Laying Down the Law Trivia Quiz

Answer: Life on Mars

'Life on Mars' ran on UK television for two series between 2006 and 2007. A twenty-first century policeman named Sam Tyler, played by John Simm, finds himself back in the 1970s. Tyler has to deal with Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister), whose methods of working are, to say the least, very different from Sam's.

A follow up series, called 'Ashes to Ashes', was made with Glenister continuing in the role of Gene Hunt.

Answer: Softly Softly

A much older series, 'Softly, Softly' ran from 1966 until 1969 and was a spin-off from 'Z-Cars', which began in 1962. Charlie Barlow was played by Stratford Johns, and two other characters first seen in 'Z-Cars', John Watt and Bob Blackitt, also joined the cast.

The show was made in black and white, and was terminated when colour television was introduced. A new show, called 'Softly, Softly: Taskforce' took over, running until 1976.

Answer: Midsomer Murders

This long running show has featured both Tom Barnaby and John Barnaby, with the latter meant to be a cousin of the former, replacing him as the over-worked detective for the murder prone area around the fictional Midsomer. Tom was played by John Nettles, with Neil Dudgeon taking over as the lead character in 2011.

The show began airing in 1997 and is still around, with ever more inventive ways of despatching its guest stars, in 2017.

Answer: Juliet Bravo

The title is nothing to do with any of the show's characters, but represents the call sign of the inspector in the NATO phonetic alphabet. The first episode was shown in 1980, with Stephanie Turner portraying Jean Darblay, the first female inspector appointed in the (fictional) town of Hartley. Turner left in 1982 and was replaced by Anna Carteret as Kate Longton until the show finished in 1985.

Answer: Line of Duty

The show concentrates on an anti-corruption unit, called AC-12, dedicated to rooting out 'bent coppers'. Ted Hastings, played by Adrian Dunbar, is the police Superintendent in charge of the unit. The series has proved popular, helped by some clever writing by Jed Mercurio, which leaves viewers guessing about whether everyone in the unit is actually clean themselves. Having begun in 2012, four series have so far been shown, with two further series commissioned in 2017.

Answer: Law & Order: UK

The show was a British version of the US series, in which viewers see the police work in the first half of the episode followed by the court proceedings in the second part. The show ran from 2009 until 2014 with Bradley Walsh playing Detective Sergeant Ronnie Brooks, in charge of apprehending the culprit.

Answer: Taggart

After the death of Mark McManus, who played the role of Taggart, the show continued under the same name. Jackie Reid, played by Blythe Duff, was a junior member of the team when she first joined the show in 1985, but was a lead character by the time it finished in 2010. The series was set in Glasgow and was created by Glenn Chandler.

Answer: Lewis

James Hathaway, played by Laurence Fox, was the sidekick to Police Inspector Robbie Lewis in the television series called 'Lewis'. The show was a spin-off from 'Morse', in which Kevin Whately had played Lewis alongside John Thaw as Morse. 'Lewis' ran from 2006 until 2015 when both lead actors decided that they had played their characters for long enough.

Answer: Prime Suspect

'Prime Suspect' starred Helen Mirren and ran from 1991 until 2006. Jane Tennison was a member of the Metropolitan Police Force, in London, and had to fight against the usual male prejudices as well as the criminals. In 2015, a series called 'Prime Suspect 1973' showed a young Jane Tennison starting out in the police as a probationary police officer, with Stefanie Martini portraying her.

Answer: Shetland

The crime drama starred Douglas Henshall as Jimmy Perez, and was based on novels written by Ann Cleeves. The first series had only two episodes, shown in March 2013. As the show proved popular, further series were commissioned, with six episodes in each, which ran in 2014 and 2016. Further episodes have been commissioned.

Although the show is set on the island of Shetland, very little filming is done there, with most of the locations used being on the mainland.