Z-Cars: A Lot of Fuss for Fifteen Quid Review

We now move into a lesser known era of Z-Cars following from the first era and a two year break, we move onto the second era which lasted to the end of the show in 1978. With this new era there was also a new cast, for the purpose of this review I shall only focus on the cast of this particular episode and not the whole era.

This story was split up into two twenty five minute episodes which lasted for a short period in the show and to be honest, it doesn't suit the format of the show which is better suited to it's fifty minute format in which the show will return to. The policemen who have taken the steering wheel of Z-Victor 1 at this particular point in the series are acting legends Bernard Holley (Who plays PC Newcombe) and Ian Cullen (Who Plays PC Skinner). The story is about a woman who has had £15 stolen from her, if that sounds mundane to you then you are not alone as PC Skinner thinks it's a waste of time which does go to show that life as a police officer is not all about stopping armed robberies and solving murders, PC Newcombe puts it into perspective saying that £15 is a lot of money for some people which does put up a decent argument especially since back then, £15 can mean a lot of money to some people.

PC Newcombe seems to be the more sensible optimist of the pair but doesn't like to deal with situations like this, the same with PC Skinner but he has a less than optimistic approach. Both are not afraid to show how they feel and there is a sense of envy towards DI Goss (Played by Derek Waring) as PC Skinner heard that he may be promoted to CID, this would be perhaps the most interesting part of the story, even more interesting than the crime they investigate. An interesting observation I have noticed about the show, the characters do feel well constructed, they have a back story, they seem believable and it helps a lot with some great actors playing the characters in this case it's Bernard Holley and Ian Cullen who do a fine job playing PC Newcombe and PC Skinner respectively.

You may realise that I'm not reviewing the plot that much, put simply the plot is paper thin which goes in a roundabout way in that the victim does not press any charges towards the person who stole the £15 in the end, it does make me wonder why they don't get the victim into trouble for what appears to be wasting police time in the end. That does not mean that the thief is going away free as her son tells the police what happened in the end, there does seem to be a hint that the thief may have problems with the way she was acting as well. Full marks go for the scenes with Bernard Holley and Ian Cullen as they both play great, interesting characters that don't feel clichéd and two dimensional. The only negative part is that the plot is basic for a Z-Cars episode, it's not the most thrilling or suspenseful of episodes I have seen.

In the end, that really is a lot of fuss for £15.