Watching the Detectives Trivia Quiz

Answer: A Touch of Frost

Initially based on the novels of R.D. Winfield, "A Touch of Frost" initially ran from 1992 to 2010 on the ITV network and starred David Jason of "Only Fools and Horses" fame as Inspector Jack Frost. Although filmed in Yorkshire, the fictional location of Denton is actually meant to be based in a South Midlands county, with references to the such places as Swindon, Oxford and Reading.

The character of Jack Frost himself is often seen clashing with those in authority, including his superior officer, Inspector Mullet. In addition Frost often avoids doing his paperwork, leaving it to those who are assigned to work with him to do it for him. He does however have a sense of empathy and a sense of sensitivity. In addition, Frost also won the George Cross for bravery after tackling an armed man, even though Frost himself was drunk after hearing his wife had terminal cancer.

Answer: Magnum PI

First broadcast by the American CBS channel, "Magnum P.I." ran from 1980 to 1988.

Tom Selleck starred as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living in a mansion owned by a writer named Robin Masters, and run by Jonathan Higgins, an ex-British arm soldier who is often seen in conflict with Magnum, when Magnum wants to use other facilities on Master's estate other than the guest house he lives in.

Often assisted in his cases by his friends, helicopter pilot Theodore "T.C" Calvin and local bar owner Rick Wright, Mangum picked and chose his cases, often choosing those that involved some beautiful woman who was usually the victim.

The background for Magnum himself was that he was a former Navy SEAL operative, whose last post was in Hawaii with the Naval Intelligence Agency.

Answer: David Michael Starsky

First broadcast in America on the ABC network between 1975 and 1979, "Starsky & Hutch" starred Paul Michael Glaser (as Detective David Starsky) and David Soul (as Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchison). The series itself was set in Southern California and featured a supporting cast of Antonia Fargas as Huggy Bear, who was Starsky and Hutch's main informant. In addition Bernie Hamilton played Starsky and Hutch's boss, Capt. Harold C. Dobey.

The iconic red and white striped Ford Gran Torino was driven by Starsky in the TV series, influencing some to try to copy the white stripe on their own cars. Ironically though, when Paul Michael Glaser was first introduced to the car he hated its appearance, stating that it didn't look like something an undercover police officer would drive around. In addition, he stated it looked to big, ugly and outlandish and hated Ford cars. As a result, Glaser later confessed he deliberately abused the cars he had to drive. As such, the cars used looked very much the worse for wear, with a number of dents and other damage by the time series four was aired on TV.

The four Gran Torino's used in the series were eventually sent back to Ford after "Starsky & Hutch" ceased production, being sold off eventually to private collectors. Ford though did do a limited production run of Gran Torinos in the red and white paint scheme in the final year of the Gran Torinos production run in 1976.

Answer: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Debuting in 2000, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (aka "CSI" and "CSI: Las Vegas" is a TV crime drama series set in Las Vegas, Nevada. The series itself centres around the gathering of forensic evidence to solve various crimes, and based around the real live Crime Scene Analyst team that work for the Las Vegas Metro Police Department.

Although gaining praise and many awards for the gritty and dramatic way it portrays crime, "CSI" itself has gained criticism from police and other official involved in law and order over the inaccurate way it portrays police procedure in gaining forensic evidence, and use of evidence to solve crimes. Event court officials have condemned what they call the "CSI" effect, stating that jurors often expect to hear the same sort of forensic evidence results as depicted on "CSI".

Since it was first broadcast, "CSI" has spawned a number of other TV series featuring similar types of police procedural techniques such as "Bones", "Numb3rs", and even spin off programmes from "CSI" based in Miami and New York.

Although the original "CSI" and those set in Miami and New York have ended, the fourth programme in the "CSI" franchise "CSI: Cyber" was piloted in 2014, featuring Patricia Arquette as Special Agent Avery Ryan, working at the FBI's Quantico facility in Virginia. This series is centred around solving crimes on the internet and other computer based crimes like hacking, sex offences and cyber-theft.

Answer: Inspector Morse

Starring John Thaw as the titular "Inspector Morse", the series ran from 1987 until 2000 and was based on the character created by author Colin Dextor. Of the 33 episodes, 20 of them were based upon the books written by Dextor, who also made uncredited appearances in many of the episodes.

Morse himself was described as a gruff and cynical, not above making mistakes and arresting the wrong person. In addition, he loved to drink real ale, listen to opera, and indulge in what may seem to some as "highbrow" activities such as reading poetry and a love of art. In addition he was also enigmatic, only ever revealing his first name of Endeavour when taken ill in the episode "Death is Now My Neighbour". However, the TV series theme music contained a clue to Morse's first name in Morse code.

After the death of Morse - 15 months before actor John Thaw himself died - spin off series entitled "Lewis" (after Morse's assistant) and "Endeavour", which traced Morse's early career as a police officer, aired.

Answer: Cannon

Produced by Quinn Martin, "Cannon" ran from 1971 until 1976 and starred the late William Conrad as a high priced private detective Frank Cannon.

The character of Cannon had retired from his role as a police officer after the death of his wife and son in a car accident. Due to being overweight, Cannon was rarely seen fighting opponents and on occasion received injuries during his investigations. However, he did carry with him a gun, and sometimes was capable of using karate or judo - and sometimes his weight - to subdue adversaries. In addition, Cannon liked driving expensive cars - one of which featured an early mobile phone.

As well as appearing in "Cannon", William Conrad also played the character in two episodes of "Barnaby Jones". Conrad also went on to play J.L "Fatman" McCabe in the TV series "Jake and the Fatman", as a prosecutor teamed up with a private investigator. This series ran from 1987 until 1992. Conrad also narrated on a number of TV series such as "The Fugitive", "The Bullwinkle Show" and "Gunsmoke".

William Conrad passed away in 1994 after suffering heart failure and was posthumously inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1997.

Answer: Michael Douglas

Another Quinn Martin production, "The Streets of San Francisco" ran from 1972 until 1977, featuring Michael Douglas as Steve Keller alongside Karl Malden as Lt. Mike Stone. The pair played homicide detectives, working for the San Francisco Police Department, developing a strong working and personal relationship.

"The Streets of San Francisco" was Douglas' first major TV role in a long career, though Douglas left the series before the final season, going on to co-produce the Oscar winning film "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". This marked a departure for Douglas as he followed his father Kirk Douglas's path to become one of Hollywood's major film stars appearing not only in films such as "Romancing the Stone, Basic Instinct", and "Falling Down", but also producing "Romancing the Stone", its sequel "Jewel of the Nile", and "One Night at McCool's".

Answer: The Bridge

First broadcast in 2011 on Danish and Swedish TV, the first series of "The Bridge" focused on the discovery of a female politician's decapitated body, placed in the centre of the Øresund Bridge that connects Sweden to Denmark. As the investigation continued it became apparent that the body was in fact two victims of the same killer. During the course of the investigation, the two lead characters were Saga Noren (from Sweden) and Martin Rohde (from Denmark).

The second series of "The Bridge" involved an investigation into a ship that struck the bridge. When the five survivors on board died from pneumonic plague, terrorists claimed they were responsible.

The advent of Scandinavian drama series has proved popular in the UK with an adaptation of first series of "The Bridge", renamed "The Tunnel". This time the victim is found in the Channel Tunnel between France and Britain. Also, "The Bridge" has been adapted for American TV.

"Wallander" is a Swedish TV series, also adapted for British TV with Kenneth Branagh in the lead role. "Wallander" is based on the novels of Henning Mankell.

"The Killing (Forbrydelsen)" is a Danish detective series, that has also been shown on British TV and adapted for America TV with their own version of the programme.

"Those Who Kill (Den som dræber)" is another Danish TV series adapted for American TV and centres around finding serial killers.

Answer: Murder, She Wrote

"Murder, She Wrote" was first broadcast on the CBS network in 1984, running until 1996. The programme revolved around Jessica Fletcher, a retired teacher turned mystery writer, who lived in the small Maine community of Cabot Cove, although the series itself was filmed in California. However, as well as writing, Jessica Fletcher had an uncanny knack of being around whenever there was a murder committed. This in turn often led her into conflict with detectives who were trying to solve the crime.

Since the amount of deaths that occurred around fictional Cabot Cove was so high, it has a greater percentage of deaths than Honduras does in real life, making it a very unsafe place to live.

Although the series ended in 1996, four made for TV movies were produced, the last in 2003.

Answer: Law & Order: LA

With the exception of "Law & Order: LA", which was filmed in Los Angeles, the other American "Law & Order" series have been filmed in New York. As well as spin-offs listed in the answers, there was also another entitled "Law & Order: Trial by Jury", which ran for only one series.

The original "Law & Order" series ran from 1990 until 2010 with over 450 episodes made, making it one of the longest running TV series in America. In addition, the "Law & Order" format has been adapted for the UK, Russia and France with their own version of the series.

The other series in the "Law & Order" franchise include "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit", investigating crimes against children, the elderly and crimes of a sexual nature. "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" follows investigations into high profile crimes and the actions of the criminals involved, whilst "Law & Order: Trial by Jury", a short lived spin-off focusing more on court procedure as both prosecution and defence legal teams prepared their cases.