ITC '60s/'70s Action Thrillers

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All those biscuit cutter melodramas which Lew Grade put out, the most famous of which is obviously The Prisoner (and, by extension, Danger Man), but I would like this thread to be about some of the others - Department S/Jason King, Saint/Persuaders, The Champions, Man In A Suitcase etc.

Usually starring a second-string American character actor at a loose end (or a stalwart British rep reliable looking for something better-paid) and featuring lots of what I call "stuffies," i.e. actors you've seen a million times but can't put a name to ("Him/Her! He/She's been in stuff!").

These programmes were usually a strange cross between cut-price Bond and proto-spaghetti western; surreal, lonely existentialism in some fields near Borehamwood, and sometimes Slough High Street. Bloody weird, actually.

I think a lot of them had an eye on The Avengers (which wasn't an ITC production, though it looks and feels like one) but they had a strangeness which was absolutely unique.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 16 June 2006 08:08 (nineteen years ago)

There's nothing really to detroy, is there?

S: The Secret Service. Stanley Unwin stars as a vicar-cum-spy puppet by Gerry Anderson.

I like The Champions an awful lot too.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Friday, 16 June 2006 08:37 (nineteen years ago)

"The Baron" anyone? I get them all mixed up and also all the imported second-string American stars mixed up - was there one called Steve Baron, who wasn't actually in "The Baron"?

― Il mio nome e' Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 16 June 2006 08:40 (nineteen years ago)

They always had great theme music and opening and closing titles - in fact they were often the best things about them. "Randall and Hopkirk" is another, n'est-ce pas?

― Il mio nome e' Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 16 June 2006 08:42 (nineteen years ago)

Love them. And they're all out on DVD now.

Steve Forrest was the star of The Baron. As for the others, most of did have an American either playing the lead or amongst the leading cast:

The Champions = Stuart Damon
Department S = Joel Fabiani
The Adventurer = Gene Barry
The Protectors = Robert Vaughan
The Persuaders = Tony Curtis

I've been told that one of my grandmothers (my mum's mum) used to go out with Peter Wyngarde for a time, so really I should've been called Jason.

― Ben Mott (Ben Mott), Friday, 16 June 2006 08:46 (nineteen years ago)

Steve Forrest, yes. Dana Andrews' kid brother!

― Il mio nome e' Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 16 June 2006 08:49 (nineteen years ago)

The themes were great - usually John Barry or Ted Astley (Virginia's dad). Credit sequences were always great, nearly on a par with Saul Bass - who did them?

Your mum's mum going out with Peter Wyngarde? Surprised me to read that...

(of course PW pwns this thread by default...he was always good value as a villain pre-Jason King)

Man In A Suitcase starred Richard Bradford.

Of course Donald Sutherland guest-starred in a lot of these programmes before he became A Star...

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 16 June 2006 08:55 (nineteen years ago)

Peter Bowles was de rigeur

― Il mio nome e' Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 16 June 2006 08:59 (nineteen years ago)

He was always the default casting choice for the defecting spy.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 16 June 2006 09:01 (nineteen years ago)

The Persuaders had a terrific theme tune promising all sorts of high-class action and intrigue which the show itself never seemed to really live up to. The dream team of Curtis & Roger Moore's eyebrow seemed wasted somehow.

― robster (robster), Friday, 16 June 2006 09:16 (nineteen years ago)

Anton Rodgers was always next on the Casting Director's list

― Il mio nome e' Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 16 June 2006 09:24 (nineteen years ago)

In his "still hirsute" days...

The Persuaders - one of the greatest of all theme tunes, I'd say - John Barry at his best, the combination of cymbalom and Moog, ancient to the future, and that underlying piano motif which never changes throughout the entire piece. As a single it made the Top 20, at a time when such things were still possible. I agree that the series never really lived up to the theme's promise.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 16 June 2006 09:26 (nineteen years ago)

The theme from the Persuaders is one of my favourite pieces of music, ever.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Friday, 16 June 2006 09:50 (nineteen years ago)

Was The Professionals ITC? I seem to recall that it was produced by Brian Clements, but I don't remember which comp. it was.

― LOL Thomas (Chris Barrus), Friday, 16 June 2006 16:31 (nineteen years ago)

two weeks pass...

No The Professionals was made by LWT (London Weekend Television) and to my mind, it falls more into the same mould as other 1980's British action shows like Dempsey And Makepeace rather than The Saint, Department S etc.

― Ben Mott (Ben Mott), Friday, 30 June 2006 16:47 (nineteen years ago)

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ITC '60s/'70s Action Thrillers - S/D