The ChiPs Legend

In late 1977, the TV-watching nation was treated to its first taste of CHiPs, which followed the glamourous lives of two Los Angeles motorcycle cops; officers Francis Poncherello (Ponch) and Jon Baker (er, Jon), played by Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox.

The duo spent their days riding around on Kawasaki Z1000s in tight shirts, shades and trousers with stripes down the sides.

They attended a seemingly endless stream of car crashes and assisted lovely looking ladies in distress, then asked them out for a date. On their days off they were really good at things like surfing, dirt bike riding and running around in shorts on the beach. Jon and Ponch were joined every week by their ever-patient commander, Sgt Geraer, and fellow officers Grossman, Turner, Fritz and Baricza. It was a sort of Baywatch meets The Bill.

Then, in a blatant attempt to boost ratings, series two featured Chippies – not men with chisels and hammers, but female bike officers

with blonde hair and big teeth. Enter female officer Cindy Cahill.

The series ran for six years and 138 episodes. Six years after the series finished, Estrada and Wilcox reappeared in CHiPs 99 – but it just wasn’t the same.