This was ground-breaking TV. I only realized this later living in North America and seeing a "new wave" of crime shows post Starsky & Hutch and Miami Vice. Shows like Law and Order, CSI and The Wire are great programs but Z Cars was created thirty years before them and got people wanting a more gritty cop show. Growing up outside of Belfast, I was also drawn to it as it had an Ulster actor in the cast. At a time when Irish actors were only allowed to play drunken thugs and terrorists, it was great to see one play a good guy. Sadly it was unique in that respect and Irish characters/actors were still largely banned to those roles for the next twenty years.
Review of Z Cars
