The Gentle Touch

Created by Terence Feeley, The Gentle Touch was the first police series to show a woman at Detective Inspector level, it starred Jill Gascoine as Maggie Forbes – a tough but compassionate cop who is also a single mother to a teenage son following the murder of her police constable husband. It debuted in April 1980 and would go onto run for five seasons (56 episodes).

Reflecting a time when there were very few ranking female officers, the series not only showed police procedure within a Metropolitan Police CID unit but also offered an insight into how a woman might cope with such a role in what was still very much a man’s world.

Instantly successful with the public, The Gentle Touch ran for five series and featured guest appearances by Catherine Schell, Brian Croucher, Joanne Whalley, Liz Smith, Art Malik, Lynda Bellingham and Louise Jameson, among many others.