WPC 56

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WPC 56
Genre Drama
Created by Dominique Moloney
Starring
Composer(s) Debbie Wiseman
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 1
No. of episodes 5 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Will Trotter
Producer(s) Mike Hobson
Location(s) Birmingham, West Midlands, England
Running time 45 minutes
Production company(s) BBC Birmingham
Broadcast
Original channel BBC One
Picture format 16:9 1080i
Original run 18 March 2013 (2013-03-18) – present
External links
Website

WPC 56 is a British drama television series. It was written by Dominique Moloney and is broadcast on BBC One. The series revolves around the first Woman Police Constable to join Brinford Constabulary, a fictional police force in the West Midlands, in 1956. The show focuses on WPC Gina Dawson's struggle to gain acceptance in the male-dominated police station whilst having to deal with the sexist attitudes that were commonplace at the time.

On 21st October 2013 the BBC announced the filming of a second series, to be shown in 2014. [1]

Plot

Set in 1956, the series follows WPC 56 Gina Dawson through the trials of being the first female officer to serve in her Midlands home town of Brinford. Chief Inspector Roger Nelson gives her a small office, previously a store, and tasks her with making tea, paperwork, dealing with children and women, and told not to distract the men, who might seek to protect her in dangerous situations, so they could deal with the important police work. She finds she has to work hard to be taken seriously by her male colleagues and is shocked by some of the methods employed by Sergeant Sidney Fenton and the blind eye turned by the rest of the officers to keep the Chief Inspector in the dark.

Dawson lives at home with her parents Joe and Brenda Dawson and has a boyfriend Frank Marshall.

The first series revolves round two missing boys and a serial attacker and the relationships of the officers families.

Production

It is a BBC Birmingham production.

Filming

Filmed in and around Birmingham with its source of period locations including the Jewellery Quarter and the Black Country Living Museum.[2]

Brinford police station exterior is Birmingham and Midland Institute Institute on Margaret Street and the interiors in a disused building on Vittoria Street.[3]

Locations

  • Birmingham and Midland Institute

  • Black Country Living Museum

  • Jewellery Quarter

Cast and characters

Foreground:Gerard Horan, Jennie Jacques, Kieran Bew, Charlie De'Ath, John Light. Background:Justine Michelle, Chris Overton.
  • Jennie Jacques as Woman Police Constable Gina Dawson
  • Kieran Bew as Detective Inspector Jack Burns
  • John Light as Chief Inspector Roger Nelson (series 1)
  • Gerard Horan as Desk Sergeant Peter Pratt (series 1)
  • Charlie De'Ath as Sergeant Sidney Fenton
  • Chris Overton as Police Constable Eddie Coulson (series 1)
  • Justine Michelle Cain as Cathy Sinclair (series 1)
  • Marianne Oldham as Deborah Burns (series 1)
  • John Bowler as Chief Superintendent Coulson
  • Martha Howe-Douglas as Abigail Fenton
  • Tom McLarney as Sam Pratt (series 1)
  • Jonty Stephens as Joe Dawson (series 1)
  • Kathryn Hunt as Brenda Dawson (series 1)
  • Ben Turner as Detective Inspector Max Harper (series 2)
  • Mark Healy as Chief Inspector Briggs (series 2)
  • James Barriscale as Desk Sergeant Swift (series 2)
  • Liam Jeavons as Police Constable Tommy Perkins (series 2)
  • Jessica Duncan as Rebecca Jones (series 2)
  • Rachel Leskovac as Susie Nightingale (series 2)

Episodes

Series 1 (2013)

No. in
series		 Title Directed by Written by Original air date UK viewers
(million)[4]
1 "Sink or Swim" Ian BarberDominique Moloney18 March 2013 (2013-03-18)
A man and his dog find a child’s skeleton in an abandoned mine, and a white woman, Sylvia Stewart, is attacked in Victoria park on her way home from work. A West Indian, Donald Palmer, is arrested who denies the assault but he knows the victim well. Under questioning in front of her parents she denies knowing a black man and Dawson believes the prejudice of the time prevents her telling the truth. DI Burns sends Dawson to the library to look at newspaper back issues for news items about a missing six year old boy. 
2 "Memories are Made of This" Ian BarberRay Brooking19 March 2013 (2013-03-19)
Dawson discovers a newspaper item about two missing boys thirty years previously and DI Burns and Dawson break the news to one of the boys mother who identifies effects found with the skeleton as her son William. Chief Superintendent Coulson (revealed as Constable Coulson's father after a station inspection), who was a Sergeant at the time of the boys going missing, arrested a man for their murders and with little evidence and no bodies had the man committed to an asylum where he subsequently killed himself. DI Burns is still searching for a second skeleton. A second woman is attacked in the park but Sergeant Fenton dismisses the victim as she is a known prostitute. Dawson sees this as evidence that the locked up Palmer is innocent and risks her career by going to a West Indian club for information, only for Fenton to find her there. 
3 "Great Pretenders" Ian BarberDominique Moloney20 March 2013 (2013-03-20)
DI Burns continues his investigation of the missing boys, as William is laid to rest, interviewing another suspect from the time. Fenton is a laughing stock when an informant misleads him about a planned bank robbery location, but he turns it to his advantage when he leads the capture of the gang at their hideout. A third woman is attacked in the park and Dawson goes to Palmer's trial to convince Sylvia Stewart to tell the truth. Fenton is furious with Dawson as the trial verdict is challenged. Burns' marriage is falling apart due to his wife's mental problems. Constable Coulson is stabbed breaking up a fight at a coffee bar where Dawson is present, along with her boyfriend and Desk Sergeant Pratt's son. 
4 "Nature of the Beast" Niall FraserRay Brooking21 March 2013 (2013-03-21)
All the resources of the station are turned to finding Coulson's attacker, and Fenton and Dawson work together and identify the attacker, Johnny Harris, a friend of Sgt. Pratt's son, who is in hiding. Burns has committed his wife to an asylum and his children are taken by his mother-in-law. Dawson consoles Burns over a drink in a pub overseen by Fenton who spreads malicious gossip throughout the station. The investigation into the missing boys continues and Burns' search uncovers a recently dead woman, who had a child aged six who died thirty years ago, who was living with her son of 37 who does not have a birth certificate. Fenton captures Coulson's attacker with help from Pratt's son. A fourth victim is found in the park - this one is dead. 
5 "Little Boy Lost" Niall FraserDominique Moloney22 March 2013 (2013-03-22)
The dead body in the park is another victim of the assailant, the first to be murdered. The Chief Superintendent - dissatisfied with Burns progress - delegates Sergeant Fenton to take charge of the investigation. Under pressure from Chief Inspector Nelson, Fenton decides to use Dawson as a decoy to flush out the assailant which she readily agrees to despite Burns objections. The plan works and Fenton arrests a suspect and in the confusion Dawson is left behind at the mercy of the real assailant and goes missing. Burns detective work and Fenton's doggedness lead a two pronged search for Dawson that takes the case in a full circle. 

Series 2 (2014)

No. in
series		 Episode Director Writer Original air date UK viewers
(million)[5]
1 "Cry, Cry, Cry" Niall FraserDominique Moloney10 February 2014 (2014-02-10)
2 "Dead Man Dancing" Niall FraserRay Brooking11 February 2014 (2014-02-11)
3 "Eye of the Storm" Niall FraserDominique Moloney12 February 2014 (2014-02-12)
4 "That Old Devil Called Love" James LarkinRay Brooking13 February 2014 (2014-02-13)
5 "The Harder They Fall" James LarkinDominique Moloney14 February 2014 (2014-02-14)

References

  1. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2013/wpc56-series-two.html
  2. ↑ BBC media centre http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2013/wpc56-series-two.html retrieved 21 January 2014
  3. ↑ Sparks68. "Birmingham Film & TV Locations Tour". Retrieved 22 January 2014. 
  4. ↑ "Weekly Top 30 Programmes (See relevant weeks)". BARB.co.uk. Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. 
  5. ↑ "Weekly Top 30 Programmes (See relevant weeks)". BARB.co.uk. Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. 

External links

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