Dangerfield — Season 1, Episode 1: Police Brutality
Crime, Drama • 60 min • 6 seasons, 62 episodes • ★ 7.0/10
Episode synopsis
Black police constable Nigel Spenser arrests suspect Makin in the early hours of the morning and then finds himself faced with a brutality charge. Paul Dangerfield is faced with an ethical dilemma when Spenser's superior, DI Ken Jackson, puts pressure on him to help get Nigel off. Matters are made more irritating for the police surgeon when Ken contacts him in the middle of his first date with sultry barrister Kate Durrani. Things look bad for Nigel until Matthew Evans' body is found in his garden and the property in the Makin's car is proved to have been stolen from Evans' house. Elsewhere, the case of a suspicious death involving elderly Sarah Harris, one of Joanna's patients, is solved when her husband Brigadier Harris admits to a mercy killing.
About Dangerfield
Dangerfield is a British drama series about a small town doctor / police surgeon, which ran for 6 series, between 1995 and 1999. Originally Nigel Le Vaillant played the central role, but this character later left the series, the focus switching to his replacement, played by Nigel Havers. The BBC decided to end the series in November 1999 when Nigel Havers announced his decision to quit. The BBC felt viewers would not find the series credible if the main character was changed for a second time. The show like a number of other BBC dramas of the 1980s and 1990s also featured a number of borderline fantasy episodes. These included "Tricks", "Angel" and "Haunted". The TV trailers for Dangerfield were heavily parodied by The Fast Show in which the character was called Monkfish and would appear as a tough uncompromising Doctor, Policeman, vet and even as an interior designer with titles mixed in with other BBC shows of the time.