TV Show of the Week 98: Garda Patrol

Mr E

After 97 shows, we're really scraping the barrel here. If you thought the last few TV Shows of the Week were good (Leave it to Mrs. O'Brien, Upwardly Mobile and Murphy's Micro Quiz M) you ain't seen nothing yet. Determined to make it to 100...

Garda Patrol was a precursor to Crimecall, and was powerhouse of crime reporting. Once a year, they did a tour of Templemore to find the Gardai with the culchiest accents and biggest moustaches and put them in front of a camera to see how they got on. Any that pronounced the word vehicle as "vee-hicle" were automatically excluded from the screening process. It was "veh-icle" or you were cleaning the jacks for a week.

When I was growing up in Carlow, an old neighbour of mine was a divil for double parking on the main street in Carlow. She'd stop the car there on Tullow Street outside Crottys and run in for her bread. Her claim to fame was her car appearing on Garda Patrol when the bank across the road was robbed. The gardai were looking for any suspicious veh-icles in the area, and hers fit the bill. They assumed her battered old Toyota might have been used as a getaway veh-icle. She was cleared obviously, but they were talking about it in bingo for weeks afterwards.

I've scoured youtube for a clip of the show, and the closest I've come to it is this clip (which is a pretty accurate representation of the show):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8k1d8uX9Gw

Post your favourite Garda Patrol memories here! I'm sure there are hundreds of classic moments to share.....

Owen

No longer were burglars seen running away from the house they'd broken into - they were now 'vacating the premises'. Garda speak was born, by people on TV who shouldn't have been on TV, with hardly the best command of the English Language. Big words were used for the sake of big words, and often just made the presenter into more of a shambles than they already were.

Still though, made for interesting viewing!

mike65

yay! I'll be getting all misty eyed about Mart and Market. Twas from an innocent age (apart from all the terrorists of course), these days it could'nt cope with all the random murders.

amacachi

Oh.

Basq

It was a show about more simpler times, a more simpler lifestyle and more simpler people!

It was a damn fine show.. and many other RTÉ productions of the same era paled in comparison (Hands and Reeling In The Years) to the fantastic Garda Patrol.

Here's hoping RTÉ release that DVD or Blu-ray soon!

Leaderbored

Not many people know that Jim Sheridan (of "The Field" and "My left foot" fame) started his career directing the re-enactment of the cabbage robbery in Killcullen farmers market in 1971.

That wasn't the only glittering career launched, mind you - regular contributor on farm safety, Gda Jim Heffernan went on to appear as a pixie in the 1991 People in need telethon.

Our man in Havana

I found another clip from Garda Patrol. It shows the traffic corps test driving their latest veh-icle in the fight against crime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8wHsoGeuH8