| Jericho | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Crime |
| Created by | Stewart Harcourt |
| Developed by | Granada Television |
| Starring | Robert Lindsay, David Troughton, Ciarán McMenamin, Lydia Leonard |
| Composer(s) | Dominik Scherrer |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 4 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Rebecca Eaton, Damien Timmer, Michele Buck, |
| Producer(s) | Cameron McAllister |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV (ITV1/STV/UTV) |
| First shown in | 2005 |
| Original run | 16 October 2005 – 6 November 2005 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Foyle's War |
Jericho is the title of an ITV British crime drama series which was transmitted in 2005. It was created and written by Stewart Harcourt and starred Robert Lindsay as Detective Inspector Michael Jericho, who is loved by the public but who is embarrassed by his status as a hero. The series was set in London in 1958.
The series was shown in the United States in 2006 and 2007 as part of the PBS Mystery! series and by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 2008.
Contents |
Detective Inspector Michael Jericho – who has a Jewish background – is the son of an English policeman who came back from World War I a violent and changed man. When Jericho was in his early teens he witnessed his father being shot and killed in his own front hall by two gunmen. In his father's right hand was his pocket watch, which Jericho now keeps with him constantly. In the series Jericho carries on a private feud with a local crime boss, who Jericho believes, but cannot prove, either brought about his father's death or knew who had him killed; the boss in turn has suborned a thuggish Scotland Yard Inspector named Christie to constantly anger Jericho by planting newspaper scandal sheets under his very nose about his father being a "corrupt policeman" or by implying Jericho has a less than professional relationship with a next door neighbour – a French prostitute. Jericho's mother is still alive – although they only meet on the anniversary of his father's death in the cemetery.
Jericho served in World War II. Besides his off again-on again relationship with his next door neighbour/prostitute it is unknown what previous relationships Jericho has had. For assistants Jericho has a faithful secretary; a tough Sergeant and for comic relief an asthmatic younger DI assistant and a street fence. In the last episode "The Hollow Men" had several in-jokes about the TV industry – a director replaces Jericho with a comic actor, starring as Jericho – in a fictionalized series of Jericho's Scotland Yard cases; at a banquet meeting of police widows and orphans, Christie tries to get Jericho as the master of ceremonies after guest speaker Benny Hill can't come.
The series was seen as an attempt to exploit ITV's success in period crime drama, best exemplified in Foyle's War, and to rival the BBC's Sunday night dramas such as Waking the Dead.[1][2] The first episode had 5.9 million viewers, but this was down to 4.7 million for the second episode, less than its BBC rival.[3] Critical response was cautious,[4] but the series was not deemed a complete success and a second series was not commissioned.