Z-Cars been running for seven years but which some considered 'cosy'. The one character present throughout the entire run (though not in every episode) was Bert Lynch, played by James Ellis (though John Phillips as Det. Chief Supt. Robins would reappear sporadically during the show's run – by the end of the series he had become Chief Constable). Other characters in the early days were Stratford Johns (Inspector Barlow), Frank Windsor (Det. Sgt Watt), Robert Keegan (Sgt Blackitt), Joseph Brady (PC "Jock" Weir) and Brian Blessed ("Fancy" Smith). Also in 1960s episodes as David Graham was Colin Welland, later a screenwriter.
Gregory Smith (actor) Smith subsequently starred in another direct-to-video film, "Shadow Zone: My Teacher Ate My Homework", and appeared in three 1998 films: "Krippendorf's Tribe", playing one of the children of the title character, "The Climb", a drama also starring John Hurt, and the film "Small Soldiers", in which Smith had a lead role opposite Kirsten Dunst, and for which he won a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film Leading Young Actor in 1999. During the 2000s, Smith appeared in the Mel Gibson-led "The Patriot" (2000), played outlaw Jim Younger in the western "American Outlaws" (2001), was featured in