No Hiding Place

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No Hiding Place was a British television series produced at Wembley Studios by Associated-Rediffusion for the ITV network between 16th September 1959 and 22nd June 1967.

The series followed the cases of Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Lockhart (Raymond Francis) at Scotland Yard. He was initially assisted by Detective Sergeant Harry Baxter (Eric Lander), followed by Det. Sgt. Russell (Johnny Briggs) and Det. Sgt. Perryman (Michael McStay), and finally by Det. Sgt. Gregg (Sean Caffrey).

The series was cancelled in 1965 but there were so many protests from the Public and the Police that it started again for another two years. 236 episodes were made in total. Detective Sergeant Harry Baxter was there from episode one till episode 141. Midway through the series he was transferred to E Division's Q Car Squad and promoted from Sergeant to Inspector, a rank he retained when he returned to the Yard in 1963. Baxter had his own short TV series, Echo Four-Two. Unfortunately the show suffered from poor scripts and of 13 planned episodes, only 10 were made (30 minutes each, 24th August 1961 to 25th October 1961), interrupted by an actor's strike, and no more were made.

No Hiding Place continued on from where the TV series Murder Bag and Crime Sheet left off. Murder Bag featured 55 episodes. 30 in Season One (16th September 1957 to 31st March 1958), all untitled and 25 in Season Two (30th June 1958 to 1st April 1959), all titled, and all featuring the word "Lockhart" as the first word of their title. All episodes were 30 minutes long and featured Raymond Francis as Superintendent Lockhart. Backup sergeants and others changed regularly. The murder bag in the title carried 42 items which were needed in the investigation of a crime. The show was produced live in the studio.

Lockhart has now been promoted to Detective Chief Superintendent but little has changed in the police series as Lockhart matches wits against criminals. 17 episodes of 30 minutes were produced from 8th April 1959 to 9th September 1959. The last one did not feature Lockhart but Chief Superintendent Carr, played by Gerald Case.

[edit] Missing Episodes

Only 22 of the 236 episodes produced are known to exist in either a full or incomplete form. This figure accounts for episodes known to be held by the National Film and Television Archive and those held in private collections. Some early episodes were broadcast live and as a result were never recorded.