A Little Bit of Nostalgia

[Steel Tiger]

I just acquired some items that I am very happy about and thought I would share my joy.

In the '60s and '70s Britain produced some very interesting television series and recently I got a hold of a couple. Definitely favourites of mine, the first is The Avengers series from '65 to '67 with the delectable Emma Peel (played by Diana Rigg, for those of you not from Britain or other parts of the Commonwealth you might know her from the Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service - Mrs bond). The other is The Professionals, a hard-edged espionage drama that explored some very interesting cold war themes. This was one I would stay up late on school nights to watch.

Both excellent series that demonstrate the broad scope of British television at the time. The Avengers was somewhat silly while The Professionals was hard, though not as harsh as The Sweeney or Callen (this one was just straight up chilling). All good stuff!

But I also got something a little older. I acquired the unedited film serials of Flash Gordon, Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars, Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, and Buck Rogers. All star Buster Crabbe, and all have evertthing that made a great film serial - lantern jawed heroes, damsels in distress, bizarre villains, inexplicable plot twists and the all important cliffhangers. These serials were the true birthplace of modern cinema as they were the proving ground for many techniques we see today and explored the numerous genres we see everytime we go to the cinema.

I can add these excellent 70 year old wonders to my Rock Jones collection. Rocky Jones was a ground-breaking TV series from the '50s, with excellent special effects and pretty good stories. It has been suggested that it might have been the inspiration for the original Star Trek.

All in all I'm a very happy fellow, though I would like to get my hands on the spy smasher serial as it is the undisputed king of the cliffhanger (I have seen it once long ago and it was great fun).

 

[exile]

I just acquired some items that I am very happy about and thought I would share my joy.

In the '60s and '70s Britain produced some very interesting television series and recently I got a hold of a couple. Definitely favourites of mine, the first is The Avengers series from '65 to '67 with the delectable Emma Peel (played by Diana Rigg, for those of you not from Britain or other parts of the Commonwealth you might know her from the Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service - Mrs bond). The other is The Professionals, a hard-edged espionage drama that explored some very interesting cold war themes. This was one I would stay up late on school nights to watch.

I loved the old Avengers, with Diana Rigg. We have the complete Mrs. Peel era series on DVD in our library, so at one point we got them out and watched them into the ground, as it were. I never saw The Professionals—but I did watch The Sandbaggers, a very grim espionage/counterespionage series set in the Cold War, often rather disturbing.

Congratulations on all these great old programs you managed to score... they don't really make 'em like that anymore!

 

[Sukerkin]

I'm happy to see that some of the board members here share my tastes for TV .

We recently re-watched all the "Professionals" series end-to-end and I was struck by how much more intelligence was expected of the viewer back then. Bearing in mind that this was in essense an 'action' series, not a cerebral drama, it was a surprise to be reminded that, back then, there were no 'subtitles for the hard of thinking' - the viewer was expected to be able to 'keep up' without being hand-held every step of the way.

Bob, Sandbaggers was an excellent series and very different from The Professionals - it was very much 'intelligence agent' rather than 'field operative'.

Oh how I wish for a return to 'proper' British TV. No insult intended but we seem to have fallen into either importing endless American shows or trying to copy them . The days of iconic characters like Jack Reagan or Bodie and Doyle are long gone :sadness:.

P.S. On-topic 'claim to fame' is that one day, in the early '80's, I had my hair cut in the same barbers as 'Bodie' (he was mates with the hairdresser in our town, there's irony there somewhere). The crowd that gathered outside when the word spread that he was there was pretty scary .

For those remotely interested, here's an episode guide for the series: http://www.personal.u-net.com/~carnfort/Professionals/epslist.htm#list

 

[exile]

=
We recently re-watched all the "Professionals" series end-to-end and I was struck by how much more intelligence was expected of the viewer back then. Bearing in mind that this was in essense an 'action' series, not a cerebral drama, it was a surprise to be reminded that, back then, there were no 'subtitles for the hard of thinking' - the viewer was expected to be able to 'keep up' without being hand-held every step of the way.

For those remotely interested, here's an episode guide for the series: http://www.personal.u-net.com/~carnfort/Professionals/epslist.htm#list

Clearly, I'm going to have to search this show out and watch it (just hope it's made it to DVDs—I don't know that it was ever actually shown here, even on BBC America).

 

[Steel Tiger]

Check Amazon for the entire Professionals series on DVD, that's where I got mine.

If you liked Sandbaggers then you might like to check out Callan with Edward Woodward (the guy from The Equalizer, bleh). It is, I think, the archetype for the British cold war espionage drama, as I said before quite chilling at times (and the hero very rarely has what could be called a clean victory). The Professionals is a bit less harsh and a bit more action-oriented.

When I was at school, the librarians thought I looked like Bodie from The Professionals (I had a pretty harsh haircut). They were fans as well.

 

[exile]

Check Amazon for the entire Professionals series on DVD, that's where I got mine.

If you liked Sandbaggers then you might like to check out Callan with Edward Woodward (the guy from The Equalizer, bleh). It is, I think, the archetype for the British cold war espionage drama, as I said before quite chilling at times (and the hero very rarely has what could be called a clean victory). The Professionals is a bit less harsh and a bit more action-oriented.

When I was at school, the librarians thought I looked like Bodie from The Professionals (I had a pretty harsh haircut). They were fans as well.

Thanks for the pointers, ST! I'd really like to get my hands on all of these great old shows.

They had a quality about them that was very special, very specific to the genre—thinking of The Sandbaggers now. It was understood: no happy endings, as a rule. Harshness and cynicism ruled. No saints, lots of sinners, and the cruelty of Murphy's Law working in the worst possible way. A very bleak universe, in short. For some reason, those kinds of shows stand out for their quality and narrative integrity, and excellent acting. (Of course, the British, with their emphasis on training for the theatre and live stage, produce technically phenomenal actors... best in the world, I've long thought. It makes a difference when your default is, you have one shot at the performance and you have to get it right).

 

[Steel Tiger]

It is interesting to compare where Britain and the US were at the same time with these sorts of TV series. We've already named some of the iconic British series, compare those with US series like I spy and The Man From UNCLE. There is quite a difference. I think the US strength from gritty drama was more the detictive genre, look at 77 Sunset Strip and Dragnet, for instance.

That is not to say the British didn't produce excellent detective dramas, its just that they were quite different. Thanks to the ABC and the BBC being almost the same organisation for so long we have access to a huge number of British films (we don't see older British TV drama much anymore). The portrayal of the British detective is quite different, he is usually of a superior class to the average policeman, everyone addresses him as sir, even the criminals, and he completely dominates scenes with a quiet effectiveness (could be a Holmesian influence there).

The American detective is often down on his luck, is a quick talker, is happy to use his fists, or gun, when necessary, and is usually a lot more of a loner.

 

[ackks10]

i don't know if i missed it in here, but i don't think that anyone added it, but i always loved the "SAINT" with roger moore as simon temblem (i don't remember how to spell his last name) but that was a good show, and one more it was called "secret agent " and the guy s name on the show was Kelly Drake. :lookie:

 

[Steel Tiger]

Ah yes, The Saint! The main character was Simon Templar. A lot of very suggestive religious inferences in this one (well in the original books anyway). Moore was better as Templar than he was as Bond.

And don't forget The Persuaders with Roger Moore and Tony Curtis. Considered the last of this subgenre (international action adventure) to be produced, it was very successful, though its continental success seems to have been a result of whimsical dubbing rather than content.

Personally, I didn't like it. It just came across as a little too camp (I felt that The Saint was better) and that might have someting to do with the '70s way of doing things.

A little bit of trivia. The Saint had nearly 120 episodes and is second only to The Avengers (161 episodes) in length for this genre. The Avengers is second to Mission: Impossible (171 episodes) but ran for longer ('61 - '69)