![\"BBC](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2_JS380750321.jpg\")
BBC police drama The Cops was set in the fictional town of Stanton(Image: BBC)<\/p>\nRemembering the gritty and critically acclaimed documentary-style police series The Cops filmed in Bolton<\/p>\n
18:12, 13 Sep 2025Updated 18:12, 13 Sep 2025<\/p>\n
BBC police drama The Cops was set in the fictional town of Stanton(Image: BBC)<\/p>\n
A largely forgotten police drama created by the BBC was created to rival ITV’s The Bill before it was scrapped.<\/p>\n
The Bill was one of the longest running and most successful police dramas ever created, running from October 1984 to August 2010. The show was a cornerstone of British TV for 26 years, showcasing the gritty realities of police work directly into our living rooms.<\/p>\n
Trying to match the success of the hit ITV<\/a> police soap, BBC<\/a> show The Cops was billed as a rival to The Bill. Set in the fictional Greater Manchester town of Stanton, the series created by the time behind TV shows This Life and Cardiac Arrest adopted an even more realistic, grittier approach, adopting shaky documentary-style camerawork.<\/p>\n The show’s naturalism was reflected in its unflinching themes, that included force corruption and officer drug use, from the very first episode broadcast on BBC2 in October 1998<\/a>.<\/p>\n Greater Manchester Police<\/a> helped the writers and actors with their research for the show which was filmed in locations around Bolton<\/a>. The show’s actors even shadowed officers in Bolton to prepare their roles.<\/p>\n However, following the show being broadcast, in October 1998 the Manchester Evening News reported in that the force were “extremely disappointed” with what they heard about some of the storylines.<\/p>\n Love Greater Manchester’s past? Sign up to our nostalgia newsletter <\/strong>here<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n From the very start, The Cops was highlighted as possibly “one of the most controversial programmes of the decade”.<\/p>\n The first episode showed a young probationary policewoman snorting cocaine in the packed toilet of a local nightclub just 30 minutes before her shift started.<\/p>\n Sex, drugs, racism, police brutality, death in custody and lies in court were also part of the show’s storylines set in the fictional northern town.<\/p>\n Regarding the show’s controversy, BBC2’s controller Mark Thompson said: “It’s about the police and their work, which it handles with a new kind of realism and intensity.”<\/p>\n Adding: “It takes you to people and places you just don’t normally see on TV.”<\/p>\n One of the show’s standout characters PC Roy Bramwell played by Manchester-born actor John Henshaw. Described as a police “dinosaur”, PC Bramwell was portrayed as a dying breed of copper who did things the old fashioned way.<\/p>\n Describing his character, the actor said: “Everything is very black and white to him. He thinks he knows who the villains are, and when they are in the wrong he thinks they should be brought in, given a good hiding and then locked up.”<\/p>\n The cast was made up of a host of actors hailing from Greater Manchester.<\/p>\n Rochdale<\/a> actor Parvez Qadir, who studied drama in Salford<\/a>, played the role of PC Jaz Chundara. Salford actor, Danny Seward, played PC Dean Wishaw.<\/p>\n![\"Actor](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1_200817peterloodemo18.jpg\")
Actor John Henshaw played ‘dinosaur’ PC Roy Bramwell in The Cops(Image: Sean Hansford Manchester Evening)<\/p>\n
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Sue Cleaver played Eileen Grimshaw in Coronation Street for 25 years(Image: ITV)<\/p>\n![\"Cast](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2_JS380750324.jpg\")
Cast of BBC’s The Cops<\/p>\n