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Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. | Bergerac was a British television show set on Jersey. Produced by the BBC in association with the Seven Network, and screened on BBC1, it starred John Nettles (who later acted in British crime series Midsomer Murders as Tom Barnaby) as the title character Detective Sergeant Jim Bergerac, a detective in the fictional Bureau des Etrangers (Department of Non-Residents), part of the States of Jersey Police. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ...
Image File history File links Bergerac. ...
For other uses, see Drama (disambiguation). ...
Robert Banks Stewart is a writer for television. ...
John Nettles is a British actor. ...
Terence Alexander (born 11 March 1923 in London) is a British actor. ...
Sean Arnold (born 30 April 1941 in Wickwar, Gloucestershire) is an English actor. ...
Louise Jameson Louise Jameson (born 20 April 1951) is a British actress, most famous for playing Leela, the leather-clad barbarian warrior companion of the mysterious Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who. ...
Cécile Paoli is a French actress who is also well known on British television from the series Sharpe, Bergerac and Holby City. ...
Celie Imrie (born 15 July 1952 in Guildford England) is a British actress. ...
Thérèse Liotard (born 6 May 1949 in Lille) is a French actress best known for her role in the film My Fathers Glory (La Gloire de mon pere de Marcel Pagnole). ...
This is a list of episodes for the BBC television series Bergerac. ...
For the BBC radio station, see BBC Radio 1. ...
British television broadcasting has a range of different broadcasters, broadcasting multiple channels over a variety of distribution media. ...
For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ...
The Seven Network is an Australian television network, owned by the Seven Media Group. ...
For the BBC radio station, see BBC Radio 1. ...
John Nettles is a British actor. ...
Midsomer Murders is a British television drama that has aired on ITV1 since 1997. ...
Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Geoffrey Tom Barnaby is a fictional detective created by Caroline Graham. ...
The States of Jersey Police is the professional police service of Jersey. ...
Background
The series ran from 1981 to 1991 and was created by producer Robert Banks Stewart, after another of his popular detective series Shoestring, starring Trevor Eve, came to an abrupt end. The BBC wanted a series to replace the popular Shoestring and Bergerac was thus created. The blend of holiday locations, the island's tax exile millionaire populace and, of course, some unsavoury criminals proved a massive hit with viewers. AUGUST 25 1981 US Marine Sean Vance is Born on the 25th of August {ear nav|1981}} Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ...
Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar. ...
Shoestring was a BBC television show set in Bristol. ...
Trevor Eve (b. ...
A tax exile is one who chooses to leave a country and instead to reside in a foreign nation or jurisdiction because personal taxes there are appreciably lower or even nil. ...
Like Shoestring, the series begins with a man returning to work after a particularly bad period in his life: Eddie Shoestring from a nervous breakdown; Jim Bergerac from alcoholism and a broken leg.
As well as the fantasy elements which were incorporated into the series, a number of episodes ended with unpleasant twists, as in Offshore Trades and A Hole In The Bucket. The show also dealt with sometimes controversial topics - for example, in one, an old man is unmasked as a Nazi war criminal, and his age raises various moral dilemmas.
A rather implausible element of the series is that Bergerac and his colleagues, who work in a department dedicated to dealing with non-residents, often get involved in cases where there is nothing to suggest that non-residents are involved, only discovering this later.
The evocative theme tune, composed by George Fenton, featured a reggae and accordion refrain. George Fenton George Fenton (born October 19, 1950) is a British composer best known for his work writing film scores and music for television, although he also writes music for the theatre. ...
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. ...
For other uses, see Accordion (disambiguation). ...
The show is still regularly repeated on channels such as UKTV Gold, UKTV Drama, BBC One and RTE. UKTV Gold, (previously known as UK Gold until March 8, 2004), is a British television channel that shows mainly classic BBC entertainment programmes. ...
UKTV Drama is a British television channel from the UKTV network. ...
For the BBC radio station, see BBC Radio 1. ...
Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ; English: Radio and Television of Ireland) is the national state broadcaster of Ireland. ...
Lead character Jim Bergerac was a complex character and presented by the series as a somewhat unorthodox cop. He was recovering from alcoholism, partly resulting from an unpleasant divorce. A Jersey native, he returned to the island at the start of the series after recuperating in England from ill-health dipsomania and major surgery on his leg following an accident caused by him drinking heavily prior to an attempted arrest. He was deemed unfit for the force as a result of this accident, but helped his old colleagues out in the recently formed "Bureau des étrangers" and was posted to that unit. The accident is shown in episode two as a flashback: Bergerac was swigging brandy during a surveillance when he noticed his suspect and gave chase. Under the influence of his drinking, he attempted to prevent the man's escape by leaping onto his boat and got his leg crushed against the harbour wall as he slipped back. Alcoholism is the consumption of, or preoccupation with, alcoholic beverages to the extent that this behavior interferes with the drinkers normal personal, family, social, or work life, and may lead to physical or mental harm. ...
For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ...
Dipsomania is the official medical term related to an uncontrollable craving for alcohol. ...
Bergerac's relationships with women were often dealt with - often as a subplot to the main crime investigation. Bergerac's girlfriends included Francine Leland (Cécile Paoli) (who, in a somewhat odd twist, had originally been the fiancée of a dead colleague), Marianne Bellshade (Celia Imrie), Susan Young (Louise Jameson) and Danielle Aubry (Therese Liotard). He also had several encounters with ex-wife Deborah (Deborah Grant) who had custody of their daughter Kim (Lindsay Heath). Cécile Paoli is a French actress who is also well known on British television from the series Sharpe, Bergerac and Holby City. ...
Celie Imrie (born 15 July 1952 in Guildford England) is a British actress. ...
Louise Jameson Louise Jameson (born 20 April 1951) is a British actress, most famous for playing Leela, the leather-clad barbarian warrior companion of the mysterious Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who. ...
Therese Liotard is a French actress best known for her role in the film My Fathers Glory (La Gloire de mon pere de Marcel Pagnole). ...
Bergerac often displayed "insubordination" when in the Jersey police force. Due to personal differences, and increasing "independence", he becomes a private detective by the end of the series, especially following the murder of girlfriend Susan Young.
In keeping with his maverick and adventurous style, Bergerac drove a burgundy 1947 Triumph Roadster (a forerunner of the Triumph's TR series of sports cars) which, with its long bonnet, was a vehicle totally unsuited to the narrow and winding Jersey roads with their speed limits as low as twenty five miles per hour. Two different cars were used throughout the series. The first was notoriously unreliable and John Nettles generally had to endure the fact that it would not always stop when it was supposed to. The car's engine was also horribly noisy and a separate soundtrack was utilised to enhance the supposed coolness of the vehicle. Fortunately the replacement was much more mechanically sound. Triumph 1800 Roadster with Dickey seat occupied The Triumph 1800 Roadster was the first post war car from Britains Triumph Motor Company and was produced from 1946 to 1948. ...
Other characters Few of the characters were repeated throughout the entire series, but a number appeared in many episodes.
One of the most notable characters is Charlie Hungerford (played by Terence Alexander, well-known as having played Monty in the BBC adaptation of The Forsyte Saga), who also happens to be Jim Bergerac's former father-in-law. Charlie is a "lovable rogue" and would-be tycoon, who is often involved in shady dealings, but is paradoxically something of an innocent. Bergerac usually had a good relationship with him (although in the first episode Picking It Up they are not on the best of terms) and in one of the more unbelievable aspects of the series, Charlie was somehow involved in all but one of the 91 cases Bergerac was involved in, Charlie being a good source of gossip when Bergerac had to deal with tax-exiles and people in high places. Terence Alexander (born 11 March 1923 in London) is a British actor. ...
The Forsyte Saga is the collective title of a series of novels by John Galsworthy. ...
Other regular characters in the series included Deborah (Deborah Grant) , Bergerac's ex-wife, and his boss, Chief Inspector Barney Crozier (Sean Arnold). Bergerac also had several sidekicks, who were generally detective constables. Hardly any crime could have be solved without the help of Crozier's redoubtable secretaries Charlotte (Annette Badland) and Peggy (Nancy Mansfield). Many of today's best known stars can be seen in various episodes of the series. Sean Arnold (born 30 April 1941 in Wickwar, Gloucestershire) is an English actor. ...
Annette Badland Annette Badland is a British actress. ...
One of the popular recurring characters was glamorous jewel thief Philippa Vale (Liza Goddard) who went by the nickname of the Ice Maiden. She and Bergerac had an ongoing flirtatious relationship. Many people agree that the best episodes were the ones featuring the Ice Maiden character, because of the onscreen chemistry between Liza Goddard and John Nettles. Philippa Vale appeared in an almost once-a-series basis and a Christmas Special. When Bergerac was not pursuing her, they engaged in friendly bantering. Liza Goddard (born 20 January 1950, in Smethwick, West Midlands, England) is a television and stage actress best known for her work in the 1970s and 1980s. ...
Location The series played heavily on its Jersey location, and its supposed 'Frenchness' even in its theme tune. The early storylines were usually in and around Jersey, with short scenes shot in England and France. In later episodes however, the action strayed further and further away from Jersey, and was increasingly based in France — introduced in part through a French girlfriend.
As Jersey is a small island (nine miles long by five miles wide), most of the filming locations there can be tracked down with ease. Jim Bergerac and Susan Young's flat was located just above St Aubin, a few doors along from the Somerville Hotel. Although, part of the interior was actually within another flat at Gorey, six miles away. However, Jim's original home in the first few series was submerged when the States of Jersey flooded the valley to create the Queen's Valley reservoir in 1991. Plans for this reservoir were referred to at the start of season four, when Bergerac is forced to seek new accommodations because of them, in the process meeting an estate agent who becomes his new girlfriend (ie, Susan). The Parish Hall of St. ...
Map of Jersey zoomed on Gorey. ...
The States of Jersey (French: États de Jersey) is the parliament of Jersey. ...
One of the main sites of the series achieved noteriety much later. The "Bureau des Etrangers" was located at Haut de la Garenne, a former children's home which in February 2008 became the centre of a wide-ranging international child abuse and homicide investigation. The building, on the hill overlooking Mont Orgueil Castle and the Royal Bay of Grouville, ceased being a children's home in 1983 and was re-opened as Jersey's first and only youth hostel. // The first orphanages, called orphanotrophia, were founded in the 1st century amid various alternative means of orphan support. ...
Child abuse is the physical, psychological or sexual abuse or neglect of children. ...
Homicide (Latin homicidium, homo human being + caedere to cut, kill) refers to the act of killing another human being. ...
Mont Orgueil (French: Mount Pride) has guarded Jerseys east coast since the 13th century Mont Orgueil is a castle in Jersey. ...
Island Jersey, Channel Islands Area 7. ...
Youth hostel in Rome. ...
The original Bureau in the TV series was located in St Helier's Royal Square, but due to the popularity of the programme, filming was often difficult after the first season as the pretence of filming a documentary series (a rather boring subject to watch) was spoilt by public recognition of Jim's Triumph. Saint Helier (Jèrriais: St Hélyi) is one of the twelve parishes and the largest town on Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. ...
As is standard practice in film and television drama shot on location, the places portrayed are not intended to create an accurate travelogue of the actual island. In the fictional story on screen, locations from different island locales were frequently edited together into the same sequence. John Nettles, in his book Bergerac's Jersey, states that the locals were always amused by such editing.
As the series ran for a decade, directors found it increasingly difficult to find locations which had not been over-used in past episodes. While promoting his film White Noise in an interview with Xpose magazine, director Geoffrey Sax described how he made an effort to find new locations, only to return for the actual shoot to find camera tripod marks in the ground, another director having shot there in the meantime. White Noise is a 2005 drama/supernatural horror film, directed by Geoffrey Sax and produced by Brightlight Pictures. ...
Geoffrey Sax (sometimes credited as Geoff Sax) is a British film and television director, who has worked on a variety of critically-acclaimed and popular drama productions in both the UK and the United States. ...
Fantasy elements The 4th season episode What Dreams May Come? was the start of an annual tradition of episodes with stories that bordered on the fantasy, with supernatural elements and a surreal atmosphere. Later episodes with fantasy elements included the bizarre poisoning of freemasons in Poison, the Christmas episode Fires in the Fall (which features a Bergman-esque representation of Death which appears, to judge from the last line, to have been real in spite of a 'Scooby Doo' explanation having been offered a scene earlier), A Man of Sorrows (a paranoid attack on Thatcherite capitalism and the City of London, which is the only episode of the series set almost entirely outside Jersey), the densely plotted The Other Woman, The Dig involving an apparent Viking's curse (apparently inspired by Hammer Horror movies), and Warriors about a group who believed in the existence of Atlantis. American Square & Compasses Freemasonry is a worldwide fraternal organization. ...
Scooby-Doo IS THE SHIT is a short ass-running American animated television series produced for your mom Saturday morning television in several different versions from 1969 to the present. ...
Hammer horror refers to a series of gothic horror films produced from the late 1950s until the 1970s by the British film production company Hammer Film Productions Ltd. ...
DVD release Bergerac is being made available on DVD (Region 2, UK) by 2 Entertain/Cinema Club. The first series was released on 8 May 2006, including audio commentaries on three episodes. The second series was released on 13 July 2006 and the third series was released on 23 October 2006. For contractual reasons, the episodes released on DVD are slightly edited. A major selling point of DVD video is that its storage capacity allows for a wide variety of extra features in addition to the feature film itself. ...
Final episode The final episode filmed was the 1991 Christmas Special titled 'All for Love' which was partly set in Bath. The final scene provides a strong hint about Bergerac's future after Charlie Hungerford has recommended Bergerac for the new position of heading up the Bureau des Etrangers as it is rolled out across the Channel Islands following its success in Jersey.
See also This is a list of episodes for the BBC television series Bergerac. ...
The Detectives (1993-1997) was a British comedy series, starring Jasper Carrott, Robert Powell, and George Sewell. ...
External links - Action TV
- Jim Bergerac continues to exist in character at http://www.bergerac-lives.co.uk
- Bergerac on the BBC
- Bergerac - UK TV Schedules and Episode Guide
- BBC News - Bergerac 'link to Jersey search'
- German fan site
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