The actor Nicholas Ball, who has died aged 78, landed his biggest television role when he starred as a down-at-heel cockney private eye in the ITV series Hazell in 1978.
James Hazell starts his own detective agency after being invalided out of the police and turning to the bottle, triggering the end of his marriage. He soon becomes embroiled in violence as he tackles London low life, with the gritty reality extending to the crime-buster taking beatings himself.
