Detective Sergeant George Bulman was a fictional detective created by Kenneth Royce in his series of books about The XYY Man (semi-reformed cat burglar Spider Scott), where the character's name was initially Alf Bulman. Here Bulman is presented as a 'bent copper', though the only examples of his corruption given are that he gained promotion to sergeant by persuading down-and-outs to confess to unsolved robberies, in return for a prison sentence which would put them inside during the coldest months of winter.
These books were turned into a Granada TV series in the mid-1970s, with actor Don Henderson playing Bulman, Scott's nemesis. Bulman lives only for the day that he can put Scott (played on TV by Stephen Yardley) back behind bars, but he and his sidekick Detective Constable Derek Willis (Dennis Blanch) are thwarted every time, even gaining some slight sympathy and respect for Scott as they discover how he and they have been used by the secret service. Bulman was originally portrayed as mildly eccentric, wearing woollen gloves, using a nasal inhaler and trying to 'better' himself by engaging in further education (showing off his learning with a pretentious erudition which makes him look foolish).
The Bulman character proved popular with viewers, and, with Willis, was given a spin-off series Strangers, which saw the formerly London-based detectives transferred to the north-west of England. During the five-year run of Strangers, Bulman's eccentricities were increased, and included such traits as a propensity for keeping his belongings in plastic carrier bags and his keeping of a pet hamster named Flash Gordon. His middle name was revealed to be Kitchener. Increasingly his erudition was used less to make him look pretentious and a joke figure, but instead underlined a zen-like wisdom and otherworldliness. He also leapt in rank, gaining a double-promotion from Detective Sergeant to Detective Chief Inspector in one bound.
In the mid-80s the character returned in Bulman. Disillusioned, Bulman leaves the police to work as a private investigator while making a living repairing clocks. He kept a model railway layout in his office, and wore a 'Will Power' T-Shirt, bearing an illustration of William Shakespeare. Mirroring in some ways the post-prison career of Spider Scott, Bulman and his assistant Lucy McGinty (Siobhan Redmond) were often coerced or tricked into doing clandestine and dangerous work for the secret service.
Kenneth Royce returned to his Bulman character at the height of the show's success, writing two more XYY Man novels (The Crypto Man (1984) and The Mosley Receipt (1985)) and a Bulman novel, No Way Back (Hashimi's Revenge) in 1986. In the 90s he followed this with The Judas Trail (1996) and Shadows (1996). By this point, Royce's Bulman differs from the television version considerably - his is called Alfred George Bulman (the TV one is George Kitchener Bulman), and by The Crypto Man in 1985 has risen to be a Detective Superintendent in the Security Services section of the Metropolitan Police (his TV alternative never made it above Detective Chief Inspector before becoming a private investigator).
Granada ended the series in 1987. Henderson obtained the rights for TV use of the character, but became busy with other projects and died in 1997 before he was able to interest producers in any new series.
- The XYY Man (1976–77) 13 episodes
- Strangers (1978–82) 32 episodes
- Bulman (1985–87) 20 episodes
| William "Spider" Scott | |
|---|---|
| 'The XYY Man' character | |
| First appearance | The XYY Man |
| Last appearance | The Mosley Receipt |
| Created by | Kenneth Royce |
| Portrayed by | Stephen Yardley |
| In-universe information | |
| Alias | The XYY Man |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Criminal |
| Nationality | British |
The XYY Man began as a series of novels by Kenneth Royce, featuring the character of William (or Willie) 'Spider' Scott, a one-time cat-burglar who leaves prison aiming to go straight but finds his talents still to be very much in demand by both the criminal underworld and the British secret service. Scott has an extra Y chromosome that supposedly gives him a criminal predisposition – although he tries to go straight, he is genetically incapable of doing so.
Royce's original books were: The XYY Man (1970); Concrete Boot (1971); The Miniatures Frame (1972); Spider Underground (The Masterpiece Affair)(1973) and Trap Spider (1974), though he returned to the character in the 80s with The Crypto Man (1984) and The Mosley Receipt (1985).
Regular characters included Scott's long-suffering girlfriend Maggie Parsons; British secret service head codenamed Fairfax (the character's real name is Sir Stuart Halliman. In one episode, Fairfax identifies himself as 'Stuart' in a telephone conversation); Detective Sergeant George Bulman, the tenacious policeman who wants to see Scott back behind bars; journalist Ray Lynch; gay photographer Bluey Palmer; and KGB chief Kransouski.
The XYY Man — The TV Series[edit]
| The XYY Man | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Crime drama |
| Created by | Kenneth Royce |
| Written by | Ivor Marshall Tim Aspinall Murray Smith Edward Boyd |
| Directed by | Ken Grieve Carol Wilks Alan Grint |
| Starring | Stephen Yardley Don Henderson Dennis Blanch Vivienne McKee Mark Dignam Oliver Maguire Johnny Shannon Brian Croucher Fiona Curzon William Squire |
| Composer | Mike Moran |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 13 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producer | Richard Everitt |
| Cinematography | David Wood Ray Goode |
| Editors | Anthony Ham Tony Smith Brian Tagg |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production company | Granada Television |
| Original release | |
| Network | ITV |
| Release | 3 July 1976 – 29 August 1977 |
| Related | |
| Strangers | |
In 1976 the first of Royce's novels was adapted for British television by Ivor Marshall. The series ran for three episodes, which covered the one storyline with Stephen Yardley starring as the main character. Co-starring were Mark Dignam as shadowy civil-servant and MI5 officer Fairfax, Don Henderson as his nemesis DS George Bulman and Dennis Blanch as Bulman's assistant, DC Derek Willis. The series, produced by Granada Television, was successful enough for a second series of ten episodes, containing original stories written for television, to follow in 1977. Both series were released as a complete box set via the Network imprint on 26 February 2007.
Although the television adaptation openly depicts a person with XYY syndrome as having criminal tendencies, it was highlighted following the series' broadcast that in real life, there is no connection. An early academic paper studying the conditional probability fallacy resulted in the myth becoming conventional wisdom in the 1970s, but subsequent research has not found any evidence for it. The subject was also touched on in an episode of Doomwatch, "By the Pricking of My Thumbs...", written by Robin Chapman.
When the series came to an end, the characters of Bulman and Willis were considered popular enough to merit their own spin-off series, Strangers, which followed in 1978. Five series of Strangers were broadcast, before a second and final spin-off series, Bulman, followed in 1985. The popularity of the character of Bulman resulted in Kenneth Royce writing three further novels featuring the character: No Way Back (Hashimi's Revenge) in 1986, and later The Judas Trail (1996) and Shadows (1996).
Cast[edit]
- Stephen Yardley as William 'Spider' Scott
- Don Henderson as DS George Bulman
- Dennis Blanch as DC Derek Willis
- Vivienne McKee as Maggie Parsons
- Mark Dignam as Fairfax (Series 1 & Series 2, Episodes 4—8)
- Oliver Maguire as Don Stevens (Series 2, Episodes 1—5 & 9)
- Johnny Shannon as Warren (Series 1, Episode 1 & Series 2, Episodes 1—4)
- Brian Croucher as Raisen (Series 2, Episodes 1—4)
- Fiona Curzon as Penny (Series 2, Episodes 1—4)
- William Squire as Laidlaw (Series 2, Episodes 1—4)
Episodes[edit]
Series 1 (1976)[edit]
| Episode | Title | Written by | Directed by | Original airdate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Proposition" | Ivor Marshall | Ken Grieve | 3 July 1976 | |
Cat burglar Spider Scott is released from prison and wants to go straight. A British Intelligence officer called Fairfax has other ideas though and wants to use Spider's talents to retrieve an incriminating photograph. | |||||
| 2 | "The Execution" | Ivor Marshall | Ken Grieve | 10 July 1976 | |
Spider finds himself on the run from foreign agents, who are also after the photograph which they plan to use for their political ends. | |||||
| 3 | "The Resolution" | Ivor Marshall | Ken Grieve | 17 July 1976 | |
Spider decides to take Fairfax on at his own game and offers to sell the photograph to rival foreign agents, unaware just how high the stakes are and that his own life is in danger. | |||||
Series 2 (1977)[edit]
| Episode | Title | Written by | Directed by | Original airdate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Friends and Enemies" | Tim Aspinall | Ken Grieve | 27 June 1977 | |
Spider buys a half-share of an executive aircraft charter company. One of his first customers is an old acquaintance from his criminal past, then one of his old friends turns up dead. | |||||
| 2 | "The Missing Civil Servant" | Tim Aspinall | Ken Grieve | 4 July 1977 | |
Reisen brings pressure to bear on Spider. | |||||
| 3 | "The Big Bang" | Tim Aspinall | Ken Grieve | 11 July 1977 | |
Spider plays along with the scheme to smuggle a man out of the country, unaware that he is being set up as a decoy for a deadly international operation. | |||||
| 4 | "At the Bottom of the River" | Tim Aspinall | Ken Grieve | 18 July 1977 | |
Spider is implicated in robbery and murder, and finds Laidlaw and Bulman are both on his tail. | |||||
| 5 | "When We Were Very Greedy" | Murray Smith | Carol Wilks | 25 July 1977 | |
Spider is invited to serve on a committee investigating prison conditions, but is soon asked to resign by the committee chairman. | |||||
| 6 | "Now We Are Dead" | Murray Smith | Carol Wilks | 1 August 1977 | |
Spider is convinced that the police were tipped off about the break-in. He attempts to get close to Thresher's daughter, but soon finds his life under threat. | |||||
| 7 | "Whisper Who Dares" | Murray Smith | Carol Wilks | 8 August 1977 | |
Spider seeks out a criminal who threatened his girlfriend. | |||||
| 8 | "Law and Order" | Edward Boyd | Alan Grint | 15 August 1977 | |
Spider, facing a murder charge, agrees to go back to prison to carry out a job for Fairfax – helping another prisoner to escape. | |||||
| 9 | "The Detrimental Robot" | Edward Boyd | Alan Grint | 22 August 1977 | |
Spider goes on the run with his fellow escapee, but it isn't only the police who are in pursuit. | |||||
| 10 | "A View to a Death" | Edward Boyd | Alan Grint | 29 August 1977 | |
Spider is released from custody, but only so he can help capture an enemy agent. | |||||
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