DCI Frank Burnside   played by Christopher Ellison

First appearance     Just Call Me Guv’nor (04/08/88)   

DCI Frank Burnside built his reputation on good detective work combined with his unique approach of putting suspects’ heads down the toilet and making their lives hell. Steely and uncompromising, he was not a man to cross. He could be fiercely loyal to his colleagues - when it suited him - and although essentially a loner since his divorce, he had no shortage of female admirers. CID had little idea about his life outside the job and that was how he wanted it to stay. Many superior officers tried to tame him but none succeeded - Burnside simply became more devious. He was a man of mystery, not intrinsically bad, but certainly with an edge. Hard-bitten, Burnside was a 'bend the rules' type detective - but he never broke them.

Undercover operations formed a large part of his police life and he was an intrinsic part of Operation Countryman, a Met initiative in the 70s to flush out bent coppers, which left many people with the impression that Burnside himself was corrupt. Before his transfer to Sun Hill's CID, he had spent a month in deep cover as part of a covert operation to infiltrate a gang of vicious football thugs.

Frank first appeared at Sun Hill in 1984 as a DS from the Robbery Squad, an old face from Bob Cryer's past. Four years later he returned as Detective Inspector and immediately made an impact - old memories die hard at Sun Hill. Ted Roach, who had been acting DI, was resentful that he did not get the job permanently, Bob Cryer didn't trust him an inch and Christine Frazer suspected he was bent. The dodgy side to him seemed to be confirmed in 1989 when he was briefly arrested in a corruption enquiry.

Frank immediately stamped his authority on Sun Hill's CID, making few friends in the process. However, he again came under scrutiny when he became involved with a Drugs Squad enquiry in 1990, led by Detective Inspector Wray, who later turned up at Sun Hill as his boss. Burnside did win a certain grudging respect for his ability to 'nick villains,' and this was appreciated especially by rookies such as Suzi Croft, who learnt a thing or two from him. Never the sort of character to hang around for too long, he moved off to a mysterious new job in the Met in 1993.