Dixon of Dock Green

Dixon of Dock Green
Jack Warner as Constable George Dixon
Created by	Ted Willis
Starring	Jack Warner
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	432 (400 missing)
Production
Running time	30 minutes & 50 minutes
Release
Original network	BBC Television Service
Original release	9 July 1955 – 1 May 1976

Dixon of Dock Green was a BBC television series about daily life at a London police station, with the emphasis on petty crime, successfully controlled through common sense and human understanding. The central character was a mature and sympathetic police constable, George Dixon, played by Jack Warner in all of the 432 episodes, from 1955 to 1976.

Dixon was the embodiment of a typical "bobby" who would be familiar with the area and its residents in which he patrolled and often lived there himself. The series contrasted with later programmes such as Z-Cars, which reflected a more aggressive policing culture. It retained a faithful following throughout its run and was voted second most popular programme on British TV in 1961.

The actor Jack Warner was already well known to the public. Born Horace John Waters in London in 1895, he had been a comedian in radio and in his early film career. Starting in the early 1940s, he broadened his range to include dramatic roles, becoming a warmly human character actor in the process. But as well as playing in films with dramatic themes (such as The Blue Lamp (1950), in which the character George Dixon first appeared), Warner – by now hugely popular – continued to play in comedies such as the successful Huggett family programmes on BBC Radio and films made between 1948 and 1953.

Warner's success as Dixon was popular amongst various police forces. He was made an honorary member of both the Margate and Ramsgate Police Forces in the 1950s. Warner said of Dixon of Dock Green: "It has been a very good meal ticket for twenty-one years – although the taxman has never been far behind." In his autobiography, Jack of All Trades, Warner tells of a visit by the Queen to the studios where the series was made, where she commented "that she thought Dixon of Dock Green had become part of the British way of life".

The regard in which Warner's portrayal of a fictional policeman was held was seen at the actor's funeral at Margate Crematorium on 1 June 1981. Six Margate Constables stood as guards-of-honour outside the chapel, where hundreds of fans gathered to pay their respects. Among the mourners were officers from the Kensington District, where Warner had lived in London, and Paddington Green, where the Dixon series was based. Delegations of policemen attended (some coming from as far away as Wales and Newcastle), including a sixteen-man representation from the Metropolitan Police, led by Deputy Assistant Commissioner George Rushbrook and Commander John Atkins.