Subscribe today using voucher code SUMMER22 for an extended free trial

This film is part of Rentals

This film is certified

racist language, strong bloody violence

I confirm I am over 15

Title of error

See Help

Wolcott Part 3

Continuing the gritty and ground-breaking drama featuring Britain’s first black TV detective.

Police drama 1981 52 mins

Director: Colin Bucksey

Rent for £1.00

Overview

Britain’s first ever black detective in a cop drama was the fabulously named Winston Churchill Wolcott, played by George William Harris in a gritty and ground-breaking series that deserves to better known. Newly promoted to the CID, black policeman Winston Churchill Wolcott becomes embroiled in a drug war between rival black and white gangs in London's East End.

Tabled as Britain’s answer to In the Heat of the Night, with an added dose of The Sweeney’s rough realism, Wolcott was a well-budgeted production from the stables of Lew Grade’s transatlantically minded ITC. The effective 16mm photography comes from future Oscar-winner Roger Deakins, while a fascinating cast includes Christine Lahti, Warren Clark and three up-and-coming talents spotted at the Comedy Store - Rik Mayall, Alexei Sayle and Keith Allen. Despite this, Wolcott initial broadcast in January 1981 was somewhat controversial, attracting criticism from both right and left-leaning commentators. The race-related riots later that year added another dimension to the debate and the series has, to-date, never been re-broadcast.

Director

Colin Bucksey

Featuring

Warren Clarke , Christine Lahti , Hugh Quarshie , Rik Mayall and George Harris

Genres

Police drama

Certificate

racist language, strong bloody violence

Country

United Kingdom

Language

English

Rent for £3.50

Blackmail Blackmail

Police drama 1929 82 mins Silent Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock's first sound film sees a young woman blackmailed for a murder she was forced to commit.

Rent for £3.50

Dirty Harry Dirty Harry

Police drama 1971 102 mins Director: Don Siegel

An unorthodox police officer (Clint Eastwood) chases a ruthless serial killer across San Francisco in Don Siegel's violent 1970s cat-and-mouse thriller.

Rent for £3.50

The Wicker Man The Wicker Man

Horror 1973 88 mins Director: Robin Hardy

Christopher Lee and Edward Woodward star in the folk horror classic about a policemen investigating an island given over to paganism.

Rent for £3.50

Se7en Se7en

Crime 1995 127 mins Director: David Fincher

David Fincher's breakthrough film is a disturbing and visceral thriller starring Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt as detectives hunting down a meticulous serial killer.

Rent for £3.50

The Blue Lamp The Blue Lamp

Police drama 1950 85 mins Director: Basil Dearden

Dirk Bogarde stars as a loose-cannon crook with Dixon of Dock Green (Jack Warner) on his tail, in the classic Ealing policier.

Rent for £3.50

Loot Loot

Comedy 1971 102 mins Director: Silvio Narizzano

Silvio Narizzano adapts Joe Orton’s extraordinarily funny satire on police corruption and the conventions of detective fiction.

Rent for £3.50

Welcome II the Terrordome Welcome II the Terrordome

Drama 1995 94 mins Director: Ngozi Onwurah

A ferocious dystopian nightmare, this was the first film directed by a Black British woman to receive a UK theatrical release.

Rent for £3.50

Flame in the Streets Flame in the Streets

Drama 1961 93 mins Director: Roy Ward Baker

John Mills stars as a progressive union leader who is confronted with his own internal prejudices when his daughter brings her West Indian boyfriend home.

Rent for £3.50

Sapphire Sapphire

Police drama 1959 92 mins Director: Basil Dearden

A young student with a secret is brutally murdered in this British Academy Award winning thriller about race, sex and jealousy.

Currently unavailable

Kentucky Minstrels Kentucky Minstrels

Musical 1935 66 mins Director: John Baxter

Rarely-seen 1930s British musical about two African American travelling minstrels in search of entertainment work.

Rent for £1.00

Wolcott Part 1 Wolcott Part 1

Police drama 1981 50 mins Director: Colin Bucksey

The gritty and ground-breaking drama debuted Britain’s first black TV cop, with George William Harris as the CID officer embroiled in a drug war.

Rent for £1.00

Wolcott Part 2 Wolcott Part 2

Police drama 1981 50 mins Director: Colin Bucksey

Second episode of the provocative detective drama starring George William Harris.

Rent for £3.50

A Clockwork Orange A Clockwork Orange

Crime 1971 137 mins Director: Stanley Kubrick

Malcolm McDowell stars in Kubrick’s chilling, thrilling and unsettling cinematic vision of nihilistic violence and social control.

Rent for £1.00