Strangers

First airing on ITV in June 1978, Strangers occupies a unique place in the canon of British police drama. A spin-off from The XYY Man – itself adapted from Kenneth Royce’s crime novels – Strangers took the character of George Bulman and elevated him from supporting oddity to leading man. Portrayed by Don Henderson with gravel-like intensity and dry wit, Bulman became one of television's most memorably eccentric detectives.

Bulman, with his ever-present gloves, wheezy reliance on an inhaler, and fondness for quoting Shakespeare, is an eccentric of the highest order. But beneath the quirks – and there are many – lies a sharp investigative mind and an occasionally dubious moral compass. While described in his early outings as a 'bent copper', the evidence of corruption is oddly benevolent: he gains promotion by persuading down-and-outs to confess to old crimes in exchange for warm winter prison cells. It’s not corruption in the hard-nosed, bribe-taking sense, but rather the act of a deeply pragmatic man operating in shades of grey.

Strangers, principally written and created by Murray Smith, originated from a desire by Granada Television executives to explore the characters of Bullman and his idiosyncratic Detective Constable Derek Willis (Dennis Blanch) further.

The series' premise centred on a group of police officers known as 'Unit 23', who are brought together from different parts of the country to Manchester to infiltrate areas and investigate crimes that detectives familiar and easily recognisable to the local criminal fraternity could not. They were therefore dubbed 'strangers'.

Initially 'Unit 23' consisted of Bulman, Willis and WDC Linda Doran (Frances Tomelty), an expert in self-defence. Local liaison was provided by Detective Inspector David Singer (John Ronane), while their superior officer was Detective Chief Inspector Rainbow (David Hargreaves). This provided fertile ground for storytelling, even if the early years often failed to fully capitalise on the ensemble, with episodes frequently featuring only two or three regular characters at a time. Doran was later replaced in series 2 by Fiona Mollison’s WDC Vanessa Bennett.

Over time, the cast and structure evolved, with the 'Inter City Squad', under the command of Detective Chief Superintendent Jack Lambie (Mark McManus), replacing 'Unit 23', and the show’s scope expanded beyond the Northwest to the whole of England. By the fourth series, Bulman had improbably leapt from Detective Sergeant to Detective Chief Inspector – a double-promotion that defied realism, but which fans largely embraced.

One of the show’s strengths lies in how it allowed Bulman's eccentricities to deepen rather than dilute his effectiveness as a detective. Initially played for laughs or as a marker of outsider status, his quirks – storing his belongings in plastic bags, keeping a hamster named Flash Gordon – gradually took on a kind of quiet poetry. His erudition, once dismissed as pompous, came to feel like the musings of a man one step removed from the ordinary world – someone who saw patterns where others saw chaos.

Though Strangers was never quite a ratings juggernaut, it developed a loyal following, thanks largely to Henderson’s mesmerising performance and the show’s willingness to evolve beyond standard cop drama fare. Its blend of low-key espionage, helped by the introduction of Foreign Office man William Dugdale (Thorley Walters) in later series, grim northern realism, and moments of oddball levity made it stand out among its peers.

Ultimately, Strangers paved the way for Bulman’s return in the mid-1980s series Bulman, cementing the character as one of British television’s most intriguing lawmen – flawed, eccentric, strangely noble, and wholly unforgettable.

Laurence Marcus