Stratford johns and frank windsor reprise their iconic roles as nasty and nice cops dcs charlie barlow and dci john watt, in the second outing of bbc one's acclaimed z cars spin off johns barlow defined the nations very notion of a no nonsense, sharp tongued police chief not averse to thrashing suspects into submission, while windsors watt played mellower mind games with the villains. Together with their special operations squad, they tackle fictional thamesfords most monstrous crimes and puzzling cases. Unafraid to address problematic social issues of the day, the series, like its predecessors z cars and softly softly, provided a startling window on police methods and the simmering tensions and resentments on the streets of 1970s britain. Created by bbc crime stalwart elwyn jones, other popular returning characters include fellow softly softly stalwart ds harry hawkins norman bowler, dog handler pc snow terence digby, cheery sergeant evans david lloyd meredith and troubled chief constable cullen walter gotell. Following the edgy tradition set by the earlier shows, most of these episodes were originally broadcast live. What the press said one of the best realised spin off series the bbc has ever had. Television heaven running time 1300 minutes region region 2 release date 26 sept. 2016