Police Woman [TV Series] on AllMovie

The springboard for the popular NBC cop series Police Woman was "The Gamble", telecast as an episode of the dramatic anthology Police Woman on March 26, 1974. In this episode, Angie Dickinson played Lisa Beaumont, an undercover policewoman assigned to infiltrate an illegal gambling ring. Bert Convy costarred as Lisa's superior officer Lt. Bill Crowley, while Charles Dierkop and Ed Bernard were cast respectively as Detectives Peter Royster and Joe Stiles, members of Lisa's team. When the weekly, hour-long series version Police Woman debuted on September 1, 1974, Angie Dickinson was back, though her character had been rechristened Sgt. Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson. Charles Dierkop and Ed Bernard were retained as Pepper's backup men Royster and Styles, while the role of Lt. Crowley, the chief of the LAPD Criminal Conspiracy unit, was taken over by Earl Holliman. The series took full advantage of star Dickinson beauty and vivacity, making certain that she was seen in a variety of attractive and often very revealing costumes as she posed as everything from a hooker to a hoity-toity fashion designer while working undercover to root out criminals. Though she was certainly capable of taking care of herself, Pepper counted herself lucky that such muscular and resourceful guys as Crowley, Royster and Styles were around in case she needed rescuing. During the first two seasons, Val Bisoglio was also seen in the recurring role of Lt. Paul Marsh. Creator by Robert Collins and executive-produced by Police Story maven David Gerber, the 91-episode Police Woman remained on NBC until August 30, 1978.