WPC 56

Jennie Jacques portrays all the ambitions, fears & acceptances of young women in 1956 England. I let myself go when watching the case solving, but I forget the plot when the camera is focused on her. I literally have to shake my head at times to follow the story.

I really like the scenes where she's not on camera. But from the first 5 minutes of episode one, she's the portrayed character I want to see next.

Not her fault, but Jennie Jacques' eyes are too magnetic. That said, the little known supporting cast are drawn from the deep well of British acting talent. This was Britain in 1956.

That I found Jennie Jacques' beauty distracting should not deter others from giving this a first viewing. She did what the writers & director dictated, & her performance is worthy of high praise.

I mark this down because of formulaic writing, but I mark it up because of the ensemble performances.

This is series worthy of watching.

It's an excellent series, one that went out on BBC1 in the afternoons, presumably many missed it, I certainly did, and that's a shame. The same sort of vibe as Father Brown, we certainly have the smart Detective and the Sid character, but there is a lot more to this than just light entertainment.

It does a good job of presenting stories with attitudes prevalent at the time, so expect sexist and homophobic attitudes, made at a time when The BBC wasn't afraid to show these attitudes, not just pretend they didn't exist.

Very nicely made, look out for terrific clothes, sets and cars, in particular a sublime red and white Consul in series two's finale.

The series struggled to retain its cast members, changes were rife, but they always managed to get it spot on. Jennie Jacques is great, the standout for me is Charles De'Ath, the guy is superb as Fenton.

A shame it ended after three series, it's great though, 8/10.

Right off the bat, the show's premise presents several creative venues to pursue. You have a woman officer in a male dominant profession, allowing premise for critique of workplace sexism, assault, gender discrimination, and oppression. You can also tie with racial and socioeconomic issues and create a golden show.

This is where the first season starts, showing a lot of promise. But it quickly turns to cliches of personal relationships for the women officer. It is sad to see such a good premise being wasted in form of a one-dimensional character who is defined by her love life and the men in her life. The second season onward, this show is no different from any other gender-normative writing. I wish the writers rethink why they wanted to make the show in the first place. Personal lives are interesting, but it shouldn't define the character alone. Her ambitions, passions, inner struggles all could be explored, but weren't. Perhaps get more women writers and producers.

There are some real Drama gems hidden away on daytime TV and WPC56 is certainly one of them. Why it's not on (or at least repeated) at a later time I'll never know.

Well written and performed it tracks the career of one of the first female police officers back in the 50's.

The show certainly looks the part in terms of set and costumes and the one a day style of episode screening only makes the cliffhangers that little bit more gripping.

Maybe in their wisdom the BBC will recommission the show for a third series or even better show it in an early evening slot. It would not look out of place against some of the other,bigger name Dramas.

Just as you're settling in to a series the BBC pull the plug, no reason given, no apology to the legions of fans who loved the show.

They have done it many times over the years, sometimes leaving you in suspense as to what happened next with a cliff hanger. There was a thread not tied up at the end of this serious with the obnoxious. Ass chief constable, I would have liked to see what happened to him.

This joins the likes of Survivors (2008), Tripods, Home Fires and Invasion Earth. The BBC are funded by us but never listen to what we have to say. Dr Who a case in point.

It's been gone too long now to bring it back, which is a shame.