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And his old collegue Basil Dearden helms some of The Persuaders episodes on ITV4.(samkydd @ Nov 7 2005, 11:06 AM)
The series was co-directed by none other than Charles Crichton of Ealing fame!
I saw this programme The Strange Report by accident on ITV 4 the other day and I'd never come across it before. The man Strange is a retired Scotland Yard big wig and investigates unusual stuff, a bit like Dept S. He drives around in a 1950s London taxi, the type that didn't have a passenger side front door, just a large opening to place suitcases and baggage. The series was first broadcast in 1969.
The episode I saw was Cult: When Murder Shrieks Out and also starred Ed Bishop, Pamela Franklin
Godfrey James, Michael Rothwell, Tony Steedman, Ray McAnally.
The series was co-directed by none other than Charles Crichton of Ealing fame!
Worth catching just for the 60s backdrop!
And his old collegue Basil Dearden helms some of The Persuaders episodes on ITV4.(samkydd @ Nov 7 2005, 11:06 AM)
The series was co-directed by none other than Charles Crichton of Ealing fame!
This is a terrific series! All 16 episodes are available as a DVD box set. i made a little diversion to take a look at the location of Adam Strange's house last week (Warwick Crescent in Maida Vale).
whenever my late father saw Anthony Quayle on screen, he refered to
him as "the taxi driver".
now i know why!!!!!!!!
Do you remember that catchy tune Pamela Franklin and Christopher Mitchell sing in the episode
CULT: When Murder Shrieks Out? It was also performed on The Morecambe and Wise Show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9MzSVkvGIM
The Pattersons - World Of Love (Video)
From the 1st show in Series 3, broadcast 14th January 1970. Why wasn't this a hit? The Pattersons,
along with Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen, have appeared in all the colour episodes I've watched so far.
Well spotted CS
I have this boxed set and it's fantastic. Network did a really amazing job cleaning this up and getting it ready for DVD. There is a whole disc of extras as well. I have now watched all 16 episodes and will probably just start watching them all again. They are all fun, visually delightful and the number of fantastic guest stars is really great. There are so many classic British actors who came back just to do SR, plus all the usual "before they were big" appearances that you get with TV. For a show of the era the writing is actually pretty decent. I would say that some episodes are almost as good as Columbo (that is my gold standard for TV writing of any era). They were exploring the issues of the day and sometimes things come off as quite dated or whatever, but a lot of it can hold up I think. A lot less cringeworthy writing here than in M*A*S*H for example which has this reputation for being soooo progressive, but was really mysoginist and awful through at least a third of its run. Anyway, I digress. Strange Report is great and I highly recommend it!
Also Charles Crichton directed a bunch of episodes, so you know it was quality stuff!
It is a terrific series!Originally Posted by Jennythenipper
A wonderful series, highly enjoyable, lent the disc set to a friend, must get it back.
Gave a nice feeling of 60's London. All orange and maroon
I just love the way he minces out of his taxi during the titles. Always gives me a laugh.
Me too, his little wiggle makes me chuckle. I mentioned this once to Anneke Wills who had never noticed it, but she undertook to have a look.
The way the opening is edited is pretty funny. They are trying to make it looked action packed to time to the music, but he's just getting out of a car. Yes, I always laugh at that bit as well. It must have been obligatory to have fight scenes in TV at the time, and there are number of them in SR that are a bit painful. Not Star Trek painful, but still not great. There's a scene in the episode, Skeleton where Eric Portman gets shot and it makes me laugh because he holds onto the door and slowly lowers himself to the ground. Now that's taking care with your joints!
We recently painted part of our kitschen "wasabi green" but we've dubbed it "Adam Strange green" because it's pretty much the color of his hallway.
Sadly, almost all these old shows don't have subtitles....which my 95 year old mum needs...
Talk of these opening titles put me in mind of the opening titles for the Gerry Anderson series The Protectors, which I still say is one of the weirdest ever...shots of car chases, crashes, helicopters, explosions...intercut with Robert Vaughn getting out of bed, cracking eggs and frying them...!
And of course, they cribbed a lot of those action shots from various Bond movies anyway...
Not forgetting the famous shot of the rolling Fiat 850, which I think was from a stunt that went wrong on a Saint Episode..
The producer asked for titles with plenty of eggcitement.
Interesting, wondered about that, as I could recognise all the others, but could never place that one.
Robert Vaughn looks a bit suspect the way he holsters his gun in The Protectors titles.
A number of the Ealing directors found their way to television after the company wound up.
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