The Last of the Famous International Playboys
I was having a chat with our landlord Petunia this week. For those who don’t know, Petunia borrows his moniker from the theatrical nickname of 70s British showbusiness superstar, Peter Wyngarde AKA Jason King. I think I may have mentioned a show called Department S, and quick as a flash, or landlord, as ever displaying his uncanny and even rather unnerving knowledge of all matters of popular culture, shot back with the three letters “ITC”. A dim and distant light came on. If I could just remember…
I have the feeling sometimes that Raccoonistas are often of “a certain age”, certainly, usually a certain maturity, allowing for the odd certifiable nut job who puts in a brief appearance, but you get that on the interweb, albeit less often than you get on the Andrew Marr show. But leaving that on one side, for those who don’t remember Sundays used to be different. Back in the day, and I’m thinking 60’s and 70’s, no big shopping centres opened, there was no latte or frappuccino on tap, no Top Gear. There was probably no wine, unless it was Blue Nun. Everything except the corner shop was shut. What I remember is the rather grim ritual of having to get dressed up to go to church, and then standing/sitting kneeling a few pews behind a girl called “A”, on whom I had the most massive crush. Sunday afternoons were almost institutionalized boredom. I remember something called The Big Match. This was a distant ancestor of what we now call “football” and involved teams of patently overweight men with permed hair wearing very tight shorts kicking an orange ball around a mud bath (and kicking each other), for about 90 minutes, before consuming 8 pints and shagging a stripper in the communal baths afterwards. They didn’t show that bit on TV. If men smelt of anything they smelt of Brut. All food was fried, boiled or roasted.
But there was a ray of light because I also remember Sunday afternoon as being the home of the “adventure thriller”. This is where ITC or the Incorporated Television Company came in. It was the baby of Lew Grade, and produced some of my most cherished children’s television programmes, including the fabulous Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet (my particular favourite: SIG – “Spectrum Is Green”!). There is a potted history at Wikipedia here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_S_%28TV_series%29
But ITC, with its distinctive 1960’s-idea-of-futuristic-but-actually-quite-naff-logo, produced a cadre of what are now commonly referred to a drama or comedy drama cult classics of the 1960’s and 1970s, such as The Saint, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Danger Man, The Baron, Gideon’s Way, The Champions, The Prisoner, Man in a Suitcase, Strange Report, Department S, The Persuaders!, Jason King, The Adventurer, The Protectors, and Return of the Saint.
Let’s focus on those. Some of them featured large on my Sunday afternoons. I remember The Saint, of course. That seemed to be a regular on a Sunday afternoon. As most will know the Saint was a rather good-looking man (Roger Moore) who had no discernible means of funding his “playboy” lifestyle. He had a cool car (a white Volvo P1800, I believe) and rescued damsels in distress. I have a vague recollection of the Baron, a rather good looking American man (Steve Forrest) who had no discernable means of paying for his antiques and playboy lifestyle. He had a cool car and …well there was a pattern there.
The ones which I most vividly remember on a Sunday afternoon were: Department S, which then morphed into the ultra cool, or ultra naff (depending on your point of view) Jason King, and The Champions. For some reason The Champions was my favourite, with a beginning where its three heroes (who had acquired sort of super powers in the aftermath of a plane crash in Tibet) stood in front a that big fountain in Geneva. You could argue that was because even at a young age I was nor immune to the charms of Alexandra Bastedo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Bastedo And indeed I was not, particularly given that she looked like a grown up version of “A”, for whom I pined so earnestly. But in fact, I seem to have had rather “catholic” (pardon the pun) tastes, because I have very clear and fond memories of two women who graced our often black and white screens. First the beautiful, tall brunette with the cut glass accent Sue Lloyd, who appeared in many of these shows as a regular guest star: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_Lloyd And of course the beautiful, not quite so tall Nyree Dawn Porter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyree_Dawn_Porter She co-starred with the brilliant Robert Vaughan in “the Protectors”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protectors
The Protectors was a Gerry Anderson production, not ITC, but it gets an honourable mention because it fulfils many of the criteria including cravats, a simple plot with astonishingly “cool” people foiling bad guys, and a great theme song. I have more memories of some shows than others. I remember I loved The Strange Report. That seemed more intelligent and involve staying up. And of course it starred the class act that was Anthony Quayle – what a voice, and a real life SOE Operative in World War II to boot I believe. I don’t remember Dangerman, but the theme is very familiar. I remember the starting credits to Man in a Suitcase vividly. More late night stuff.
I think the über cult that was The Prisoner was a bit weird for me. That bubble thing…It was all a bit existential. Randal and Hopkirk (Deceased) was mainstream family watching of an evening, sort of comedy – adventure. I am thinking Saturday or Sunday night but I could be wrong. Annette Andre was in that, as Mrs. Deceased. Fit as a butcher’s dog, as I now recall. I can say that, because this is a “PC” free post. It has to be because never mind the walking talking Lothario moustache and sideburns (yes really!) that was Jason King as played by Peter Wyngarde, last but not least was there was the inestimably brilliant, totally un “PC” gaudy fashion disaster that brought together Tony Curtis and Roger Moore in The Persuaders. It was a maelstrom of Ferraris, Aston Martins, champagne, bikinis, cravats, flares and unashamed sexism. I have that down as four o’clock on a Sunday, but it’s a long time ago now.
These were escapist fantasy shows, simple little morality tales, according to the mores of the time. No kitchen sink drama here, this was a Ken Loach-free zone, and that alone commends their memory to me. Soon they would be superseded by much darker, more intense and genuinely brilliant dramas like the original Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy or Edge of Darkness. They were sort of innocent. They were just of their time, and if it was a duller time maybe it was a more innocent and simpler, happier time. But all these shows had one thing in common. Great, classic, iconic theme tunes and opening credits. In fact, you could probably do away with the shows and just play the opening credits on a loop. Here is a blast or two from the past:
The Saint – the original version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC9m0h4ZujY And the Orbital version (that’s how cool it is) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2EaEsZntcU The Baron https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP_l6dnoYlM The Champions – Da da! Da dadada da da! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vERE274OdFc Department S https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1w0yiZFo4s
Jason King https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hPj4jthKxQ Randall and Hopkirk Deceased https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo3lTbYFK6A Danger Man https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLgNPYw9QMw The Prisoner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE-EMinj69o Man in a Suitcase – (Richard Bradford was cool) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk3WHOXzZE4
The brilliant The Persuaders opening, featuring the music of John Barry, those cars, and those shirts and some innate, throw away sexism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t99QQIXez4M And last but not least The Protectors. Opening credits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXseqmFmFOc And full song: Avenues and Alleyways, by the brilliant Tony Christie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj4UFqKG5YI
Which is my favourite? That’s difficult. Possibly the best technically is The Persuaders. It’s a very, very clever opening, and the music of John Barry is superb. The Department S theme still brings back goose bumps. Jason King was never my thing. Which was the best theme? Over to you. And what have I forgotten of 70’s Sunday afternoons?
Cat Update
Just for one particular reader. Old Cat was silent for a long, long time when he first arrived. I don’t know how long it was before a first, rather stammering gurgle emerged from rather hesitatingly from his throat. He had never learned to purr, it seemed to me. He has rejected various specially designed cat beds and tepees, but I have persuaded him to sleep in a large cardboard box lined with paper and straw in the porch behind the kitchen. He has a wall heater and a special heated disk. He has access to the car flap.
I got up last night about 1 am, in search of a cup of cocoa or a large malt or both. I peered into the porch to make sure he was OK, and he was all curled up asleep, apparently I opened the porch door and squatted down next to him and gently petted him for ten minutes or so as he slept. He purred gently and happily without moving, although whether he woke or had been asleep I don’t know. Then I went back to sleep. He was all snug when I got up at 6, and I made him breakfast. This included a raw egg.
Gildas The Monk
-
September 27, 2015 at 9:40 am -
Pedant alert….
I reckon it was a Volvo P1800 in ‘The Saint’-
September 27, 2015 at 10:13 am -
Correct! Typo!
-
September 27, 2015 at 1:35 pm -
You’ve changed it now, but not before I misread P100 as Poo. I blame this entirely on Mme Raccoon who, in referring to my new ‘Up’ as ‘your Volkswagen Poo’, has christened it for ever more.
As for ITC, I believe they did a set of gripping one-off dramas too (usually starring the likes of Barry Foster and – I think – including some supernatural plots). Channel 4 Broadcast some of them late at night in the early days, when they scooped up much of their content from other channels’ archives.
-
September 27, 2015 at 9:05 pm -
Other than being a car anorak, my real reason for knowing about that Volvo dates back to schooldays. Our Divinity (RE) master, a rotund, balding, flat-footed, middle-aged bore, actually drove a white Volvo P1800, the only one I’d ever seen, which was as completely out of character as was his quite stunning, much-younger, blonde, exotically-named, model wife – we hormone-enriched teenagers couldn’t see how this combination was possible, unless he was in possession of either disproportionately large fortunes or genitalia, or both.
To add to the irony, this rotund, balding, flat-footed, middle-aged bore also fulfilled the role of a PE master, despite displaying none of the attributes normally associated with that particular breed of sadist. And he still dove a P1800. Stange world, the 1960s.
-
-
-
September 27, 2015 at 9:47 am -
What I remember is the rather grim ritual of having to get dressed up to go to church, and then standing/sitting kneeling a few pews behind a girl called “A”
You lucky old Sod! I GOT the model that came without the pretty girl’s skirted arse to oggle! My parent’s church was built in that curious 70s open plan of a flatten Roman Amphitheatre style and my Parents , being particularly devout, insisted we sat at the front so the rays of Goodness emanating from the prow of a fishing boat pulpit (check your bible people, Jesus preached from a boat on one famous occasion ) might work upon our dark little, original sin flecked souls by some process of spiritual osmosis. I would have prefered trying to discern the exact shape of A’s knickers through her skirt using the ley lines of VPL to listening to our 70s Low Church ‘Cool Dude’ Rev drone on about Sins Of The Flesh .
Grim ritual? You want GRIM? Here a snap of me in my Sunday Clothes .http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b116/horta/IMG_20150911_160211_zpsduwhxaam.jpg
Still think you had it bad?
I thank you for the Cat News (which should have headed your post btw) but I wish you’d thought to take your cell phone down into the kitchen with you. The scene you describe cries out for digital preservation . There is probably an app to help one locate the scotch bottle in the bleary eyed darkness ….
-
September 27, 2015 at 10:13 am -
I do have a picture of Old Cat in his box. I sent a copy to our landlord – maybe he can pass it on?
-
September 27, 2015 at 11:06 am -
As requested…
-
September 27, 2015 at 11:48 am -
Ah, those were the days, Gildas. Another genre of television programme quite enjoyable, although somewhat later, was a crop of policiers: Kojak, Five-0 &c. All good stuff; the absence of such entertaining material in to-day’s line-up — superseded by geeky c.g.i. — explains my having given up watching television altogether.
Now, about this car flap: a garage door, I presume. I was therefore surprised by the picture of your pussy, having expected him to be quite a fat cat. May he enjoy a long life.
ΠΞ
-
September 27, 2015 at 12:40 pm -
I might have a think about those Pericles – great programmes
As for Old Cat, there’s a self porch between the kitchen and an extension with a loo and the utility room where the back door is. The cat flap is in the back door. He has to sleep in there because he has occasional bouts of diarrhoea. It is not his fault, he is an intelligent and very clean little chap. This all stems from his feral days when he picked up all sorts of the like feline HIV from living rough and scavenging etc. That partly explains why he will never be fat. he is actually quite small because he must have been malnourished growing up (God only knows how he survived) and he may have thyroid trouble to boot. That said, he gets the best of food and treats, and his coat in in particularly good nick at the moment. He likes his box – he had an igloo for a while but my friend Dr F (herself a vet) poured him out of it to a box to take him to the vet and he refused to go in it again. He is a sweetie though.
Thanks for the picture post Petunia!-
September 27, 2015 at 8:45 pm -
Try sardines !
Cheap cheap supermarket ones in tomato sauce. Recommended for old cats by an old friend of mine, and what I give as a special, much loved, treat when cat sitting for a friend (even though – or possibly better because – strictly forbidden).
I never was a cat person – more a rodent man in my youth – but have warmed to them in my slightly advancing years.
PS: what about the Black and White Mistral Show ? Delightfully non-PC in these now sad days…
-
-
-
September 27, 2015 at 1:17 pm -
Thanks Pet, have your eyes recovered from viewing the obscene photo I posted?
Gildas, scarily Old Cat looks rather like I imagine you to look… slightly disheveled, tad mangy, oldness with that ‘Really? ya think?’ look. that only proper cats and Aged Monks can give….and maybe Raccoons.
-
September 27, 2015 at 2:46 pm -
Mine eyes have seen the light indeed! And you’d probably quite surprised to know that, in person, Gildas is a bit of a John Steed…
-
September 27, 2015 at 3:21 pm -
Gildas is a bit of a John Steed…
and I suppose Sister Eva Longoria has a touch of the Emma Peel’s about her ? https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/45/11/26/4511268cb507aeb6bc34a98f477df175.jpg
-
September 27, 2015 at 4:15 pm -
Nice one!
-
-
September 27, 2015 at 3:53 pm -
HAHAHAHAHA Well thank you Petunia!
-
-
-
-
-
-
September 27, 2015 at 10:36 am -
As Mudpluggers says, it was a P1800. An E-type would have been better, but they were no longer new.
I think that Taki fits the mould of the playboy, and it aches that I could not afford the time to meet him on the cruise that the Speccie ran in August. ISTR he did time for a victimless crime some time back, which gives him that certain edginess you need, and he still competes in judo and chasing women one third of his age at the age of 78ish. Apparently, he is on good terms with Sir Roger.
I was not brought up in Britain, so I only was able to see The Saint and The Persuaders. I loved both shows. Watching the title for the latter “Wilde $9,500,000 for oil company” is an Austin Powers moment – that’s a lockup in SW3
-
September 27, 2015 at 7:11 pm -
As I understood it Jaguar refused … so the producers looked elsewhere and ended up choosing the Volvo as Volvo were keen to market the car
-
-
September 27, 2015 at 10:38 am -
I remember eyeing the peculiar dead foxes (or were they minks?) sloped over the shoulders of devout matrons in the pews while I endlessly plaited and unplaited the tassels on my school scarf – this to demonstrate I wasn’t the least bit devout.
-
September 27, 2015 at 11:20 am -
September 27, 2015 at 11:58 am -
Just to be pedantic Top Gear started in 1977 and was as dull as dishwater.
NB The rot started with ‘The Sweeney’. Once it was accepted that the ‘good’ guys could be as bad as the ‘bad’ guys the game was up for the ITC good vs evil style.
-
September 27, 2015 at 12:00 pm -
Oh and there was Mateus Rose as well as Blue Nun …
-
September 27, 2015 at 12:41 pm -
How true…my parents had a Mateus Rose lamp. And a chandelier. very posh. Also they liked prawn cocktail. It was all very Abigail’s Party.
-
September 27, 2015 at 8:50 pm -
Not forgetting the Black Forest Gateau and the schooner of sherry.
-
-
-
-
September 27, 2015 at 12:46 pm -
My favourite private eye was “Johnny Staccato” opening tune Jazz at Waldos. What I liked was that he did not always win. Nostalgia the opium of the old.
-
September 27, 2015 at 4:26 pm -
The heroes did not always win even in those distant days.
The two shows nearest to “reality” were prob the later “Danger Man” and “Man in a Suitcase”.
John Drake (esp in the later series of 1 hour episodes) did not always win. He didn’t lose completely–he didn’t of course get killed or sentenced to 25 years in a Gulag–but he didn’t always succeed in his goals and often innocents got hurt along the way. In one episode he persuades a defector trying to go to China via Albania to come home, Drake having been promised by his bosses that no action will be taken against the man. He does persuade him to return but the bloke is arrested on arrival. Drake complains about his bosses treachery and they laugh in his face.
In another episode Drake pretends to be a faithful commie and is sent by the Russians to an “English” town in Siberia where they train their spies in an authentic UK environment( “Colony Three” is the title and it is obviously one of the elements Patrick McGoohan drew from in creating “The Prisoner”). Along is a girl who has foolishly arrived looking for her boyfriend. She is now trapped to spend the rest of her life in this bogus community. Drake manages to get lots of info and then just barely is able to get himself out using the resources of a British spy network. The girl remains trapped. The Saint would have made a daring escape with her 5 minutes before the end. But Danger Man was much nearer to reality. Drake cannot take her so she stays.
“Man in a Suitcase” was also much grittier than other series. McGill was a betrayed loner who had been callously set up by his CIA masters to seem a likely traitor–of course he wasn’t–so another agent could be planted on the Russians. McGill ended up as a seedy PI in 60s Britain for his pains. He didn’t always win and often got duffed up or paid a price for his victory ( obviously he couldn’t be a complete loser as who would follow a series with an incompetent, easily and always bested hero?( besides, that series had already been made: “Public Eye” starring Alfred Burke as the seedy ex-con PI Frank Marker). Although Man In A Suitcase only lasted one series it was a good one.
-
September 27, 2015 at 8:40 pm -
Good points – that’s bringing it back now.
-
-
-
September 27, 2015 at 2:43 pm -
I remember all those ITC shows v. well. I always rather reckoned Wyngarde. He was a very fine stage actor; I saw him playing Shylock at the Bristol (Old Vic?) somethingorother, but he camped it up splendidly as Jason King.Totally different.
Re. The Cat. There used to be a Sovereign Remedy called ‘Brand’s Essence’ (I believe it might be a high protein beef extract) which kept our dear old Mog alive and active until 22, at which point his kidneys gave out, and that was that…
-
September 27, 2015 at 3:57 pm -
Thanks -I’ll look that up. He could do with a tonic. I have great problems getting him to the vet because of his total panic if confined. He scratched me deeply last time I tried and I had to go to A&E. A vitamin boos or something would be great.
-
September 27, 2015 at 7:17 pm -
We are veering off into James Herriot territory-Mrs Bond’s cat Boris.
Use the old vet trick Gildas, several old towels used to swaddle the cat into submission and protect your hands. Then off to the vet.
-
-
-
September 27, 2015 at 4:16 pm -
I remember that one of the actresses who kept turning up was the lovely Vivianne Ventura.
Can anyone think of others?-
September 27, 2015 at 4:57 pm -
Wanda Ventham appeared in most of them. Now more well-known as the mother of Benedict Cumberbatch, she was quite ‘a looker’ in her day.
-
September 27, 2015 at 8:41 pm -
She was fabulously sexy. Good reminder. And yes, she Sherlock’s mum!
-
September 27, 2015 at 8:52 pm -
I suppose it’s too much to ask for a picture of her pussy to continue the composite theme ?
-
-
-
September 27, 2015 at 4:36 pm -
Pedant’s corner:
The Protectors WAS made by ITC in the sense that most of the others were.
ITC usually funded a production company to make the programmes, such as Gerry Anderson’s Century 21, Hannah Weinstein’s Sapphire, Baker/Berman’s Tempean or Berman/Spooner’s Scoton Productions.ITC did also make a host of more forgettable shows including TV studio variety shows and ultimately feature films.
The ITC productions which have worn best though tend to be the filmed productions such as all those mentioned above. They were made on film in film studios by people who had worked in the film industry for decades – they were in effect B-movies (in the sense of supporting features).
The reason that we can see them comparatively readily was because they were made on contracts similar to film contracts where the original fees to actors etc bought out all rights and there are no residuals.
The reason it is so much harder to re-broadcast many TV studio-shot series such as Callan, Thriller or most BBC series is because the contracts required more fees to be paid after the original couple of showings. If you want to broadcast such a show now a new contract has to be agreed, and payments made, with every actor or their heirs. An expensive and time consuming job and a single hold-out can veto the whole process (cough, Martin Shaw).Unfortunately the ****** s at channels like ITV4 cut the episodes to cram more ads into an hour and completely ignore the series, or parts of series, made in black and white, (memorably they broadcast the only two colour episodes of Danger Man and no others), so better to go for the box sets anyway.
-
September 27, 2015 at 5:12 pm -
Thanks for the ‘Blasts from the Past’, Gildas
One particular favourite, but not from the ITC stable, was “The Four Just Men”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Four_Just_Men_(TV_series)
I suspect the modern feminazis/PC-brigade would have apoplexy at the title and characterisations.
-
September 27, 2015 at 8:42 pm -
I don’t remember that one..
-
-
September 27, 2015 at 5:51 pm -
Not in your list, nor mentioned above that I can see, but, FWIW, I always thought that Spyder’s Webb, (aka Spyder’s Web) was a gem. Nuttier than the best fruit cake. Friday night fare, if I remember rightly. Info, and some further links to the detailed episode and cast guide at:
http://networkonair.com/features/2014/03/04/cult-tv-network-top-10/
A lot of now fairly famous names spun their way through its single series…..
-
September 27, 2015 at 6:26 pm -
I saw very few of these as we didn’t own a TV at the time most of these were popular, but I do remember the multitude of Dinky and Corgi diecast spin offs. Spot some of them here
-
September 27, 2015 at 6:27 pm -
Budgie did the ‘Department S’ Rollers
http://www.vectis.co.uk/Page/ViewLot.aspx?LotId=15650&Section=29
-
-
September 27, 2015 at 6:30 pm -
There was some daring, innovative stuff out there though. Anyone remember “The Men in Room 13”? Now that was seriously weird. Oxbridge dons fighting enemy spies with their pipes.
There was a fiendish plot where the Soviets agreed to abolish nuclear weapons because they had already spread precision aiming devices across Britain for their conventional rockets, in the tops of bus stops. And yes, I have taken my medication.
-
September 27, 2015 at 6:54 pm -
And yes, I have taken my medication
Actually the ‘alight here’ idea isn’t so Psych-ward as it might appear. Not on the same scale of course as Nuclear Armageddon but I recall even quite recently the SKANDAL of German petrol stations using their large plastic Welcoming Signs as ‘cover’ for WIFI/Cell masts. Infact in some cases the signs were infact the mast and not just cover. You should have heard the Nimbys squeal (back when everyone knew that Cell Towers gave you brain cancer).
-
September 27, 2015 at 9:50 pm -
Whoops, Room 17 not 13, as a Wikipedia search shows. Richard Vernon and Michael Aldridge, two superb (and presumably dead) actors who could make sense of any tosh served up to them.
-
-
-
September 27, 2015 at 6:30 pm -
Heaps of ‘Avengers’ stuff, and even ‘The Prisoner’s’ Mini Moke
-
September 27, 2015 at 8:45 pm -
There was another one that Petunia reminded me of. Slightly different but excellent.
The Zoo Gang!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4EdVmJOLfo -
September 27, 2015 at 8:56 pm -
You can watch ‘the Avengers# on some cable channel, it seems so twee, rather over done but with a certain style – in an understated way only the Brits can carry off? and so very, very tongue in cheek at that. I do like Emma though. And then, along came Purr…dey.
-
September 27, 2015 at 9:06 pm -
It gets even better. One for “the Cognoscenti” . Ingrid Pitt in The Zoo Gang. Goodness, she was beautiful…
{ 47 comments… read them below or add one }