18 October 1981 (1981-10-18)– 26 December 1991 (1991-12-26)
Bergerac is a British crime drama television series. Produced by the BBC in association with the Australian Seven Network, and first screened on BBC1, it ran from 18 October 1981 to 26 December 1991. Set in Jersey, it stars John Nettles as the title character Jim Bergerac. He is initially a detective sergeant in Le Bureau des Étrangers, within the States of Jersey Police, but later leaves the force to become a private investigator.
The series ran from 1981 to 1991. It was created by producer Robert Banks Stewart when the star, Trevor Eve, of his previous detective series Shoestring (1979–1980), set in Bristol, declined to make a third series. Stewart and his production team used elements of Shoestring, along with unused story material intended for further seasons of that programme, and reworked them into a new series set in Jersey, thereby creating Bergerac.
The series begins with Bergerac returning to work after a particularly bad period in his life; he was suffering from alcoholism and the after effects of a badly-broken leg.
The final episode filmed was the 1991 Christmas special, titled "All for Love", which was set partly in Bath, Somerset.
On 24 February 2014, the BBC started a rerun of the series on daytime afternoons on BBC Two. The repeats concluded with series three, in order to avoid showing the Haut de la Garenne location, a former children's home which was the focus of an investigation into historic child abuse.
According to a 2001 interview with Robert Banks Stewart, Nettles was cast on his insistence. He said, "A programme like that would never get made today without having a household name, but back then I fought to have John Nettles play Bergerac because he was right for it."
Bergerac drives a burgundy 1947 Triumph Roadster, with number plate J1610, instead of an approved police vehicle.
Theme music
The original theme music, composed by George Fenton, featured a reggae and accordion refrain. In 1982, Fenton won a BAFTA Best Original Television Music award.
In 2018, Youngr rerecorded the track, entitled "Bergerac Remastered", with a video shot in locations around Jersey.
Home media
In June 2021, the first two series became available on BritBox; series 3 to 9, with all of the Christmas special episodes, became available in October 2021. As of September 2021, series 1–3 and 5–9 were available to stream in the United States, via Amazon Prime with a BritBox subscription.
Writer Toby Whithouse oversaw a new six-episode Bergerac series, which was aired in 2025. Damien Molony appeared in the title role, with filming taking place in Jersey and Plymouth for exterior and interior shots.
Co-stars include Zoë Wanamaker as a gender-flipped Charlie Hungerford, and Robert Gilbert as Barney Crozier. New characters include Arthur Wakefield (Philip Glenister), Margaret Heaton (Pippa Haywood), Uma Dalal (Sasha Behar) and Kara (Celine Arden).
In popular culture
Portions of Bergerac's credits were featured in the Black Mirror episode "Loch Henry"; in the episode's story, it is revealed that VHS recordings of Bergerac had been taped over with snuff films.
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