Wycliffe (TV series)

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Wycliffe
Genre	Drama
Starring	Jack Shepherd
No. of series	5
No. of episodes	36
Production
Producer(s)	HTV (ITV Productions)
Running time	60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV
Original run	1993 – 1998
Links
IMDb profile

Wycliffe was a British TV series, based on W.J. Burley's novels about Detective Superintendent Charles Wycliffe. It was produced by HTV and broadcast on the ITV Network between 1993 and 1998.

The series was filmed in Cornwall, with a production office in Truro. Music for the series was composed by Nigel Hess, and was awarded the Royal Television Society award for the best television theme.

Wycliffe was played by actor Jack Shepherd, and was assisted by DI Doug Kersey (Jimmy Yuill) and DC, subsequently DI, Lucy Lane (Helen Masters).

In another slow-burning story arc, Lane was twice promoted, leading her to suspect that she was being used to fulfil gender quotas in the force rather than being judged on her ability, a suspicion partly borne out by her obvious inability to cope with the pressures of higher rank. Later episodes saw her threatening to leave the force altogether. Kersey also was forced to reconsider his future career after being accused of a misjudgement which led to the death of a prisoner in custody.

Wycliffe always seemed to put the job first, and family commitments second. His anniversary party saw him being called away for another incident for his team to deal with. The job took its toll on all of the major characters. Because Wycliffe and his team were responsible for a large geographical area, they often had to spend a long time away from home. This was particularly tough on Wycliffe himself, who would generally have preferred to spend more time with his family, or just practising his piano playing. The travelling also make it difficult for Lane and Kersey to form relationships outside of work. In the later series it became apparent to viewers that Lane and Kersey were well-suited to each other, though development of this potential plot strand was curtailed by the departure of Jimmy Yuill from the series. Internal police politics were also a recurring theme in the series, with Wycliffe constantly having to deal with red tape, budget restraints and a blustering, image-obsessed Deputy Chief Constable as his immediate superior.

During the filming of the final series, Jimmy Yuill fell ill with meningitis, and though he made a full recovery, the production company refused to allow him to return to the programme for insurance reasons. With Yuill gone, Shepherd and Masters chose not to continue. The final episode, one of the bleakest in the programme's history, saw Wycliffe framed for drug smuggling, his innocence only being proven in the last few seconds of the show.