City Central was a British television police procedural drama series, written and created by Tony Jordan, that first broadcast on BBC One on 4 April 1998. Described by the Radio Times as "Z Cars for the 1990s", City Central follows the everyday lives of officers based at the inner-city Christmas Street police station in Manchester. Although the series focuses heavily on the uniform relief, a small number of detectives operating out of the station's CID department are also featured. Three series of City Central were produced, with the final episode broadcasting on 19 June 2000. The series was the BBC's third attempt to rival The Bill, following Waterfront Beat and Out of the Blue. Many media outlets claimed at the time of the first' series premiere that it had initially been written as a "star vehicle" for actor Paul Nicholls; although these claims were later dismissed by creator Tony Jordan. Nicholls claimed at the time of accepting the role of PC Terry Sydenham, he felt "troubled and depressed", and felt that a change of character would help him with his own lifestyle, after stepping down from the role of Joe Wicks on EastEnders in November 1997. However, part-way through filming for series two, Nicholls asked for his character to be written out. He later commented, "I was well on my way to a total breakdown. I was drinking a lot and taking drugs. I had lost control of my life." The third series saw a change in the series' format, with a reduction in the number of episodes featuring CID detectives. Creator Tony Jordan noted that this was due to The Bill focusing more on "the storylines featuring their CID detectives, rather than focusing on the everyday officer on the beat". Despite this, two new regular cast members, George Costigan and Connie Hyde, joined the series as DI Jack Carter and DS Janet Miller, respectively. Notably, the series has never been released on DVD, and despite a single re-run on UKTV Drama in 2003, has not been otherwise repeated on television since its original broadcast.
