| Genre: | Drama |
| Director: | Peter Sasdy Christopher Morahan Royston Morley Josephine Douglas |
| Starring: | John Paul John Scott Jessica Spencer David Davies Henry Oscar A. J. Brown Jack Stewart Humphrey Heathcote Derek Benfield[1] |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Num Series: | 4 |
| Num Episodes: | 109 |
| Producer: | Antony Kearey Rex Firkin |
| Runtime: | 60 minutes |
| Company: | Associated Television |
| Channel: | ITV |
Probation Officer was a British TV series that ran from 1959–1962 about probation officers.[2] It was made by Associated Television and starred John Paul, Jessica Spencer, David Davies and John Scott.[3] [4] Other actors who appeared in the series include Henry Oscar, Honor Blackman, Windsor Davies and Billy Milton.[5]
It was created by Julian Bond and was the first ever one-hour TV drama to screen on ITV.[6] Bond spent months researching the show from real life cases.[7]
Like many British TV series of the same vintage, the archive holdings of Probation Officer are incomplete, with approximately three-quarters of the episodes missing.
In 2017, Network released "Volume One" on DVD, containing 12 existing episodes from the first series (Episodes 1-3, 5-8, 13-16 & 22 - Episode 8 is missing one courtroom scene) as a three disc DVD boxset. No further releases followed.
Shortly after the first programmes were aired, concerns were raised by both reviewers[9] and the National Association of Probation Officers (NAPO) who formally disassociated itself from the programme.[10] Later the same year a Home Office spokesperson confirmed that future programmes would be vetted by Mr Seldon Farmer (Principal Probation Officer for Inner London Probation Service) before television broadcast.[11]
Not all press was negative and once professionally moderated the reports appeared to be predominantly about production and contract challenges with some reporting suggesting that an 'Oscar' should be awarded for performance by June Watts.[12]
A number of programmes had production impacts from the Equity strike in 1961-2; however, the future of many programmes became untenable. In April 1962 the return of Probation Officer was still not secured.[13] A change of the lead actor was announced in May 1962 following unsuccessful contract negotiations.[14]
Reports are less certain on the formal cancellation,of the show such as key characters featuring in new shows, but by Late 1962 it seemed to be off the screens.[15] [16]