Dangerfield (1995)
Dangerfield is a British drama series about a small town doctor / police surgeon, which ran for 6 series, between 1995 and 1999. Originally Nigel Le Vaillant played the central role, but this character later left the series, the focus switching to his replacement, played by Nigel Havers. The BBC decided to end the series in November 1999 when Nigel Havers announced his decision to quit. The BBC felt viewers would not find the series credible if the main character was changed for a second time. The show like a number of other BBC dramas of the 1980s and 1990s also featured a number of borderline fantasy episodes. These included "Tricks", "Angel" and "Haunted". The TV trailers for Dangerfield were heavily parodied by The Fast Show in which the character was called Monkfish and would appear as a tough uncompromising Doctor, Policeman, vet and even as an interior designer with titles mixed in with other BBC shows of the time.
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Episode 1 - Down by the Riverside
Release Date: 1995-09-22Love is the drug for dashing doctor and police surgeon Paul Dangerfield. Now he's almost come to terms with his wife Celia's death in a road crash, romance finally looks set to blossom with fellow GP Joanna Stevens, although Paul is still unsure of his feelings. When the body of a naked woman is found by a canal, Paul Dangerfield and new forensic expert Terri Morgan collaborate to find out her identity and how she died. However, there is a slight discrepancy between medic and police when Paul insists that the woman had a faint pulse but WPC Cudworth said she was already dead when they arrived on the scene. DI Jackson, eager to avert potential criticism from his team, asks Paul to heed caution before he submits his report. Meanwhile, at the Wickton Road Health Centre, Paul's colleague Joanna Stevens needs a little of his bedside manner when he has to help convince her elderly father Harry to go into sheltered accommodation upon his release from hospital. Alison is preparing to leave a
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Episode 2 - Death in Custody
Release Date: 1995-09-29When suspected drugs dealer Stephen Mason is found dead from a head wound after a night in a police cell, suspicion falls immediately on Ken Jackson, the officer who arrested him. Elsewhere, the police are called in to a domestic argument involving father and daughter Clifton and Sonia Hilliard. Clifton is arrested and put in a cell for the night but Sonia is reluctant to reveal why her father beat her. In a desperate attempt to clear his name and save his career, Ken turns to Dangerfield and forensics expert Terri Morgan to unearth a crucial piece of evidence which tragically links the Hilliards to the arrogant Mason. Meanwhile Alison is settling in at college and Marty's new job is revealed - he's a dish-washer!
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Episode 3 - Dem Bones
Release Date: 1995-10-06When a tree is uprooted in a storm, a skeleton is found and Terri Morgan has to use all her expertise to try and find out who he is. Housewife Linda Barton soon becomes the prime suspect although strangely, she seems more interested in getting her elderly mother Helen Thomas committed than helping the Mid-Warwickshire police find her ex-husband Colin who walked out on her years ago. Later the police discover that Helen was a battered wife and killed her husband in later life when he became ill. The discovery of his body brings the past back to Linda about the suffering her mother had to endure at the hands of her father. When he disappeared, her mother told her he had left them but she had, in fact, buried him after poisoning him. Convinced it's the only way to stop her mother being charged with his murder, Linda sets about trying to have Helen committed before the law catches up with her. However, deciding that Helen is too old to be arrested, DI Jackson shows his compassionate sid
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Episode 4 - Dr Stevens' Stalker
Release Date: 1995-10-13Doctors Roz Parker and Joanna Stevens differ in opinion when they see travelling youngster Rich Collins come in with bruises. Believing Rich to have been abused by his obnoxious stepfather Gerry, DI Ken Jackson sets about trying to nail the man. However, when Dangerfield and Joanna team up to help Jackson crack the case, she becomes the victim of a stalker. Believing Gerry Collins to be the guilty party, Jackson puts him on constant surveillance, only to discover that the culprit is a lot closer to home.
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Episode 5 - The Dead Businessman
Release Date: 1995-10-20Doctors Joanna Stevens and Roz Parker wrestle with a moral dilemma involving the murder of businessman Geoff Hart, found burnt to a crisp in his car in dense woodland. Hart's daughter Susan confesses to Roz during surgery that she murdered him but Roz refuses to tell the police declaring confidentiality is of prime importance in her job. Joanna and Dangerfield plead with her to divulge what she knows and when DI Ken Jackson finds out that Roz is withholding evidence, he puts pressure on her to spill the beans by threatening to arrest her. This still doesn't change stubborn Roz's mind and it falls to Dangerfield to end up persuading Susan to confess. She eventually does but by a twist of fate, so does her mother Jenny in a bid to cover up her daughter's involvement in the crime. Due to two identical confessions and not enough evidence, DI Jackson cannot charge either of them and he, along with Joanna and Dangerfield, blame Roz for not speaking up sooner. Roz is disgusted by their acc
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Episode 6 - The Call Girl
Release Date: 1995-10-27DI Ken Jackson's personal and professional worlds collide when a dark secret from his past comes to light. His colleague, DI Archie Bond, turns up at a police benefit boxing match with a young woman called Crystal and Ken is clearly stunned by her presence. He obviously knows the escort girl - but how? Sgt Keith Lardner is concerned when Ken seemingly becomes obsessed with Crystal and asks Dangerfield to have a word with him. However, Ken is giving nothing away and Dangerfield is left thinking that the girl could be connected with the detective's shady past in the Vice Squad. Then matters come to a head when a case of TB is uncovered at the surgery, but sufferer Gerald Norland seems reluctant to prepare a list of people he may have infected by close contact. Joanna Stevens then goes to treat Crystal's baby Emma and realises that the escort has TB also. As the TB is fairly isolated, she puts two and two together and realises that her patient was the one who infected Gerald Norland.
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Episode 7 - The Body In the Quarry
Release Date: 1995-11-03A body is uncovered while Environmental Health remove barrels of toxic waste from the local quarry. The only clue to the victim's identity is the waterlogged patchwork quilt wrapped around the body. Watching the news, the victim's glamorous mother Miriam Lampter recognises the quilt and informs the police that the victim is her missing son James. During their enquiries, DI Jackson and his team soon discover that James was a closet homosexual and having an affair with married Nigel Goss. Initially their prime suspect, Goss is let off the hook when Jackson realises he's innocent but it's not long before the wily detective focuses his attentions on the Lampter family, in particular James' brother Daniel, with shocking results. Paul Dangerfield is badgered to take some holiday leave by his son Marty and colleague Nick MacKenzie. Taking their advice, he decides to invite Joanna away with him for a long weekend. Meanwhile, lovebirds Alison and Ben go camping in Snowdonia but the fun soon
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Episode 8 - SAS Death
Release Date: 1995-11-10When the body of SAS officer Tom Sunderland is found in a shallow grave, DI Ken Jackson becomes caught up in a messy love triangle involving Sunderland's wife Lucy and his best friend, fellow army officer Sean Brook. As the dead man's GP, Joanna finds herself increasingly involved in the case when she realises that only weeks before, Sunderland told her his wife was out to kill him. Was Sunderland the victim of a crime of passion or was he simply delusional and suffering from paranoia? It's a sad day for the Dangerfields as the family, along with Joanna, attend Alison's boyfriend Ben's funeral. Alison is inconsolable and blames herself for his death. To assuage her grief, she gets drunk and hysterically throws herself at one of Ben's friends. Meanwhile, Marty walks out on his job as a dishwasher and makes a conscious decision to go back to university and study disabled sports.
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Episode 9 - The Unfaithful Husband
Release Date: 1995-11-17Dangerfield becomes involved in the case of his long-time patient, businessman Patrick Hooper, when he leaves his wife Margaret to embark on a new relationship with attractive Caroline White. However, Hooper claims to Dangerfield that Caroline has been receiving threatening letters from an allegedly unhinged Margaret and as a result, Paul asks a reluctant Joanna to try and find out whether Margaret is showing signs of mental instability. Later, events take a tragic turn as Hooper's mistress Caroline is killed. DI Ken Jackson and his team find themselves in the middle of a sinister family triangle as both Margaret and the Hoopers' son Thomas end up as prime suspects in Caroline's murder - however, all is not what it appears and with the help of forensics expert Terri Morgan, the police discover that the blame lies in an unexpected quarter.
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Episode 10 - The Norfolk Holiday (1)
Release Date: 1995-12-01The first in a two-part storyline set in Norfolk. When the Dangerfields go on holiday to Norfolk, they get more than they bargained for when the peaceful rural atmosphere is shattered following the suspicious death of highly strung Susan Wood, a woman who happens to be amongst the guests at a barbecue attended by Paul and his children on their arrival. Alison and Marty spot Susan being aggressively manhandled by her husband Hugh and Dangerfield is forced to become involved in the case throughout the duration of his holiday. Meanwhile back in Warwickshire, insurance salesman Brian Ashley is knocked down by a hit and run driver when he comes out of housewife Sandra Lennox's home following an illicit tryst. Not wanting to speak to the police, Ashley leaves the crime scene. Later, DI Ken Jackson and his team soon discover that this is no ordinary case of hit-and-run and end up on the doorstep of alcoholic Frank Talbot who was behind the wheel. However, although Talbot is clearly guilty
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Episode 11 - The Norfolk Holiday (2)
Release Date: 1995-12-08The second of the two-part story following the Dangerfield family in Norfolk. As Paul Dangerfield uncovers more facts behind Susan Wood's death, he also realises that he's becoming very attracted to the beautiful Rachel Palmer. His love-life becomes ever more complicated when Joanna decides to take a trip to Norfolk to surprise him and is left decidedly unimpressed when she stumbles on Paul and Rachel enjoying a cosy tea together. Meanwhile in Warwickshire, there is a break-in at the health centre and Shaaban is assaulted. At the same time, Joanna deals with young mother Penny Noakes and is concerned when she discovers Penny's boyfriend Alan Gordon is excessively violent. However, Joanna later discovers that Gordon was the one responsible for robbing the surgery and scared that he might have inherited schizophrenia from his father, the young father finally flips and takes Joanna hostage following a routine house call. Ken Jackson becomes involved and dashes to the scene, relieved w
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Episode 12 - The Bosnian Girl
Release Date: 1995-12-15Dangerfield finds himself in an awkward situation when his aid worker friend Mary Blanchard asks him to look after an illegal immigrant, young orphan Adriana, whose family were wiped out by a bomb in Bosnia. Agreeing to help out temporarily, Paul introduces her to Alison and Marty, the latter whom demands £4 an hour to take care of her while Dangerfield is at work! When Joanna meets Adriana, she bonds with the little girl immediately and the two soon become inseparable, so much so that when Adriana wanders off by herself and gets caught shoplifting, Joanna and Paul have the same idea of passing her off as their niece when DI Jackson suggests calling in social services. Later Mary returns and informs Joanna and Paul that she has to take Adriana back to Bosnia but Joanna, still very keen on the youngster, agrees to look after her for a longer period. She even shocks Dangerfield by suggesting that the two of them apply to adopt Adriana and for the first time, the Dangerfields, along wit