English Mysteries Club discussion

Hello,
I'm sorry for intruding here, as this is not really my genre! I'm a horror writer. My latest novel is set in South-east England in the 1970s and features a police investigation. Are there any readers here with any knowledge/experience of this era who might want to beta read and advise me on any glaring problems with procedure?

Thanks for taking the time to read, everyone!

I notice you live in England. If there are no
readers who can help (and I am sorry I can't)
you may have access to TV shows from the 70s
that featured police procedure. I'm thinking
"Special Branch" which was a really good one,
"New Scotland Yard", even "Gideon" which was made
during the mid 60s. We are enjoying that at the
moment and I am sure there are a lot of pointers
you could pick up from it.

Thanks for the reply. I do enjoy a good police drama, but it seems that most of them from the era skimp on procedural details for dramatic effect (not that's a bad thing, necessarily!) In recent years the attention to detail has improved (and the wonderful Life on Mars was somewhat useful), but it's hard to glean too much from TV.

I do appreciate it's optimistic to expect a retired chief constable to be scouring these boards! :)

Diane wrote: "I notice you live in England. If there are no
readers who can help (and I am sorry I can't)
you may have access to TV shows from the 70s
that featured police procedure. I'm thinking
"Special Branch..."

Also Z Cars. But I don't think police procedure played a large part in those stories!

I haven't watched it yet, but the more recent BBC programme Life on Mars might be helpful. A present-day Manchester policeman finds himself back in 1973, also as a policeman, and I suspect that he compares current police procedures with those in the 1970s.

Hello Hj, you really bought back memories of
sitting around the TV watching "Z Cars". I notice
that Amazons have just released a set with
obviously all the episodes that are available
(I think it's about 10). "Softly, Softly" was
good as well. You're right, police procedure
didn't play much of a part in those old series
- they were probably too worried about knocking
over the dodgy sets!!

Ooh, Diane, I'd forgotten Softly, Softly, which I think was really good. I remember the theme tune from Z Cars!

Diane wrote: "Hello Hj, you really bought back memories of
sitting around the TV watching "Z Cars". I notice
that Amazons have just released a set with
obviously all the episodes that are available
(I think it'..."

Diane, that's so true -- "I Spy" has been re-airing here in the US & it looks like the fights are carefully staged to avoid those flimsy walls! Made me wonder if the influence of theatre & illusion was much stronger then, vs. nowadays movies, which are so literal.

There is a lot of police procedure in Life on Mars, but it's very "straw man" & maybe not reliable for accuracy.