Lock-Up (TV series)


Lock-Up is an American crime drama series that premiered in syndication in September 1959 and concluded in June 1961. The half-hour episodes had little time for character development or subplots. It instead presented a compact story without embellishment.

Series overview

The program stars Macdonald Carey as real-life Philadelphia corporate attorney Herbert L. Maris and John Doucette as police detective Lieutenant Jim Weston. Maris died during the program's initial run.
Each episode began with the following introduction: "These stories are based on the files and case histories of Herbert L. Maris, prominent attorney, who has devoted his life to saving the innocent."
The foundation of each episode is the cornerstone of English and American jurisprudence: a person charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The series featured stories of persons who were unjustly accused, usually due to circumstantial evidence. The program's primary theme is that when individuals are charged with a crime, not all is as it first appears and a thorough investigation is duly warranted in order to uncover vital facts pertinent to the case.
Herbert L. Maris had an uncanny sense about the honest, innocent persons who had been falsely accused. With his lucrative private practice of corporate law, he also had the time and resources to help these people. He was an attorney who spent his spare time helping defendants unjustly charged by the State. The stories portrayed in this series do not involve federal crimes.

Guest stars

Among the many guest stars on the show were:

Production notes

Ziv Television Programs, Inc., of Cincinnati, Ohio, a producer and distributor of more than 40 television shows during the 1950s including Highway Patrol, ''Sea Hunt, Science Fiction Theatre,'' and subsequently, ZIV-United Artists produced the television series. Later, Showcase Media of Studio City, California distributed the series.

Home media

ClassicFlix announced that they would release Season 1 on DVD in region 1 in 2017. However, these plans were shelved indefinitely on April 17, 2018, when ClassicFlix announced that they wouldn't be moving on with the project after all, due to the film elements not being in good enough shape. In November 2024, Classic Flix has revived plans to release Lock Up in 2025, upon learning that there are 16mm prints in good shape for remastering.