Hazell is a British

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...

 television series that ran from 1978–1979, about a fictional private detective named James Hazell.

Overview

James Hazell was a cockney private detective character created by journalist and novelist Gordon Williams

Gordon Williams

Gordon M. Williams is a Scottish author. Born in Paisley, he moved to London to work as a journalist. He has written for television and is the author of over twenty novels including From Scenes Like These, shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1969, Walk Don't Walk, Big Morning Blues and Growing up...

 and footballer-turned-manager Terry Venables

Terry Venables

Terence Frederick "Terry" Venables , often referred to as "El Tel", is a former football player and manager, as well as being a media pundit. During the 1960s and 70s, he played for various clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers, and gained two caps for England...

. The first book, The Bornless Keeper, appeared in 1974, quickly followed by Hazell plays Solomon the same year.

"Hazell plays Solomon" was the first episode of the TV series. The wise-cracking private dick was played by Nicholas Ball. Hazell was a smart parody of earlier film-noir detectives such as Philip Marlowe

Philip Marlowe

Philip Marlowe is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler in a series of novels including The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. Marlowe first appeared under that name in The Big Sleep published in 1939...

 or Sam Spade

Sam Spade

Sam Spade is a fictional character who is the protagonist of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel The Maltese Falcon and the various films and adaptations based on it, as well as in three lesser known short stories by Hammett....

, the casting of Ball in the title role made for a younger TV Hazell than the printed Hazell.

A Thames Television

Thames Television

Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....

 Network Production, Hazell ran for 22 one-hour-long episodes (50 minutes without adverts). Its theme music was composed by Andy Mackay

Andy Mackay

Andrew "Andy" Mackay is an English multi-instrumentalist, best known as a founder member of the art-rock group Roxy Music....

; the end credits incorporated the theme music with added lyrics, written by Judy Forrest and sung by Maggie Bell

Maggie Bell

Maggie Bell is a Scottish rock and blues-rock singer, regarded by some as Britain's answer to Janis Joplin.-Career:...

.

Cast

The main and most frequent cast members were:

• Nicholas Ball as James 'Jim' Hazell
• Roddy McMillan
  Roddy McMillan
  Roddy McMillan was a Scottish actor and playwright, possibly most famous for his comedy role as Para Handy for BBC Scotland television. He also played the lead role in Edward Boyd's private eye series, The View from Daniel Pike.The Glasgow-born McMillan's earliest theatre work began in the...
  
   as Detective Inspector 'Choc' Minty
• Desmond McNamara as Cousin Tel
• Peter Bourke as Graham Morris
• Barbara Young
  Barbara Young (actor)
  Barbara Young is an English actress. She is probably best known for her role as the future Emperor Nero's mother, Agrippinilla, in the landmark 1976 BBC serial I, Claudius....
  
   as Dot Wilmington (Series 1 only)
• Maggie Riley as Maureen (Series 1 only)

Episodes (by series)

• Series 1
  • 1. "Hazell Plays Solomon" (16 January 1978)
  • 2. "Hazell Pays a Debt" (23 January 1978)
  • 3. "Hazell and the Walking Blur" (30 January 1978)
  • 4. "Hazell Settles the Accounts" (6 February 1978)
  • 5. "Hazell Meets the First Eleven" (13 February 1978)
  • 6. "Hazell and the Rubber-Heel Brigade" (20 February 1978)
  • 7. "Hazell Goes to the Dogs" (27 February 1978)
  • 8. "Hazell and the Weekend Man" (6 March 1978)
  • 9. "Hazell Works for Nothing" (13 March 1978)
  • 10. "Hazell and the Maltese Vulture" (20 March 1978)

• Series 2
  • 1. "Hazell and the Baker Street Sleuth" (19 April 1979)
  • 2. "Hazell and the Deptford Virgin" (26 April 1979)
  • 3. "Hazell Bangs the Drum" (3 May 1979)
  • 4. "Hazell Gets the Boot" (10 May 1979)
  • 5. "Hazell Gets the Bird" (17 May 1979)
  • 6. "Hazell and the Big Sleep" (24 May 1979)
  • 7.(*) "Hazell and the Suffolk Ghost" (31 May 1979)
  • 8. "Hazell and Hyde" (7 June 1979)
  • 9. "Hazell and the Happy Couple" (14 June 1979)
  • 10. "Hazell Gets the Part" (21 June 1979)
  • 11. "Hazell and the Greasy Gunners" (28 June 1979)
  • 12.(*) "Hazell and the Public Enemy" (5 July 1979)

(*) = Although broadcast as listed, continuity involving the destruction of Hazell's original Triumph Stag

Triumph Stag

The Triumph Stag is a British car that was sold between 1970 and 1978 by the Triumph Motor Company, styled by the Italian designer Giovanni Michelotti.-Design and styling:...

 car and its replacement with a Jaguar Mark 2

Jaguar Mark 2

The Jaguar Mark 2 is a medium sized saloon car built from 1959 to 1967 by the Jaguar company in Coventry, England, as successors to the Jaguar 2.4 and 3.4 models, manufactured between 1957 and 1959...

, indicates that episode 7 should have been twelfth, and episode 12 should have been ninth (after "Hazell and the Happy Couple", when the Stag is attacked by an angry client).