Sergeant Cork
Genre	Police drama
Created by	Ted Willis
Starring	John Barrie William Gaunt
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	6
No. of episodes	66
Production
Producer	Jack Williams
Running time	50 minutes
Production company	ATV
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	1963 (1963) – 1968 (1968)

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.^[1] Journalist Tom Sutcliffe has credited it as a first example of the use of the Victorian-era policeman in a television crime series.^[2]

A 1969 review in The Age opined that rather than suspense, the strengths of the series were its "[e]xcellent period settings and wonderfully thick pea-soupers" which "add up to splendid evocative stuff", as well as the performance of star John Barrie.^[3]

At no time during the whole series is Sergeant Cork's first name given.

Cast

• John Barrie as Sergeant Cork
• William Gaunt as Robert 'Bob' Marriott
• Charles Morgan as Superintendent Rodway
• Arnold Diamond as Detective Joseph Bird
• John Richmond as Superintendent Billy Nelson
• Freddy Fowler as Chalky White

Other actors appearing in two or more episodes included:

• Carmen Silvera^[4]
• Alan Haines^[5]
• Peter Sallis^[6]

DVD Releases

Network has released the entire series on Region 2, PAL DVD in the UK. The second series was an exclusive two-disc set on their website which has since been re-released on 3 September 2012. The third set was also a four disc set and is available through the Network website. Series 4 became available from both the Network website and other retailers on 6 August 2012.^[7] Series 5 was released on 19 November 2012, and Series 6 on 18 March 2013.

References