British TV drama series (1959–1962)
Probation Officer was a British TV series that ran from 1959–1962 about probation officers.[2] It was made by Associated Television and starred John Paul, Jessica Spencer, David Davies and John Scott.[3][4] Other actors who appeared in the series include Henry Oscar, Honor Blackman, Windsor Davies and Billy Milton.[5]
It was created by Julian Bond and was the first ever one-hour TV drama to screen on ITV.[6] Bond spent months researching the show from real life cases.[7]
Cast
- 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)
- Derek Benfield as George Cooper (1 episode, 1960)[8]
Archive status and home media
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
- ^ "Probation Officer (1959-1962)".
- ^ Marcus, Laurence (December 2000). "Probation Officer". Television Heaven.
- ^ "Probation Officer[12/09/60] (1960)". BFI. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021.
- ^ "Probation Officer[30/11/1959] (1959)". BFI. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020.
- ^ "Probation Officer[31/08/62] (1962)". BFI. Archived from the original on 30 November 2020.
- ^ "Probation Officer – Series One, Episode Two". 24 December 2016.
- ^ Probation Office at UK TV Index Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Probation Officer (1959-1962)".
External links
- Probation Officer at IMDb
- Probation Officer at UKTV
- Probation Officer at Cherished Television
