Month: January 2015

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes – The Assyrian Rejuvenator

archivetvmusings ITV Drama - 1970's ,

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Donald Sinden as Romney Pringle in The Assyrian Rejuvenator by Clifford Ashdown
Adapted by Julian Bond. Directed by Jonathan Alwyn

Sergeant Hawkins (Victor Platt) calls on Romney Pringle (Donald Sinden) to ask for his help – a conman called Henry Jacobs (Derek Smith) is selling a potion called the Assyrian Rejuvenator.  He claims it’s a remarkable tonic that will restore their lost youth, but it obviously does no such thing.  Hawkins can’t proceed until somebody makes a complaint and he concludes that nobody will – since they’re all too embarrassed to admit they’ve been conned.

When Pringle asks why Hawkins has come to him, the policeman’s answer is straightforward – “set a thief to catch a thief”.  Pringle’s office door might declare him to be a private detective, but it’s clear that he’s more than happy to break the law when it serves his best interests – and he quickly sees how to turn the affair of the Assyrian Rejuvenator to his own benefit,

Romney Pringle was created by R. Austin Freeman and John Pitcarn (writing as Clifford Ashdown) and the character appeared in a series of stories written at the turn of the twentieth century. The Assyrian Rejuvenator was included in the book The Adventures of Romney Pringle and it can be read here.

Pringle is a rogue, very much in the mould of Horace Dorrington, and he’s quickly able to deal with Jacobs (by scaring him out of town).  He then proceeds to take over Jacobs’ operation, which also means inheriting Doris (Alethea Charlton).  Pringle’s an arch manipulator and he quickly has poor Doris hanging on his every word.

Donald Sinden gives a typically ripe performance as Pringle, although he never manages to make the character even remotely likeable. Peter Vaughan’s Dorrington was similarly unscrupulous, but he had a certain charm, thanks to Vaughan.  Also, whilst Dorrington never quite managed to pull of the big con in either of the two stories adapted for The Rivals, here we see Pringle make a tidy profit from Jacob’s operation – and he shows little remorse when both Jacobs and Doris are caught by the police and charged with running the whole operation.  Which isn’t, when you consider how he manipulated Doris to serve his own interests, a very admirable trait.

Jo Rowbottom
Jo Rowbottom

It also doesn’t help that the story is a little mundane, although there are a few compensations such as Jo Rowbottom as Suzy Shepherd, Music Hall artiste, and Michael Bates as Colonel Sandstream, an elderly duffer who’s somewhat smitten with her and will try anything (including the Assyrian Rejuvenator) to improve his chances to, as it were, satisfy her.  Rowbottom is rather alluring and Bates (star of It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum and Last of the Summer Wine) has a nice line in comic bluster.

They both help to compensate for an episode which is one of the less engaging from the first series.

Next Episode – The Ripening Rubies

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes – The Affair of the Tortoise

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Peter Barkworth as Martin Hewitt in The Affair of the Tortoise by Arthur Morrison
Adapted by Bill Craig. Directed by Bill Bain

Martin Hewitt (Peter Barkworth) visits Miss Chapman (Cyd Hayman) to inform her that she stands to inherit a considerable fortune, following the death of a distant relative.  As Miss Chapman lives in genteel poverty, this is very welcome news.

When Hewitt is talking to her, he hears a dreadful din coming from elsewhere in the house.  Miss Chapman explains that the noise is made by one of the other residents – Rameau (Stephan Kalipha).  He’s a very strange fellow, he favours sliding down the bannisters, is frequently drunk and makes the life of Goujon (Timothy Bateson) a misery by playing practical jokes on him.

When Rameau’s latest practical joke results in the death of Goujon’s beloved tortoise, Goujon declares that he’ll kill him.  And shortly afterwards, the maid Millie (Cheryl Hall) discovers Rameau on the floor of his rooms, covered in blood, with an axe beside him.

It’s a clear case of murder – but when the police enter the room, Rameau’s body is gone.  Goujon has also left and he’s obviously the prime suspect – but Miss Chapman isn’t convinced and she commissions Hewitt to investigate.  Another resident, Captain Cutler (Esmond Knight), tells Hewitt that he’s seen a man hanging around for a while, watching for Rameau.  The discovery of a voodoo doll in Rameau’s rooms and the knowledge that the man lived in fear of strangers are enough to convince Hewitt that there’s more to this case than meets the eye.

Like The Case of the Dixon Torpedo, this was written by Arthur Morrison and appeared in the collection of stories entitled Martin Hewitt, Investigator which was published in 1894.  The book can be read here.

But unlike the Dixon Torpedo, Martin Hewitt appears in this adaptation and he’s expertly played by Peter Barkworth.  One of the pleasures of watching archive television on a regular basis is that you tend to see the same faces appear again and again.  Recently I’ve seen Barkworth in an episode of Out of the Unknown – To Lay a Ghost as well as an early edition of Public Eye – Nobody Kills Santa Claus.  Any performance by Peter Barkworth is worth treasuring since he was such a meticulous, tidy actor and he fits the role of Martin Hewitt (modest, undemonstrative but forthright) perfectly.

Not only was he a first class actor, but he taught at RADA during the late 1950’s and early 1960’s and the likes of Anthony Hopkins, Simon Ward and Diana Rigg were amongst his pupils. He later remarked that “of all the jobs I have ever had, teaching at RADA is the one I should least like to have missed”.

With Barkworth providing a solid foundation as Hewitt, he was supported by a very decent cast of fellow actors.  The gorgeous Cyd Hayman had appeared alongside him the year previously in the WW2 drama Manhunt, whilst Timothy Bateson makes a decent attempt at a French accent and Stefan Kalipha is suitably unhinged as Rameau.  As neither Bateson or Kalipha have a great deal of screen-time, they have to make a strong impression early on, which they both do.

Cyd Hayman
Cyd Hayman

Inspector Nettings (Dan Meaden) naturally favours Goujan as the murderer, but when it’s proved that he’s innocent, the policeman is in a bit of a quandary.  It’s a staple of detective fiction to have the police baffled whilst the private detective runs rings around them, but even allowing for this, Nettings is exceptionally dim.  As Hewitt says “I have heard the opinion expressed that Inspector Nettings couldn’t find an omnibus in Oxford Street. But I don’t share that opinion. On the other hand I’m not convinced he could find the one he was looking for”.

Much as I love Barkworth, I’m never quite sure if the scene where he questions a cabman (and adopts a rough approximation of a lower-class accent) is deliberately meant to be unconvincing (to indicate that Hewitt didn’t really go in for that sort of thing) or whether Peter Barkworth just wasn’t very good at accents.

Whilst the solution to the mystery seems clear fairly early on, nothing’s quite as it seems and there’s a number of twists and turns in the story – which could quite easily sit alongside many of Conan-Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes tales.  With Holmes having apparently faced his Final Problem in 1893, Martin Hewitt proved to be a very acceptable substitute and his stories (prior to being collected in book form) were published in various magazines, including The Strand (which had been the home of Sherlock Holmes).  Sidney Paget’s illustrations (like they did for Holmes) also added a touch of class.

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It does seem remarkable no series were spun out of The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes as many of the stories we’ve seen so far have demonstrated that there was definite mileage in taking the characters further.  So a series with Barkworth as Hewitt wasn’t to be, unfortunately, but he’ll return in one more tale – The Case of Laker, Absconded.

Next Episode – The Assyrian Rejuvenator

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes – The Woman in the Big Hat

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Elvi Hale as Lady Molly in The Woman in the Big Hat by the Baroness Orczy
Adapted and Directed by Alan Cooke

When a customer is found dead at a tea shop, Lady Molly of Scotland Yard (Elvi Hale) and her faithful assistant Mary Grandard (Ann Beach) are on hand to investigate.  As a female detective in a predominately male environment, Lady Molly is something of a pioneer – and certainly she’s the right person to uncover the tangled threads of this baffling murder.

Lady Molly was created by the Baroness Orczy, best known for writing The Scarlet Pimpernel.  Lady Molly of Scotland Yard was published in 1910 and contains twelve adventures, of which The Woman in the Big Hat was the tenth.  The book can be read here.

Her precise rank in the police force is something of a mystery as she’s only ever referred to as Lady Molly – but since she speaks to Inspector Saunders (Peter Bowles) as an equal, presumably she’s on a similar level.  Saunders appears to be on hand to be someone who’s essentially well-meaning but lacks the subtle approach of Lady Molly (for example, he picks up the teacup which held the poison, much to the dismay of Lady Molly, who chides him about fingerprints).

The murdered man was Mark Culledon, a member of a very good family – and it appears someone beyond reproach.  Considering Lady Molly’s rarefied status and the fact that the members of the working class we see (such as Katie Harris, played by Una Stubbs) are portrayed as untrustworthy at best and criminal at worst, it does appear at first to be a story that’s sympathetic to the struggles of the upper classes.

But things aren’t so cut and dried and it becomes clear that even behind the most genteel of drawing room doors, passions can run high.  However, the first thing Lady Molly needs to to do is to track down the woman in the big hat.  Mark Culledon was seen having tea with a woman wearing a rather large hat and after she left, he was found dead.  It therefore seems obvious that Culledon was poisoned by the woman.

A prime-suspect is found, Elizabeth Löwenthal (Elizabeth Weaver).  She admits that she had a relationship with Culledon in the past and that she visited him after he was married – and she certainly possesses a big hat, but is she the one?  Saunders is convinced, but Lady Molly isn’t so sure.

Elvi Hale plays Lady Molly with great gusto.  She’s clearly somebody who has to work in rather makeshift surroundings (the sign on her office says “stores”, over which has been hung another sign saying “female department”) but she makes the best of things.  She shoots a gun as well as any man and is dismissive when Grandard tells her that Saunders is a great believer in her intuition.  Lady Molly counters that he has to call it intuition, he simply can’t believe that a woman can think for herself.

Peter Bowles is on hand to do the leg-work whilst Ann Beach as Grandard is there to take notes, swoon over Molly’s deductions and effectively act as Watson to her Holmes (Grandard was the narrator of the Lady Molly stories).

Elsewhere, Catherine Lacey gives a rather individual performance as Culledon’s aunt, Mrs Steinberg.  Catherine Lacey was by this time a veteran actress and had appeared in many notable films, including Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes and Whisky Galore.  She gives a rather stagey, unrealistic turn, which might possibly have been what director Alan Cooke (who also dramatised the story) was aiming for – but for me, it’s a little jarring.  Francis White is more composed as Culledon’s widow and there’s a nice demonstration of low-cunning from Una Stubbs as Culldeon’s ex-maid, Katie Harris.

Since Mark Culledon is dead when we see him for the first time, the story never gives us a chance to understand what he was like as a character, first hand.  Instead, as the story progresses, more layers are lifted away as more people are questioned about him – until finally we see exactly what sort of a man he was and when we know that, the reason for the murder becomes quite clear.

In terms of a whodunnit, it’s probably one of the most interesting yet seen in the series, and this helps to make The Woman in the Big Hat one of the more memorable episodes of The Rivals.

Next Episode – The Affair of the Tortoise

The Rivals of Sherlock Homes – The Case of the Dixon Torpedo

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Ronald Hines as Jonathan Pryde in The Case of the Dixon Torpedo by Arthur Morrison
Adapted by Stuart Hood.  Directed by James Goddard

Jonathan Pryde (Ronald Hines) has been hired by the British Admiralty to keep an eye on a curmudgeonly, but brilliant, inventor called Dixon (Derek Francis).  Dixon is working to develop a new torpedo and the Admiralty are worried that it could be acquired by an unfriendly power.  And when the unthinkable happens – the plans are stolen – Pryde will need to use all of his ingenuity to solve the mystery.

Arthur Morrison wrote three volumes of stories featuring private detective Martin Hewitt.  They were Martin Hewitt, Investigator (1894), The Chronicles of Martin Hewitt (1895) and The Adventures of Martin Hewitt (1896).  The Case of the Dixon Torpedo was featured in Martin Hewitt, Investigator and it can be read here.

Series one of The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes adapted three Martin Hewitt adventures – this one, The Affair of the Tortoise and The Case of Laker, Absconded.  Rather oddly, Hewitt didn’t feature in this adaptation – instead a new detective (Jonathan Pryde) was created.  Maybe it was felt that having three stories with the same detective would have been a slight case of overkill.

Ronald Hines gives a low-key performance as Pryde.  Unlike some of the other detectives we’ve seen in The Rivals, Pryde doesn’t possess any particular quirks or interesting character traits – he’s simply a dogged, thorough investigator

If Pryde is a bit of a dull fellow, then there’s compensation elsewhere.  Derek Francis is full of bluster as the bluff Dixon, whilst James Bolam and Bill Wallis form a decent double-act as Dixon’s employees.  Jacqueline Pearce (forever Servalan from Blake’s Seven) has a small part as Pryde’s wife and it’s always a pleasure to see Cyril Shaps (the voice of Mr Kipling).

The Case of the Dixon Torpedo is also notable for featuring a wide array of facial hair (much of it fairly false-looking, it must be said) whilst Dixon’s achilles heel are prostitutes (“two at a time!”).  It’s this particular vice that proves to be his undoing and enables the plans to fall into Russian hands (although Pryde is on hand to sort out the mess).

But though the plans are recovered, Pryde is appalled by the way that both the British and Russian governments are prepared to cover up the various deaths that have occurred along the way.  When he’s asked if he’d like to take on further cases for Admiralty, he replies “no, I don’t think so. I prefer crime. It’s more honest”.  Many future detectives will express similar sentiments.

This story of missing plans may have been influenced by the Sherlock Holmes story The Naval Treaty and it’s interesting to wonder if Morrison’s story was an influence on Conan-Doyle when he wrote the later Holmes tale The Bruce-Partington Plans.

It’s not a particularly complicated story and whilst I’d have preferred to have had Peter Barkworth’s Hewitt in the main role, the quality supporting cast are a major point in this episode’s favour.

Next Episode – The Woman In The Big Hat

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes – Madame Sara

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John Fraser as Dixon Druce in Madame Sara by L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace
Adapted by Philip Mackie.  Directed by Piers Haggard

Jack Selby (William Corderoy) approaches private detective Dixon Druce (John Fraser) with a strange story.  His new wife Beatrice (Jasmina Hilton) is one of three people who have a chance of inheriting their family fortune (which stands at two million pounds).  The other two are Beatrice’s sister Edith (Caroline John) and their step-brother Silva (Roger Delgado).

The capital is held in trust and will go to the last surviving family member.  Dixon quickly sees the danger that the sisters may be in – and this seems to be confirmed when Edith dies, poisoned in a most mysterious manner.  Silva would seem to be the prime suspect, although Inspector Vandeleur (George Murcell) favours Dixon’s client, Jack Selby.  If Selby disposes of the other two, then he (through his wife) will have access to the money.

But what part does the mysterious Madame Sara (Marianne Benet) play in this devilish affair?  She’s a friend of both Beatrice and Edith (although Edith seemed to live in fear of her).  According to Selby, she’s “a professional beautifier. She claims the privilege of restoring youth to those who consult her. She also declares that she can make quite ugly people handsome”.  She captivates Dixon Druce with her beauty and he confesses that he’s somewhat in love with her.  But Madame Sara is a complex creature, who isn’t quite all that she seems ….

Dixon Druce tangled with Madame Sara over the course of six short stories which were published as The Sorceress of the Strand in 1902.  The tales were written by L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace.  Although there had been female criminals before (such as “the woman” Irene Adler) Madame Sara is of particular interest since she’s very much in the super-criminal mode, which is much rarer.  During the six stories, she appears each time with an outlandish scheme, Dixon Druce gets to hear about it and stops her – but always she lives to fight another day.  For those who want to sample the original tale, Madame Sara can be downloaded here.

As Madame Sara was the first story in The Sorceress of The Strand, it made sense to adapt it for The Rivals, since it sees Dixon and Sara meet for the first time.  Sara is a strange figure, seemingly ageless (thanks to her many mysterious potions) and there’s no doubt that she captures Dixon’s heart, which makes the fact that he has to hand her over to the authorities something of a wrench for him.

John Fraser is forthright and upstanding as Dixon Druce.  To be honest, he’s not the most interesting or charismatic detective we’ve seen so far, so Fraser does sometimes struggle to make an impression (and the somewhat florid dialogue is also a problem at times).  Marianne Benet doesn’t act evil, which is a good thing – her Madame Sara is a businesswoman, rather than a cackling villain.

For any Doctor Who fans, there’s two good reasons to watch this one.  Caroline John is Edith (a subdued performance) and Roger Delgado, even though he’s confined to a wheelchair, dominates the scenes he’s in (playing the apparently invalided Silva).

delgado

Whilst Dixon appears to be more of a thinker than a man of action, he can still make the odd surprising move – such as when he wrenches a tooth from the unfortunate Beatrice with a pair of pliers (it makes sense when you’ve watched the story).

Not the strongest story, but it’s entertaining enough and the further adventures of Dixon Druce and Madame Sara would have made a decent (if short) series.

Next Episode – The Case of the Dixon Torpedo

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes – The Case of the Mirror of Portugal

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Peter Vaughan as Horace Dorrington in
The Case of the Mirror of Portugal by Arthur Morrison
Adapted by Julian Bond.  Directed by Mike Vardy

A penniless Frenchman called Jacques Bouvier (Michael Forrest) spins Dorrington a strange tale. During the French Revolution his family acquired one of the French Crown Jewels – known as The Mirror of Portugal. The diamond is worth one hundred thousand pounds and Jacques feels that it should be his by right – although at present it’s in the possession of his cousin Leon (Oscar Quitak).

It’s a tale that intrigues Dorrington, although he ejects Jacques from his office and tells him that he wants nothing to do with the case. Afterwards, he explains to Farrish and Miss Parrot that “he wanted me to steal that diamond. He wanted me to do it for nothing and give him three quarters of the proceeds”. Naturally, Dorrington plans to steal the diamond and keep one hundred per cent of the proceeds. But someone beats him to it – and it wasn’t Jacques ….

The Case of the Mirror of Portugal was the second Dorrington tale adapted for the series.  It, along with Arthur Morrison’s other Dorrington stories, can be read here.

There’s some, interesting, French accents in this story.  Clearly French actors were thin on the ground, so the Welshman Michael Forrest essays the sort of accent that Inspector Clouseau would have been proud of.  It certainly helps to liven up the beginning of the story.

A young Jeremy Irons pops up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-him role as a silly young ass (“What larks eh?”).  There’s a more substantial part for Paul Eddington later on in the story as Hamer and Ingrid Hafner is also very good as Hamer’s wife, Maria.

It turns out that Hamer stole the diamond and it’s currently in Maria’s possession.  Dorrington attempt to force them to hand it over, but she throws it into the Thames, rather than give it to Dorrington.  If she can’t have it, then she’d sooner that nobody did.

As might be expected, this doesn’t please Dorrington, but he quickly recovers his equanimity.  And after Jacques and Leon visit his office and tell him they’ve decided to join forces to recover the diamond, he’s happy to tell them exactly where it is (once they’ve paid him eighty guineas for the privilege, of course).

“At the bottom of the Thames. Approximately in the middle, I’d say, where the steps lead down to the towpath at Richmond lock. How do you get it back? Well, you could buy a boat and try fishing for it.  But if that doesn’t appeal, you could wait for some future age until the bed of the Thames is rediscovered as a diamond field, I suppose”

As with The Affair of the Avalanche Bicycle & Tyre Co. Ltd, Dorrington doesn’t get the ultimate prize – although he doesn’t come too badly out of it.  Peter Vaughan is, once again, smoothly ruthless as Dorrington.  Given that he’s a crook and a swindler, you don’t really want to see him finish on top – but Vaughan is just so entertaining in the role and it’s his charisma that drives this (it must be said, fairly slight) story along.

Next Episode – Madame Sara

Obituary – Brian Clemens (1931 – 2015)

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Brian Clemens, one of British television’s most prolific scriptwriters, has died at the age of 83.

Born in Croydon in 1931, he broke into television in the 1950’s and contributed to series such as The Vise, Dial 999, Interpol Calling and H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man.  During the 1960’s he was a popular writer-for-hire, scripting stories for Danger Man, Ghost Squad, Adam Adamant Lives!, The Baron and The Champions amongst others, but by far his most enduring work during that decade was on The Avengers.

Clemens wrote several scripts during the early years, but it wasn’t until series four (when The Avengers became a film production) that he was to have a major influence on the programme.  Brian Clemens and Albert Fennell took over as producers and they turned the series into an international hit.  But not everybody approved of the more outlandish style and after the end of the fifth series Clemens and Fennell were unceremoniously fired and former producer John Bryce was invited back.

Diana Rigg (who had starred as Emma Peel during the fourth and fifth series) had also left, so Bryce’s first job was to cast a new Avengers girl.  He selected Linda Thorson and the first few stories went into production.  But it quickly became clear that things weren’t working, story-wise, so Bryce was sacked and Clemens and Fennell were reinstated.  Clemens understandably felt vindicated that the network had to come, cap in hand, to Fennell and himself to sort out the mess!

During the 1970’s Clemens would write film screenplays for Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter and The Golden Voyage of Sinbad whilst his television work would be dominated by three series – Thriller, The New Avengers and The Professionals.

Clemens had originally planned to take something of a backseat with The Professionals after writing the first one, but when he found that some of the other scripts weren’t up to scratch he was forced to write a number of stories himself (eventually contributing 17 stories across the whole run).

In the 1980’s and 1990’s he split his time between the UK and the US.  For American television he wrote episodes of Remington Steele, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Father Dowling Mysteries and Perry Mason.  In the UK he created Bugs (1995 – 1999) a series that harked back to some of his past successes, whilst CI5 – The New Professionals (1999) was another show that traded on his past – although this wasn’t as successful and only lasted the one series.

Whilst Brian Clemens will undoubtedly be remembered for a number of key series (The Avengers, Thriller, The New Avengers, The Professionals) his work as a script-writer on other series shouldn’t be underestimated.  To take just one example, he only contributed a single script for Bergerac (Ninety Per Cent Proof from series three) but it’s a quality story that pushes Jim Bergerac into a very dark place.  It’s atypical in many ways (possibly Clemens wasn’t that familiar with the show) but this is a plus point and there’s certainly no indication that Clemens was simply going through the motions.  As ever with Clemens, it’s a tense and exciting story.

Clemens’ son Samuel told BBC News that just before his father died he watched an episode of The Avengers and his last words were “I did quite a good job”.  Something that I think we can all agree on.

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes – The Horse of the Invisible

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Donald Pleasence as Carnacki in The Horse of the Invisible by William Hope Hodgson
Adapted by Philip Mackie.  Directed by Alan Cooke

Captain Hisgins (Tony Steedman) is a worried man.  According to family tradition, if the first-born is a female then she will be haunted and ultimately killed by an invisible horse during her engagement.  And for the first time in several generations, there is a first-born female.  Mary (Michele Dotrice) has heard the horse and her fiance Charles Beaumont (Michael Johnson) injured his arm when he tried to protect her from the apparition.

Hisgins doesn’t want his daughter to die, so he calls on Carnacki (Donald Pleasence).  Most detectives would raise an eyebrow at this story, but Carnacki is a ghost detective.  He doesn’t discount the supernatural possibility, although he also concedes that it could all be achieved by trickery.  But as he spends some time at the Hisgins home, the strange events come thick and fast ….

Thomas Carnacki was created by William Hope Hodgson and appeared in a number of short stories published between 1910 and 1912. These were collected together as Carnacki the Ghost-Finder and they can be read here.

The Horse of the Invisible is certainly different, that’s for sure.  It’s pitched at such a level of melodrama (with suitably dramatic music) that it’s difficult to take it entirely seriously.  The major saving grace is Donald Pleasence.  He plays Carnacki in a slightly absent-minded, self-effacing way that’s very effective.  When everyone around him is descending into hysteria, he’s very much the still point.

It’s fair to say that it’s a story that tries to have its cake and eat it – since it’s revealed that some of the hauntings were faked, but at the end we do witness a real ghost horse as well.  And Carnacki is quite honest in admitting that whilst he can explain some of the events, others are a mystery to him.

The last five or ten minutes, when we discover the identity of the faker (and for good measure he’s dressed as a horse!) might be the point when many people lose patience with the tale.  Quite why he went through all this rigmarole is something that’s never made that clear – surely there were easier ways for him to achieve his ends?

Michele Dotrice is suitably winsome as Mary, although Tony Steedman is slightly odd casting as her father.  At the time he was only in his early forties and he’s obviously made up to be much older – complete with a false moustache and a white wig.  This is a little distracting, and it begs the question as to why an older actor wasn’t cast.

The Horse of the Invisible is very watchable, thanks to Donald Pleasence, although it’s probably not a story that will appeal to all.

Next Episode – The Case of the Mirror of Portugal

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes – The Duchess of Wiltshire’s Diamonds

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Roy Dotrice as Simon Carne in The Duchess of Wiltshire’s Diamonds by Guy Boothby
Adapted by Anthony Steven.  Directed by Kim Mills

Simon Carne (Roy Dotrice) is a charming socialite who is totally at ease mixing with the highest in the land.  He’s recently returned to England after a period abroad and is met by his friend, Lord Amberley.  On the journey to Carne’s new flat, Amberley mentions that over the last month all of London has been following the exploits of a detective called Klimo.  Carne professes disinterest in the detective’s exploits and is further dismayed when Amberley tells him that his new flat is next to Klimo’s.

After Carne has heard a little more about the detective, he seems to have slightly amended his views and suggests that the Duke of Wiltshire calls in Klimo to advise on how best to protect the Duchess of Wiltshire’s diamonds.  But nobody realises Carne is living a double life – he’s also Klimo.

Simon Carne and his alter-ego Klimo first appeared in A Prince of Swindlers by Guy Boothby, which was published in 1897.  The concept of the gentlemen thief, able to remain undetected due to his exalted position in society, is a concept that remains familiar today – thanks to A.J. Raffles.  But Carne got there first, as Raffles didn’t appear in print until the following year.  A Prince of Swindlers can be downloaded here.

The opening paragraph of Boothby’s story is interesting, since he dares to compare Klimo to Sherlock Holmes –

To the reflective mind the rapidity with which the inhabitants of the world’s greatest city seize upon a new name or idea and familiarise themselves with it, can scarcely prove otherwise than astonishing. As an illustration of my meaning let me take the case of Klimo – the now famous private detective, who has won for himself the right to be considered as great as Lecocq, or even the late lamented Sherlock Holmes.

Klimo might be a great detective, but he never catches the criminal – understandable since the crimes are carried out by Simon Carne.  In print, the notion of the criminal and detective being the same person works perfectly well, but on television the conceit stands or falls based on how convincing Roy Dotrice is as the two separate characters.

Carne sports a false hunchback which he naturally removes when playing Klimo, which helps to put people off the scent.  How can the youngish, slightly deformed Carne possibly be confused for the older Klimo?  And was the use of disguises another nod from Boothby to Sherlock Holmes?

There are some nice touches in the story, such as the handy idea that Carne and Klimo have adjoining apartments, with a different servant in each (both of whom are aware of the con).  He also has a rotating desk which moves between the two flats, so he can switch disguises and apartments as required!

Carne might be a rogue (like Dorrington) but unlike Dorrington, he’s a charmer who’s very much in the Raffles mode, and it’s easy to cheer him on.  Early on, it’s revealed that he’s taken to crime in order to restore the family fortunes and he admits that it’s particularly satisfying “when it’s done at the expense of those so-called friends who could well have offered to help, when help was needed.  But never lifted a finger”.

Dotrice clearly has some fun playing the aged Klimo, complete with Irish accent and there’s the usual high-quality cast, including Peter Cellier and Barbara Murray as the Duke and Duchess of Wiltshire, John Standing and Felicity Gibson as Lord and Lady Amberley and the always dependable John Nettleton as Belton.

It’s a fairly complicated story, although everything becomes clear at the end (especially the reason why Carne gave his servant, Belton, such detailed instructions).  And if you can suspend your disbelief that nobody guesses that Carne and Klimo are one and the same, there’s plenty to enjoy in this one.

Next Episode – The Horse of the Invisible

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes – The Affair of the Avalanche Bicycle & Tyre Co. Ltd

archivetvmusings ITV Drama - 1970's ,

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Peter Vaughan as Horace Dorrington in
The Affair of the Avalanche Bicycle & Tyre Co. Ltd by Arthur Morrison
Adapted by Julian Bond.  Directed by James Goddard

Horace Dorrington (Peter Vaughan) is a private detective who always puts his own interests first.  The information he’s gleaned about a new bicycle company should provide him with a good payday, provided he can outwit an opponent who’s just as double-dealing as he is.

Series one of The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes leant heavily on stories from Arthur Morrison.  There’s another one with Horace Dorrington to look forward to (The Case of the Mirror of Portugal) as well as three stories which Morrison wrote for his other sleuth, Martin Hewitt (Peter Barkworth).  Although not all of those adaptations actually featured Hewitt, which we’ll discuss when we get to to them.

Morrison only wrote seven stories featuring Dorrington and they were published in magazine form in 1897 and were also collected into a book the same year entitled The Dorrington Deed Box.  It can be downloaded here.

Whilst Morrison’s earlier detective, Martin Hewitt, was a fairly conventional sleuth, Horace Dorrington is a much more interesting character.  He’s unrepentantly amoral and is happy to stoop to any means necessary (be it blackmail, murder or theft) in order to achieve his ends.  Such a character gives plenty of scope for a good actor and Peter Vaughan is perfect casting.  Vaughan is a master of sinister charm (for example, his brief, but career-defining appearances in Porridge) and this comes over very well here.  Dorrington is able to appear affable when it suits him, but his true nature shows through from time to time.

There’s a good example of Dorrington’s unscrupulous nature early in the story.   He’s been able to recover a series of incriminating letters stolen from the lovely Mrs Chalmers (Sheila Gish) but he sorrowfully informs her that he had to pay the blackmailer two hundred guineas to get them back.  When she tells him that she would have happily paid double for their recovery, we see a momentarily spasm of pain on his face.  Which is understandable after we learn that he stole them from the blackmailer, so he’s made a tidy profit! This is typical of Dorrington, he’s happy to do the right thing if there’s a decent profit in it for him.

Dorrington is debating whether to invest in the Avalanche bicycle company.  Bicycles are the coming thing and large profits can be made, but he wants to know more.  He cultivates the friendship of Stedman (John Carlisle) who works for a rival company, the Indestructible Bicycle company.  Stedman tells him that he wouldn’t invest in Avalanche himself, although if an Avalanche bike wins the big race on the weekend things would be different.

Gillet (Paul Angelis) is the favourite for the race and since he races for Indestructible, Stedman invites Dorrington to see him train.  As they watch, there’s a nasty crash and Gillet is carried off injured.  It clearly wasn’t an accident, so who was to blame? The boss of Indestructible, Mallows (John Stratton), offers a reward for information leading to the arrest of the perpetrator, but Dorrington has his eyes on a bigger prize.

The Affair of the Avalanche Bicycle & Tyre Co. Ltd is an enjoyable fifty minutes, mainly thanks to the slimy performance of Peter Vaughan.  Also worth watching are Kenneth Colley and Petronella Barker as his very much put-upon employees, Farrish and Miss Parrott.

Unfortunately for Dorrington, things don’t work out quite the way he’d hoped for.  But he lives to fight and scheme another day and as the episode ends we see him consoling another young woman who’s lost some incriminating letters.  He tells her not to worry, as he’s had plenty of experience in this field ….

Next Episode – The Duchess of Wiltshire’s Diamonds

Doomwatch – DVD now due for release April 2016

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doomwatch

Update 27/10/15 – I’m delighted to say that Doomwatch will be released on DVD by Simply Media in April 2016.  More info here.  That happily means that this post, written when a DVD release looked unlikely, is now out of date.  I’ll leave it up though, as some of the info about the archive status of the series may be of interest to some.

As you’ll see, my thoughts were that if any company was going to take a risk on the series it would have been the BFI.  I certainly wasn’t expecting Simply to do so!  But credit to Simply for taking the plunge and I hope that the sales are healthy – if so, it might encourage them to continue digging through the BBC archives.  My DVD review can be found here.

Doomwatch has long been a series that many fans of British telefantasy, and indeed fans of British archive television in general, have wished to see released on DVD.  But it remains unreleased.  Why is this so?  I thought it was worth discussing some of the possible reasons and debating whether this is likely to change in the future.

Firstly, like a great many archive BBC programmes, a major stumbling block is the BBC themselves.  BBC Worldwide (and previously 2Entertain) have tended to only release archive programmes that they expect will sell well (classic Doctor Who, comedies such as Dad’s Army, Fawlty Towers, etc).  This was highlighted a few years back when BBC America released the Douglas Wilmer Sherlock Holmes stories.  2Entertain stated that they didn’t plan to release it in the UK, as they considered it was uneconomic to do so.

BBC Worldwide’s policy is the complete opposite from a company such as Network.  Over the last decade or so, Network have released a staggering amount of titles drawn from the ITV archive.  It must be said that many of them can’t have sold in particularly large quantities (unless I’ve dramatically under-appreciated the popularly of the likes of Yus My Dear for example!).  So Network seem to be happy to make a small profit on a large number of titles, whilst BBC Worldwide appear to be interested in making a larger profit on fewer titles.

This, of course, is frustrating for those of us interested in British archive television.  One of the solutions would be for other companies to licence BBC material – and in recent years there has been a notable increase in this.  Acorn DVD (Z Cars, Dixon of Dock Green) and Simply HE (Softly Softly: Task Force) are two companies that have a growing selection of BBC DVD titles.

And after a gap of many years, the BFI have also started to release BBC titles again.  Last year they had a season of programming entitled Days of Fear and Wonder which covered not only screenings but also DVD releases such as Out of the Unknown, The Boy from Space and The Changes.  They are also planning to release the Douglas Wilmer Sherlock Holmes later this year.

Inevitably, when the BFI announced the Days of Fear and Wonder titles, it was hoped that Doomwatch would be amongst them – but sadly this was not to be.  It would have fitted in with the other programmes released, but as we’ll see, its non-appearance may be due to the amount of work required on some episodes before they could be released on DVD.  First though, let’s see exactly what remains in the archive.  Existing episodes are highlighted in bold –

Series One

The Plastic Eaters
Friday’s Child
Burial at Sea
Tomorrow, the Rat
Project Sahara
Re-Entry Forbidden
The Devil’s Sweets
The Red Sky
Spectre at the Feast
Train And De-Train
The Battery People
Hear No Evil
Survival Code

Series Two

You Killed Toby Wren
Invasion
The Islanders
No Room for Error
By the Pricking of My Thumbs…
The Iron Doctor
Flight into Yesterday
The Web of Fear
In the Dark
The Human Time Bomb
The Inquest
The Logicians
Public Enemy

Series Three

Fire and Brimstone
High Mountain
Say Knife, Fat Man
Waiting for a Knighthood
Without the Bomb
Hair Trigger
Deadly Dangerous Tomorrow
Enquiry
Flood
Cause of Death
The Killer Dolphins
Sex and Violence

Looking at the list above, the first series has a fairly decent survival rate, series two is complete whilst series three is very patchy, with only three existing episodes – although one of them (Sex and Violence) is an interesting curio since it was never transmitted.

But things start to get complicated when we look a little closer at what formats the surviving episodes exist on.  The original videotapes remain in the archives for the following episodes – The Plastic Eaters, Project Sahara, Re-Entry Forbidden, The Devil’s Sweets, The Red Sky, The Battery People, Public Enemy, Waiting for a Knighthood, Hair Trigger and Sex and Violence. So all of these stories exist in a high quality format.

The original videotapes for the other existing stories were wiped in the 1970’s, but luckily NTSC 525-line recordings were made and sold to Canada, who returned them to the BBC in the early 1980’s.  These were then converted back to PAL 625-line recordings, although by then they were already at least three generations down (i.e. the original PAL 625-line tape was convered to NTSC 525-line tape which was then converted back to PAL 625-line tape).  Each conversion would degrade the picture (motion would be blurry, for example) but whilst the picture quality wasn’t perfect, it was still pretty watchable and these copies were broadcast on UK Gold in the 1990’s.

A process called Reverse Standards Conversion (RSC) was developed several years ago and it was designed to restore something of the natural PAL videotape look to programmes like these.  All of the BBC archive holdings of converted 525 NTSC tapes were processed with RSC, but unfortunately many of the original NTSC tapes were then junked – leaving only the new, raw RSC conversions.

The RSC conversions require grading before they can be issued on DVD and this seems to be one of the major factors in preventing the release of a Doomwatch DVD.  All of the Doomwatch RSC episodes can be made ready for DVD release – but it will cost time and money.  And it appears that the amount of money required for grading is greater than the potential profit of a DVD release, so at present it seems that these stories are fated to remain in the archive.  It does seem a shame that the 525 NTSC tapes were wiped, as it would have been possible for them to be released.  They wouldn’t have looked great, but at least they would have been watchable.

The 625 PAL episodes (comprising a good selection from the first series, one episode from series two and the three existing episodes from the final series) could be released on their own though.  And there is a possibility that B&W film recordings of the stories that now only remain as raw RSC dubs are still in the archive.  Black and white copies of these episodes would be better than not having them released at all.  Of course, the best scenario is that we get a fully-restored release, along the lines of OOTU.  For that possibility, the BFI would seem to be our best hope.

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes – The Missing Witness Sensation

archivetvmusings ITV Drama - 1970's ,

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Robert Stephens as Max Carrados in The Missing Witness Sensation by Ernest Bramah
Adapted by Philip Mackie.  Directed by Jonathan Alwyn

Dennis Rank (Dave Carter) has been committed to trial, accused of attacking Lizzie Baxter at the Ayr Street post office.  The case intrigues Max Carrados (Robert Stephens) who sees it as more than just a simple robbery gone wrong.  His friend Inspector Beedel (George A. Cooper) agrees and is able to fill in some of the blanks.  Rank is a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and although Beedel isn’t sure exactly what he was up to, he’s convinced that they’ve got the right man.

The defence’s case is strengthened by a convincing character witness called Thaxted (John Wentworth).  Thaxted claims that at the time of the robbery he encountered Rank at Richmond Park.  However, Carrados knows that Thaxted is lying since he met him at Richmond Park at exactly the same time Thaxted claims to have met Rank.

Carrados is happy to appear for the prosecution, but Beedel’s one concern is whether the jury will believe him (since Carrados is blind).  But whilst he may lack vision, he makes up for it with his other senses and he’s able to provide a very good portrait of Thaxted.  “The man I sat and walked with is an ardent Carnation grower, smokes Algerian cigars, bites his fingernails, has varicose veins in his left leg and wears an elastic stocking”.

As the Inspector says “you see more with no eyesight than most people with”.  Carrados is in danger though, as he’s kidnapped by members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood who plan to keep him out of circulation until the trial is over.  And since there’s no guarantee that he’ll get out alive afterwards, Carrados will have to use all of his wits to extricate himself from this dangerous situation.

Max Carrados was created by Ernest Bramah and appeared in a series of stories originally published in The Strand Magazine.  This made him a direct contemporary of Sherlock Holmes and his adventures were as popular, if not more so, than Holmes at the time – although like many of the detectives featured in The Rivals, he quickly faded from the public consciousness.  The original short story can be read here.

Robert Stephens is delightful as the rather fey detective genius who has managed to overcome the handicap of his blindness by developing his other senses to an impressive degree, as he demonstrates to one of his captors.  “Did you know that each man’s footstep is individual and unmistakable?”.  This example gives something of an insight into how Carrados is able to make his series of amazing pronouncements.

I recently enjoyed Stephens’ performance in The Box of Delights and Carrados is an equally good turn, although a totally different character.  He’s something of a dandy but also shows his steel when facing down the Irish Nationalists.  Elsewhere in the cast, George A. Cooper is a suitably bluff policeman whilst Christopher Cazenove is a member of Irish Republican Brotherhood who’s afflicted with a conscience.

Thanks to Robert Stephens, The Missing Witness Sensation is an entertaining fifty minutes and it’s a shame that it was Stephens’ only outing as Carrados.

Next Episode – The Affair of the Avalanche Bicycle & Tyre Co. Ltd

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes – A Message From The Deep Sea

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deep

John Neville as Dr Thorndyke in A Message from the Deep Sea by R. Austin Freeman
Adapted by Philip Mackie.  Directed by James Goddard

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes was a Thames programme which ran for two series during the early 1970’s.  As the title suggests, its aim was to highlight some of Sherlock Holmes’ contemporaries.  A huge amount of crime fiction was published during the Victorian and Edwardian era, but Holmes apart, the popularity of the majority of these detectives didn’t endure.

The Rivals not only showcased some decent stories by largely forgotten authors, it also starred some of the best British actors of the time.  As with any anthology programme, some episodes are better than others – but overall The Rivals is a very strong series.

The first episode was A Message from the Deep Sea, adapted from the story by R. Austin Freeman.  Dr Thorndyke had a lengthy career – with Freeman penning novels and short stories featuring him between 1907 and 1942.  The original short story, together with a selection of others, can be read here.

Dr Hart, one of Dr Thorndyke’s (John Neville) old students asks for his help. Hart is the assistant to the local police surgeon and has just been called to his first case.  Thorndyke is reluctant at first, but when he learns it’s murder he perks up considerably.

Thorndyke and his assistant Dr Jervis (James Cossins) examine the body with Hart.  She’s a young woman, who’s been stabbed through the neck and clutched tightly in her hand are some strands of red hair.  A clue to the murderer maybe?  Thorndyke isn’t convinced, but when Hart’s superior Dr Davidson (Bernard Archard) and Detective Sergeant Bates (Terence Rigby) turn up, they consider it to be an open-and-shut case.

Thorndyke tries to give them a few gentle hints but they aren’t interested.  He claims he’ll walk away and let them make fools of themselves – but he continues to take an interest in the case and it’s his evidence that will be responsible for unmasking the murderer.

A Message from the Deep Sea is something of a joy, thanks to the first-rate cast.  For anybody who loves old British television, there’s a host of familiar faces here.  Apart from Neville and Cossins, we have an impossibly young, fresh-faced Paul Darrow as Dr Hart, who makes the most of his part despite being saddled with some very florid dialogue.  “Good god. Some infernal cowardly beast has done this. He shall hang. My god he shall hang”.

Elsewhere, Ray Lonnen (complete with a very fake moustache), Morris Perry, Nicholas Smith and Stanley Lebor are not a bad supporting cast at all.  Bernard Archard as a police surgeon icily sure of his facts and Terence Rigby as a rather stupid policeman are two more quality actors who find themselves outsmarted by Thorndyke.

And what of John Neville?  Dr Thorndyke is a man with a very high opinion of himself and Neville manages to capture his smug superiority very well. Thankfully though, Cossins’ Dr Jervis is able to direct a few barbs at him, which means he isn’t completely insufferable.  Like Sherlock Holmes, Thorndyke is sometimes exasperated when others can’t see things that are perfectly clear to him.  “My dear Jervis, pray don’t indulge in mental indolence. You have the essential facts as I have them. Consider them separately, collectively and in relation to the circumstances”.

The solution of the mystery is interesting enough but undoubtedly the chief pleasure of the story is watching a fine group of actors at work.  Dr Thorndyke was one of several detectives who would make more than one appearance in The Rivals, although in his series two appearance a new actor – Barrie Ingham – took over the mantle.

Next episode – The Missing Witness Sensation

Public Eye – The Bromsgrove Venus

archivetvmusings ITV Drama - 1960's ,

bromsgrove venus

Written by Anthony Skene
Directed by Jim Goddard

Chief Librarian Paul Ainsworth (Leon Sinden) hires Frank Marker to find out how a picture of his wife Marie (Sylvia Kay) ends up in the Library’s photographic competition.  It’s a tasteful nude portrait (taken from behind) which copies a famous painting – and has been dubbed the Bromsgrove Venus.

Ainsworth is much older than his wife and Frank puts his finger on the nub of the matter.  “You think you don’t deserve her, don’t you? She’s beautiful and French and clever and you’re just a ordinary middle-aged Englishman”.  His first port of call is John Ingleby (Timothy Carlton) who entered the photograph in the competition.  Frank has to work hard to discover the truth and come to a conclusion that will keep the Ainsworth’s marriage intact.

The Bromsgrove Venus is the last surviving ABC episode and the only story to exist from the third series. There’s plenty to enjoy here – such as Frank blackmailing Ingleby in his quest to find out who took the photo.  He knows Ingleby didn’t (he just saw it on display in a local photographic shop, recognised Ainsworth’s wife and pinched it) but he’s no compunction in engaging his unwilling assistance to help to solve the mystery.

The trail sends Frank to a box number at a newsagents where he meets his match.  All of his persuasive charm cuts no ice with the old lady behind the counter (Daphne Heard) who chases him out of the shop with her broom!  Marie is more successful with her (she gives her money) and she manages to get the address of the box number.

Marie then visits Frank with the address (she can’t bear to go herself) and explains that she’s been blackmailed for years – she pays five pounds a month to this box number.  It’s maybe the only weakness of the story that Marie would independently decide to engage Frank’s services (unaware that her husband already has).  The box number leads Frank to a dance studio where he professes a desire to brush up on his Tango skills!  And he’s not a bad mover.

Given how few episodes exist from the first three series, it’s difficult to gauge the overall quality of Public Eye’s early years – but based on the little we do have and the later Thames series, it does seem an awful pity that so much was wiped.

Series four will see Frank Marker relocate to Brighton following his release from prison.  But that’s another story.

Public Eye – Works with Chess, Not with Life

archivetvmusings ITV Drama - 1960's , ,

works with chess

Written by Roger Marshall
Directed by Basil Coleman

Marker’s been doing some work for a solicitor called George Faulkner (Laurence Hardy) and he asks him to keep an eye on Dr Alan Skerrett.  Faulkner is concerned about Skerrett’s wife Nancy (Susan Dowdall) as he considers himself something of a god-uncle to her.  Skerrett’s recently cancelled a life insurance policy and also hasn’t renewed his golf club subscription.  That indicates to Frank that he plans to leave, the question is does he intend to take anybody else with him?

Marker quickly discovers that Skerrett’s having an affair, with Ann Lynn (Susan Lambert).  But matters are complicated when Nancy pays him a visit as she also wants to hire him to follow her husband.  She knows he’s having an affair – and who he’s having it with – she wants Marker to force him to choose between her and Ann.

Works with Chess, Not with Life provides us with several good examples of just how good a liar Frank Marker is.  One of his jobs for Faulkner concerns a woman called Miss O’Hara (Valerie Bell).  She’s threatening to sue a local hotel because she claims they gave her food poisoning and she’s been hardly able to eat since.  Frank strikes up a conversation with her in a pub and treats her to a slap-up meal – with Faulkner present to observe her healthy appetite.  With Miss O’Hara, he slips effortlessly into the persona of a commercial traveller, complete with the gift of the gab, and she doesn’t suspect a thing.

The main part of the episode revolves around Skerrett’s infidelities.  To be honest, he’s so weak and indecisive that it’s difficult to understand what either woman sees in him.  Eventually he decides that he can’t leave with Ann and she begins to make things difficult for him.  So he becomes the third person to come to Marker to ask for help.

It’s easy to tell that Frank’s not impressed with him.  “How a so-called intelligent man gets himself … What’s it cost to train a doctor? About ten thousand? Ten thousand pounds worth of education. Do you know how old I was when I left school? Fourteen. And that was an achievement my mother boasted about”.

Marker stops Ann from taking any action (by not strictly ethical means as he admits) and it’s another good example of how he’s able to spin a convincing yarn.  Clearly he could have had another job as a confidence trickster!

This isn’t a particularly Marker-centric episode since it concentrates more on the love triangle.  And as Skerrett’s such an annoying character this doesn’t make it the most compelling of stories.  But even average Public Eye is better than a great many other dramas.

Next episode – The Bromsgrove Venus

Public Eye – Don’t Forget You’re Mine

archivetvmusings ITV Drama - 1960's ,

don't forget

Written by Roger Marshall
Directed by Kim Mills

Marker’s relocated to Birmingham – a new city and a fresh start.  The first job for Frank is to find an office – which he does at the back of a local estate agent.  It’s somewhat dingy and overlooks a timber yard, but it’s still a snip at £4.00 a week, furnished.  His first client is Mrs Jessup (Pauline Delaney) who hires him to find her missing husband.  She asks him if he’s good at finding people and Marker replies it that depends on “how well they’re hidden. How far they’ve gone. How long they’ve been gone and then on whether or not they want to be found”.  It seems a straightforward case, but as so often happens, Frank later finds out that he hasn’t been told the whole story ….

Public Eye would regularly relocate to new cities (later series found Marker in Brighton and then Windsor) and refreshing the location does help to shake the stories up.  We get to see a bit of Birmingham in this story as he walks the streets looking for Mrs Jessup’s husband.

Pauline Delaney would later return to Public Eye during the fourth series as Mrs Mortimer, the closest thing to a friend that Frank ever has.  Here, she plays a completely different character – initially she’s the concerned wife, but later we scratch a little deeper under the surface to uncover the truth.  When Frank learns that Donald Jessup left three years ago, he begins to smell a rat and when he finally tracks him down he understands just how he’s been used

Roy Dotrice is Donald Jessup, or as he’s now called, Donald Scott, and Virginia Stride is Karen Scott.  Roger Marshall plays a good wrong-footing trick as the audience is allowed to make an inference about their relationship, which turns out to be incorrect.

Along the way Frank bumps into various characters, my favourite is Angie (Diana Beevers), who’s intrigued by the notion that Frank’s a private detective, asks him to sample the punch she’s made (judging by his expression it packs quite a kick) and then invites him to stay for her party – the carrot is that afterwards she’ll look for Jessup’s forwarding address.  Marker agrees and Angie asks him to answer the door.  “Don’t forget you’re mine” she says, a sentiment that’s at the heart of the story.

Next Episode – Works with Chess, Not with Life

Public Eye – The Morning Wasn’t So Hot

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the morning

Written by Roger Marshall
Directed by Kim Mills

Marker is hired to find Jenny Graham (Carole Ann Ford) a twenty-year-old runaway from Hull.  The chances of tracking her down in London are slim, to say the least, but he takes the case.  Jenny is working for a small-time pimp called Peter Mason (Roland Curram), who haunts the cafes at Kings Cross Railway Station, spotting unattached young girls who’ve run away from home.

Jenny is no innocent though – this is a lifestyle she’s chosen, and she plans to make it to the top.  Mason is invited to a meeting with Dannon (Philip Madoc).  Dannon describes himself as an agent, somebody who provides items for collectors – and the item in question is Jenny.

The Morning Wasn’t So Hot is a bleak little tale.  Philip Madoc is suitably sinister as Dannon, polite and cultured on the surface (and surrounded by valuable antiques) but also quite capable of viewing Jenny as just another item for sale, as he explains to Mason.  “Three, six months, that’s the life expectancy of one of your girls. Ten to one she’s in court by the end of the month or she’s got pneumonia hanging about shop doorways or you’ve done a little crude rolling”.

Mason agrees to sell her for three hundred pounds, but unfortunately for him she’s already gone.  Marker questions Mason and he breaks the bad news to him.  “You sold her. Now she’s welched on you and you’re piggy in the middle. They’re going to be fitting you for an apple in the mush”.

And that’s the last we see of Mason.  When Marker and Dannon meet, Dannon tells him that Mason’s retired and there’s no doubt that it’s a permanent retirement with no plans to return.  Marker agrees to tell Dannon first if he finds Jenny, but it’s obvious that he won’t (and this will spell trouble for Frank).

carole
Carole Ann Ford

Marker eventually tracks Jenny down, but she’s not prepared to listen to him or return home to her mother.

MARKER: Look, your friend Mason did a deal with one of the retail flesh merchants. Now according to the agreement you should be working for them.
JENNY: Really? First I heard of it.
MARKER: Well you ran off on the day he made the deal.
JENNY: Tough.
MARKER: Look, these people are not to be fooled about with, you know.
JENNY: I’ll bear it in mind.
MARKER: You’ve heard of the girls who end up in the river, naked and dead? Well it wasn’t Jack the Ripper, it was girls just like you, girls who stepped out of line, who wouldn’t do what they were told.
JENNY: Which was?
MARKER: A girl has a certain lifespan, did you know that? Every now and again they like to juggle the faces.

Dannon obviously had somebody following Marker, as after he left Jenny some of his associates picked her up – and dumped Frank into the river.  Marker then considers the case closed – he tried to persuade Jenny to return home, she refused and he regards his dip in the river as a clear warning.  If he interferes again, they’ll kill him like they did Mason.

So sadly, Jenny has to be written off.  And her meeting with Dannon is a chilling moment.  She tells him that he can’t force her.  “Oh my dear, it’s the easiest thing in the world. I shouldn’t be saying this of course, because I’m only an agent in the transaction, but these people they have their ways. They have, ah, what do they call it? A battery farm. Even the most rebellious become totally compliant”.

If Jenny is now beyond Frank’s assistance, then the episode does end on a hopeful note since he’s able to help another young runaway, Sue Forbes (Susan Burnet).  Which causes him to remark that “the morning wasn’t so hot, maybe the afternoon will be a bit better”.

An uncompromising story, Alfred Burke continues to impress (soaking his feet after a hard day pounding the streets is a nice, realistic touch!).  Philip Madoc is always worth watching, especially when he’s playing menacing (which he did an awful lot).  It’s hard to warm to Jenny, but Carole Ann Ford does manage to express a certain vulnerability in the last few minutes when she realises she’s in too deep.  It’s certainly a change of role following her year on Doctor Who, and was exactly the sort of part she wanted – a chance to do something different.

Next episode – Don’t Forget You’re Mine

Public Eye – Nobody Kills Santa Claus

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santa claus

Written by Roger Marshall
Directed by Kim Mills

Public Eye was a hugely popular series, starring Alfred Burke, which ran for seven series between 1965 and 1975.  Burke played Frank Marker, a down-at-heel enquiry agent who possessed a strong moral core as he moved his way through the sometimes seedy underbelly of whatever town or city he was currently working in.  Suffice it to say that if you have the slightest interest in British archive television, then Public Eye (like Callan) is a must watch.

And like Callan, it was originally made by ABC Television, and after ABC lost their franchise it was picked up by Thames.  But whilst all the Thames episodes (series four to seven) exist, sadly only five episodes survive from the first three series (out of a total of forty one transmitted).

The first existing episode is Nobody Kills Santa Claus, the second episode of the first series.  Paul Garston (Keith Baxter) is a successful young businessman.  His success has partly been achieved by riding roughshod over other people – so he’s certainly the sort of person that makes enemies.  When he confides to his managing director Eric Hart (Peter Barkworth) that he’s been receiving threatening phone calls, Hart recommends calling in Frank Marker.

The first ten minutes or so of Nobody Kills Santa Claus focus on Garston which allows us to see the type of person he is.  He’s brash, arrogant and quite happy to engage in underhand dealings if it’s to his advantage.  And although Eric Hart is the managing director, he plays a very subservient role to Garston –  for example, when Garston clicks his fingers, Hart hurries over to light his cigarette.

It’s therefore not surprising that it’s Hart, not Garston, who visits Marker’s office to engage his services.  But Marker doesn’t seem too keen to take on the job.

HART: He’d like to see you.
MARKER: He knows where I am.
HART: Ah yes, but he’d prefer you to go to him, if that’s not asking too much.
MARKER: I’ll try and fit him in.
HART: Oh thanks very much. You know, you make one big mistake, Marker.
MARKER: One?
HART: You like people to grovel. Why? Does it make you feel big?
MARKER: Depends who they are.

Garston wants Marker to act as his bodyguard for the next few weeks.  Marker agrees and he begins to consider the possible suspects.  Garston’s estranged wife Eva (Caroline Blakiston) must be one – although after Marker’s seen her it seems less likely.  She’s well provided for (at least in terms of money) and she declares that “nobody close to him will ever kill him.  Nobody kills Santa Claus”.

Ray Johnson (Robert Tunstall) looks to be a much more likely prospect.  His wife Anne (June Barry) is having an affair with Garston and he pays to him have beaten up.  Fortunately for Garston (and unfortunately for Marker) it’s Marker that receives the beating.  This provides a good closer to the second act.  Garston sees Marker being attacked in the street below, but he doesn’t raise the alarm or attempt to help – instead he goes back to Anne (whilst the sounds of the beating are reverberating in his head).  Marker’s made of stern stuff though.  Although there were two thugs and he took a bad beating, he was still able to scare one off and we see him pull the other one away for some, no doubt, intensive questioning.

Marker does eventually get to the bottom of the mystery of the threatening phone calls (it wasn’t Johnson after all) and Garston is grateful.  He offers Marker a permanent job, which he refuses.  It’ll become a familiar trait throughout the series, but Marker values his independence above everything else (which means there’s conflict in later series when he goes into partnership).  Marker tells Garston that he’s “getting old. Too stiff to lick boots”.  Garston responds by telling him that “you’re not Shane, you know, riding off into the sunset. You’re just another man in a dirty old mac”.

Even this early on, all of the basics of the series are firmly in place.  Marker doesn’t necessarily have to like his clients to work for them – it’s purely a business transaction and he won’t follow their orders blindly, which means he often comes into conflict with them.

Keith Baxter was perfectly cast as the arrogant businessman Paul Garston, whilst it’s always a pleasure to see Peter Barkworth – such a solid and dependable actor.  June Barry was also very good as Garston’s mistress, who candidly told Marker that she’d only be around for a short while and wasn’t intending to leave empty-handed.

Next Episode – The Morning Wasn’t So Hot

Callan – Death of a Hunter

archivetvmusings ITV Drama - 1960's , , , ,

death

Written by Michael Winder
Directed by Reginald Collin

The opposition want Hunter dead – and they decide that Callan is the man for the job.  He’s picked up, taken to a warehouse and pumped full of drugs at regular intervals.  This intensive treatment makes him susceptible to suggestion and over a period of days they manage to convince him that Hunter is a double agent, involved in a plot to assassinate the Russian president.

Callan’s really put through the wringer in this episode and it’s very much a tour-de-force for Edward Woodward.  Whilst there’s a few brief cut-aways to show Meres and Hunter attempting to find him, the majority of the episode is firmly centered on Callan’s brainwashing.

It’s an elaborate plot – maybe too elaborate, you might say (especially since the last Hunter was killed in the street).  One major niggle is that the opposition pick up Lonely and tell Callan that they’re going to kill him.  We hear a shot off-screen and see Callan (already pretty far gone at this point) struggle to reach his friend.  It’s therefore odd, to say the least, that we later learn that they faked Lonely’s death and let him go free.  Logically, Lonely should have been killed (although it would have made a bleak episode even bleaker).

At the time this episode was transmitted, it wasn’t known if Callan would return for a third series, so there were reputably two endings shot – one where Callan died and one where he lived.  We know the answer to that now, but it doesn’t reduce the apocalyptic feeling of the final few minutes as Callan confronts Hunter and Meres is forced to shoot Callan.  The emotion in Meres’ voice clearly shows that he now considers Callan to be a friend – quite a change of events from the early episodes.

Most series wouldn’t have had the nerve to carry this storyline through to its logical conclusion, but then Callan wasn’t most series.  And whilst Callan’s final line is a sign that he’s not totally gone, it’ll be a long road to recovery.

Callan – Nice People Die at Home

archivetvmusings ITV Drama - 1960's , , , ,

nice people

Written by Robert Banks Stewart
Directed by Peter Duguid

Eric Marshall (Harry Towb) and his daughter Nadia (Angela Morant) run a pet shop in Shepherds Bush.  They’re also enemy agents.  The stuff they do is pretty low-grade though, Hunter says that they’re “little more than clerks, transmitting, reducing stuff to microdots and delivering to dead letter boxes around London”.

They have their uses though, as Hunter wants to unwittingly employ them to catch a big fish – Belukov (Frederick Jaeger).  Belukov is a remote figure who never leaves the safety of his Embassy, but when Hunter spreads a story that the Marshalls wish to defect, he hopes it will flush him out.  And Callan will be there to finish him off.  He has a special interest in this mission – six years ago Belukov killed Callan’s girlfriend in Beirut.

As with all the episodes featuring Ronald Radd’s Hunter, it’s the conflict between him and Callan that provides a great deal of the drama.  This is no exception, as once Hunter has told him that his target is Belukov, he’s pleased to see the reaction on Callan’s face.  Callan wants to kill Belukov, of course, but he’s also angry with the way that this Hunter can manipulate him.  “You know, ever since you left, this has just been an ordinary job for me. But no, that’s not good enough for you, mate. You’ve really got to get me going”.  Hunter responds by telling him that “you always work much better that way, Callan”.

Callan replaces an enemy agent called Ross (Roger Bizley) and can’t help but get to like both Marshall and his daughter.  They’re not monsters – just two people working for the interests of their country.  And when Callan realises that Marshall is terminally ill, he tells Hunter that “I wouldn’t have gone within a mile of that place if I’d known. Trust you to use a man who’s only got a few months to live”.

Hunter is unmoved – if the Marshalls have to be sacrificed then they will.  Callan knows what will happen to them if they’re caught.  Eric Marshall will be dead within a few months and his daughter will languish in jail for twenty years.  Later, Callan is able to spirit an injured Belukov away and offers Hunter an ultimatum.  He’ll kill Belukov if Hunter allows the Marshalls’ to leave the country.

Frederick Jaeger is good value as Belukov.  Once he was a top agent, now he’s reduced to pushing paper around the Embassy, although the crisis that Callan and Hunter create does force him into the open.  At the end of the story, Belukov taunts Callan that he’s weak and always has been.  Could Callan kill an injured, unarmed man in cold blood?  The final shot of the episode is interesting, as Callan attempts to wipe the blood (real or imaginary?) from his hands.

There’s also a few decent scenes for Lonely, who’s greeted by Callan with the words “My god Lonely, you smell like rising damp today, you really do”.  We also get to see Meres’ unusual interrogation techniques, which include firing a gun close to the unfortunate individual as well as driving golf balls at him.

Nice People Die at Home is mainly about the relationship between Callan & Hunter and Callan & Belukov.  The three actors are firing on all cylinders, especially Edward Woodward who once again is unforgettable as the complex, conflicted Callan.