| Creator: | Anita Bronson |
| Genre: | Crime drama |
| Director: | Various |
| Editor: | Nigel Parkes |
| Starring: | Caroline Lee-Johnson Steve Toussaint Enzo Squillino, Jr. Malcolm Storry Marston Bloom Andrew Dunn Mark Lewis Jones Peter O'Brien Alex Kingston Tracey Whitwell Daniel O'Grady Daniel Brown Sarah Malin Jonathan Kerrigan Michelle Morris Zig Byfield |
| Composer: | Brian Bennett Warren Bennett |
| Endtheme: | "The Knock" |
| Num Series: | 5 |
| Num Episodes: | 37 |
| List Episodes: |
|
| Executive Producer: | Paul Knight |
| Producer: | Phillip Leach |
| Runtime: | 75 minutes (w/advertisements) (Series 1-4) 105 minutes (w/advertisements) (Series 5) |
| Company: | Bronson/Knight Productions for LWT |
The Knock is a British television crime drama, created by Anita Bronson and broadcast on ITV, which portrayed the activities of customs officers from the London City & South Collection Investigation Unit of HM Customs and Excise.[1] The series derived its name from the distinctive "Knock knock knock" command used over the radio to synchronise a raid.
Five series were broadcast from 10 April 1994, until 11 November 2000. 37 episodes were made. The series had a rotating cast, with only a small number of cast members appearing throughout the series' run. The only three cast members to appear in every series were Caroline Lee-Johnson, Trevor Byfield and Steve Toussaint. The series also adopted a number of different formats: while the early series interspersed various storylines and had running plots across the series; later series adopted a multi-part format resulting in two or three cases per series; while the final series adopted a stand-alone week by-week format.
The series was axed in 2001 following poor viewing figures for the final series. This was blamed on the loss of several main cast members, a change in the format and the overall look of the series which changed dramatically following an overhaul by ITV executives in 1999.[2]
| Character | Series | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series 1 | Series 2 | Series 3 | Series 4 | Series 5 | |
| Bill Adams Head of City and South | Malcolm Storry | ||||
| David Ancrom Head of City and South | Mark Lewis Jones | ||||
| Glen Vaughan Head of Indigo | Peter O'Brien | ||||
| Diane Ralston Head of Airports | Caroline Lee-Johnson | ||||
| Barry Christie Detective, City and South | Steve Toussaint | ||||
| Arnie Reinhardt Detective, City and South | Marston Bloom | ||||
| George Andreotti Detective, City and South | Enzo Squillino, Jr. | ||||
| Kevin Butcher Detective, Airports | Andrew Dunn | ||||
| Gerry Birch Detective, City and South | David Morrissey | ||||
| Eddie Barton Detective, Airports | Jack Ellis | ||||
| Nicki Lucas Detective, City and South | Suzan Crowley | ||||
| Jo Chadwick Detective, City and South | Tracey Whitwell | ||||
| Katherine Roberts Detective, City and South | Alex Kingston | ||||
| Jake Munroe Detective, City and South | Daniel O'Grady | ||||
| Alex Murray Detective, City and South | Daniel Brown | ||||
| Lynn Hickson Detective, City and South | Sarah Malin | ||||
| Rob Maguire Technology Expert, Indigo | Jonathan Kerrigan (Episodes 1 & 2) | ||||
| Jess Howarth Surveillance Expert, Indigo | Michelle Morris | ||||
| Allison Smith Administrator, Airports | Claire Price | ||||
| Jim Scudamore Chief of Customs | Trevor Byfield | ||||
The first series consists of seven episodes, and was broadcast from 10 April to 22 May 1994. It was released on DVD on 27 November 2006. The DVD release of the series has become hard to obtain.[3]
The third series consists of seven episodes, and was broadcast from 6 April to 18 May 1997. The series has never been released on DVD, and repeats have been very few and far between. This series was rebroadcast on ITV3 on 8 February 2017, 9 February 2017, 10 February 2017, 14 February 2017, 15 February 2017, 16 February 2017 and 17 February 2017.
The fourth series consists of six episodes, and was broadcast from 7 January to 11 February 1999. This series was the last to feature many of the original cast members, including Enzo Squillino, Jr. and Andrew Dunn; and was also the last series to feature multi-part stories (in this case, two stories of three episodes each). The series has never been released on DVD, and although repeats have been very few and far between, the series was repeated in full from 13–20 June 2016, on ITV3. This Series was rebroadcast on ITV3 on 21 February 2017, 22 February 2017, 23 February 2017, 24 February 2017, 28 February 2017 and 1 March 2017.
The fifth and final series consists of four episodes, and was broadcast from 21 October to 11 November 2000. This series saw a major overhaul in both the production team and cast; with Caroline Lee-Johnson, Steve Toussaint and Daniel Brown the only three cast members to return. The format of the series was also very different, featuring four stand-alone stories, with the running time extended to 105 minutes per episode, with advertisements. A new theme tune and title sequence was also introduced. The series has never been released on DVD, and although repeats have been very few and far between, the series was repeated in full from 21—24 June 2016 on ITV3. This Series was rebroadcast on ITV3 on 2 March 2017, 3 March 2017, 9 March 2017 and 10 March 2017.
|OriginalAirDate= |ShortSummary= Bill suspects that Peter Crediton, a respected family man, is importing child pornography from Thailand. When the team track a videotape sent to Crediton, they raid his house and find an attic dedicated to illegal material - but Crediton refuses to talk, exercising his right to silence. Meanwhile, Gerry and Nicki interview George Webster in the presence of his solicitor. Webster denies that the recovered coins have been illegally imported and claims that they belonged to his late mother. Webster then tries to bribe Gerry with tickets to the Arsenal game, but Gerry refuses; however George later sends him the tickets in the post, which he and Eddie use to attend the sold-out game. Webster then takes the bribery a step further by offering Gerry £1,500 to make the investigation into his activities disappear, which Gerry accepts. Meanwhile, Diane is pleased when the plane is identified by French police as belonging to a suspect that the French authorities believe is involved in the production of drugs. A late night stakeout places the team right in the thick of the action as the courier flies in to make another drop on English soil. Andreotti continues his pursuit of his hairdresser, unaware that she has a boyfriend. |LineColor=87319F}}}}
The second series consists of thirteen episodes, and was broadcast from 28 April to 21 July 1996. It was released on DVD on 27 August 2007. The DVD release of the series has become hard to obtain.[3]
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