MIAMI VICE

Miami Vice (1984-1990) is still one of the most iconic police drama series to ever hit the box. Set, as the title states, in south Florida, Miami, the show centred around Sonny Crocket (played by Don Johnson) and Ricardo Tubbs (played Philip Michael Thomas), two cops who go undercover to fight various drug trafficking and prostitution  crimes. Executive-produced by Michael Mann (who later went on to direct Heat (1995), Ali (2001), Collateral (2004) and the big screen verison of Miami Vice with Colin Farell and Jamie Foxx (2006)), the original brief used by the show creators was ‘MTV cops’. So despite the dark and quite serious nature of the plots, the actual storylines took a back seat to the show’s general make-up, which was heavily focused on fashion, music, ‘toys’ – cars and jet boats, bikini-clad women and zany camera angles.

Music: The score for the opening credits were penned by legendary keyboardist Jam Hammer. Hammer also penned the Crocket’s Theme, which has gone on to be an extremely popular track outside of the show.

Miami Vice was also the first time popular music was used so deliberately in a TV drama series, and it wasn’t unusual for producers to spend up to £100, 000 an episode on buying the rights to certain songs. Phil Collins’ In The Air Tonight, was one such track used in this way.

Fashion: Don Johnson’s ‘Crockett’ was one of the biggest male fashion influences of the 80s. His linen pastel suits worn over a t-shirt and slip on loafers with no socks combo, complete with blonde hair, dark roots and designer stubble, meant he looked more like he was about to step onto the set of a pop video, than to bust a couple of drug dealers. But then he was undercover! But that didn’t explain why he lived on a boat, or had an alligator named Elvis as a pet!

His partner Tubbs couldn’t have been more different, but he was still bringing something that wasn’t the norm when it came to TV cops at that point. Originally from New York, he sported a neat jheri curl and slick designer suits. So important was the fashion to the look of the show, top designers such as Gianni Versace and Hugo Boss were consulted on the show’s wardrobe.

Cars: To get around the duo usually relied on Crocket’s Ferrari Daytona (seasons 1and 2), his Ferrari Testarossa (Season 3-6), or Tubbs’ 1964 Cadillac Coup De Ville Convertible, leaving male (and female) viewers, dreaming of the day we could possibly drive a car like that. Then there were the boats, such as the one that Crocket lived on was an Endeavour 42, and was worth a whopping $120,000 in 1986.

Guest stars: Almost as cool as the cars and boats were the acting cameos, which a lot of the time included musicians such as Phil Collins, Miles Davis, Sheena Easton, James Brown and Frank Zappa. A lot of big names, who were virtual unknown at the time, also appeared, from Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Julia Roberts, Liam Neeson, Wesley Snipes and Ian McShane.

In the below clip, the music, fashion and cars elements that made the show are in full effect – enjoy!