Softly, Softly: Task Force

Softly, Softly: Task Force
Created by	Troy Kennedy Martin Elwyn Jones
Starring	Stratford Johns Frank Windsor Terence Rigby Norman Bowler Walter Gotell David Lloyd Meredith
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	8
No. of episodes	149
Production
Running time	50 minutes
Original release
Network	BBC1
Release	20 November 1969 (1969-11-20) – 15 December 1976 (1976-12-15)

Softly, Softly: Taskforce is a police based drama series which ran on BBC 1 from 1969 to 1976. It was a revamp of Softly, Softly, itself a spin-off from Z-Cars. The change was made partly to coincide with the coming of colour broadcasting to the BBC's main channel BBC1. The programme was due to be called simply Taskforce, but reluctant to sacrifice a much-loved brand the BBC compromised this so it became Softly, Softly: Taskforce.

Outline

At the end of Softly Softly, the main characters - Detective Chief Inspector Barlow (Stratford Johns) and Detective Inspector Watt (Frank Windsor) - were promoted to control 'taskforces', a new (at the time) development in regional police divisions wherein expertise and manpower could be drawn together when needed for special operations. Joining them from Softly, Softly would be DS Harry Hawkins (Norman Bowler), also on promotion. The stories were set in the fictional south-eastern English borough of Thamesford (played by the City of Rochester and the Medway area), where the team were under the baleful eye of Chief Constable Cullen (Walter Gotell).

The continuing storyline of the series saw Barlow widowed in 1972, after which he was headhunted by the Home Office to work on special cases (this became the series Barlow at Large). This left the way clear for Watt to come out of Barlow's shadow and take command in his own right, with the reliable assistance of Hawkins. Regulars included Terence Rigby as PC Snow (the dog handler, with his dogs Inky and Radar), David Lloyd Meredith (Sgt Evans) and Walter Gotell (Chief Con. Cullen).

By the mid 1970s, the show was beginning to look rather dated and drab alongside the new dynamic series appearing on ITV (such as The Sweeney). With its increasing reliance on police procedural issues and squeaky-clean officers (with the odd 'rotten apple' for them to condemn), it began to look as stiff as Dixon of Dock Green had when its forerunner Z-Cars had appeared to blow away the cobwebs. The final series introduced a new theme tune and some new characters, but the series had had its day and was a far cry from the dynamic and edgy team of professionals introduced in the first Softly, Softly ten years earlier.

Series run down

Series	From	To	Episodes	Duration
1	20 Nov 1969	12 Mar 1970	16	50 minutes
2	16 Sept 1970	10 Mar 1971	26	50 minutes
3	6 Oct 1971	29 Mar 1972	26	50 minutes
4	13 Sept 1972	31 Jan 1973	20	50 minutes
5	12 Sept 1973	16 Jan 1974	18	50 minutes
6	4 Sept 1974	27 Nov 1974	13	50 minutes
7	27 Aug 1975	3 Dec 1975	15	50 minutes
8	8 Sept 1976	15 Dec 1976	15	50 minutes

Cast

Actor	Character	Years Active	Series Active	Episode Count
Stratford Johns	DCS Charlie Barlow	1969–1972	1–4	56
Frank Windsor	D Sup./DCS John Watt	1969–1976	1–8	123
Norman Bowler	Insp./DI/CI/DCI Harry Hawkins	1969–1976	1–8	113
Walter Gotell	Chief Con. Arthur Cullen	1969–1975	1–7	55
David Lloyd Meredith	Sgt./DS/DI Bob Evans	1969–1976	1–8	106
David Allister	Sgt./Insp Richard Jackson	1969–1971	1–2	22
Susan Tebbs	P/W DC Betty Donald	1969–1971	1–2	26
Terence Rigby	PC Henry Snow	1969–1976	1-8	83
Inky (police dog)	Inky	1969–70	1	N/A
Gay Hamilton	Dr. Jean Morrow/Watt	1970–1974	1–4, 6	12
Radar (police dog)	Radar	1970–72	2–3	N/A
Brian Hall	PC Ted Drake	1971–1972	3	16
Martin C. Thurley	PC Knowles *	1972–1974	4–5	23
Grahame Mallard	PC Terry Nesbitt	1972–1974	4–6	29
Nigel Humphreys	PC Pete Dodds	1974–1975	6–7	20
Malcolm Rennie	PC Ted Perry	1975	7	12
Philippa Howell	WPC Betty Arthur	1975–1976	7–8	12
Peter Clough	PC Joe Lincoln	1975–1976	7–8	17
Peter Childs	DS Don Grant	1976	8	15
John Flanagan	PC Will Pearson	1976	8	15

Others

Actor	Character	Years Active	Series Active	Episode Count
Terrence Hardiman	Insp. Thomas Armstrong	1971	2	7
Julie Hallam	P/W DC Maggie Forest	1971–1972	2	7
Heather Stoney	P/W DS Mary Green	1971–1973	2	7
Jenny Hanley	Sara Jameson/Hawkins	1972–1975	4-7	8
John Franklyn-Robbins	CI/D Sup. Bill Adler	1972–1973	4	9
Warren Clarke	DS Jack Stirling	1973	5	4

* PC Knowles is never given a first name on-screen.

Archive Status

All episodes of Taskforce survive on their original 2" Quad VT except for the episode Welcome to the Club which is a b/w 16mm telerecording.

DVD release

Series 1 received a Region 2 DVD release from Simply Media. This was released on 18 November 2013. First pressings suffered encoding errors where the studio scenes, which should have retained their original interlaced appearance, were accidentally subjected to "filmising". While some didn't notice this as an anomaly, those who did and complained were allowed to return their erroneous copies to Simply Media who replaced then with properly-encoded versions.

As of August 2015, no plans are known to be in place for the release of any further editions of this programme.

Series development

Barlow & Watt appeared again in a 6-part series in 1973, which saw Barlow & Watt re-appraising the Jack the Ripper murders. The pair would state all the known facts and with the aid of specially staged reconstructions, attempt to work out how the crimes were committed, though usually, nothing new was conclusively proven.

They were spun off into one further outing, Second Verdict. Over six weeks, they re-investigated some of the most baffling historic criminal cases, including the Lindbergh kidnappings and the murders of the Princes in the Tower by King Richard III. The characters sparring off each other to get to the truth made for entertaining television, but with the exception of the final episode, it was hampered by a lack of actual evidence to offer real 'second verdicts'. A comparable ITV series "Killers" featuring detailed reconstructions of notorious crime trials used much dialogue based on actual transcripts, which at the time didn't help "Second Verdict". In a contemporary interview, Stratford Johns remarked that: "I did not like the title. It was too limiting. I would have preferred 'Second Opinion'".

The character of John Watt would see one final solo appearance in the last ever Z-Cars, in September 1978.