Killing set in Philadelphia. Oh, it is. Absolutely superb. Watched it two or three times. Great story. There's two versions of it. There's a Norwegian one. There's a Swedish one, Norwegian, and there's an American one. The American one is excellent. And I'm sure the Swedish one's even better. Well, I'm I'm more of a fan of Scandy Noir than I am of American generalization procedurals. This one you really love. Two great characters. But anyway, the one I I chose. And only was someone else suggests that. One of our listeners? Are you gonna credit them? Prime suspect. Oh, okay. DCI Tennis, Jean Tennyson. 1991 to 2006. Seven series, but only 15 episodes, which are roughly a hundred to two hundred minutes per episode. 15 episodes, I think. Sorry, a hundred to two hundred minutes. Yeah. They're very between the various different uh uh seasons. Okay. Okay. So some were trying to do that. I'm I'm I'm working on Name as well. Okay, go work away. And this was one of the true series that treat treated people like adults because there was no spoon feeding in this here, there was no over-explaining, a bit similar to Line of Duty. Complex complex case cases unfold really slowly, and you're expected to keep up. And there was moral ambiguity everywhere in this here. Who was the star again? Uh DCI Jane Tennyson, which was Helen Mern. Yes. So uh, but there was also big stars would appear in it as actors getting their breaks on it, and the cases felt real. Jane Tennyson played by Helen Mern was excellent. There was no Hollywood glitz or glamour, it was just pure grit. And it was basically the story of she was fighting racism, she was fighting you know sexism because she was a female uh detective, and you I I actually, whenever I was putting this down, I was going, I must go back and watch these all again. And what I did do a number of years ago, I watched them all again with my daughter who was 18 at the time, and she loved it. I don't think I've until you mention that I haven't thought a lot for 20 years. Yeah. Is it it's not nice streaming platforms or I would say you'd get it somewhere, but maybe ITVX or whatever. But you know, if you remember it, like if you remember the first series was the guy who was murdering the prostitutes, and he was like he was wild, but he was a real respectable character and he never saw it coming. And then there was the guy who uh had the dogs in the swimming pool, in the unused swimming pool. Do you remember him? No, no, all right. There was great. I'll tell you why I don't remember it. You didn't watch it? Never watched an episode of it in my life. What? I don't know why. Never did. Martin, this is my ultimate recommendation for you. You'd love it. And yet it only number two on your list. Yeah, but have you really watched Line of Duty? Yes, well that's true. What I was thinking just when we were talking about Line of Duty, do you remember Between the Lines? Sort of Between the Lines was really gritty and came out at a point in time and it was about the police complaints department, not the internal corruption, but the police complaints. Remember the guy? It was a really good show at the time, but it only got like two or three seasons. Yeah. And season, again, because it's a UK program, would have had probably three, four episodes. Well, there's prime suspect, 15 years. I don't know why I never really watched it. Um I just never did. In fact, I I'm probably gonna go back and re-watch this. Well, only if you can find where it's on. Yeah, it'll find it. Which you weren't quite sure. No, we'll find it. I honestly hadn't thought of that for 20 years until you mess it. That's bizarre. Which one of your listeners tipped you off about it? Rodney. Well, I mean, I think that's the the point is there are things, even as we're sitting talking about this, yeah, there are things coming back into my brain that when you're sitting on your own just doing your list, you're going, you're just thinking through what comes into your head, or then doing a little bit of research online. That's when Andy, you go and actually find some additional facts to go. Your your vague opinion. You don't need to when you're this knowledgeable. That's how it comes across. Most of the listeners' feedback is that Martin's organized, Gareth is enthusiastic, but Andy's just very bright. Rightly so, we've got some clever listeners, thanks lads. Yeah, well, but there you go. Very commendable choice in that it was a very popular show, etc. I just don't know anything about it. You've got to go watch it. We we are in an unfortunate position now where he has two choices. I know. And completely one after the other. Oh, we we you can just go to town. Yeah, you can sleep. Our listeners are going right, that's it. Thanks, Let's Yes. Um, Gareth has moved over to the small bed at the side of the van. Of the van. And he's now lying. And Andy is mopping his head gently with a damp cloth. I'm not two choices. Here we go. Let's buckle up. Choice number one, and it's not an out and out cop show, but season one is, and then it develops beyond that, and so it's all there's the story is woven over five seasons. It is unquestionably some of the best television I have ever seen, and you had to almost learn a new language at the start of when you were watching it, but and that is the wire. And the wire is season one was how the police were staking out the drug dealers, and it was all very much about the police side of things and then and the drug dealers. Season two moved to the docks, and the story concentrated around the people who were involved in importing the drugs that went to the dealers that the police were trying to track down. Season three moved on to exactly what was happening in as they tried to control the drugs and the police experiment to open up effectively a drug-free zone where you were allowed to take your drugs, but you had to stay within that zone. Number four covered the politicians and how they linked into the police trying to track down the drugs and and how the politicians and number five, season five focused on the local newspaper where a reporter started posting fake stories about the whole thing to boost his profile and how that all linked into the whole drugs trade, etc. But in the middle of all of that, you had the gangsters, which was A Avon Barclay, was the the big bad for a while, and his uh lieutenant was played by Idris Elba. And he was the one who was trying to get them more educated so they could be smarter with their money, so they could come out of the drugs trade. And then somebody moved into the patch, and you know, it's an incredibly wound uh story. It is it just winds all over the place for five seasons, and it it is genuinely some of the most engaging television you will ever watch, with one exception, the front half of season two about the the docks, it takes a while for you to really care about any of that. Have you watched that? No, but you've explained it really well there because people have said to me, Oh, you have to watch the world award, it's it's gritty, and I'm like, nah. But the way you've explained it a couple of times. You've explained that in a different season it works, it goes the way it goes, and it at the start it has uh Dominic West as McNulty, and he is the character, and then at the start of the sec second season, it's like he's he's relegated to an almost like a bit part. So when I'm going, I he's my favourite character, and there is a scene in it which I can't describe, and it's about the fourth episode of season one where there's two detectives at a murder scene and they only ever use expletives. That's the only thing they say to each other as they unpick what has happened in the scene, and it is very, very cleverly done, it is a superbly constructed season, but at the start you have to learn Baltimore slang. It is the first TV show we ever watched completely with subtitles on. Oh really? Otherwise, you weren't going to understand. That's quite good. And so you really got so Baltimore uh slang, you know, when you talk about a re-up, and a re-up is when you get your new delivery of drugs. Okay. When are you going to get re-upped? You know, and you're googling this sometimes. Yeah, well, you're going well, actually, we went in and as I say, went, it's the first time we ever used uh subtitles. That's good. To watch a whole show. And there is a moment in the finale of season five that you cannot explain to anybody, but when a character who's been in it all the way along is finally allowed to do something that he just hasn't been allowed to do ever before, and it's an incredibly emotional moment. And you just you can just feel yourself tears, and you know, you like something because that'll be that'll be good. You like a programme where it makes your partner cry. You've said that many times. You've sold that quite well, actually. I I've started it a couple times, but it's just the way it was shot, it is didn't engage me. It is incredibly hard watch at times, isn't it? Yeah, and there are moments in it where you just go, I don't believe people can live like this. And when you're talking about the the Baltimore projects and where people, the sort of environment that kids are having to live in, and you find that 15-year-old kids are selling drugs to pay for enough food so that their eight-year-old brother can eat or whatever, but they're they're in awful conditions. And in the midst of all of that, there's the police watching them and trying to get to the where's the drug, where are the drugs coming from, and who's got what corner, who's got you know, it's a very, very compelling watch once you get into it. You've explained that very well. Good, good. Thank you very much indeed. It's um it's my first time doing this. I'm delighted that it's it's worked well. So I didn't get the abuse for that choice I was half expecting. Oh, because we haven't watched it. No, no, yeah. Well, it it is certainly more mature television. It's something that's you know everything. Which you heard with subtitles on you are more mature than us in many, many ways. Many years. In many, many ways. In many, many years, you're right. So I get another choice. It's it's like the draft, Andy. You know, I've got two first-round picks. Or it's more like the Martin show. Yeah, it is. Well, I'm trying not to make it, but you have. Do you know? I am chatting listeners to a couple of people, it's just that they don't have much to say. Was the War your number two choice or your number two? So what's number one? For enjoyment, for consistency. It's not gonna be Lord of the Rings because there's a couple more, is it? There is a there was a Nork murder and the Hobbits had to solve it. Quite honestly, when uh Lieutenant Gandalf appeared, yeah. You know, no, uh for me, Bosch. And there's about eight seasons of Harry Bosch and then a couple of spin-off seasons. It is tremendous television. Yeah, not for me. Well, why is it not started just drags? I'd be recommended a couple of times. No, I watched the first one. But you see, I do enjoy I enjoy long form storytelling, and a bit what you talked about earlier. No, no, you're not serious, are you? Yes, long form storytelling is great. Whereas YouTube boys are instant, you like instant gratification. Did you need subtitles on for Bosch as well? No, you don't actually, and but what I like are season, and it's like line of duty, the story starts, but it wends its way through and doesn't solve. Tell us to our listeners who have never watched Bosch give the overview. Yeah. Okay, uh Hieronymus Bosch is an LA detective who gets the job done but isn't afraid to step outside the lines a little. But the lines get blurred uh procedurally as to whether or not uh everything he does is entirely legitimate. And the whole thing starts with him basically in court over a situation where a perpetrator was killed, and the question was, was he killed appropriately in pursuit of police duties, or was he executed by a vigilante cop basically deciding that this person was better off the streets? And it kind of evolves from there, but at the same time, in LA, naturally enough, because um they must be there all the time, uh, there was a serial killer had started to, and of course, Harry Bosch is the man that needs to be finding such a killer. I I think it's the actor doesn't do it. He's quite what age is he when he's in it? Mid fifties? Titus Williver? I don't know who's uh the actor's Titus Williver and he probably was 50-ish when he started doing Bosch. He's probably through 60 now. I'm probably doing him a disservice, you'll find he's 38, but you know he definitely is longer in the tooth, tremendous television. Don't think there was a season that overly dipped because normally in long-running shows, I mean if I think about Dexter, I go season one. Oh brilliant. Oh, Dexter, it didn't even occur to me in that. But Dexter's not a cop show. It's not a cop show, it's a serial killer show that the cops are involved with. But Dexter, season one, excellent, season two, really excellent, season three, yeah, season four, magnificent, and thereafter the law of diminishing returns. Yeah, I I like season three of the Trinity Killer. So Bosch four is Trinity Killer. Sorry, that's excellent. Bosch, you know, nah, I tried it. Just didn't mean I am astounded because some of the stuff you list does require you to engage over a longer period of time. It's not that you have a short attention span. Yeah. Andy, a short attention span is when you've stopped listening again. I I was going to give you a compliment there because you explained the wire very well to make me go, oh that I could watch that. Then on Bosch, it was like you didn't have the same enthusiasm about Bosch. To be number one. It's strange because I think the wire is the way it evolves is different to a lot of shows. Whereas Bosch is very much a cop show. Okay. And you're into relationships with all the other cops within the station, etc. etc. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Right, listeners. Oh, right, we're finished, are we? Just lost. Lost interest in my monologue. You have you've picked Thomas Obscure. Ones that no, we haven't watched therefore we can't comment on the picked prime suspect. Which is great. I mean, you'll watch it and you'll watch it. But I think you have to add Rodney picked it, he picked Robin. But you have watched it. Oh, years ago. My mum used to watch it on Sunday night, and I was like, what is this? No, well, it would be very much the sort of thing that your mum and Gareth would enjoy together. Oh, right. We've got Thomas Fagan said. Invite Gareth around and we'll watch some prime to pick TV. Not in the mid-90s. It does. It's wild. Thomas has misjudged his question a little bit and went cop shows, lethal weapon, Beverly Hills Cup, and line of duty. He's mixed and matched on TV. We also have Johnny sent in his three. The wire is his number one. Starsky and Hutch is his number two. As number three is Morse. Yeah. Morse. A lot of people. Morse was insanely popular in its day. Morse and the wire, back to back. That's good. Ron number three, Poirot. Ron is Belgian, isn't he? I could probably challenge Ron on this, and he would probably go, I don't know what he is. No, I say Ron is Belgian. The adaptation of the PVC David Suchet version. It was on Sunday nights. I think there was always a head scratcher. Also, you never really knew who did it until the end. Well, that's because Ron's not very clever. Oh number two, Nash Bridges. Late 90s cop show with Don Johnson, Cheech Marin, star of the crime team around San Francisco. Well written. And number one, Columbo. Every week, same format, always seemed to be different. I just have one more question for you. That's Columbo's line. Oh, right. In every show. He used to always label that. I just I just have one more question. Pete said The Fall, The Bill, and Happy Valley. Happy Valley was a hit. You told me about Happy Valley. I thought I didn't really like Sarah Lancaster before it, and I thought, excellent throughout. Yeah, she was excellent. I don't think James Norton was excellent as well. Oh he's not. You don't watch it at all. No. It's another one that's very similar to Line of Judy in some ways. Yeah, really good. You see, there's a problem. By the time I get home from the factory, lads, uh, you know, where I've worked all day, as I say, I don't have the same amount of spare time that you boys obviously have to watch all of this stuff. Uh you're retired? Did you not say you're waiting on a delivery of something recently? What do you mean, retired? I run your factory for you. What was the delivery he was waiting on? Uh golf simulator. I'm building it for management. Okay, mine uh we're a new well sorry, a listener's been for a while, but now has now given us their choices is BJ Cheavers uh coming through by email. So what is the email? Give us the email address again. Is the picture three show at gmail.com. Do you know it's not that hard to remember, but every time I challenge you to do it anyway. So what did BJ say? BJ came back and I had to go back and adjust, but anyway, we've we got there. In first one, number one was Starskin Hutch. I was memo mesmerized by Huggy Burr. Not too many people people like him round Port Rush in the seventies. That's a great line. She's absolutely spot on. There weren't many people like Huggy Bear. Hell Feet Blues, the theme tune was iconic and it was a point of TV. And the bill, number three. Bill, yeah. But a lot of people watched a lot of the bill because it was easy television and it was rolling story. Rodney comes up with number one, the professionals. Yep. Bodie and Doyle. Bodie and Doyle, which are so they drove EXR3, did they? Oh XR3, yeah. I don't know. Maybe not. No, I don't think they did. Yeah. Prime Suspect number two, that's why I got it. And number three, Starscale Hutch, which probably most of my friends would pick. I might have one more, but you go ahead, Martin. Uh Big Keithy. Uh this worries me because he he started with Cagney and Lacy, which, if you remember it from the dreadful show. I never bought into that show. Was it like a husband and wife? No, it was two two female detectives, uh Cagney and Lacy. Not unsubstantiated. Is that uh Big Key? Was that surprising about Big Keith? I I'm gonna leave my opinions to myself. He then came up with the Professionals. Okay. He's a Bodie and Doyle man and Starsky and Hutches is number one. See all those down high men are exactly the same. Yes, I know. You you just give them a Torino. Ford Torino? Ford Torino, yeah. Yep. Uh Victoria De Nun was uh Line of Duty. Ah, Victoria, well done. Blue Lights and Endeavour. Blue Lights was excellent. I've never watched an episode yet. I'm still on my list. It's still on my list. Blue lights episode season one, okay, or series one, as you would say, Martin in the UK. See series two, good, excellent. I really like it. For those of you watching in black and white, Andy did hand signals. I think I don't know. I think it's three series. It's three series. There's three. Yeah, number one, excellent. Number two, bleep, and number three, superb. Yes. Well, like what are you watching at the moment, for example? Sorry, sorry, just finished Victoria Dune's input to this particular podcast and Endeavour. And Endeavour is apparently Inspector Morse's early years. Oh, right. Okay. And I have never seen an episode of it in my life. Don't know anything about it. But she says it's she has it ranked as her number one. Uh Ashley Parks was the Bill, Line of Duty, and Brooklyn 99. Oh, Ashley, what a man. Just you know, with you not having seen a lot of these here, do you just get BBC one and BBC Two and BBC Three? Still, you haven't you've heard Sky, haven't you? I don't think I get BBC three, but I do get I do get ITV. Oh my god. He tries, doesn't he? He does love to look, to be honest, in the West Wing, we have every streaming service available to man. I just don't have time to watch it, but I bring it in for the staff. Anyway, Johnny Kerr was line of duty. Good lad, Johnny Peelers, which he says is topical at the moment, and The Fall. Does this count? Because The Fall was a serial killer show but being chased by an actual detective, obviously. I've never watched it. Pete and Johnny must be similar minds and that. It's very good. Janet Williamson misunderstood the brief slightly, I believe. Like Thomas? Because what she has done is individual police people rather than cop shows. So she went with Judge Dredd, What a Man. Oh, Sylvester Stallone. Well, I think it could have been the comic book. Keith Urban. No, it was somebody Urban. Carl Urban. Carl Urban did the second movie on it, but it's never been a TV show. Then she had Kojak and Olivia Benson, who's from Law and Order Special Victims Unit. She's tenacious, emotionally intelligent, and highly respected. I'm going, we're now identifying actual characters rather than shows. What did you ask for? I think I sent out the same thing, cop shows. Andy, have you ever heard of Kojak? Uh the bald guy, Telisamalis. Tellisamala, yeah, yeah. Who loves you, baby? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I used to remember the lollipop. I know. I I remember it. Yeah. You don't need to look at me. It's if it's we're trying to say if Andy's got it. I remember a place I used to work years ago. They used to say the boss was like that. I had no idea who it was. And I remember thinking that they all people of a certain age find it hilarious. But apparently you didn't. I didn't I sort of knew who it was, but I didn't really see the humour. It would have been Kojak. My memories of Kojak aren't that great. It wasn't I never watched it. Well, I remember watching it because back then there were remember two or three channels. Or your parents maybe watched it. Yeah, you've got Kojak, or on the other side, you've got a nature programme about Chaffinches in Sussex. You're not necessarily going to watch Road Show or the Antiques Roadshow. I have a great story about the Antiques Roadshow. We were in Australia and we were in um Airs Rock and the the TV up there, there were only four channels available, three Australian channels, and then Impargia, and Impargia is the uh Aboriginal TV channel uh channel, and we were flicking between those, and I suddenly stopped and I flicked back, and there was a friend of mine called John McCone on the Antiques Roadshow in Newton Ards on Impargia, the Aboriginal TV challenge, and I watched the guy who sits behind me in church on TV when I was in Australia on an aboriginal channel. Now you don't often get a scenario like that. I wasn't ho have much hope for that story. It was quite crazy. I know the minute I said, Oh, I've got an antiques road show story, you should have seen the look of disgust placed over. And finally, uh Paul McMahon was Morse, John thought his absolute best. Line of duty, great plot from a great angle, the cop's cop, and finally Hill Street Blues, Let's Be Careful out there, said at the end of every briefing but briefing by Sergeant Phil Estherhouse, although Captain Farrillo was the main man, always cool under pressure, and more of a politician than a policeman. I never watched Hill Street Blues. Me too. I don't know. It was Tel 4, wasn't it? Yeah, but I've no idea why, because it was insanely popular. Yeah. And it should and do you know what I mean? Do you remember the remember the song got into the charts and all? Yeah. When was it 70s or 80s? 80s. Oh no, late 80s. Oh, really? It was Tel 4. Yeah. But I mean, none of us have mentioned NYPD Blue, which again was another seminal show at a point in time. Very channel. And you know, when you actually think through, there are an enormous number of these types of shows. I don't watch any of the NCIS or any of these types of shows. People love those. There's so many spin offs, CSI Miami, all that. But it's all I mean and it's all the same thing at the end of the day. I'm not a fan of police procedurals where every mystery is solved in the same episode. Yeah, I think that's probably and beyond that. I like, as I say, longer form storytelling, which is why the time in this van has seemed interminable, boys. You know, anyway. Um we are going to go now because I think the if we stake out the police station for too much longer, we might become the object of their attention. Yeah, and also it's getting sweaty in here, it's getting smelly. Oh, is Mr. Has Mr. Musty arrived again? You boys have been in a lot longer than me here of mine. Yes, but did you have an Indian last night, Mark? Just remember, just remember the time we went to Lush that even the girl in Lush said Gareth was making the shop smell a little bit sparkier. But anyway, there we go. Gentlemen, thank you very much indeed for your turning up and your contributions to today. Um, and thank you, listeners, for continuing to send in some great choices. We do enjoy uh listening to them. We also enjoy ribbing you gently about them. But uh we will be back with another interesting topic in the not too distant future. But until then, on behalf of Gareth's yawning. Gareth's yawning as I close out the podcast. I've ever heard in my life. Listen, you have no idea what I work with. They said don't work with children or animals, but I made a mistake. I worked with these two instead. But anyway, on behalf of the podcast, my name is Martin. My name's Carl. And my name is Andy. And we'll see you all again very shortly.