WPC 56

Pictured: Jennie Jacques as WPC Gina Dawson

Credit: APTOnline

With its 1950s setting and a charming, tradition-defying heroine, WPC 56 is a fresh twist on the typical crime drama.

WPC 56, at 10-part series premiereing on WXXI-TV Saturday, December 20 at 8 p.m., portrays the challenges faced by the first woman to join a fictional police force. Set in the English metropolitan county of the West Midlands in 1956, this spirited British drama stars Jennie Jacques (Father Brown, Desperate Romantics) as WPC Gina Dawson, an eager young cop struggling to overcome sexist attitudes and gain acceptance in a male-dominated profession.

Tasked with fetching coffee and doing paperwork, WPC Dawson struggles to prove herself among the men of the Brinford Constabulary. The small-town force typically deals with teenage runaways, "Teddy Boys," and petty criminals. However, the lines of the law start to blur when the hunt for a killer draws the team into a criminal underworld of shady boxing clubs, brothels and nightclubs — all run by a ruthless gangster who is as dangerous as he is untouchable. Simultaneously, the unwanted attention of a senior officer pushes Dawson to cross a line which could mean the end of her career.