Let's be careful out there......

 

The recipient of 26 Emmy awards, actually nominated 29 times and between 1981 and 1984 it had four consecutive wins of Best TV Series. It received all the critical acclaim, yet mostly had dismal ratings in its home country, AND RATINGS-WISE didn’t perform any better in non-domestic markets. It would remain niche for the totality of its run.

Yet, it remains one of the most influential TV series ever and invented small screen-COP SHOW grammar. Without it there would have been no Sopranos, The Wire, Homicide Life on the Streets. No The Shield, Law and Order, ER or NYPD Blue.

Every modern ensemble drama owes it a debt

When it first aired it was unlike any other TV cop drama - didn’t focus on the procedural elements like ALL THE OTHERS, but CONCENTRATED on the characters and their every day lives in a tough, dirty, insane city that was filled with crime and despair. What was remarkable was the Steven Bocho created a cop show that was about characters rather than police work, that focused on the human condition rather than procedural matters. It didn’t so much elevate the police drama genre but more invented a whole new genre.

When it was renewed for a second season it struck a record – as the lowest ever rated drama to secure a second season. It fact at the time it was the lowest rated TV drama in the history of the idiot box.

NBC knew it had low audience figures but they were forced to renew because of its huge critical acclaim, which appealed to high end advertisers. Those advertisers were willing to pay a high scale for a show that attracted a demographic of urban, affluent, and highly educated viewers.

Automotive Brands: Luxury car manufacturers frequently bought slots to reach the show's high-income professional audience.

• Corporate Branding: Large corporations used the show’s "intelligent" reputation to air prestige branding commercials rather than just simple product pitches.

• Consumer Goods: Despite the gritty content, the show was a pioneer in proving that "mature" drama could still sell everyday consumer products if the audience profile was right. 

When the show first aired on UK screens – Thursday 22 January 1981, at 9pm on ITV - I was around fifteen years of age, and I didn’t know what the fuck I had just watched. This wasn’t Starsky and Hutch, and it certainly wasn’t Columbo. It was unlike anything we had ever seen. It had no square jawed heroes to lead the cast, no central characters that dominated. It broke all of the rules of 1980’s television – True it was bewildering, but it was above all exhilarating . And remains so today.

Fluorescent lighting, cluttered desks, visual fatigue

It CONTINUES TO BE an important show and over 7 seasons, 143 episodes it changed the police procedural genre in ways that are still being felt today. The case of the week format was over, and instead we had gritty realistic drama with characters that felt real, that lived and breathed, and one or two of them may have even had lice.

Even now Hill Street Blues remains one of the finest police dramas to ever grace the small screen, and deserves a spot in any ranking of the best crime/cop dramas. It’s available on DVD the entire run on one big box set, or individual series box sets and is also available on many streaming services. At the time of writing UK viewers can stream on More4, but it often pops up in Hulu and Peacock and episodes can be bought in Prime Video.

Let’s be careful out there.

Writing those glorious two words, THE END

 I've recently completed work on a new crime novel  - well, the initial draft in any case. The book, hopefully the start of a series, is entitled What Remains Hidden and is set in my native South Wales. It's a  contemporary novel but the plot ties back to a fictional coal mining disaster that occurred in 1980.

I've had the initial reader's reports back, and they're pretty positive. Here are a few of the remarks from my early readers.

Pacing: You’ve been patient. The investigation unfolds in layers, with pressure accumulating instead of spiking randomly. By the time you hit the late 40s chapters, the story has earned its violence and chaos.

Tone: Gritty but restrained. The violence is sharp and purposeful, never indulgent. When things go bad, they feel real—messy, frightening, and consequential.

Character work: Carver’s decision-making is rooted in instinct rather than coincidence, and Powell’s behaviour—especially in the lead-up to the climax—adds unease without tipping its hand too early.

I've got to go through the hoops of securing an agent or directly approaching a publisher. I've sketched out a quick blub, which you can read below:

Detective Carver has learned to trust facts, not instincts. But when a routine investigation exposes a detail that won’t sit right, he finds himself chasing a hunch no one else believes in—and a man who has spent years hiding in plain sight.

As the case deepens, the line between coincidence and intent begins to blur. Every answer uncovers another omission. Every witness leaves something unsaid. And the closer Carver gets to the truth, the clearer it becomes that the past isn’t finished with any of them.

When surveillance turns into pursuit and suspicion erupts into violence, Carver must decide how far he’s willing to go for the truth—and what it will cost him if he’s wrong.

Dark, tense, and relentlessly grounded, What Remains Hidden is a gripping crime novel about obsession, intuition, and the dangerous things people leave behind. 

And here is a cover mock up, created with image editing software and AI

Wish me luck.