# Please help me identify this British detective series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 2, 2018, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-british-detective-series/825440 "2018-12-02T10:32:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-british-detective-series/825440/1 "2018-12-02T10:32:05Z")
I stumbled across it on the Internet some time ago and can’t remember the name. It looked to me like it was Thatcher-era, i.e., early '80s, around the same time as _ **Dempsey and Makepeace.** _ Almost certainly an ITV production. I think it was set in Northwest England, maybe Manchester. Very “gritty,” crime-wise. In the one episode I watched, a lot of the action took place on board a canal boat; whether that was a standing set (where the protagonist lived and/or worked), I don’t remember. He was, I think, maybe a retired cop—an older guy with not much hair but a short beard, sandy or ginger. I don’t think he was Trevor Howard, but he might qualify as a Trevor Howard–type. Oh, and I think they were looking for a kidnapper in the episode I watched. Ring any bells? :dubious: 😕 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-british-detective-series/825440/2 "2018-12-02T10:50:44Z")
Was it [Bulman](https://pulpmetalmagazine.com/2012/04/09/i-didnt-say-that-did-i-bulman-the-bulldog/)? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-british-detective-series/825440/3 "2018-12-02T11:13:56Z")
No, don’t think so. This one looks like it was shot on videotape, and mine was definitely on film. The beard on the protagonist was scruffy rather than nicely groomed, as I recall. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-british-detective-series/825440/4 "2018-12-02T12:01:59Z")
Do you remember the theme music? Was it [Travelling Man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travelling_Man_(TV_series))? The protagonist is rather younger than your memory suggests, but might that have been the antagonist? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-british-detective-series/825440/5 "2018-12-02T14:29:34Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Do you remember the theme music? > > Was it [Travelling Man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travelling_Man_(TV_series))? The protagonist is rather younger than your memory suggests, but might that have been the antagonist? It could be this one, I honestly don’t know. At least this one definitely has a canal boat, judging from the photo. I had a look at some websites about _ **Bulman** _. Their descriptions sound a lot more like the show I remember, but I don’t recognize any of the actors. Could be the guy with the beard was not a regular member of the cast, but he did play a pretty important role in the episode I saw. He was dressed in tweed and a bow tie, as I recall. The website where I watched the show seems to have been taken down, which is too bad. It had a lot of old and very obscure series to choose from. Did Bulman actually live on a canal boat? I do seem to remember the protagonist having some kind of workshop there, maybe one with clocks. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-british-detective-series/825440/6 "2018-12-02T14:43:14Z")
Could also be I remember film being used for location shots. I guess videotape could have been used in the studio. I remember the guy with the beard being something of a curmudgeon. Maybe he didn’t like the guy on the boat—felt he was interfering in police affairs, something like that. That would fit in with a retired cop turned PI. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-british-detective-series/825440/7 "2018-12-02T14:48:48Z")
Theme music was apparently nothing particularly memorable, though there were dramatic “Dum-dum-DUM!” riffs at every station break. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2018, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-british-detective-series/825440/8 "2018-12-02T23:59:34Z")
Looks like it is _Travelling Man_. [This clip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTYUSLsstGI) matches your description of video tape for indoor scenes, including bow tie man (no beard though). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-british-detective-series/825440/9 "2018-12-03T09:22:00Z")
After watching the few clips that are on YouTube, I’m now more of the opinion it was _ **Bulman** _. The DVDs of both seasons are available on Amazon, so I’m putting in an order for them and will watch them when I’m back in Canada later this month. I Googled “old British actors with scruffy beards,” and of the images I’ve seen, this guy looks most like the one I remember: [https://www.midaspr.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/ianmc.jpg](https://www.midaspr.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/ianmc.jpg) Sir Ian McKellan, though he didn’t look nearly as old back then, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-british-detective-series/825440/10 "2018-12-03T13:59:42Z")
[Here’s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Report) a favorite British detective series import that featured a retired cop with a beard. Only it’s a neat beard (not scruffy) and from the early '70s. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2018, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-identify-this-british-detective-series/825440/11 "2018-12-03T20:44:50Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > [Here’s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Report) a favorite British detective series import that featured a retired cop with a beard. > > Only it’s a neat beard (not scruffy) and from the early '70s. I knew it was going to be _ **Strange Report** _ before I clicked on the link! I remember watching it Friday nights on NBC when I was in high school. I quite liked it. I’ve never forgotten the catchy theme music. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/R9HYx9A4-uA/hqdefault.jpg "STRANGE REPORT \* ROGER WEBB ORCHESTRA \* FULL STUDIO VERSION") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9HYx9A4-uA) Anthony Quayle has always been one of my favorite actors. I grew up watching him in WWII flicks, starting with _ **The Guns of Navarone** _. I also had a big thing for Anneke Wills. Yum! :o