Spooners Patch is a British television sitcom, written by Ray Galton and Johnny Speight. It ran for 3 series and 19 episodes and was first broadcast from 9 July 1979 to 24 August 1982 on the ITV network, by ATV. A pilot episode was taped in 1978 with Ian Bannen as Inspector Spooner, after ATV commissioned a full series, he was replaced with Ronald Fraser, who subsequently left after the first series and was replaced by Donald Churchill who played the role the remainder of its run.
It is set in a police station in the fictional London suburb of Woodley. The title character of Spooner is the inspector in charge who is engaged in various corrupt ventures and lives above the station. The other main characters are the officers who work under him, including DC Bolsover who thinks he is from Starsky & Hutch and drives around in a Ford Anglia in the same red and white colour scheme as their Ford Torino; the sardonic PC Killick, the bigoted PC Goatman and the iracible traffic warden Mrs. Cantaford. Spooner also has to contend with various members of the criminal fraternity including Kelly, an Irish grass who frequently torments the station staff with his presence, he was later succeeded by another informer, Jimmy the Con in later episodes.
16 episodes exist complete in broadcast quality 2" masters, the original transmission tapes for two episodes "The Share Out" and "High Noon" were wiped, however Ray Galton kept personal copies of the missing episodes, which now form part of the archive. The broadcast master for "Vote Mrs. Cantaford" was damaged, Galton's own copy was utilized for the later DVD release.
The complete series was released on DVD by Network on 25 July 2011. The boxset featured scripts from all 19 episodes and the 1978 pilot. Initially an online only release, it was subsequently retailed in shops from 13 August 2012 onwards.