Special Branch
Title card, series 2
Genre	Police drama
Starring	Derren Nesbitt Wensley Pithey Fulton Mackay George Sewell Roger Rowland Patrick Mower
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	4
No. of episodes	53(list of episodes)
Production
Production companies	Thames (series 1–2) Euston Films for Thames (series 3–4)
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	17 September 1969 (1969-09-17) – 9 May 1974 (1974-05-09)

Special Branch is a Britishtelevision series made byThames Television forITV and shown between 1969-1970 and 1973-1974. Apolice drama series, the action was centred on members of theSpecial Branchcounterintelligence andcounterterrorism department of the LondonMetropolitan Police. The first two series starredDerren Nesbitt, before the programme went through an overhaul, withGeorge Sewell taking over as the new lead.

The first two series were shot mainly in a studio onvideotape with filmed location inserts; a standard method of the time but one which suffered from jarring differences in picture quality between interior and exterior scenes.^[1] The location scenes of some episodes were shot onoutside broadcast cameras, leading to smoother transitions between location and studio work for those episodes. Series 1 and 2 starredDerren Nesbitt as DetectiveChief Inspector (DCI) Jordan, working for DetectiveSuperintendent Eden (Wensley Pithey) and subsequently Det. Supt. Inman (Fulton Mackay). The episodes featuring Eden (the first nine of Series 1) were recorded inblack-and-white, while all subsequent episodes were recorded oncolour videotape.

The show was revamped in 1973 afterThames Television'sEuston Films subsidiary took over production using film, which allowed for a less studio-based series.^[1] Euston Films had pioneered the technique of shooting action and adventure series entirely on location using16 mm film, for a more gritty and realistic look. These episodes starredGeorge Sewell as DCI Alan Craven andRoger Rowland as DS Bill North. In series 3 episode 2,Patrick Mower debuted as Craven's colleague and often antagonist, DCI Tom Haggerty. By the 1974 series Bill North had been axed, having had a nervous breakdown, though he returned for one episode later in the run as a Detective Inspector inCID.

Representing theMinistry in the first two series was Moxon, and later Strand, who appeared in the fourth series. Played byMorris Perry andPaul Eddington respectively, Moxon and Strand were similar: supercilious civil servants who kept an unwanted eye on the detectives and their budgets. They sometimes manipulated them in order to pursue obscure matters of state, such as in the first series episode "Reliable Sources", where Moxon connives to have Eden sidelined into aHome Office working party role.

The theme music for series 1 was byNorman Kay. For series 2, 3 and 4 it was byRobert Sharples under the pseudonym Robert Earley.^[2]

The 1973/74 series of this police drama is notable for being the first production by Euston Films, later responsible for such series asThe Sweeney andMinder.^[3] The influence onThe Sweeney is clear, although the rough-and-tumble nature of that show is fairly lacking inSpecial Branch.

Both Sewell and Mower later starred as villains inThe Sweeney, whileSweeney starDennis Waterman appeared in the 1974Special Branch episode "Stand and Deliver" as a criminal.^[4] Perry appeared occasionally in a role similar to Moxon as the political and manipulative Detective Superintendent Maynon. Mower later went on to star in the 1977–78 BBC police seriesTarget.^[5]

The 1973 and 1974 series have been released onRegion Two DVD by Network, and both sets include an episode from the original Thames TV series. The 1969 series was released as a four-disc DVD set by Network in January 2007, and the 1970 series was released as a Website Exclusive in November 2007. All four series were released on DVD by Network in 2008, in a 16-disc box-set featuring all 53 episodes. The 1973 series was released onRegion One DVD by Acorn, which labelled it "set one".

As with the laterThe Sweeney, the on-screen offices ofSpecial Branch were located inHammersmith.

Multiple episodes ofSpecial Branch used Ennismore Garden Mews, SW7, as a filming location.^[6]

• Derren Nesbitt as Detective Chief Inspector Elliot Jordan (27 episodes, 1969–1970)
• Wensley Pithey as Detective Superintendent Eden (9 episodes, 1969)
• Fulton Mackay as Detective Chief Superintendent Alec Inman (18 episodes, 1969–1970)
• Morris Perry as Charles Moxon (22 episodes, 1969–1970)
• David Garth as Deputy Commander (7 episodes, 1969–1970)
• Keith Washington as Detective Constable John Morrissey (15 episodes, 1969–1970)
• Sandra Bryant as Christine Morris (6 episodes, 1969–1970)
• Jennifer Wilson as Detective Sergeant Helen Webb (6 episodes, 1969)
• Anne Rutter as Detective Constable Jane Simpson (4 episodes, 1970)

• George Sewell as Detective Chief Inspector Alan Craven (26 episodes, 1973–1974)
• Roger Rowland as Detective Sergeant Bill North (14 episodes, 1973–1974)
• Patrick Mower as Detective Chief Inspector Tom Haggerty (16 episodes, 1973–1974)
• Paul Eddington as Strand (11 episodes, 1974)
• Frederick Jaeger as Commander Fletcher (8 episodes, 1974)
• Sheila Scott Wilkinson as Pam Sloane (7 episodes, 1973)
• Paul Antrim as Detective Sergeant Maguire (7 episodes, 1974)
• Richard Leech as Chief Superintendent Knight (5 episodes, 1973–1974)
• Susan Jameson as Detective Sergeant Mary Holmes (4 episodes, 1974)
• Peter Jeffrey as Chief Inspector Pettiford (1 episode, 1973)

Notable actors appearing included:Paul Darrow ("Smokescreen"),Dino Shafeek andWindsor Davies ("The Promised Land"),Garfield Morgan andRula Lenska ("Something About a Soldier"),Jacqueline Pearce ("Catherine the Great"),Cyd Hayman ("Rendezvous"),Susan Jameson as Detective Sergeant Mary Holmes ("Date of Birth", "Intercept", and "Downwind of Angels"),John Bindon ("Intercept"),Peter Bowles andJanet Key ("Downwind of Angels"), Nicolette McKenzie ("Diversion"),Denis Lill ("Diversion"),Kenneth Colley ("Date of Birth"),Valerie Leon ("Sounds Sinister")June Brown ("Entente Cordiale"),Annette Crosbie ("The Other Man"),Michael Gambon andNadim Sawalha, ("Hostage"),Dennis Waterman andStephanie Turner (as brother and sister in "Stand and Deliver"),Stephanie Beacham ("Threat"),Richard Marner ("Polonaise"),Roger Lloyd Pack ("Red Herring"),Gareth Thomas ("Alien"),Tony Haygarth ("You Won't Remember Me") andWalter Gotell ("Intercept").

Special Branch was the most popular ITV show for the week of 27 September 1970 with 6.95 million viewing homes, ahead ofCoronation Street andITV News at Ten.^[7]

Note: Episodes 1-9 were made in black & white, colour from episode 10 onwards

• Special Branch atIMDb

• Special Branch atIMDb
• Special Branch at theBFI'sScreenonline

• 1969 British television series debuts
• 1974 British television series endings
• 1960s British crime television series
• 1960s British drama television series
• 1970s British crime television series
• 1970s British drama television series
• British detective television series
• British spy television series
• British English-language television shows
• ITV television dramas
• Lists of British crime television series episodes
• Television series by Euston Films
• Television series by Fremantle (company)
• Television shows produced by Thames Television
• Television shows set in London
• Television shows shot at Teddington Studios

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• Use British English from August 2014
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