The Liver Birds and Series 1 starred Pauline Collins as Dawn and Polly James as Beryl Hennessey. In Series 2, Nerys Hughes debuted as Sandra Hutchinson, replacing Dawn for the rest of the programme's run. The Beryl-and-Sandra pairing is generally regarded as the programme's best period. Beryl was the more 'common' one, while Sandra was soft-spoken and more refined, due to the influence of her snobbish, overbearing mother (Mollie Sugden). Carla Lane drew on her own mother for the character – "Mrs Hutchinson, I think she was my mother. I'm sure she was my mother". Beryl's 'common' mother (the Hennesseys live in Bootle,
The Investigators (U.S. TV series) The Investigators (U.S. TV series) The Investigators is an American adventure/drama television series that aired on CBS from October 5, to December 28, 1961. The series starred James Franciscus as insurance investigator Russ Andrews part of the firm of "Investigators, Inc". The program was the second of Franciscus's five attempts at series television. The series co-starred James Philbrook as Steve Banks, Alan Austin as Bill Davis, and Mary Murphy as Maggie Peters, the secretary who frequently helped the three investigators with their cases. "The Investigators" was based in New York City. The program was similar to ABC's successful detective series