Barlow at Large

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Barlow at Large / Barlow
Format	Police procedural
Created by	Troy Kennedy Martin, Elwyn Jones
Starring	Stratford Johns Norman Comer Neil Stacy Derek Newark
Country of origin	UK
No. of episodes	29
Production
Running time	50 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC
Original run	September 15, 1971 – February 26, 1975

Barlow at Large was a television series starring Stratford Johns as Detective Chief Superintendent Charles Barlow. Johns had previously played Barlow in the Z Cars, Softly, Softly and Softly, Softly: Taskforce series on BBC television during the 1960s & early 1970s. Barlow at Large began as a three-part self-contained spin-off from Softly, Softly: Taskforce in 1971 with Barlow co-opted by the home office to investigate police corruption in Wales. Johns left Softly for good in 1972, but returned for a further series of Barlow at Large in the following year, Barlow having gone on full-time secondment to the home office. This second series, rather than telling one story in serial form, as the 1971 series had, was instead ten fifty-minute episodes, each with a self-contained story (this would be the format of all subsequent series). In this series, Barlow was supported by Norman Comer as Det. Sgt Rees, who had been helpful to him during the first series. He also had to deal with the political machinations of the senior civil servant Fenton (Neil Stacy).

In 1974 the series was re-named Barlow and a further two series of 8 episodes each followed, introducing the character of Det. Insp. Tucker, played by Derek Newark. The final episode was transmitted in February 1975, though the Barlow character was seen again in the series Second Verdict in which he, along with his former Z Cars colleague John Watt (Frank Windsor), looked into unsolved cases and unsafe convictions from history.