About this season
Sergeant Cork is a British detective television series which first aired between 1963 and 1968 on ITV. It was a police procedural show that followed the efforts of two police officers and their battle against crime in Victorian London. In all 66 hour-long episodes were aired during the five-year run, although the last episode was not broadcast until January 1968, 16 months after the others. Journalist Tom Sutcliffe has credited it as a first example of the use of the Victorian-era policeman in a television crime series. A 1969 review in The Age opined that rather than suspense, the strengths of the series were its "excellent period settings and wonderfully thick pea-soupers" which "add up to splendid evocative stuff", as well as the performance of star John Barrie. At no time during the whole series is Sergeant Cork's first name given.
Episodes (13)
1. Case of the Reluctant Widow
Aired 29 June 1963 • 60 min
If it was murder, who was responsible? The dead man's wife, Julie? The young cafe assistant, Clive? Sergeant Cork, one of the pioneers of the newly formed C.I.D., applies his unique methods of detection to the case.
2. The Case of the Girl Upstairs
Aired 6 July 1963 • 60 min
Lucy Beasley is certain that a crime is being committed in the Beasley household and she implores Cork to investigate. Is she a bitter, frustrated woman out to cause trouble, or are her fears justified?
3. The Case of the Two Drowned Men
Aired 13 July 1963 • 60 min
When Cork and Marriott begin their investigations to find two criminals wanted for murdering a bank messenger; a tip off takes them to the London waterfront, where they uncover a sordid riverside trade.....
4. The Case of the Knotted Scarf
Aired 20 July 1963 • 60 min
Cork and Marriott are called in to investigate the murder of a retired general's young wife, found strangled in a derelict bungalow in the grounds of an old country house is Devonshire.
5. The Case of the Stagedoor Johnnie
Aired 27 July 1963 • 60 min
Kate Seymour, a young star of the music hall, receives poison pen letters threatening her engagement to John Stratton, a stagedoor Johnnie.
6. The Case of the Respectable Suicide
Aired 3 August 1963 • 60 min
Cork and Marriott are called in to investigate what appears to be a case of suicide when Mr Bertram, a respectable and deeply religious man, is found dead by his housekeeper, Mrs Holland.
7. The Case of the Slithy Tove
Aired 10 August 1963 • 60 min
An urchin sees a mysterious gentleman visiting Trumble, an ex-criminal, in his slum house. When Trumble is later found dead, the urchin goes to Cork.
8. The Case of the Persistant Assassin
Aired 17 August 1963 • 60 min
Prince Frederick of Silecia arrives in London on a trade mission for his country. Cork is made responsible for his safety, and faces the problem of discovering those who are plotting the Prince's assassination.
9. The Case of the Sleeping Coachman
Aired 24 August 1963 • 60 min
In spite of opposition from the Melrose family, Cork is determined to discover the murderer of a laundry maid, whose body is found in their stable by a drunken coachman.
10. The Case of the Soldier's Rifle
Aired 31 August 1963 • 60 min
A strike at a factory; the army is called in to keep order, and during a riot outside the gates a striker is shot. Accident or murder?
11. Case of the Public Paragon
Aired 7 September 1963 • 60 min
Cook is summoned when an up-and-coming politician is murdered. His wife and the maidservant found a burglar standing over his body, but they are unable to distinguish any of his features.
12. The Case of Ella Barnes
Aired 14 September 1963 • 60 min
Ella Barnes - a sewing girl from the East End of London - is found drowned in a canal. At the inquest, however, it is revealed that she had been attacked before she drowned.
13. The Case of the Gold Salesmen
Aired 21 September 1963 • 60 min
Klein, a money lender, suspects fraud when a man called Carylon offers to sell him gold bars at a cut price. He calls in Cork and Marriott, who set a trap to discover whether Klein's suspicions are justified.