Mr Rumbold was also a constable in Z-Cars

Talking Pictures TV has started showing Z-Cars episodes from the early Seventies, though this one comes from the excellent Vintage British Television channel on YouTube. Like. Follow. Subscribe.

One thing I have learnt is that Nicholas Smith - Mr Rumbold in Are You Being Served? - was also a semi-regular in Z-Cars when the comedy was launched in 1972. He played PC Jeff Yates on and off until 1975.

You can see him in the episode above. Nothing much happens, yet it turns into a tragedy that stays with you.

I don't remember Nicholas Smith from this era of Z-Cars, but I do remember John Collins as the hard-bitten Detective Sergeant Haggar. Constables would groan when he turned up at a crime scene, yet he often turned out to have a surprisingly sensitive side.

Just like Dixon of Dock Green, these episodes of Z-Cars are much better than I expected. Unlike Softly Softly: Task Force, they are not all about the senior ranks and fighting serious crime. They are more interested in the lower ranks and their day-to-day work - see my Softly, Softly: Task Force and the history of police on television.

A word too for the location. A new private estate, it shows you exactly what 1974 was like, down to the Raleigh Chopper in one of the gardens and Leo Sayer on the radio.