Lockdown, lowdown… She was the epitome of a female police officer in a duo that rocked our world when it arrived in the UK and became an icon for all women. Troubled and flaky, the role she played in the Ying/Yang double act when her partner was safe, secure and married whilst she was unstable, insecure, and single was enough for her legacy as an actor to be assured. And then she pitched up as Michael’s mum. Sharon Gless was iconic in Cagney and Lacey. Cagney and Lacey was, in itself, iconic. It took feminism and gave us a real life dose of it. It was not of its time but ahead of it and the association we had for characters and the people who played the were never stronger than when we all sat down, in the UK and watched this show. We had our own “feminist” characters in cop shows like in Juliet Bravo or Jane Tennyson in Prime Suspect but their appearance onscreen felt more sedate than the blasting on the TV that Cagney and Lacey gave us. Homicides, Harvey having a heart attack, Lacey getting to AA meetings – this was not rural Berkshire or the English village green – this was earthy and edgy.