Background
A drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, Merseyside. It started in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.
Hugh Sheppard
This photo had to have been taken during the first series, before Leonard Williams died in November 1962. Beeb lists refer to 31 episodes, so perhaps it was taken at the end of that series.
The names list has been adapted to my own recall. Not all the crew were members of Tech. Ops crew 6, which was topped-up from the pool, eg. Ray Butt and someone who I’m sure was Pete Wiltshire. Also Ken Twitchen is not in the picture, but Ian Leiper is.
Could others please confirm Steve Mason as a boom op?
This leaves only the ‘real’ car driver (bottom right) as un-named and the person behind Terence Edmond (P.C. Sweet) as unidentified. No-one is there from back-projection which would be unusual so perhaps that’s who he is.
David Brunt
I suspect that the photo was taken on either 30th or 31st July, the final two studio days of the first Season (most likely the latter). Dudley Foster left the cast at that point as well.
I think you’re right that it’s Stan Hollingworth the stunt driver. He wasn’t due to appear in studio for that episode but maybe he’d had an invite to the end of season party.
Dave Mundy
As a gram-op my most difficult shows were two 30 min. “Z-Cars”. Written by a sadist, they both contained almost continuous sound effects from beginning to end! One, ‘Car-to-Car’ was set in two patrol cars with constant cutting between the two with different FX etc. I was running several gram desks through the Direct/Line switch on the TC1 Levers-Rich tape machines and playing in spot effects at the same time all LIVE on the air! Today’s sound ops. don’t know they’re born! .
Peter Hider
An enlarged section of the Z-cars team photo
Robin Luxford
arranged the “Z Cars” Crew 7 Sound tie
John Hays
One of the PCs changed the blotter used by the station sergeant as a crib and this was not discovered by him until we were on the air! Luckily there was a prompt cut handy.
Peter Cook
Didn’t Colin Reid fall off a motorised Vinten on shot, on air, on “Z Cars”?
“Z Cars” 100th
Mike Cotton
I thought this was the 100th picture ….
Dick (?)
I’m right at the back right tracking the mole – next to Rachael (VM) with Dave Thomson on the front of the mole.
Hugh Sheppard
I worked on edition 100, which David Rose directed and needed so many re-takes that they were abandoned
David Brunt
The 100th episode was the one where PC Sweet drowned in the river.
It’s also legendary in that it had a lot of cameras seen on screen. Even with the retakes the existing recording is still very rough around the edges.
I don’t think David Rose wanted to direct again after that one.
“Z Cars” 300th edition
David Brunt
I should point out that it’s the 300th episode of the post-1967 revival. They restarted the numbering at #1. It was the 470th made.
Geoff Fletcher
This from Radio Times Feb 1970 – 300th episode
This was with Crew 8 – Ron Peveral Senior Cameraman. This was my last crew at the BBC – I left and moved to Anglia TV in March 1970, having got fed up with the promotional yo-yo game and being stuck on the roof of grade D for what seemed like forever. It was a tough decision at the time, and not without regrets, but it worked out well for me
Dave Mundy
Seeing Sam in the “Z Cars” photo reminded me… Was it true that Sam had the crew lined up before a show and checked their appearance, down to clean fingernails, or is it just another TC fairy-tale? .
Len Shorey
I joined his crew as acting/ boom/op and on my first day he told me he was puzzled that I was joining as he already had a good boom- op. I can’t remember who I replaced I know it was a promotion as boom/op.
Before we started rehearsals he called the entire crew to line up on the floor and read a memo from a Producer thanking everyone. I thought I was back in the RAF!!
Hugh Sheppard
My ‘Day 1’ in the BBC had me assigned to Crew 6 and introduced to ‘Mr. Neeter’. So that’s what I called him. On about day 3, he very confidentially said ‘Call me Sam’, although it seemed to stick in his throat. While he didn’t check your dress code, he did check for soft-soled shoes now and again.
His light reading was a Territorial Army Guide for Officers. Once when he quit the gallery we were in stitches to find a bookmark in the chapter headed ‘Competitive Digging’.
Once upon a time in TC3…. “Z Cars” was blessed (not Brian) with a very abrasive stand-in Floor Manager instead of the peerless Edward Ballard.
As her imperious "2 Minutes Studio, 2 Minutes!" rang out, accompanied by flashing transmission lights, Crew 6 hid in the tea-bar and between the double set of studio doors. To this day I can picture Ken Major having a last-minute drag. By the time we reached "1 Minute" her voice had reached a crescendo. And as “Z Cars” went to air, all cameras and booms were panned down and unmanned, by which time she was a gibbering wreck. As the opening chords of the theme-tune began, we knew we had 52 seconds on film to get into position. We took all of it, sauntering into the studio and slowly unlocking panning heads etc. At last, the FM was speechless.
What Joy! Of such stuff memories are made of.
John Nottage
“Z Cars” in a West London warehouse (I think). Jimmy Ellis was supposed to run in, waving a gun, and rescue a hostage. Come the rehearsal, Jimmy runs in with gun – with a very bent barrel! At the same moment, unaware of Jimmy’s joke, the sound department played an old 45rpm record they had found of Jimmy Ellis singing “Johnny Todd” – the vocal version of the “Z Cars” theme – through the foldback! Jimmy wasn’t too pleased to have his gag topped by a record he’d hoped was lost forever – and production were livid that their rehearsal had been vandalized by both Jimmy and the sound department. Cue lots of shouting and b*ll*ckings all round…
Bernard Newnham
There was a “soap” version of ”Z-Cars”…. It was deliberately brought back to be a 2 x 30 mins per week soap, with James Ellis as main man. It wasn’t like the proper ones from a few years earlier,
David Brunt
Calling “Z-Cars” a soap isn’t really fair, although it fitted in a (slightly) earlier slot than it had before (7pm instead of 8pm).
Some of the stories were as hard hitting than the first five years – some even more so as the first five years had some real misfires and twee stories among the good stuff – within the first few weeks were stories about prostitution and child abduction. While less than six months after the revival one of the regular police characters was beaten to death while out on a case. Not soap stories back in 1967, though they would be now.
That said, the final episode was written by Troy Kennedy Martin and Directed by John McGrath, the two people who created the first episode. That said, it’s a truly terrible episode, aside from the final scene.
The archive TV runs in 1976/1977. The archive didn’t have the first “Z Cars” episode (and wouldn’t locate a copy until 1991, in Hong Kong).
