Hard Cases (TV series)

Hard Cases
Genre	Crime drama
Created by	John Harvey Laurence James
Written by	John Harvey
Directed by	Richard Standeven
Starring	John Bowe Gil Brailey Eric Deacon Gaby Dellal Barry Jackson Gerrard McArthur June Barrie
Theme music composer	Tom Robinson
Opening theme	"Hard Cases"
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	13 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Ted Childs
Producers	Andrew Benson Phillip Bowman
Production location	Nottingham
Editors	Patrick Harbinson Jimmy McGovern
Running time	50 minutes
Production company	Central Independent Television
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	18 January 1988 (1988-01-18) – 29 August 1989 (1989-08-29)

Hard Cases is a British television crime drama series, based upon a 1987 novel by John Harvey and Laurence James, that aired on ITV between 18 January 1988 and 29 August 1989.^[1] Based around a group of officers from the crime probation service in Nottingham,^[2][3] the cast was initially led by John Bowe, supported by Gil Brailey, Eric Deacon and Barry Jackson.^[4] The series was one of the first British seasonal dramas to feature multiple lead characters and multiple, entwined stories, rather than reading an individual story in each episode.

The series notably featured Jimmy McGovern and Patrick Harbinson as its script editors, both of whom went on to have very successful careers as lead writers.^[5] Graham Nicolls, a then-serving officer in the Nottingham CPS, acted as an advisor.^[6] The series was accompanied by its own theme, written and performed by Tom Robinson, which was issued as a single by Robinson in 1988.^[7] Notably, neither series has been repeated since broadcast, nor is available on any form of home media.

• John Bowe as Martin Berry (Series 1)
• Gil Brailey as Gill Ridgeley (Series 1―2)
• Eric Deacon as Ross Kennedy (Series 1―2)
• Gaby Dellal as Leonie Friedman (Series 1)
• Barry Jackson as Jack Seymore (Series 1―2)
• Gerrard McArthur as Kevin Nash (Series 1―2)
• June Barrie as Hilary Bowen (Series 1―2)
• Denica Fairman as Chrissie Taylor (Series 2)
• Kevin McNally as Richard Pearce (Series 2)
• Sheila Ruskin as Lucy Davenport (Series 2)
• Valerie Hunkins as Charlotte Poole (Series 2)
• Sean Pertwee as Dominic Lutovski (Series 2)
• Ian Kirkby as Peter Collinson (Series 1)
• Brian Poyser as Cllr. Collinson (Series 1)
• Emma Bowe as Claire Sanderson (Series 2)

• Rob C. Mawby & Anne Worrall. Doing Probation Work: Identity in a Criminal Justice Occupation. Routledge, 2013.

• Hard Cases at IMDb