You're Nicked: TV's Top Cop Shows Part 2 10-1 Online Quiz | Television

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1. Not all top cop shows were set on the mean streets of British or American cities. One from a non-English-speaking country attracted a big following - and did much to promote chunky knitwear as a fashion accessory. Which show was it that earned 10th place in "The 20 greatest TV cop shows of all time"?

Answer: The Killing

Between 2007 and 2012 the Danish show attracted criticism and admiration in equal shares. Many admired the strong storylines; others criticised the violence, particularity towards women.

Eventually the show was remade in an English version that shared some of the original elements, but differed in other storylines.

Originally "Forbrydelsen"- "The Crime" ran to 40 episodes between 2007 and 2012. The US adaptation ran to 44 between 2011 and 2014.

2. No countdown of top TV cop shows would be complete without the one at number nine on our list that spawned several spin offs. It was a combi-show that showed not just the investigation, but prosecution and court cases. Which show based in the 'Big Apple' was it?

Answer: Law And Order

Created by Dick Wolf, the show was spun off into "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit", "Law & Order: Criminal Intent", "Law & Order: Trial by Jury"," Law & Order: Los Angeles", and "Law & Order True Crime". A British version of the show was also produced.

The compiler of our list believed that the show "introduced one of the great small-screen detectives, recovering alcoholic Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach)."

Briscoe was well supported by other well-drawn cops, while the District Attorney's offce was well led by prosecutors such as Jack McCoy (Sam Waterstone).

3. Many years go the top man of one British police force warned there was no place for "bad apples" in his ranks. Yet corruption and malpractice among cops was always a good subject for a TV show. Which show, at number eight on the list of "The 20 greatest TV cop shows of all time" showed a dedicated anti corruption team (one of 12 would you believe) rooting out the criminal and corrupt in their ranks?

Answer: Line of Duty

While "Line of Duty" had its moments of violence and more than a few shoot-outs, the drama was more subdued. In particular it was noted for long sequences of nuanced interrogation in the interview rooms.

Five seasons of "Line of Duty" were broadcast from 2012. Filming on the sixth had been halted by the Covid-19 pandemic at the time this quiz was written in May 2020.

4. Most TV cop shows are "whodunnits", the one listed at number seven on the list of "The 20 greatest TV cop shows of all time" was a "howdunnit": viewers always knew the killer from the start. And, just one more thing: who was the hero who always wore that shabby mackintosh?

Answer: Columbo

It is said that Bing Crosby turned down the role of Lt. Columbo. Peter Falk was about the third choice and he made the role his own.

For 40-odd years (1971- 2003), Columbo cracked crime in his own inimitable way.

The violence was always discreetly portrayed and Columbo never shot anyone - he never even carried a gun.

The show become legendary. Top actors clamoured to be cast as the killer: Gene Barry, Robert Culp, Roddy McDowall, Ray Milland, Donald Pleasence, Anne Baxter, Johnny Cash, and Patrick McGoohan (four times) were all on the list.

5. Baltimore was never more bleak, run down or crime obsessed than in the show ranked number six in "The 20 greatest TV cop shows of all time". Which show focused on cops, criminals, politicians, and the press in an even-handed way that stunned the audience?

Answer: The Wire

Between 2002 and 2008, "The Wire" showed what was often an unrelentingly bleak vision of human life in a run-down city.

Some critics compared the writing to Dickens and Dostoevsky, though some viewers wished for a subtitles button.

It was all fiction, wasn't it? Surely Baltimore could not be as bad as portrayed? Some said "yes, it could", there were parts of the city that were every bit as depressed as on the screen. Added to that one notorious real life Baltimore criminal, Nathan "Bodie" Barksdale, claimed to be the inspiration behind the chief criminal on screen, Avon Barksdale.

6. New York's finest were portrayed in the show at number five among "The 20 greatest TV cop shows of all time". But this was a warts and all presentation: which show introduced us to the hard-bitten recovering alcoholic Andy Sipowicz?

Answer: NYPD Blue

"NYPD Blue", which ran from 1993 to 2005, was, some said, a natural heir to "Hill Street Blues".

That connection may well in part be due to the man who co-created both shows, Steve Boscho. He worked with David Milsch on "NYPD Blue". Boscho was also behind such other great television as "L.A. Law" and "Doogie Howser, M.D."

The "New York Times" opined that the show was "revolutionary and controversial", pointing to the many features it broke for other later shows to follow.

Dennis Franz played Andy Sipowicz in all 261 episodes.

7. Some say it was under-appreciated, others say it was one of the greatest TV shows ever made, yet here, at number four on our list of "The 20 greatest TV cop shows of all time" is one that threw stereotypes out of the window. For five years the Baltimore cops battled all sorts of crime and mixed in a cynical comedy that the critics loved but that the network was ambivalent about. Which show was it?

Answer: Homicide: Life on the Street

The show ran for 122 episodes over seven seasons, with a total of 122 plus a made-for-TV movie.

It was based on a book by David Simon - the man behind "The Wire".

The network, NBC, could have done more to boost the show. Instead it was shunted into odd times and some shows were run out of order.

8. With a classic car and a beer and classical music loving lead cop, the show listed at number three among "The 20 greatest TV cop shows of all time" was more genteel than many of its rivals. Which show featured an awful lot of murders among the dreaming spires of Oxford?

Answer: Inspector Morse

John Thaw starred as Inspector Morse years after he played the tough and violent Jack Thaw in "The Sweeney".

The TV shows were based on the novels by Colin Dexter - who almost inevitably had a cameo role in each.

"Enigmatic" is a word used to describe Morse. But, brilliant as he may have been as sleuth, he did little to harbour personal loyalty among his subordinates.

There were 33 episodes in seven seasons between 1987 and 1993 and and five specials between 1995 and 2000.

9. "Get you're trousers on - you're nicked": At number two on the list of "The 20 greatest TV cop shows of all time" was one that featured car chases, punch-ups and detectives unafraid to forcefully 'encourage' suspects to confess. Which show set amid the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad was it?

Answer: The Sweeney

The title of the show "The Sweeney" was adopted from the Cockney rhyming slang "Sweeney Todd" - Flying Squad.

In some ways the lead cop Jack Regan (John Thaw) was a precursor of Vick Mackey in "The Shield" - an officer not afraid to bend the law to get the right result.

Placing it on our 2019 countdown Graeme Ross wrote: "...'The Sweeney' retains its magnetic hold, and as a microcosm of its time and style, not to mention as landmark television, it has rarely been bettered."

"The Sweeney" was created by by Ian Kennedy Martin, brother of Troy Kennedy Martin, who had created "Z Cars" many years before.

The show ran for 53 episodes across four seasons between 1975 and 1978. It also spawned two film sequels.

10. When a show is nominated for 98 Emmy awards, it must have been doing something right. Which cop show set in an unnamed city did procedural policing to the nth degree and paved the way for many to follow. It was also number one on our list of "The 20 greatest TV cop shows of all time"?

Answer: Hill Street Blues

Many felt "Hill Street Blues" owed a lot to the "87th Precinct" books of the US author Ed McBain.

"HSB" was created by by Steven Bochco and Michael Kozoll, and, as "Z Cars" had done in Britain 20 years earlier, ushered in a new style of cop show. The thread spun by "HSB" can be seen among many of the other US cop shows already mentioned in this quiz.

While it never earned a huge share of the audience, the show was critically acclaimed. Among these, "rottentomatoes" described it as "television drama of a high order. It won 26 of the 98 nominations for an Emmy.

Noting that the network had done well to stick with a programme that had a cult following rather than being runaway success, "The New York Times" said in 1981 it "expands the borders of the standard police-show format."

Source: Author darksplash

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor guitargoddess before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

You're Nicked: TV's Top Cop Shows Part 2 10-1 Quiz

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