The series was devised by Ian Kennedy Martin, who had already enjoyed success with another police drama series, "The Sweeney". Although the genre of police dramas was well-established on British television by 1980, "Juliet Bravo" and London Weekend Television's "The Gentle Touch", which started a few months earlier, were the first series that saw female officers as lead characters, having to fight both crime and the prejudice of male colleagues. Kennedy Martin based the character of Jean Darblay on a real female police inspector, Wynne Darwin.