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
GenreDrama
Written byJulian Bond
Peter Yeldham
Phillip Grenville Mann
Directed byPeter Sasdy
Christopher Morahan
Royston Morley
Josephine Douglas
StarringJohn Paul
Jessica Spencer
David Davies
John Scott
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series4
No. of episodes109
Production
ProducersAntony Kearey
Rex Firkin
Running time60 minutes
Production companyAssociated Television
Release
Original networkITV
Original release14 September 1959 (1959-09-14) –
14 September 1962 (1962-09-14)

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
  • 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

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
  1. Marcus, Laurence (December 2000). "Probation Officer". Television Heaven.
  2. "Probation Officer[12/09/60] (1960)". BFI. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021.
  3. "Probation Officer[30/11/1959] (1959)". BFI. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020.
  4. "Probation Officer[31/08/62] (1962)". BFI. Archived from the original on 30 November 2020.
  5. "Probation Officer – Series One, Episode Two". 24 December 2016.
  6. Probation Office at UK TV Index Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine


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