Five top television cops
Everyone has their favorite cop off the television and many hours are spent debating and arguing the merits of each. Here is a top five that is bound to have one or two on everyone’s list.
1- Columbo- Peter Falk played the detective from the Los Angeles Police Department. The series ran for over twenty years with the episodes running nearer a feature film length than television show. With his trademark shabby raincoat, Columbo shows revealed the culprit early on, and the plot unfolded as to how he was caught. Oh, and another thing…
2- Morse- The grumpy, beer swigging, opera loving Inspector Morse from Oxford CID presided over many a murder carried out between the gleaming spires of the old University Town. John Thaw played Morse to perfection and the series was so popular it produced a spin off, Lewis, based around Morse’s sidekick.
3- Poirot- It would be hard to talk of detectives without mentioning Agatha Christie. Hercule Poirot, the fastidious Belgian detective, has featured in over 60 of her short stories or novels translated for the small screen. David Suchet plays the lead, unraveling mysteries with logic and the use of the little grey cells.
4- Sgt Joe Friday, Dragnet- From 1951-59 Dragnet was must see viewing, and especially Sgt Joe Friday. A no nonsense traditional police officer with a nose for hunting out subversives and miscreants wherever they dared to show their head.
5- Detective Mary Beth Lacey, Cagney and Lacey- as a working mother, Lacey provided an alternative face to the mainly male, misogynistic cops who filled our TV screens. Set in the heart of Manhattan, her relationship with husband Harvey portrays a more rounded version of a cops life, giving the show more human interest. The show’s stars won Emmy’s six years in a row, so the formula definitely worked.
