Geoff Tibballs - Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)

[helrunar]

This is a charming arrangement of Edwin Astley's Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) theme on an "ultra-rare Polydor 45" from Norrie Paramor and his orchestra:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO6Qpdkvsfs

Somebody points out in the comments that Jeff Randall had one of Paramor's LPs (unfortunately, a collection of instrumental versions of the greatest hits of Cliff Richard--yikes) in his flat.

Dr Shrink Proof, your comments gave me a much needed laugh. I'm imagining Jason King eating strawberries dipped in champagne in a tartan-lined hotel bedroom in Edinburgh rolling his eyes as room service wheels in a tray with a large helping of haggis in a silver server.

cheers, Hel.

[pulphack]

Imagine the Godlike Mr King imploring a woman in a kilt to make her 'own stumpy way' to the drinks trolley or mini-bar with such disdain, whilst wondering which clan's tartan he should use for a cravat... Mike Pratt would of course be familiar with Mr Paramor as he was the composer of Tommy Steele's immortal 'Little White Bull'. And of course his son has done time with Dave Gilmour in various post-Waters Floyd line-ups (including playing on the canals of Venice? Not sure if he was in that line-up). It's a long way from his first band in Sarfend, bruv.

R&H was a great series - apparently it gets less jokey half way through as Lord Grade ordered them to get serious after some feedback from US series buyers. It has the obligatory cars and that block of London flats that appears in all ITC series, as well as lots of car chases around Bushey. That was half the fun of them. Mike Pratt has been under-rated as he died relatively young. Hellraiser, too - there is one episode he does from bed as he managed to try and climb into his flat a few floors up and fell into the basement flat's courtyard, breaking several bones in the leg regions. Oops. Probably too pissed to notice until the next morning...

I like the one where the ghost of an Al Capone era gangster comes up against Marty...

[ripper]

Apparently, Annette Andre was up for the role of Sharon Macready in The Champions, but lost out to Alexandra Bastedo.

Lord P mentioned watching R & H on Sunday afternoons on ITV. I remember seeing it in that time slot as well. Quite a number of ITC series in addition to R & H were repeated on Sunday afternoons, or at least in the ATV area: The Persuaders, Strange Report, The Champions, The Baron.

[pulphack]

Afternoon, Rip - yes, I fondly remember Strange Report on a Sunday afternoon in summer - out in the garden but making sure I was in to see Anthony Quayle and his old black cab!

[ripper]

Aug 17, 2022 15:11:24 GMT pulphack said:

Afternoon, Rip - yes, I fondly remember Strange Report on a Sunday afternoon in summer - out in the garden but making sure I was in to see Anthony Quayle and his old black cab!

Hello PH, Yes, Strange Report was a good series, though it doesn't seem to get the attention that other ITC series of the era receive. It also had the added bonus of featuring the actress who played Dr Who companion Polly.

[helrunar]

Strange Report is one of my favorite Sixties series. I thought the three leads of Anthony Quayle, Anneke Wills (who did indeed play Polly) and Kaz Garas were such a great mix, and some of the scripts tackled topical issues of the time in a thoughtful way. There was even an episode about the Witchcraft revival that managed to avoid some of the more painful "mumbo jumbo" cliches of the period--I loved the scenes in the Witchcraft Museum. That angle reflected more of what was actually happening at the time, versus the entertaining rehashings of Dennis Wheatley one saw so much of then.

Only 16 episodes were shot, due to various circumstances, among them, evidently, the decision of Anthony Quayle and Anneke Wills to opt out (it seems their contracts had ended at that point).

I have to mention The Baron as well, a weaker series, but noteworthy for the participation of Sue Lloyd and an extraordinary roster of guest artistes. Some of the scripts for that show were a whole lot of flailing that added up to very little, and Lloyd's character often suffered from terrible writing that made her seem incredibly stupid. 

I really liked Paul Ferris who was initially cast as "The Baron's" assistant but apparently, the Americans wanted s. a. and so Sue Lloyd was brought in. I think her presence did improve some of the episodes because she always projected an element of wit and elegance even when the scripts were sagging.

I've never read any of John Creasey's novels featuring this character--I gather the only real overlap between the books and the TV show was the notion of somebody called "The Baron."

Probably the best of the ITC series (by the way, I never know whether to write ITC, ITV or ATV when describing these shows--sometimes I just mentally flip a coin), to my mind at least, was Man in a Suitcase with dark horse American thesp Richard Bradford in the lead. Some of the scripts for that one were a cut above the ITC (etc) standard of the time. And Bradford's post James Dean rumpled Yank added a note of genuine intrigue because one never knew just how he would react in any given situation.

H.

[dem]

Aug 17, 2022 14:44:37 GMT pulphack said:

R&H was a great series - apparently it gets less jokey half way through as Lord Grade ordered them to get serious after some feedback from US series buyers. It has the obligatory cars and that block of London flats that appears in all ITC series, as well as lots of car chases around Bushey. That was half the fun of them. Mike Pratt has been under-rated as he died relatively young. Hellraiser, too - there is one episode he does from bed as he managed to try and climb into his flat a few floors up and fell into the basement flat's courtyard, breaking several bones in the leg regions. Oops. Probably too pissed to notice until the next morning...

The entrance to R&H's office was in Springfield Road, Harrow at the back of the massive Adams furniture store. A few doors along, Herga Music, where dem bought bass guitar (wall plaque ordered). Through the alley to The Royal Oak, a very lively #speckledblueseventies haven as I remember it and, thankfully, one of few Harrow pubs to survive "regeneration" of the town centre.

Good to hear from you, Mr. Hack. Also Rip.

[ripper]

Aug 17, 2022 16:52:25 GMT helrunar said:

Strange Report is one of my favorite Sixties series. I thought the three leads of Anthony Quayle, Anneke Wills (who did indeed play Polly) and Kaz Garas were such a great mix, and some of the scripts tackled topical issues of the time in a thoughtful way. There was even an episode about the Witchcraft revival that managed to avoid some of the more painful "mumbo jumbo" cliches of the period--I loved the scenes in the Witchcraft Museum. That angle reflected more of what was actually happening at the time, versus the entertaining rehashings of Dennis Wheatley one saw so much of then.

Only 16 episodes were shot, due to various circumstances, among them, evidently, the decision of Anthony Quayle and Anneke Wills to opt out (it seems their contracts had ended at that point).

I have to mention The Baron as well, a weaker series, but noteworthy for the participation of Sue Lloyd and an extraordinary roster of guest artistes. Some of the scripts for that show were a whole lot of flailing that added up to very little, and Lloyd's character often suffered from terrible writing that made her seem incredibly stupid. 

I really liked Paul Ferris who was initially cast as "The Baron's" assistant but apparently, the Americans wanted s. a. and so Sue Lloyd was brought in. I think her presence did improve some of the episodes because she always projected an element of wit and elegance even when the scripts were sagging.

I've never read any of John Creasey's novels featuring this character--I gather the only real overlap between the books and the TV show was the notion of somebody called "The Baron."

Probably the best of the ITC series (by the way, I never know whether to write ITC, ITV or ATV when describing these shows--sometimes I just mentally flip a coin), to my mind at least, was Man in a Suitcase with dark horse American thesp Richard Bradford in the lead. Some of the scripts for that one were a cut above the ITC (etc) standard of the time. And Bradford's post James Dean rumpled Yank added a note of genuine intrigue because one never knew just how he would react in any given situation.

H.

Man in a Suitcase had a stonking theme tune, one of the best of the ITC series imo though I like most of them. I seem to remember that Bradford would get a good beating nearly every episode.

Another good title tune graced The Baron. I liked Steve Forrest in the title role, and Sue Lloyd as assistant. Lloyd will always be associated with her stint as Barbara Hunter in Crossroads, but turned up in a fair few decent films.

I think I remember the Strange Report episode about witchcraft, but only hazily. The series doesn't seem to be repeated nearly as much as some other in the ITC stable.

[andydecker]

Most of those series came to the continent. I remember Man with a Suitcase. Haven't seen it in ages. But I remember the hero. Always looked like something the cat dragged in. Made an impression. I seem to remember that he got more knocked out than Mannix with the iron teeth.

I have Jason King DVD on my wish list. This I remember well. Only the half got shown on tv, though, a regular practise with German networks at the time. It mostly was a success not because Wyngarde really was cool or the stories so good - which they were not - but because of the dubbing. Like the godawful Persuaders the dubbing threw the original script in the trash and substituted it with an OTT comedy script, a laugh a minute. It was wildly popular but it killed the drama.

The Baron I never saw. Randall & Hopkirk was broadcast in the 90s, but again I never saw an episode. But I saw most of The Saint. It was 100% Moore, but I was too old for it to really like it. I thought a lot of the stories rather boring. But this is more me than 60 years old fiction.

[helrunar]

I don't watch the Roger Moore Saint series very often. When I do, I generally find myself wondering why I don't enjoy it more. Many of the stories simply plod along. There are a couple of good ones, one with Peter Wyngarde called something like "The Man Who Liked Lions," and another one with a brilliant British character actress, Madge Ryan (who had a minor role in Clockwork Orange)--she makes it fun. There are a lot of them I haven't seen.

That's actually quite inspired of the German producers to turn Jason King into full-on comedy. Reminiscent of Woody Allen's minor confection, What's up Tiger Lily? (where he took a circa 1966 Japanese spy movie and dubbed it with ridiculous dialogue written by himself for a lively crew of voice actors). There are some fanatical, aged women on social media who apparently still view Peter Wyngarde as a sex symbol because of Jason King. If you ever see one of the original episodes, most of them are clearly intended to parody the endless spree of ITV spy series of the preceding decade.

H.

[andydecker]

Aug 17, 2022 19:22:03 GMT helrunar said:

I don't watch the Roger Moore Saint series very often. When I do, I generally find myself wondering why I don't enjoy it more. Many of the stories simply plod along. There are a couple of good ones, one with Peter Wyngarde called something like "The Man Who Liked Lions," and another one with a brilliant British character actress, Madge Ryan (who had a minor role in Clockwork Orange)--she makes it fun. There are a lot of them I haven't seen.

That's actually quite inspired of the German producers to turn Jason King into full-on comedy. Reminiscent of Woody Allen's minor confection, What's up Tiger Lily? (where he took a circa 1966 Japanese spy movie and dubbed it with ridiculous dialogue written by himself for a lively crew of voice actors). There are some fanatical, aged women on social media who apparently still view Peter Wyngarde as a sex symbol because of Jason King. If you ever see one of the original episodes, most of them are clearly intended to parody the endless spree of ITV spy series of the preceding decade.

H.

Jason King is a strange one for me. I have come to loath the writer as hero story, especially in horror fiction and especially in movies. (Regardless of its tradtion) I don't care for it a bit, I don't believe it and I think it more often than not lazy work.

But in context of the 70s it is not that insufferable. Maybe because the fantasy still worked better. It is a bit like the yacht/charterboat hero/adventurer/detective. I am pretty sure he was just another fantasy, but there are so many of them in crime fiction, from MacDonald's Travis McGee to Allbeury's Max Farne. And dozens of others.

Also there were not that many of the detective/writers. Without checking Jason King and Robin Masters come to mind, and Masters just was a McGuffin.

[helrunar]

The thing with Jason King is that his hero Mark Caine is obviously meant to be a projection of his own ego, but King is astonishingly inept at everything. There are several episodes that start out with King getting forced or tricked into a packing crate to be shipped off to his next assignment over his protests.

Some of the episodes have a Dada touch as this one where Jason is struggling with writer's block trying to complete his latest novel. (Some of the funniest scenes involve Jason's agent, played by Anne Sharp, aka Mrs Monty Berman, who just turned up in a Randall & Hopkirk episode I was watching at breakfast time today--the agent, Nicola Harvester, is like a spoof of the stock soap opera castrating bitch.) In this one episode, as Jason writes another scene in his novel, it comes to life with something that happens to him in his own travels. A literal case of life imitating art.

The least successful episodes attempt to be actual espionage thrillers, but some are still fun because of Wyngarde's inventiveness, particularly if there's a good guest artiste for him to play along with. 

Anyhow it's all just a bit of fluff--some of them might be on youtube if you're bored and looking for something to pass the time.

Steve

[pulphack]

I'm supposed to be getting some work done but sod that when I can talk about ITC...

Steve, this is exctly the thing with Jason King - he thinks he's Mark Caine, but he is a klutz in many ways. Dennis Spooner (who bizarrely originally saw Kenneth Moore as a tweedy Oxford Don Jason King) really got into the persona Wyngarde brought to the table and loved the fact that King was the only hero in those series that you could have get knocked out in a stupid way, or arrive on a packing case that left him upside down. I don't know if he was intended as a parody initially, but Wyngarde's sense of the absurd gave King a whole new angle on the thriller series. There is an episode of the Baron that he's in where he plays a middle eastern potentate and the anxious actor who is hired to impersonate said potentate. I haven't seen this for years - probably on youtube... hang on... 'The Legions Of Ammak' where he is King Ibrahim and Ronald Noyes, thank you Google, and of course its on youtube - that's my next 45 mins spent - anyway, Wyngarde is wonderful in this, chewing scenery as only he can.

Speaking of the Baron, it's my favourite Creasey novel series, and I like the TV series but it has bugger all to do with the books except the title and the fact that he sells antiques. Very different animals. Great tune though - they all had great tunes.

The Saint hasn't aged well for me. The stories creak a bit - a common issue with the ITC series as they were pretty high turnover and there is often comment that a rejected script for one would be rewritten hastily for another - but it's a blueprint for what was to come, and suffers perhaps for being a bridge between the swinging sixties series and the earlier thriller shows like The Man From Interpol, Sabre Of The Yard, etc. Roger Moore has always just played himself, and no-one does it better, but Danger Man ages better because of Patrick MacGoohan's intensity. The Prisoner, Randall & Hopkirk, The Baron, The Champions, Department S, Man In A Suitcase (yes, Steve, Bradford's persona really does give this an edge the others lacked), The Persuaders, Jason King (maybe not so much as Dept S - King needed the others to play off, I think) - all of these are shows I love but mostly perhaps as its first loves - like the Gerry Anderson shows, these were programmes I grew up with, and first loves can always blind you to their faults. The Protectors and The Adventurer (particualrly the latter) really suffer for being half hour shows - with just 23 to 25 mins screen time for a self-contained story, there's not much you can do.

Strange Report was always my favourite because of Quayle and the black cab (don't ask me why, I still can't explain), and it was never repeated as often. So when the DVD box came out I was happy to see it was just as good - better - than I remembered. The scripts are a notch up, they do deal with some issue based stuff, and like you, Steve, I do like the way they handled the witchcraft episode. There's also one where Barry Fantoni crops up as a studio engineer making electronic noises like the radiophonic workshop in the midst of helping Strange untangle the mysteries of a voice recording. Martin Shaw is in one as a dissident eastern European student and there's an interview with him where he happily discusses the show - not something he's prone to do for a lot of the TV he's done.

I always thought that a second series stalled because Qualye wouldn't sign, but I've read elsewhere that he was quite keen as he enjoyed his first foray into series TV (contrary to what I've read elsewhere, so who knows?) and that the series actually stalled because of issues between ITC and Arena.

Incidentally - ITC and ATV, Steve: ATV was the company that Lew Grade ran which had a broadcasting franchise in the UK for the midlands region and also produced shows that were primarily for homegrown use; ITC was the division that was intended to produce series on film rather than tape which would be sold internationally and so were devised with this in mind. As the seventies wore on and Grade wanted to make movies, so ITC faded and later shows tended to be ATV, which is how come Sapphire And Steel was on tape and an ATV show when half a decade earlier it would have been film and ITC, like the The Protectors or The Adventurer.

Finally (for today) I'd be up for the blue plaque where Dem bought his bass - but don't you have to be dead before they give a blue plaque? Or have they changed that?

[ripper]

The Saint seems to have a constant run on ITV4, though I can't say that I was ever a big fan of the series. I just thought it was a bit too humdrum. It must have been popular at the time, I suppose, given just how many episodes were made, but it lacks the quirkiness that many other ITC shows had.

I like Department S very much. It has perhaps my favourite theme tune and the odd storylines. It also produced one of the TV moments that scared me. I can't remember the title, but it was the one in which the pre-titles sequence had a car with a skeleton in the back seat.

Jason King was my favourite character in Department S, but I preferred him in that series to when he got his own show, though I should really check out more of his solo run as I haven't seen any since the 70s when it was repeated in the afternoons--we saw an episode at school for some reason that escapes me.

I have no memory of watching The Adventurer, but The Protectors I thought was okay but hampered by the half-hour running time.

[helrunar]

One of my favorite little youtube videos is this clever montage some fan crafted, for some alternate world in which Barry Morse was the star of The Adventurer:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVSpj1Dg6YA

Produced by Monty Berman with Dennis Spooner as script editor--same team as Randall & Hopkirk.

I only discovered The Protectors a few years ago, finally purchasing the discs after seeing trailers for it for several years on other British TV sets I was slowly acquiring. My favorite in that one is Nyree Dawn Porter. I think she is best known for some other long-running series I've never seen. As "the Contessa" on Protectors, she's a fascinating variant on the Mrs Peel type of personality.

Watching Jason King is a mixed bag for me. Grade or whomever mandated shooting it on 16 mm due to budgetary cuts and it just doesn't look that great as a result. I think Wyngarde was burning the candle at 3 or 4 ends at that stage in his life and career and he looks like hell in some scenes, which is always somehow shocking. Of course his sang froid and savoir-faire never crack, and his voice, and sense of elegance, invariably triumph. In some episodes there are a LOT of lengthy establishing shots, scenes of traffic, etc.

H.