Fabian of the Yard
Encyclopedia
Fabian of the Yard was a British
police procedural
television series based on the real-life memoirs of Scotland Yard
detective Robert Fabian, made by the BBC
and broadcast between November 1954 and February 1956. It is considered the earliest police procedural to be made for British TV, sharing many points of commonality with the U.S. series Dragnet
which had gone on air in 1951.
There were 36 episodes in total, of 30 minutes each. The first 30 were broadcast consecutively on Saturday evenings between 13 November 1954 and 22 June 1955, with the exceptions of Christmas Day and New Year's Day which happened to fall on a Saturday. For unknown reasons, the final six episodes were held back, and were later broadcast intermittently between November 1955 and February 1956. The series was later broadcast in the U.S. under the name Fabian of Scotland Yard.
, who played the eponymous Fabian in every episode, the series had relatively few recurring characters in comparison to later British police series. Only Robert Raglan
as Detective Sergeant Wyatt was in any way a regular, appearing in 15 episodes. No other cast member featured in more than six episodes, as the particular skills of their character were called on to assist in a case germane to their speciality, such as the laboratory expert, the psychiatrist
, the pathologist
or the graphologist
. There were guest appearances from well-known actors such as Kathleen Byron
, Elspet Gray
, Kieron Moore
and Michael Craig
, but for the most part the cast consisted of relative unknowns.
Fabian of the Yard was one of the earliest BBC series to be shot on film, with each episode featuring voiceover narration from Seton. Each case was a dramatisation of a genuine crime which had taken place in the London
area between the 1920s and the early 1950s, usually, although not invariably, a murder. Many of the cases featured had made national headlines in their day, such as "Little Girl", based on the murder of an East London schoolgirl which had shocked the country in 1939. Each episode finished with an epilogue in which a shot of Seton at his desk dissolved into a shot of the real-life Fabian at the same desk, who then explained to viewers what had happened to the real criminal from the case they had just been watching.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
police procedural
Police procedural
The police procedural is a subgenre of detective fiction which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes. While traditional detective novels usually concentrate on a single crime, police procedurals frequently depict investigations into several...
television series based on the real-life memoirs of Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
detective Robert Fabian, made by 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...
and broadcast between November 1954 and February 1956. It is considered the earliest police procedural to be made for British TV, sharing many points of commonality with the U.S. series Dragnet
Dragnet (series)
Dragnet is a radio and television crime drama about the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners...
which had gone on air in 1951.
There were 36 episodes in total, of 30 minutes each. The first 30 were broadcast consecutively on Saturday evenings between 13 November 1954 and 22 June 1955, with the exceptions of Christmas Day and New Year's Day which happened to fall on a Saturday. For unknown reasons, the final six episodes were held back, and were later broadcast intermittently between November 1955 and February 1956. The series was later broadcast in the U.S. under the name Fabian of Scotland Yard.
Synopsis
Apart from Bruce SetonBruce Seton
Major Sir Bruce Lovat Seton of Abercorn, 11th Baronet , better known as Bruce Seton, was a British actor and soldier....
, who played the eponymous Fabian in every episode, the series had relatively few recurring characters in comparison to later British police series. Only Robert Raglan
Robert Raglan
Robert Raglan was a British actor best known for his semi-regular role in Dad's Army, as Colonel Pritchard. He also starred in a number of other television series and films such as Fabian of the Yard and The Haunted House of Horror...
as Detective Sergeant Wyatt was in any way a regular, appearing in 15 episodes. No other cast member featured in more than six episodes, as the particular skills of their character were called on to assist in a case germane to their speciality, such as the laboratory expert, the psychiatrist
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
, the pathologist
Pathology
Pathology is the precise study and diagnosis of disease. The word pathology is from Ancient Greek , pathos, "feeling, suffering"; and , -logia, "the study of". Pathologization, to pathologize, refers to the process of defining a condition or behavior as pathological, e.g. pathological gambling....
or the graphologist
Graphology
Graphology is the pseudoscientific study and analysis of handwriting, especially in relation to human psychology. In the medical field, it can be used to refer to the study of handwriting as an aid in diagnosis and tracking of diseases of the brain and nervous system...
. There were guest appearances from well-known actors such as Kathleen Byron
Kathleen Byron
Kathleen Byron was a British actress of stage, screen and television.-Early life:Byron was born Kathleen Elizabeth Fell in West Ham – now in the London Borough of Newham...
, Elspet Gray
Elspet Gray
Elspeth Jean Gray, Baroness Rix is a Scottish actress, known for her work on British television in the 1970s and '80s...
, Kieron Moore
Kieron Moore
Kieron Moore was an Irish film and television actor whose career was at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s...
and Michael Craig
Michael Craig (actor)
Michael Craig is a British actor, known for his work in film and television in both the United Kingdom and Australia. Craig was born in Poona, Maharashtra, British India, the son of Donald Gregson, a captain in the 3rd Indian Cavalry. He came to England with his family when aged three, and went to...
, but for the most part the cast consisted of relative unknowns.
Fabian of the Yard was one of the earliest BBC series to be shot on film, with each episode featuring voiceover narration from Seton. Each case was a dramatisation of a genuine crime which had taken place in the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
area between the 1920s and the early 1950s, usually, although not invariably, a murder. Many of the cases featured had made national headlines in their day, such as "Little Girl", based on the murder of an East London schoolgirl which had shocked the country in 1939. Each episode finished with an epilogue in which a shot of Seton at his desk dissolved into a shot of the real-life Fabian at the same desk, who then explained to viewers what had happened to the real criminal from the case they had just been watching.
Episodes
- The Extra Bullet (13 November 1954)
- The Unwanted Man (20 November 1954)
- The Skeleton in the Closet (27 November 1954)
- Bombs in Piccadilly (4 December 1954)
- Death on the Portsmouth Road (11 December 1954)
- The Actress and the Kidnap Plot (18 December 1954)
- Against the Evidence (8 January 1955)
- Murder in Soho (15 January 1955)
- Bride of the Fires (22 January 1955)
- The Troubled Wife (29 January 1955)
- Nell Gwynn's Tear (5 February 1955)
- The Vanishing Cat (12 February 1955)
- Written in the Dust (19 February 1955)
- The Purple Mouse (26 February 1955)
- The King's Hat (5 March 1955)
- Little Girl (12 March 1955)
- The Coward (19 March 1955)
- The Lost Boy (30 March 1955)
- The Executioner (6 April 1955)
- The Poison Machine (13 April 1955)
- The Golden Peacock (20 April 1955)
- The Lover's Knot (27 April 1955)
- The Man from Blackpool (4 May 1955)
- Robbery in the Museum (11 May 1955)
- The Deadly Pocket Handkerchief (18 May 1955)
- The Hand of Terror (25 May 1955)
- Pin-Point Signature (1 June 1955)
- The Innocent Victims (8 June 1955)
- The Jade Blade (15 June 1955)
- April Fool (22 June 1955)
- No Alibi (12 November 1955)
- Escort to Death (19 November 1955)
- The Sixth Dagger (26 November 1955)
- The Ribbon Trap (17 January 1956)
- Cocktail Girl (30 January 1956)
- The Masterpiece (6 February 1956)
Film
Three early episodes – Death on the Portsmouth Road (about a serial killer), The Actress and the Kidnap Plot (abduction and extortion), and Bombs in Piccadilly (IRA terrorism) – were put together and released to cinemas as a portmanteau feature in early 1955, reflecting the fact that this was still a time when a majority of the British population did not have a home television.External links
- Fabian of the Yard at BFI Film & TV Database