Television TV

Harper and Iles

This was a BBC mini-series starring Hywel Bennett and Aneirin Hughes as a pair of unpleasant Welsh C.I.D. men. The show did nothing to improve people's opinion of Welsh TV drama, and was grossly inferior to that other (superb) Welsh cop series 'A Mind To Kill'.

Newport, South Wales, 1996 - corrupt Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles (Hywel Bennett) enlists the services of Detective Superintendent Colin Harper (Aneirin Hughes) to track down the kidnappers of the son of a gangster to whom he owes a favour. Patrick Robinson played Harper's sidekick DCI Francis Garland, with additional appearances by Brian Hibbard as 'Ancient Dave' and Jim Carter as Tenderness Mellick.

It could be argued that a TV drama which showed the police up in an unfavourable light was indeed necessary following all the well-publicised miscarriages of justice that were unearthed in the early '90s. Nonetheless, many viewers strongly objected to the fact that the dishonest cops were all Welsh, and any hopes of the show developing into a full-blown series were drowned at birth.


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Do You Remember Harper and Iles?

Do You Remember Harper and Iles?