Paul Nicholls Online - City Central

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City Central (1998 - 2000) appeared ready to embrace the soap opera genre in a manner that Out of the Blue had been unwilling to accept just three years earlier. Series creator, Tony Holland certainly understood soaps, having worked extensively on EastEnders (where he began his scriptwriting career) as well as the BBC's ill-fated soap opera Eldorado (1992 - 1993). This experience was used to craft a police drama series that at last appeared entirely comfortable with its emphasis on characterisation above traditional crime storytelling. Producer John Yorke (who would, in 1999 move onto EastEnders to great popular acclaim) brought a similar understanding and the inclusion of actor Paul Nicholls (as PC Terry Sydenham), was a concession to the burgeoning trend of casting ex-soap opera actors in popular drama series.

The BBC Drama brochure for 1997 - 1998 describes the series as "a fast moving, funny and dramatic take on policing in the 1990s" and, labelled City Central "the first police precinct drama series to be commissioned by BBC television since Z Cars." Set in Christmas Street police station, in the heart of a busy northern city centre, City Central was concerted in its effort to show that the staff were not "all seeing all knowing individuals once they put on uniform, but normal people trying to do an impossible job the best way they can."

Learning from the mistakes of Out of the Blue, it was recognised that due to the comparatively large number of regular characters, City Central would require a number of episodes before the characters began to assume a level of familiarity with the audience. As such, the first series consisted of 10 episodes (when at the time the standard for most drama series was typically only six). Nevertheless, executive producer Mal Young was of the opinion that the first series could achieve little more than to set the scene. "With all the characters now well established" he remarked in October 1998, "this second series hits the ground running with great stories each week for the whole family to enjoy."

The second series, indeed looked to build on what had gone before, and in particular the emotional relationships between the staff would become even more of the focus of the drama. Never more was this the case then when - like The Bill and Out of the Blue before it - City Central used the device of the death of a regular character as a way to inject some emotional intensity into the drama.

That the character in question should be PC Terry Sydenham was a particularly cute move (albeit one apparently enforced upon the production team by Paul Nicholl's decision to leave), allowing City Central to trade off the residual affection that many viewers still felt for the character due to the actor's previous appearance in EastEnders. In addition, it was through Sydenham's eyes that we had first been introduced to the staff of Christmas Street Police station, and as such, his character had attained a particularly close relationship with the viewer.

Whereas City Central would mark the occasion of the death of a central character with a sentimental, musical montage, such compassion was markedly absent from the BBC's second new police drama of 1998 - The Cops (1998 - 2001). Created by Tony Garnett, The Cops has been rightly lauded for its originality and brutal honesty. Whereas both The Bill and City Central would make much of the underlying (albeit often strained) comradeship that existed at Sun Hill or Christmas Street, The Cops attitude was neatly summed up by PC Colin Jellico (Steve Garti): "I joined this job for the camaraderie, but no fucker likes me."

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