Police Woman (NBC 1974-1978, Angie Dickinson, Earl Holliman)

Before Cagney & Lacey (1982), before even Charlie’s Angels (1976) there was Policewoman (1974). This was one of the first cop shows on TV to have a female character in the leading role as Sergeant Pepper Anderson, Policewoman, played by the stunning Angie Dickinson.This pioneering series lead the way for the others to follow, particularly with regard to leading TV roles for actresses, which at that time were few & far between.

Each episode is action packed, Sgt Anderson working as an undercover agent for the Criminal Conspiracy Department of the Los Angeles Police Department, has to quite often use her feminine charms to get out of trouble, however, if all else fails, she can fight & shoot her way out with the best of them.

Working on a vice-squad team & supported by her fellow officers, Joe Styles and Pete Royster, they report directly to Lt. Bill Crowley. Pepper has to go undercover as just about anyone, these include, gym teacher, bank clerk, gangster’s girlfriend, prostitute, decoy, to name but a few undercover roles.

As I said at the top, this was one of the first female cop shows, so I should just mention the first, it’s an often overlooked earlier Police Woman TV show called Decoy (1957). However this series only ran for one season, it starred Beverly Garland as the undercover New York police officer Casey Jones.

production details
cast
Angie Dickinson as Sgt. Suzanne ‘Pepper’ Anderson
Charles Dierkop as Det. Pete Royster
Earl Holliman as Lt. Bill Crowley
Ed Bernard as Det. Joe Styles
Susan Gailey as Rosie

recurring
John Crawford as Parks (8 eps)
Pepper Martin as Hodges (6 eps)
Don ‘Red’ Barry as Ted (6 eps)
Dane Clark as Ned Duffy (5 eps)
Don Stroud as Frank Asher (4 eps)

crew
Creator: Robert L. Collins
Executive Producer: David Gerber
Producer: Douglas Benton, Stanley Kallis
Co-Producer: Edward de Blasio, Abram S. Ginnes
Associate Producer: George Lehr, Christopher Morgan
Casting: Sally Powers
Unit Production Manager: Jack Cunningham (1)
Music: John Carl Parker

USA | NBC | 60 minutes | Premiered: September 13, 1974 | Ended: August 30, 1978