A Little Bit More of Cagney and Lacey

A Little Bit More of Cagney and Lacey

As you will have seen from both yesterday's blog and the video we posted, we recently covered our first US drama series, having previously covered 'Cosmos'. So technically, 'Cagney & Lacey' is not our first US series as claimed in the video...

I must also apologise for incorrectly saying that we expected to see Topov pop up in the scenes in the pilot where Cagney (Loretta Swit) is asking around the Jewish quarter about the murder suspect she is hunting. I meant to say Topol who starred in 'Fiddler on The Roof', which the music reminded us off and of course the 'Flash Gordon' movie.

Topov, of course, is the cute and/or scary (depending on the series) monkey from 'Pipkins'...
Anyway back to 'Cagney and Lacey', a series I remember watching in the 1980s and one that I still enjoy revisiting. It's a show I will stop and watch an episode of if I randomly come across one airing whilst channel-hopping.

It's possibly a comfort viewing thing as it reminds me of my childhood. But 'Cagney and Lacey' like 'Dixon of Dock Green' is very far from being a cosy show.

It's not afraid to cover subjects such as sexism, racism, date rape, alcoholism and many other hard-hitting subjects.

It is also interesting to look at the way an American drama covers the subject of two strong female characters and how they fight for their place in a largely male-dominated world.

Something of course we have already looked at for 'Round The Archives', having covered 'The Gentle Touch' in Episode 23 and 'Juliet Bravo' for the forthcoming Episode 24.

One of the things that I think makes 'Cagney and Lacey' different apart from being set in an completely different country with all that entails is the fact the duo routinely carry guns. Something you do not really get in British police shows.

I also really enjoy the fact that you get to see the home lives of the lead characters and also (in the case of Mary Beth Lacey) a pregnancy, which I suppose does nudge it slightly more towards the world of soap opera.

I like the fact that you get to know Harvey Lacey just as well as the other detectives at the precinct.
One thing that threw us a little in the pilot was the use of a different actor as Harvey as both Warren and I were used to seeing John Karlen in the part.

One other change was the actor who played regular detective Isbecki, who was as different to Martin Kove (who played in him in the series) as could be imagined.

Now I should cover the changing face of Christine Cagney, whose appearance changed because firstly Loretta Swit couldn't get out of her contract on 'M*A*S*H' and the second actress (Meg Foster) was allegedly seen to be to aggressive and not feminine enough.

Meg Foster plays Cagney for the six episodes of the first series and Sharon Gless came into the role with the second series.

And it's this partnership that really captured the public's imagination and would lead to a futher five series plus numerous specials.

We'll be taking a look at one of the Meg Foster episodes to compare it with both the pilot and the Sharon Gless episodes. You can't say we don't do our research.

I advise you to seek out 'Cagney and Lacey' if you've never seen any of if. And give the pilot and first series a go. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

(By Lisa Parker)