Well, I have clung onto the wreckage for another week and I have moved from being soaked in sweat to being soaked in rain. These certainly are interesting times. I was watching an old horror movie in bed the other night. I am deaf in one ear and thus have no directional hearing. I thought the thunder effects were really good until I realised there was a storm outside. I am not sure whether to blame my ear or the odd night cap or two I took for medicinal reasons.

I grew up watching Dixon Of Dock Green and Z Cars on television. Sadly many episodes of both series were wiped so the then expensive tape could be reused. Plus of course there were union restrictions on repeats, and of course there were no video sales to make it worthwhile to store such material.

Later in life I had the pleasure to chat with Jack Warner, who joked with me that he was virtually police retirement age when he started the series. Z Cars was more hard hitting and again it was a pleasure to meet up with Stratford Johns, James Ellis and Brian Blessed. I loved the theme tunes to both programmes. I think Watford Football Club still play the Z Car music at the start of matches. I wonder how many fans attending recall the series.

I also fondly remember No Hiding Place, which also had a great theme tune. The star of the show had a tendency to forget his lines, which on live television is a problem, so he would have his lines written in appropriate places. In one episode he was sitting at a desk so he could pull out a drawer, which contained his lines. But the props boys decided to have a joke, and when he opened the drawer the lines were gone! He dried on air, as we say, but luckily his co-star was in on the joke and simply adapted his lines by saying "I guess Inspector you want me to..." and so on.

I was a volunteer at Hendon Police College in the 1980s and was brought in to role play with the cadets. It gave an edge to their training and I found it fun. I was once a prison warder handcuffed to a prisoner on the top of a double decker bus, and the prisoner happened to be armed with a gun! Hence how to handle a siege situation. Why we were on a bus was beyond me. Then I was a drink driver pulled over on their driving area. In order to fail the test I was given a shot of brandy. I often wonder what would have happened if I had been pulled over driving home. On another occasion I was cast as a pub brawler and this lady cadet handcuffed me behind my back but I lost my balance and fell on top of her. It was a soft landing for me but the instructor gave her a rocket. I was invited to stand on the podium at the passing out parade. This must be 35 years ago so I guess all those young cadets are now retired. My last role was to play a judge in their mock-up court room. The chief instructor told me he would play the defence counsel and I should let him win after he demolished the cadet under cross-examination. Instead, for a minor crime, I found the prisoner guilty, giving me a once-in-a-lifetime chance to pronounce the words "you will be taken from this place to a place of lawful execution and hanged by the neck until you are dead." The 50 cadets present all applauded and I was not invited back.

Paul Welsh MBE is a Borehamwood writer and historian of Elstree Studios