As with many of the contributors, I'm old enough to remember the age in which Pc George Dixon was set. And I can attest to encountering several rozzers just like him. He was the sort of bloke that made other kids - usually working-class kids - want to join the force when they grew up. Because despite the programme's age, and despite the fact that he represented the establishment through the law; he himself was working-class through and through.
A staid and stable geezer with no particular ambition than to sign-off each day, comfortable in the knowledge that he had done his duty and that his little patch of the world was better for it. To coin a line from a popular hymn; 'the trivial round, the common task; should furnish all we ought to ask'.
He didn't wield the law like a big stick. He wasn't concerned with crime clear-up statistics or political correctness. He didn't need a companion or a radio. He persuaded and cajoled miscreants, only taking them 'in charge' as a last resort, as that would lead to a criminal record. His was the familiar and trustworthy face of the law.
The real charm of this programme was both the simple decency of the man portrayed, and the glamourless, un-sensational presentation of life on the force. How things have changed.
Jack Warner made this part his own. Absolutely nobody could have done it better.
A few years later came an almost equally plausible copper in slightly more dramatic situations. This was Commander Gideon of 'Gideon's Way'. Another thoroughly nice salt-of-the earth persona was offered by wonderful George Gregson. This program is still available on VHS/DVD and is highly recommended as an alternative piece of nostalgia.
A staid and stable geezer with no particular ambition than to sign-off each day, comfortable in the knowledge that he had done his duty and that his little patch of the world was better for it. To coin a line from a popular hymn; 'the trivial round, the common task; should furnish all we ought to ask'.
He didn't wield the law like a big stick. He wasn't concerned with crime clear-up statistics or political correctness. He didn't need a companion or a radio. He persuaded and cajoled miscreants, only taking them 'in charge' as a last resort, as that would lead to a criminal record. His was the familiar and trustworthy face of the law.
The real charm of this programme was both the simple decency of the man portrayed, and the glamourless, un-sensational presentation of life on the force. How things have changed.
Jack Warner made this part his own. Absolutely nobody could have done it better.
A few years later came an almost equally plausible copper in slightly more dramatic situations. This was Commander Gideon of 'Gideon's Way'. Another thoroughly nice salt-of-the earth persona was offered by wonderful George Gregson. This program is still available on VHS/DVD and is highly recommended as an alternative piece of nostalgia.