Dixon of Dock Green, one of British television’s longest running and most popular police dramas, starred Jack Warner as the dependable, friendly London bobby who welcomed viewers to each episode with the cheery greeting “Evening, all”. It ran for 21 years from 1955, and is remembered for its cosy, nostalgic world of petty theft and tickings-off delivered over cups of tea.
Although there is much truth in this recollection of the programme, from the early 60s – in a changing Britain where crime was rising, and with the launch of the much grittier series Z Cars – there was some attempt to bring the drama up to date. The ageing Dixon – promoted to sergeant in 1964 – eventually became deskbound and stories focused on the younger detective Andy Crawford, played by Peter Byrne, who has died aged 90.
Byrne had joined Dixon of Dock Green at its inception, as a wet-behind-the-ears police constable. PC George Dixon had previously featured in The Blue Lamp, the most popular film in British cinemas in 1950. Although the character was shot dead little more than 20 minutes in, he was brought back to life in a 1952 stage version of The Blue Lamp that featured Gordon Harker as Dixon, Byrne as PC Andy Crawford and Warner as Chief Inspector Cherry. Ted Willis, co-writer of both the film and play, then turned it into the television series, with Warner as star and Byrne reprising his stage role.
In later years, Crawford married Dixon’s daughter, Mary (played successively by Billie Whitelaw, Jeanette Hutchinson and Anna Dawson), and moved to CID, rising to the rank of detective inspector, and gradually did more of the legwork for Dixon – astonishingly, Warner was 80 by the time the programme finally ended in 1976.
Two years before that, in an example of how it made an effort to catch up with other police dramas and the modern world, a tougher and more cynical Crawford ended up being investigated after leading a raid on suspected robbers that resulted in one of the unarmed suspects being shot by a police gun. However, with modern cops-and-robbers sagas such as The Sweeney complete with screeching cars and violence as standard, Dixon of Dock Green still looked anachronistic, and Byrne decided to leave in 1975, after 21 series. A year later, the programme was laid to rest.
Born in Forest Gate, east London, to James Byrne, a musician who later played in Jack Hylton’s band, and his wife, Elizabeth (nee Massey), Byrne was brought up in Hendon, Middlesex, and educated at Finchley grammar school. He then trained at the Italia Conti Stage Academy and, at the age of 16, alongside fellow students, made his professional debut as the third elf in Clifford Mills and John Ramsay’s fantasy play Where the Rainbow Ends, at the Knightstone theatre, Weston-super-Mare (1944).
The following year, Byrne made his radio debut in The Will Hay Programme and appeared as a schoolboy alongside the star in the revue For Crying Out Loud, produced by Hylton at the Stoll theatre. He was also with Hay in the Victory Royal Variety Performance at the London Coliseum shortly after the end of the second world war.
Following national service, Byrne performed with repertory theatre companies across England. Hylton then cast him in The Blue Lamp and as Phil, one of the children of Dan (Warner) and Doris (Joyce Barber) in a 1954 stage version of The Archers radio serial.
Byrne’s West End roles included the Honourable George D’Alroy in She Smiled at Me (St Martin’s theatre, 1956), Robert Castin in Boeing-Boeing (Duchess, 1966) and Robert Danvers in There’s a Girl in My Soup (Globe, 1968-69, and Comedy, 1969). He also acted in and directed tours of Agatha Christie plays, later appeared with Bill Kenwright’s touring Christie company between 2009 and 2013, and did stints as actor or director in her murder-mystery The Mousetrap, the West End’s longest-running show, at St Martin’s theatre.
He made his television debut in 1953 as David Mason, with Whitelaw as his wife, in The Pattern of Marriage, a four-part drama-documentary series written by Caryl Doncaster and Willis that was instructional in guiding viewers on how to re-establish “happy family” life at a time when divorce was on the increase. It was the BBC in its traditional “Auntie” role, in the vein of what was to follow with Dixon of Dock Green.
Byrne became friends with Paul Elliott, who played a police cadet in the series, and in 1964 they formed E&B Productions, staging up to 30 pantomimes a year across the UK, directing and starring in some themselves. Eventually, Byrne sold his shares to Elliott but continued to act in some of the shows.
He had a guest role in a 1981 episode of the TV sci-fi serial Blake’s 7 as Justin, a scientist who genetically engineers animals as slaves for humans, and a run in the sitcom Bread as Derek (1988-91), a widower who befriends Nellie Boswell (Jean Boht). He played an ageing Tony Blair relocating to the Middle East in the satirical 2006 series Time Trumpet, set 25 years in the future, and appeared in episodes of Doctors (2006) and Holby City (2006 and 2012).
His cinema appearances included small roles in Reach for the Sky (1956) and Watch Your Stern (1960), as well as one as a bridegroom in Carry On Cabby (1963).
When BBC Radio 4 revived Dixon of Dock Green in 2005, Andy Crawford was played by David Tennant, alongside David Calder as Dixon.
Byrne’s 1956 marriage to Vera Dalgleish ended in divorce. In 1980, he married Renée Goldschmidt, who died in 2011. He is survived by his two stepchildren, Anthony and Vivienne.
• Peter James Byrne, actor and director, born 29 January 1928; died 14 May 2018
