Hunters Walk (1973)
Hunters Walk – devised by Dixon of Dock Green creator Ted Willis – was about crime on a smaller – but no less dramatic – scale, and featured a police force in the fictional Midlands town of Broadstone (the series was actually filmed in Rushden, Northants). Sharing several similarities with the classic 1950s police drama, in particular a small-town settingband storylines encompassing the more human aspects of police work, Hunters Walk offered a contrasting alternative to the 1970s more hard-hitting, action-led urban crime dramas. The small, idiosyncratic team of officers faced a typically broad spectrum of cases, from neighbours’ disputes and hooliganism to suspected murder.
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Episode 1 - Disturbance
Release Date: 1973-06-04Led by Smith, the Broadstone police force suddenly find themselves in a manhunt for a disturbed and potentially dangerous man. All leave is cancelled and the lads are off and running.
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Episode 2 - Local Knowledge
Release Date: 1973-06-11A case of assault. A sick man at large. Smith, awakened from his slumbers by PC Pooley, is having none of it – but the experience will affect both him and the citizens of Broadwater.
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Episode 3 - Outcast
Release Date: 1973-06-18When Smokey Haines returns after serving two years for infanticide, Smith must look for mitigation circumstances in the case – and sympathy of the locals.
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Episode 4 - Behaviour
Release Date: 1973-06-25What is Smith to make of Raymond Flack, a new arrival in Broadstone — and why should local villain Jimmy Walker wish to leave?
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Episode 5 - Vanishing Trick
Release Date: 1973-07-01Certain there's a connection between a housebreaker who has eluded the police for months and the recent death of Ben Lawrence, Smith has trouble proving it. His only clue is Lawrence's teenage daughter.
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Episode 6 - Reasonable Suspicion
Release Date: 1973-07-08The Criminal Law Act 1967, Section Two, sub-sections four and five states 'A constable may arrest, without warrant, any person whom he – with reasonable cause - suspects either to be guilty of an offence or about to commit an offence'. But how should one apply the act? That's Smith's problem.
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Episode 7 - Discretion
Release Date: 1973-07-15When Ridgeway begins receiving anonymous complaints of petty offenses – people parking without lights, a householder without a dog licence -– Smith has little sympathy, until a routine enquiry pays unexpected results.
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Episode 8 - Care and Protection
Release Date: 1973-07-22Two separate cases, both concerning children, Smith and his colleagues face a harsh look at reality and the detective must find the link that connects both events.
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Episode 9 - Incident
Release Date: 1973-07-29When George Lomax, a down-on-his-heels dealer in double glazing, leaves a pub drunk and disgruntled, it sets off a chain of events which require the assistance – and understanding – of the Broadstone police.
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Episode 10 - The Old Folks at Home
Release Date: 1973-08-05It's the old story all over again, Someone moves into Broadstone, sets up a con, takes easy pickings from the old and helpless – then moves on. But this time, the smoothie has charmed someone to death and Smith is anxious to nab him.
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Episode 11 - All Too Tidy
Release Date: 1973-08-12When Les comes out of prison and his father tries to establish a new rapport with him – but the bored and spoiled Les gets up to his old tricks – Smith takes an interest in the boy's welfare.
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Episode 12 - Lost Dog
Release Date: 1973-08-19A number of seemingly unrelated events after a robbery suddenly fall into place and give Smith and his team something to work on — but in which direction will it lead them?
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Episode 13 - Skeletons
Release Date: 1973-08-26When an elderly woman is found dead in her shop and the clues all add up to murder, the force are fishing in the dark – but routine door-to door enquirers bring some unexpected results.