Cribb

{{Infobox television

| genre = Mystery
Period drama

| image = Cribb opening title.png

| caption =

| alt_name =

| runtime = 60 minutes

| creator =

| based_on = {{Based on|Sergeant Cribb|Peter Lovesey}}

| starring = Alan Dobie
William Simons
David Waller

| opentheme =

| executive_producer =

| country = United Kingdom

| language = English

| network = ITV

| first_aired = {{start date|1979|12|23|df=y}}

| last_aired = {{end date|1981|5|10|df=y}}

| num_series = 2

| num_episodes = 14

| list_episodes =

}}

Cribb (Sergeant Cribb in North America) is a television police drama, which debuted in 1979 as a 90-minute TV film from Granada Television in the United Kingdom. Later, thirteen 50-minute episodes were produced, which ran from 1980 to 1981.[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080208/ Cribb] on the Internet Movie Database

Adapted from Peter Lovesey's Sergeant Cribb historical mystery novels and set in Victorian London around the time of the Jack the Ripper murders in 1888, Alan Dobie starred as the tough Detective Sergeant who worked for the newly formed Criminal Investigation Department (CID), determined to remove crime from the streets of London using the latest detection methods.{{Cite web|url=https://televisionheaven.co.uk/reviews/cribb|title=Cribb|website=Television Heaven}}

The series portrayed life in Victorian England, and the programmes included many real historical events such as the publication of Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat and the sale of London Zoo's famous elephant, Jumbo, to Barnum and Bailey's Circus.{{Cite web|url=https://nostalgiacentral.com/television/tv-by-decade/tv-shows-1980s/cribb/|title=Cribb | Nostalgia Central|date=19 November 2010}} The stories included issues such as bare-knuckle prize fighting, spiritualism and Irish terrorism. Assisting Cribb was Detective Constable Thackery, played by William Simons.{{Cite web|url=http://www.britishdrama.org.uk/cribb.html|title=.:: CRIBB ::.|website=britishdrama.org.uk}}

The 1979 pilot episode was entitled "Waxwork" and featured Carol Royle and Susie Blake and was produced and directed by June Wyndham-Davies.{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7867a85f|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323225243/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7867a85f|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 March 2019|title=Waxwork (1979)|website=BFI}}

Main cast

Alan Dobie as Sergeant Daniel Cribb
William Simons as Constable Edward Thackeray
David Waller as Inspector Jowett

Episodes

=Series 1=

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! style="background: #A92622;"|Episode #

! style="background: #A92622;"|Title

! style="background: #A92622;"|Directed by

! style="background: #A92622;"|Written by

! style="background: #A92622;"|Original airdate

{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber=1

|Title=Waxwork

|OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|1979|12|23|df=y}}

|DirectedBy=June Wyndham-Davies

|WrittenBy=Peter Lovesey
Pauline Macaulay

|ShortSummary= Pilot episode. Detective Sergeant Cribb is called in to investigate the case of a woman sentenced to hang for murder. Features Carol Royle, David Ashford, Gerald Sim, Laurence Payne, Bernard Archard and Roy Evans.

|LineColor=A92622

}}

{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber=2

|Title=Swing Swing Together

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1980|4|13|df=y}}

|DirectedBy=June Wyndham-Davies

|WrittenBy=Peter Lovesey
Brian Thompson

|ShortSummary= After a young woman discovers a body floating in the River Thames, Cribb and Thackeray search for the killers—noting the similarities of the case to the recently published book Three Men in a Boat. Features Ronald Lacey, Heather James, Albert Welling, Jane How, Sheila Keith, Robert Fyfe, Peter Birrel and Michael Ripper.The episode title is a reference to the Eton Boating Song.

|LineColor=A92622

}}

{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber=3

|Title=Abracadaver

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1980|4|20|df=y}}

|DirectedBy=Julian Amyes

|WrittenBy=Peter Lovesey
Bill MacIlwraith

|ShortSummary= After a series of accidents to performers, Cribb and Thackeray enter the music hall scene where they uncover the existence of late-night secret performances for wealthy spectators. Features Patsy Rowlands, Julia Chambers, Chubby Oates, Ian Collier and Jerold Wells.

|LineColor=A92622

}}

{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber=4

|Title=The Detective Wore Silk Drawers

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1980|4|27|df=y}}

|DirectedBy=Alan Grint

|WrittenBy=Peter Lovesey

|ShortSummary= Rumours reach Cribb of a series of illegal prize fighting bouts taking place. Features Barry Andrews, Norma West, David Hargreaves, Mark Eden, Jimmy Gardner, Alf Joint, and Derek Ware.

|LineColor=A92622

}}

{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber=5

|Title=The Horizontal Witness

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1980|5|4|df=y}}

|DirectedBy=Alan Grint

|WrittenBy=Peter Lovesey
Jacqueline Lovesey

|ShortSummary= Cribb sends Thackeray undercover into hospital to protect a vital witness. Features John Ringham, Norman Jones, Jennifer Guy, Linda Robson, June Page, John Cannon and Steve Fletcher.

|LineColor=A92622

}}

{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber=6

|Title=Wobble to Death

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1980|5|11|df=y}}

|DirectedBy=Gordon Flemyng

|WrittenBy=Peter Lovesey
Alan Plater

|ShortSummary= The Pedestrian Championship of the World is taking place in London, and Cribb and Thackeray are on hand to prevent foul play between the various competitors. Features Andrew Burt, Archie Tew, Michael Elphick, Kenneth Cranham, Jeremy Young and Paul Barber.

|LineColor=A92622

}}

{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber=7

|Title=Something Old, Something New

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1980|5|18|df=y}}

|DirectedBy=Oliver Horsbrugh

|WrittenBy=Peter Lovesey
Jacqueline Lovesey

|ShortSummary= When Cribb accompanies Thackeray to the countryside for the wedding of an old friend of his father to a much younger woman, he soon begins to suspect that the intentions of the bride and her family are not entirely honourable. Features Charlotte Mitchell, Geoffrey Bayldon, Sally Osborne, Ivor Salter, Arthur Hewlett and George Waring.

|LineColor=A92622

}}

{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber=8

|Title=A Case of Spirits

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1980|5|25|df=y}}

|DirectedBy=Bill Gilmour

|WrittenBy=Peter Lovesey
Arden Winch

|ShortSummary= A leading spiritualist is killed at the home of his patron. Features Clive Swift, Judy Cornwell, Thorley Walters and Michael Barrington.

|LineColor=A92622

}}

=Series 2=

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! style="background: #A92622;"|Title

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{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber=9

|Title=Mad Hatter's Holiday

|OriginalAirDate= {{Start date|1981|3|29|df=y}}

|DirectedBy=June Wyndham-Davies

|WrittenBy=Peter Lovesey
Bill MacIlwraith

|ShortSummary= After a severed hand is discovered, Cribb travels down to the seaside town of Brighton. His first task is to discover the identity of the victim with the assistance of an eccentric holiday-maker with a tale of a missing woman. Features Derek Fowlds, Fenella Fielding, Conrad Phillips and George Lee.

|LineColor=A92622

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{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber=10

|Title=The Last Trumpet

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1981|4|5|df=y}}

|DirectedBy=Brian Mills

|WrittenBy=Peter Lovesey
Jacqueline Lovesey

|ShortSummary= A popular campaign is being waged to prevent the sale of Jumbo, London Zoo's most popular attraction to America. When the elderly animal-lover organising the protests is murdered Cribb considers the various motives people had for killing her. Features Joyce Carey, Geoffrey Keen, Barry Jackson, Mary Larkin, Garrick Hagon and Tony Steedman.

|LineColor=A92622

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{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber=11

|Title=The Hand That Rocks the Cradle

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1981|4|12|df=y}}

|DirectedBy=George Spenton-Foster

|WrittenBy=Peter Lovesey
Jacqueline Lovesey

|ShortSummary= Inspector Jowett is very excited by the upcoming Golden Jubilee celebrations and is jealous when Cribb is selected by the Royal Household for a special mission—to investigate the background of the new nanny being selected for the Queen's Granddaughter. Features Rosalie Crutchley, Scott Fredericks, Sarah Neville, Aubrey Woods and Jane Sherwin.

|LineColor=A92622

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{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber=12

|Title= The Choir That Wouldn't Sing

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1981|4|19|df=y}}

|DirectedBy=Mary McMurray

|WrittenBy=Peter Lovesey
Jacqueline Lovesey

|ShortSummary= Cribb and Thackeray investigate the apparent suicide of a retired colonel, a member of a village choir. The detectives soon deduce that the Colonel's death was murder but their questions meet with a wall of silence from the local community. Features Elizabeth Spriggs, Barry McGinn, Ben Aris, Gilbert Wynne, David Jackson and Enn Reitel.

|LineColor=A92622

}}

{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber=13

|Title= Murder Old Boy?

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1981|5|3|df=y}}

|DirectedBy=George Spenton-Foster

|WrittenBy=Peter Lovesey
Jacqueline Lovesey

|ShortSummary= Inspector Jowett returns to his old school for a small reunion. His suspicions are raised by an appeal for funds by a fellow former student, who is subsequently murdered. Features John Carson, Terence Edmond, Petra Davies, Eric Dodson and John Bryans.

|LineColor=A92622

}}

{{Episode list

|EpisodeNumber=14

|Title= Invitation to a Dynamite Party

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1981|5|10|df=y}}

|DirectedBy=Alan Grint

|WrittenBy=Peter Lovesey
Arden Winch

|ShortSummary= Cribb goes undercover to infiltrate the membership of the Irish Republican Brotherhood who are planning a major bombing. Features Jeananne Crowley and Charles Keating.

|LineColor=A92622

}}

DVD

Cribb is available on Region 2 DVD as a box set, distributed by Acorn Media UK. The series has been released in Region 1 by BFS Video.

Radio dramatizations

Six of the stories from Series 1 have also been dramatized for radio{{Cite web|url=https://peterlovesey.com/tv-film-and-radio|title=TV, Film And Radio|website=peterlovesey.com}} by Geoffrey M Matthews as part of the BBC Saturday Night Theatre strand.{{Cite web|url=http://www.suttonelms.org.uk/lost3.html|title=radio plays,DIVERSITY WEBSITE,bbc,radio drama,saturday night theatre - Lost, 1988-1970|website=suttonelms.org.uk}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.suttonelms.org.uk/others87.html|title=Radio drama - DIVERSITY WEBSITE - 1987|website=suttonelms.org.uk}}

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{{Episode list

|Title=Abracadaver

|EpisodeNumber=3

|OriginalAirDate={{Start date|1973|3|3|df=y}}

|ShortSummary= Starring Frank Windsor, John Hollis, Helen Worth, William Eedle, Rolf Lefebre and Peter Bathurst

|DirectedBy=David H. Godfrey