---
title: "Cagney & Lacey"
year: 1982
kind: "series"
canonical: "https://film.one/tv/cagney-and-lacey"
fi1m_score: 81
critics_reviews: 2
published: "2026-09-16T20:18:54.864059+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-16T20:19:09.812198+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Cagney & Lacey (1982)

Created by Barbara Avedon, Barbara Corday · 45m · Crime, Drama

**Fi1m score: 81** · Critics: 2 of 6 reviews so far

*In a sentence:* Cagney and Lacey could discuss the duty rota and we would probably stay

> Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless make this police drama worth returning to for its friendship. The cases can be routine and the presentation plain, but the two women remain persuasive company.

## Synopsis

Christine Cagney (Meg Foster and Sharon Gless) and Mary Beth Lacey (Tyne Daly) are police officers trying to do their jobs in a profession that gives women too little recognition for their work. Around them are Lieutenant Bert Samuels (Al Waxman), Mark Petrie (Carl Lumbly) and Det. Victor Isbecki (Martin Kove). Their partnership places the two women’s concerns alongside the demands of the job, as they work together under unequal expectations. Harvey Lacey (John Karlen) is also among the people in their lives.

## Review

*Cagney & Lacey* is good company, even when the police work feels routine. Created by Barbara Avedon and Barbara Corday, it puts two women at the centre of a crime drama and gives their relationship enough importance to sustain our interest between investigations. We recommend it for that relationship, with some patience required for the familiar procedural business. The attraction is getting to know people whose working lives require more effort than the recognition they receive would suggest.

Tyne Daly’s Mary Beth Lacey is the strongest reason to give it that time. There is an everyday solidity to the performance that makes the character worth watching without requiring a crisis to announce her importance. We believe in her, and that belief carries a good deal of the more ordinary material. The programme benefits from having a lead who can hold our attention when the investigation itself offers few surprises.

Sharon Gless makes Christine Cagney feel sufficiently distinct that the partnership has something to work with beyond shared employment. We were moved by the affection between these women. The two performances make being heard by a colleague seem important, and their interest in each other gives the friendship a warmth that no amount of worthy subject matter could supply. It is a pleasure to watch women take each other seriously without having to become solemn about it.

That is also where the feminism becomes useful drama. The premise acknowledges unequal recognition, but the leads are allowed enough individuality to keep them from becoming a pair of exemplary employees presented for our approval. They need not be admirable every moment to deserve attention, and the programme is more engaging when it trusts that. Its interest in women doing a job gives us something to care about beyond the question of who committed the crime.

Héctor R. Figueroa’s cinematography is serviceable, and we would not put the pictures ahead of the performances as a reason to watch. Richard Fetterman’s editing serves the exchanges between the characters more satisfyingly than it generates urgency around the cases. The music credits include Shirley Walker and Mark Snow, though the scoring makes less impression than the acting. At 45 minutes, an instalment has enough room for the leads to hold our interest, but also for us to notice when the plotting is merely doing its required business. A little more pace would help those stretches.

A crime series can offer a difficult puzzle, sustained danger or the pleasure of recognising the people who turn up to work each week. This one is strongest at the last of those, and we would return for its leads without needing to be told why they matter to television history. Some patience with routine police business is part of the bargain. Try it when getting to know two people appeals more than being kept guessing.

*Fi1m score 81, published 16 September 2026.*

### Reviews we read (2)

- **The Guardian** (90/100, inferred): The critic praises the series as a unique pleasure and platonic love story between its two leads, highlighting its portrayal of realistic women in their 30s and strong feminist themes amid the cop drama format. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2010/jun/11/cagney-and-lacey-box-set)
- **The AV Club**, Emily St. James (65/100, inferred): The critic highlights how the series overcame multiple cancellations and cast changes to become a groundbreaking TV show focused on two female detectives. Its historical significance and cultural impact are praised more than its content, which is described as fine but quaint and not essential by modern standards. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/cagney-lacey-survived-two-cancellations-and-multiple-1798240065)

## Details

- **Created by:** Barbara Avedon, Barbara Corday
- **Creator:** Barbara Avedon, Barbara Corday
- **Director:** Alexander Singer, James Frawley, Reza Badiyi, Sharron Miller, Ray Danton, Karen Arthur, Al Waxman, Georg Stanford Brown, John Patterson, Jackie Cooper, Helaine Head, Bill Duke, Victor Lobl, Peter Levin, Ralph S. Singleton, Nancy Malone, Allen Baron, Jonathan Estrin, Jeffrey Hayden, Gabrielle Beaumont, James Sheldon, Michael Vejar, Nicholas Sgarro, Stan Lathan, Charlotte Brown, Christian I. Nyby II, Harry Harris, Joel Oliansky, Francine Parker, Burt Brinckerhoff, Claudia Weill, Charles S. Dubin, Leo Penn, Stephen Macht, Barbara Peeters, Don Weis
- **Writer:** Peter Lefcourt, Frank South, Patricia Green, Robert Crais, Jeffrey Lane, April Smith, Terry Louise Fisher, Paul L. Ehrmann, Shelley List, Frank Abatemarco, Les Carter, Georgia Jeffries, Jonathan Estrin, Ronnie Wenker-Konner, Chris Abbott, Steve Brown, Kathryn Ford, Scott Rubenstein, Debra Frank, Lawrence Konner, Daniel Freudenberger, Joe Viola, Joanne Pagliaro, Susan Sisko, Rogers Turrentine, Hannah Louise Shearer, Michael Piller, Brian McKay, Kevin Rodney Sullivan
- **Story:** Paul L. Ehrmann, Patt Shea, Bob Rosenfarb, Harriett Weiss
- **Teleplay:** April Smith, Terry Louise Fisher, Kathryn Ford
- **Cinematography:** Héctor R. Figueroa
- **Editor:** Richard Fetterman
- **Music:** Dana Kaproff, Angela Morley, Shirley Walker, Ian Freebairn-Smith, Nelson Riddle, Mark Snow, Nan Schwartz, Gene Page, Ron Ramin, Miles Goodman, Richard Lewis Warren, Joseph Harnell, Matthew McCauley, John Debney, Andrea Saparoff
- **Producer:** Steve Brown, Liz Coe, Ralph S. Singleton
- **Cast:** Tyne Daly as Mary Beth Lacey; Meg Foster as Christine Cagney; Sharon Gless as Christine Cagney; John Karlen as Harvey Lacey; Al Waxman as Lieutenant Bert Samuels; Carl Lumbly as Mark Petrie; Martin Kove as Det. Victor Isbecki; Sidney Clute as Paul La Guardia
- **Runtime:** 45m
- **Release (the US):** 25 March 1982
- **Genres:** Crime, Drama

## Where to watch in the US

- The Roku Channel: free, sd, leaving 2026-09-30
- Apple TV: buy, sd

*Checked 2026-09-16.*

Also available in: BG, CA, CH, CZ, DE, GB, HU, IE, LT, NO, NZ, RO, RS, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Prime Suspect* (1991): Another woman doing police work while colleagues make the job needlessly harder.
- *Unbelievable* (2019): Two female detectives, patient work, and careful attention to people institutions fail.
- *The Blue Lamp* (1950): For the pleasures of ordinary police company, with a sharper jolt of danger.
- *Memories of Murder* (2003): A darker view of detective work, where frustration steadily wears away professional confidence. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/memories-of-murder.md)
- *A League of Their Own* (1992), Fi1m 80: Women at work together, with rivalry and affection given room to coexist. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/a-league-of-their-own.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/cagney-and-lacey