There have been many ground breaking crime series on television usually from America. In the 1950s there was ‘Dragnet’ with Jack Webb (pictured on the right) as tenacious Los Angeles detective Joe Friday.

Webb was a character born in 1950s ‘B’ movies. One of his more impressive roles was as William Holden’s friend in ‘Sunset Boulevard’.

‘Joe Friday’ was another great favourite. His catch phrase when interviewing witnesses was ‘Just the facts, mam. Just the facts’.

Another gem from the fifties was ‘Richard Diamond’ with a very young David Jansen, a role that launched his long and distinguished career in TV and movie roles. He was perfectly cast as the smooth, hard-nosed private eye in ‘Richard Diamond’.

Another hit from this era was ‘Peter Gunn’ devise by Blake Edwards, with the lead role played by Robert Lansing (shown on the left). Peter Gunn was a debonair sophisticate and became an instant hit in the late 1950s. It was revived more recently with the excellent Peter Strauss in the leading role.

Here’s to the detectives one and all– I eagerly look forward to the new batch of policemen and private eyes which I am sure will grace our screen in the 21st Century created for us by the excellent teams of screen writers residing in Hollywood.