Between The Lines
Encyclopedia
Between The Lines was an acclaimed television police
drama series created by J.C. Wilsher and produced by World Productions
for the BBC
. It was first shown on BBC1 between 1992 and 1994, running for three series.
The show centred around the eventful life of Detective Superintendent Tony Clark, played by Neil Pearson
. Clark was an ambitious member of the Complaints Investigation Bureau (CIB), an internal organisation that investigates claims of corruption inside the police in England and Wales. Along the way Clark had to overcome strong influence from his superiors and problems in his private life, most notably the break-up of his marriage following an affair with WPC Jenny Dean (Lesley Vickerage
). Throughout the series Clark was assisted by sidekicks Harry Naylor (Tom Georgeson
) and Mo Connell (Siobhan Redmond
).
Clark's work as a lead officer in CIB was the focus of the first two series. In the first series his boss was Deakin, a tough Irish policeman. At the end of the first series Deakin was revealed to be a corrupt officer himself. He left the force but remained a recurring character working freelance for the security services and others, sometimes in conflict with Clark and sometimes assisting him. At the start of the third series (after a dramatic shootout at the end of the second) Clark, Naylor and Connell leave the police force and work in the murky world of private security, far right politics and espionage. The third series ends with the betrayal of Clark and Naylor who had been masquerading as mercenaries. The betrayal is made by Connell in league with Deakin, their former boss and nemesis. It is unclear as to whether Clark and Naylor have died as the show ended on a cliff hanger. Rumours of a remake did circulate for some years, but Pearson confirmed in 'Watching the Detectives' that he had wanted a 'final' ending at the time and would never return to the role.
Between The Lines was one of the first British TV dramas to include a homosexual character. Maureen (Mo) Connell (Siobhan Redmond
) was a lesbian in the series.
The show became a surprise hit for the BBC, winning a British Academy Television Award (BAFTA) for Best Drama Series
in 1994. In 2000 it was voted into the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes
by the British Film Institute
.
In Ontario
, Canada
, the program was retitled Inside the Line because the broadcaster TVOntario
already had a current affairs program called Between the Lines and did not want them confused.
. He had previously played the part of Mungo in Chelmsford 123
(1988–90) and, during the same period he was appearing in Between the Lines, also had the regular role of Dave Charnley in Drop the Dead Donkey
(1990–98). Since Between the Lines, he has appeared in several British films and television programmes including Bridget Jones' Diary (2001), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
(2004), Trevor's World of Sport
(2003) and The State Within
(2006).
Harry Naylor - Tom Georgeson
. Georgeson is a long-established British character actor with notable roles in Boys from the Blackstuff
(1982), The Manageress
(1989–90), G.B.H. (1991) and Bleak House (2005).
Maureen “Mo” Connell - Siobhan Redmond
. Redmond's first major role was as Lucy McGinty in Bulman
(1985–87). She has since appeared in The High Life
(1995) and The Smoking Room
(2004–05).
John Deakin was played by Tony Doyle, another well established character actor. Along with Between the Lines, he is best remembered as Brian Quigley in Ballykissangel
(1996–2001). He died in 2000.
Guest stars in the series included many well-known British actors such as Daniel Craig
, James Nesbitt
, Jerome Flynn
, Bernard Hill
, David Morrissey
, Jaye Griffiths
, Francesca Annis
and Sylvestra Le Touzel
.
Executive producer Tony Garnett
had begun his career as an actor before becoming a producer in the late nineteen-sixties. His credits included The Wednesday Play
and Play for Today
. Following Between the Lines, he went on to produce several popular and notable series including This Life
(1996–97), Ballykissangel and The Cops
(1998–2000).
(Region 2) by 2 Entertain/Cinema Club.
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
drama series created by J.C. Wilsher and produced by World Productions
World Productions
World Productions is a British television production company, founded in the early 1990s by acclaimed producer Tony Garnett. The company's first major series was the police drama Between The Lines , and throughout the decade they went on to produce a succession of highly successful drama series...
for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. It was first shown on BBC1 between 1992 and 1994, running for three series.
The show centred around the eventful life of Detective Superintendent Tony Clark, played by Neil Pearson
Neil Pearson
Neil Joshua Pearson is a British actor best known for his work on television.-Biography:Pearson grew up in Battersea, London, the son of a panel beater, who left home when he was five, and a legal secretary, and was educated at Woolverstone Hall School, Suffolk, a boarding school, where he first...
. Clark was an ambitious member of the Complaints Investigation Bureau (CIB), an internal organisation that investigates claims of corruption inside the police in England and Wales. Along the way Clark had to overcome strong influence from his superiors and problems in his private life, most notably the break-up of his marriage following an affair with WPC Jenny Dean (Lesley Vickerage
Lesley Vickerage
Lesley Vickerage is an English actress best known for her roles as WPC Jenny Dean in the British television series Between the Lines and as Helen Lynley in the British television series The Inspector Lynley Mysteries....
). Throughout the series Clark was assisted by sidekicks Harry Naylor (Tom Georgeson
Tom Georgeson
Tom Georgeson is a British actor, known for his television and film work. His most notable credits have been supporting parts in Between The Lines and in three dramas by Alan Bleasdale; Boys from the Blackstuff Scully and G.B.H....
) and Mo Connell (Siobhan Redmond
Siobhan Redmond
Siobhan Redmond is a Scottish actress.Originally from Tollcross, Glasgow, Redmond's first television appearances were in the early 1980s. Her first TV appearance was in 1982 in a sketch show called "Nothing to worry about!" which then lead to the sketch show Alfresco...
).
Clark's work as a lead officer in CIB was the focus of the first two series. In the first series his boss was Deakin, a tough Irish policeman. At the end of the first series Deakin was revealed to be a corrupt officer himself. He left the force but remained a recurring character working freelance for the security services and others, sometimes in conflict with Clark and sometimes assisting him. At the start of the third series (after a dramatic shootout at the end of the second) Clark, Naylor and Connell leave the police force and work in the murky world of private security, far right politics and espionage. The third series ends with the betrayal of Clark and Naylor who had been masquerading as mercenaries. The betrayal is made by Connell in league with Deakin, their former boss and nemesis. It is unclear as to whether Clark and Naylor have died as the show ended on a cliff hanger. Rumours of a remake did circulate for some years, but Pearson confirmed in 'Watching the Detectives' that he had wanted a 'final' ending at the time and would never return to the role.
Between The Lines was one of the first British TV dramas to include a homosexual character. Maureen (Mo) Connell (Siobhan Redmond
Siobhan Redmond
Siobhan Redmond is a Scottish actress.Originally from Tollcross, Glasgow, Redmond's first television appearances were in the early 1980s. Her first TV appearance was in 1982 in a sketch show called "Nothing to worry about!" which then lead to the sketch show Alfresco...
) was a lesbian in the series.
The show became a surprise hit for the BBC, winning a British Academy Television Award (BAFTA) for Best Drama Series
British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series
The British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series is one of the major categories of the British Academy Television Awards , the primary awards ceremony of the British television industry...
in 1994. In 2000 it was voted into the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes
100 Greatest British Television Programmes
The BFI TV 100 is a list compiled in 2000 by the British Film Institute , chosen by a poll of industry professionals, to determine what were the greatest British television programmes of any genre ever to have been screened....
by the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
.
In Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the program was retitled Inside the Line because the broadcaster TVOntario
TVOntario
TVOntario, often referred to only as TVO , is a publicly funded, educational English-language television station and media organization in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario Educational Communications Authority, a Crown corporation owned by the Government of Ontario...
already had a current affairs program called Between the Lines and did not want them confused.
Cast and crew
Tony Clark - Neil PearsonNeil Pearson
Neil Joshua Pearson is a British actor best known for his work on television.-Biography:Pearson grew up in Battersea, London, the son of a panel beater, who left home when he was five, and a legal secretary, and was educated at Woolverstone Hall School, Suffolk, a boarding school, where he first...
. He had previously played the part of Mungo in Chelmsford 123
Chelmsford 123
Chelmsford 123 is a British television situation comedy produced for Channel 4 by Hat Trick Productions. It ran for two series, of six and seven episodes, in 1988 and 1990....
(1988–90) and, during the same period he was appearing in Between the Lines, also had the regular role of Dave Charnley in Drop the Dead Donkey
Drop the Dead Donkey
- Major characters :* Gus Hedges — The unctuous Chief Executive of the company, and yes-man to Sir Roysten Merchant. A management stereotype, complete with clichés and clumsy metaphors, he swiftly transforms GlobeLink from a serious news network to a ratings-chasing tabloid channel...
(1990–98). Since Between the Lines, he has appeared in several British films and television programmes including Bridget Jones' Diary (2001), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is a 1999 novel by Helen Fielding, a sequel to her popular Bridget Jones's Diary. It chronicles Bridget Jones's adventures after she begins to suspect that her boyfriend, Mark Darcy, is falling for a rich young solicitor who works in the same firm as him, a woman...
(2004), Trevor's World of Sport
Trevor's World of Sport
Trevor's World of Sport began as a 2003 BBC television sitcom written and directed by Andy Hamilton and starring Neil Pearson as Trevor. Only one television series was made, and Hamilton felt mistreated by the BBC over the scheduling of the show. The first episode attracted an average of 3.4...
(2003) and The State Within
The State Within
The State Within is a 2006 Seven-episode British television political drama, written by Lizzie Mickery and Daniel Percival, produced by Grainne Marmion as a joint BBC–BBC America production, that was broadcast by BBC1 in the United Kingdom from Thursday, 2 November 2006.The protagonist of The State...
(2006).
Harry Naylor - Tom Georgeson
Tom Georgeson
Tom Georgeson is a British actor, known for his television and film work. His most notable credits have been supporting parts in Between The Lines and in three dramas by Alan Bleasdale; Boys from the Blackstuff Scully and G.B.H....
. Georgeson is a long-established British character actor with notable roles in Boys from the Blackstuff
Boys from the Blackstuff
Boys from the Blackstuff is a British television drama series of five episodes, originally transmitted from 10 October to 7 November 1982 on BBC2....
(1982), The Manageress
The Manageress
The Manageress is a 1989 television series about a woman who becomes manager of a professional football team. The series starred Cherie Lunghi as Gabrielle Benson and Warren Clarke as the chairman of the second division club. It was independently produced for Channel 4 by Glenn Wilhide and Sophie...
(1989–90), G.B.H. (1991) and Bleak House (2005).
Maureen “Mo” Connell - Siobhan Redmond
Siobhan Redmond
Siobhan Redmond is a Scottish actress.Originally from Tollcross, Glasgow, Redmond's first television appearances were in the early 1980s. Her first TV appearance was in 1982 in a sketch show called "Nothing to worry about!" which then lead to the sketch show Alfresco...
. Redmond's first major role was as Lucy McGinty in Bulman
Bulman
Bulman was a Granada TV series which ran from 1985-1987 and followed the fortunes of the major character from the earlier XYY Man and Strangers series....
(1985–87). She has since appeared in The High Life
The High Life (TV series)
The High Life was a Scottish situation comedy written by and starring Forbes Masson as Steve McCracken and Alan Cumming as Sebastian Flight. Cumming and Masson met at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and united after several solo projects, to create the theatrical BBC sitcom, The High...
(1995) and The Smoking Room
The Smoking Room
The Smoking Room is a British television sitcom written by Brian Dooley, who won a BAFTA for the series in 2005. The first series, consisting of eight episodes, was originally transmitted on BBC Three between 29 June and 17 August 2004. The Christmas Special was first transmitted on the same...
(2004–05).
John Deakin was played by Tony Doyle, another well established character actor. Along with Between the Lines, he is best remembered as Brian Quigley in Ballykissangel
Ballykissangel
Ballykissangel is a BBC television drama set in Ireland, produced in-house by BBC Northern Ireland. The original story revolved around a young English Roman Catholic priest as he became part of a rural community. It ran for six series, which were first broadcast on BBC One in the UK from 1996 to 2001...
(1996–2001). He died in 2000.
Guest stars in the series included many well-known British actors such as Daniel Craig
Daniel Craig
Daniel Wroughton Craig is an English actor. His early film roles include Elizabeth, The Power of One, A Kid in King Arthur's Court and the television episodes Sharpe's Eagle, Zorro and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Daredevils of the Desert...
, James Nesbitt
James Nesbitt
James Nesbitt is a Northern Irish actor. Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Nesbitt grew up in the nearby village of Broughshane, before moving to Coleraine, County Londonderry. He wanted to become a teacher like his father, so he began a degree in French at the University of Ulster...
, Jerome Flynn
Jerome Flynn
Jerome Flynn is an English actor best known for his role as Corporal Paddy Garvey of the King's Fusiliers in the ITV series Soldier Soldier....
, Bernard Hill
Bernard Hill
Bernard Hill is a British actor of film, stage and television. In a career spanning thirty years, he is best known for playing Yosser Hughes, the troubled 'hard man' whose life is falling apart in Alan Bleasdale's groundbreaking 1980s TV drama, Boys from the Blackstuff...
, David Morrissey
David Morrissey
David Mark Morrissey is an English actor and director. Morrissey grew up in the Kensington and Knotty Ash areas of Liverpool, and learned to act at the city's Everyman Youth Theatre. At the age of 18, he was cast in the television series One Summer , which won him recognition throughout the country...
, Jaye Griffiths
Jaye Griffiths
Jaye Griffiths is a British stage and television actress.Griffiths trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and has appeared in many television dramas, including a starring role in Bugs, which ran for four series...
, Francesca Annis
Francesca Annis
Francesca Annis is an English actress, known for her film and television appearances, most recently in the BBC series Wives and Daughters, Cranford, and Deceit.-Early life and education:...
and Sylvestra Le Touzel
Sylvestra Le Touzel
Sylvestra Le Touzel is a British television, film and stage actor who was born on Jersey in the Channel Islands and raised in Kensington, London. She was schooled in East Acton.-TV:...
.
Executive producer Tony Garnett
Tony Garnett
Tony Garnett is a film producer who has worked in feature films and on British television. He was born in Birmingham, England, and studied psychology at the University of London....
had begun his career as an actor before becoming a producer in the late nineteen-sixties. His credits included The Wednesday Play
The Wednesday Play
The Wednesday Play was an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. Every week's play was usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured...
and Play for Today
Play for Today
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...
. Following Between the Lines, he went on to produce several popular and notable series including This Life
This Life
This Life is a BBC television drama that was produced by World Productions and screened on BBC Two. Two series were broadcast in 1996 and 1997 and a reunion special in 2007....
(1996–97), Ballykissangel and The Cops
The Cops (TV series)
The Cops is a British television series made by World Productions for the BBC.The production, set in the fictional town of Stanton in Northern England, was noted for its documentary-style camerawork and uncompromising portrayal of the police force...
(1998–2000).
DVD release
All three series of Between The Lines have been released on DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
(Region 2) by 2 Entertain/Cinema Club.