Probation Officer (TV series)
Probation Officer was a British TV series that ran from 1959-62 about probation officers.[1] It was made by Associated Television and starred John Paul, Jessica Spencer, David Davies and John Scott.[2][3] Other actors who appeared in the series include Henry Oscar, Honor Blackman, Windsor Davies and Billy Milton.[4]
| Probation Officer | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama |
| Written by | Julian Bond Peter Yeldham Phillip Grenville Mann |
| Directed by | Peter Sasdy Christopher Morahan Royston Morley Josephine Douglas |
| Starring | John Paul Jessica Spencer David Davies John Scott |
| 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 |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV |
| Original 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.[5] Bond spent months researching the show from real life cases.[6]
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)
Archive status and home media Edit
Like 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 DVD release "Volume One" containing twelve extant episodes from the first series (1-3, 5-8, 13-16 & 22 - #8 is missing one courtroom scene) as a three DVD boxset. No further releases followed.
References Edit
- ^ Marcus, Laurence (December 2000). "Probation Officer". Television Heaven.
- ^ . BFI. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021.
- ^ . BFI. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020.
- ^ . BFI. Archived from the original on 30 November 2020.
- ^ "Probation Officer – Series One, Episode Two". 24 December 2016.
- ^ Probation Office at UK TV Index 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
External links Edit
- Probation Officer at IMDb
- Probation Officer at UKTV
- Probation Officer at Cherished Television