Coppers End is a Britcom that aired on ITV in 1971, starring Bill Owen, Richard Wattis, Josephine Tewson, and George Moon.
Coppers End is a sleepy police station where not much crime goes on and the policemen - led by Sergeant Sam Short (Owen) and Chief Superintendent Ripper (Kevin Brennan) - work very hard to avoid work. After all, who wants to fill out forms, make reports, or give evidence in court?
Sam, Ripper, and the Constables - Eddie Edwards (Wattis), Chipper Collins (Moon), and Dinkie Dinkworth (Royce Mills) - spend their time with matters they find more important, such as hiring out the squad car for events such as weddings and driving lessons.
This is all to change with the arrival of Sergeant Penny Pringle (Tewson), who is enthusiastic to work, a firm supporter of Women's Lib, and determined to shake things up at the station.
The series wasn't liked by the cast or the audience and was never rebroadcast after the initial run. All thirteen episodes survive but are unable to be seen by the public in the modern day.
Coppers Tropes:
- Alliterative Name: Over half of the main cast had names like this:
- Sam Short.
- Eddie Edwards.
- Penny Pringle.
- Chipper Collins.
- Blackmail: In "The 12-Year-Old Offspring", Ripper manages to blackmail Sergeant Pringle into looking after his twelve-year-old son.
- British Brevity: Only one series of 13 episodes was made.
- No Full Name Given: Despite appearing in every episode, we don't know Chief Superintendent Ripper's first name.
- One-Word Title: Episode nine was entitled "Fog".
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: The male police officers work harder at avoiding work than doing their jobs. They even go so far as to hire out their squad car for weddings, funerals, driving lessons, and stock car racing.
- Police Are Useless: Aside from Sergeant Pringle, no one at Coppers End really wants to do their jobs, with specific disdain for the filling in of forms, making out of reports, and for giving evidence in court.
- Repetitive Name: Dinkie Dinkworth.
- Short-Runners: The series was unpopular with audiences, so only 13 episodes were made and aired, all in 1971.
- The Smurfette Principle: Sergeant Pringle is the only woman (and the only competent member of the police force) at Coppers End.
- Straw Feminist: Throughout the series, Sergeant Pringle runs a Women's Lib campaign, which she intensifies in the final episode, "Caught Him, for a While...!".
- Welcome Episode: The first episode, "Enter W.P.S. Pringle", sees the arrival of Sergeant Pringle at the titular Coppers End.
- Women Are Wiser: Sergeant Pringle is the only person interested in actually doing her job. Maybe not coincidentally, she is the only woman at Coppers End too.
