Tag: ITV

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Classic Series Prisoner, The

Hammer Into Anvil

The PrisonerUnable to free himself from the Village, Number Six decides to begin tearing his prison apart from the inside out. He plays on Number Two’s paranoia with an elaborate scheme involving rumors that Number Six is actually a spy sent to the Village by Number Two’s superiors. Even Number Two’s most trusted aide is implicated by Number Six’s insinuations. Despite the fact that he is still stranded, Number Six scores a major victory when he brings his jailor to the brink of a total nervous breakdown.

written by Roger Woddis
directed by Pat Jackson
music by Ron Grainer and Albert Elms

Cast: Patrick McGoohan (Number Six), Patrick Cargill (Number Two), Basil Hoskins (Number 14), Victor Maddern (Bandmaster), Norman Scace (Psychiatrist), Derek Aylward (New supervisor), Hilary Dwyer (Number 73), Arthur Gross (Control room operator), Peter Swanwick (Supervisor), Victor Woolf (Shop assistant), Michael Segal (Technician), Margo Andrew (Girl), Susan Sheers (Code expert), Jackie Cooper (Guardian), Fred Haggerty (Guardian), Eddie Powell (Guardian), George Leach (Guardian)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Series Prisoner, The

It’s Your Funeral

The PrisonerRumors abound that an assassination will take place in the Village – and despite the fact that he knows nothing about this plot, Number Six discovers that he is rumored to be a part of the scheme. Finding the man who is building the bomb to be used in the killing is a simple task, and he even confesses that Number Two is his target. But when Number Six goes to warn Number Two, he finds that there is more than one Number Two in the Village – and one could be trying to do away with the other.

written by Michael Cramoy
directed by Robert Asher
music by Ron Grainer and Albert Elms

Cast: Patrick McGoohan (Number Six), Derren Nesbit (Number Two), Mark Eden (Number 100), Annette Andre (Watchmaker’s daughter), Andre Van Gyseghem (Retiring Number Two), Martin Miller (Watchmaker), Wanda Ventham (Computer attendant), Mark Burns (Number Two’s assistant), Peter Swanwick (Supervisor), Charles Lloyd Pack (Artist), Grace Arnold (Number 36), Arthur White (Stall holder), Michael Bilton (Councillor), Gerry Crampton (Kosho opponent)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Series Prisoner, The

A Change of Mind

The PrisonerOnce again, Number Six is subjected to a torturous session of brainwashing, but the process backfires, leaving him perfectly normal. In another plot to tear the Village apart from within, Number Six hypnotizes the woman who was used by Number Two to lure him into brainwashing. Number Six confuses his enemies by offering to repent and confess – and by planting a human time bomb in their midst. While this person poses no physical threat to Number Two, she does carry an important message that will turn the Village’s people against their dictator.

written by Roger Parkes
directed by Joseph Serf
music by Ron Grainer and Albert Elms

Cast: Patrick McGoohan (Number Six), John Sharpe (Number Two), Angela Brown (Number 86), George Pravda (Doctor), Kathleen Breck (Number 42), Peter Swanwick (Supervisor), Thomas Heathcote (Lobo Man), Bartlett Mullins (Chairman), Michael Miller (Number 93), Joseph Cuby (Member of social group), June Ellis (Number 48), John Hamblin (Woodland man), Michael Billington (Woodland man)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Series Prisoner, The

Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling

The PrisonerNumber Six learns of a manhunt for a scientist who has perfected a means of transferring one subject’s mind to the body of another – a technology which the Village already possesses. When a foreign dignitary visits the Village, Number Six is forced to undergo the procedure, placing his knowledge and personality in the foreigner’s body, and is unleashed in the outside world on a mission to find the scientist. If Number Six fails in his assignment, he will never return to his own body.

written by Vincent Tilsley
directed by Pat Jackson
music by Ron Grainer and Albert Elms

Cast: Patrick McGoohan (Number Six), Clifford Evans (Number Two), Nigel Stock (The Colonel), Zena Walker (Janet), Hugo Schuster (Seltzman), John Wentworth (Sir Charles), James Bree (Villiers), Lloyd Lamble (Stapleton), Patrick Jordan (Danvers), Lockwood West (Camera shop manager), Frederic Abbott (Potter), Gertan Klauber (Waiter), Henry Longhurst (Old guest), Danvers Walker (New man), John Nolan (Young guest)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Series Prisoner, The

Living in Harmony

The PrisonerNumber Six is subjected to an intense series of drug-induced hallucinations about a wild west saloon. Number Six is urged repeatedly to don the badge and revolver of the local sheriff, a job he refuses to take. But the choice is made painfully clear for him – if he does take the job, he will have to kill, and if he doesn’t, others will die. Even Number Six’s refusal to do exactly what is expected of him doesn’t save any lives this time.

written by David Tomblin
directed by David Tomblin
music by Ron Grainer and Albert Elms

Cast: Patrick McGoohan (Number Six), David Bauer (Judge), Alexis Kanner (Kid), Valerie French (Cathy), Gordon Tanner (Town Elder), Gordon Sterne (Bystander), Michael Balfour (Will), Larry Taylor (Mexican Sam), Monti de Lyle (Dignitary), Duglas Jone (Horse dealer), Bill Nick (Gunman), Les Crawford (Gunman), Frank Maher (Gunman), Max Faulkner (Horseman), Bill Cummings (Horseman), Eddie Eddon (Horseman)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Series Prisoner, The

The Girl Who Was Death

The PrisonerNumber Six desperately tries to defuse a mad scientist’s attempt to launch a missile into the heart of London. But Number Six is also being pursued by the scientist’s daughter, who hatches a number of elaborate schemes to destroy him. Even if Number Six manages to foil the diabolical plot, he will still end up in the Village when it’s all over.

written by Terence Feely
directed by David Tomblin
music by Ron Grainer and Albert Elms

Cast: Patrick McGoohan (Number Six), Kenneth Griffith (Schnipps), Justine Lord (Sonia), Christopher Benjamin (Potter), Michael Brennan (Killer Karminski), Harold Berens (Boxing M.C.), Sheena Marsh (Barmaid), Max Faulkner (Scots Napoleon), John Rees (Welsh Napoleon), Joe Gladwin (Yorkshire Napoleon), John Drake (Bowler), Gaynor Steward (Little girl), Graham Steward (Little boy), Stephen How (Little boy)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Series Prisoner, The

Once Upon A Time

The PrisonerNumber Two – actually one of the first men of that rank to interrogate Number Six – returns in a final desperate attempt to break his mind. Number Two forces Number Six through a brutal regression into his own childhood, but the prisoner still doesn’t break – and finally, his interrogator does. Number Six’s reward for surviving the encounter is, at long last, a confrontation with Number One.

written by Patrick McGoohan
directed by Patrick McGoohan
music by Ron Grainer and Albert Elms

Cast: Patrick McGoohan (Number Six), Leo McKern (Number Two), Peter Swanwick (Supervisor), John Cazabon (Umbrella man)

Original Title: Degree Absolute

Note: According to numerous sources, actor Leo McKern suffered a nervous breakdown during the production of this episode, citing the show’s intense content as the cause.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Classic Series Prisoner, The

Fall Out

The PrisonerHaving triumphed against Number Two, Number Six is finally on his way – so he thinks – to meet Number One. But first, he has one more trial to undergo, though he can’t tell if he is the defendant…or the judge. The impetuous Number 48 is brought before him, held in contempt for his youthfully rebellious attitude. Number Two is miraculously brought back from the dead, though he seems unaware that his reign has ended. Number Six finally embarks on the final leg of his quest, but he is unprepared for the revelation that he may, in fact, already be Number One.

written by Patrick McGoohan
directed by Patrick McGoohan
music by Ron Grainer and Albert Elms

Cast: Patrick McGoohan (Number Six), Leo McKern (Number Two), Kenneth Griffith (President), Peter Swanwick (Supervisor), Michael Miller (Delegate), Alexis Kanner (Number 48)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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UFO

Identified

UFOWhen evidence of UFO visits and alien abductions becomes real, a top-secret international agency, SHADO (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Organization), is formed, under the direction of Commander Ed Straker. Housed in the underground levels beneath a film studio that hides its activities, SHADO is on the verge of a new detection technology that could turn the tide against future UFO incursions. But the aliens – as yet unidentified – are also aware of this development, and are already taking steps to stop that technology from being deployed. From submarines capable of launching jet fighters, to a moonbase capable of launching space planes, Straker puts all of SHADO’s resources on the highest alert. The prize: SHADO’s first captured alien…and only then does Straker realize that this is but the first volley in a much longer battle for the planet Earth.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Gerry Anderson & Sylvia Anderson with Tony Barwick
directed by Gerry Anderson
music by Barry Gray

UFOCast: Edward Bishop (Cmdr. Straker), George Sewell (Col. Freeman), Peter Gordeno (Capt. Carlin), Gabrielle Drake (Lt. Ellis), Grant Taylor (General Henderson), Basil Dignam (Cabinet Minister), Shane Rimmer (Seagull X-Ray Co-Pilot), Antonia Ellis (Joan Harrington), Gary Myers (Lew Waterman), Michael Mundell (Ken Matthews), Harry Baird (Mark Bradley), Keith Alexander (SHADO Radio Operator), Jon Kelley (Skydiver Engineer), Georgina Moon (Skydiver Operative), Dolores Martinez (Nina Barry), Jeremy Wilkin (Skydiver Navigator), Paul Gillard (Kurt Mahler), Wanda Ventham (Virginia Lake), Gary Files (Phil Wades), Matthew Roberton (Dr. Harris), Maxwell Shaw (Dr. Shroeder), Annette Kerr (Nurse)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Timeslip

The Wrong End Of Time – Part 1

TimeslipYoungsters Liz Skinner and Simon Randall, bored with the dull surroundings near the Skinners’ vacation spot, go exploring the surrounding countryside, finding a place near an abandoned naval station where they hear an unusual sound all around them. Venturing onward, they pass through some sort of portal, stepping into the same place, but a different time – World War II, to be precise. Shortly after they see men who they’re certain are speaking German, the two children are captured and taken to be questioned about what business they had near the naval station. When Liz recognizes their interrogator – from having met him in the future, later in his life – it only raises further suspicions. And then they meet a young sailor named Frank Skinner – Liz’s father, long before she was born. The older Frank Skinner claims he had a mental breakdown during the war and can’t remember what his role in it was…but his daughter is about to find out by being there.

written by Bruce Stewart
directed by John Cooper
music not credited

TimeslipCast: Cheryl Burfield (Liz Skinner), Spencer Banks (Simon Randall), Denis Quilley (Commander Traynor), Iris Russell (Jean Skinner), Derek Benfield (Skinner), John Alkin (Frank), Sandor Eles (Gottfried), Paul Humpoletz (Graz), John Garrie (Arthur Griffiths), Royston Tickner (George Bradley), Peter Sproule (Ferris), John Abbott (Phipps), Kenneth Watson (Dr. Fordyce), Virginia Balfour (Alice Fortune), Sally Templer (Sarah), Hilary Minster (German Sailor)

TimeslipNotes: This episode is introduced by ITV’s then science reporter, Peter Fairley, introducing the series’ premise but cautioning that it is purely fiction. Eduard Salim Michael’s classical piece “Rite de la Terre” is used as the series’ theme song, but there is no incidental music during the story itself. Timeslip was originally recorded in full color, but only one episode remains in that format. The original color videotapes of the other episodes were wiped and reused (a common practice in the early 1970s), and we only have the remainder of the show to watch thanks to black & white film recordings created to sell the series overseas to broadcasters who were not yet transmitting in color.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Ace Of Wands Season 2

Seven Serpents, Sulphur And Salt – Episode 1

Ace Of WandsMr. Christopher, an acquaintance of Mr. Sweet’s, rushes into Sweet’s bookstore while Lulli is watching the shop. He asks Lulli where Sweet can be reached, and then wants to call him, hiding a piece of paper in one of the books in the shop while Lulli looks for the phone number. But before much of a conversation can take place, a man named Luko appears out of thin air, killing Mr. Christopher and then looking for something until Lulli walks in. Luko vanishes again just as the door opens, leaving Lulli to find Mr. Christopher’s cobweb-covered corpse. Tarot, Sam and Mr. Sweet converge on the store, and Mr. Christopher’s walking stick, imbued with some kind of magical power, directs them to the paper – a scrap of 14th century paper with a drawing of a serpent. Mr. Sweet consults with the verger at a nearby church about the possible meaning and importance of the paper, only to be met with a horrified response. Tarot and Sam, expecting the killer to return to the bookstore in search of the paper, lay a trap, but this time Luko appears with his employer, the sinister Mr. Stabs, who seems to have considerable magical powers of his own – enough to stop Tarot in his tracks. Mr. Sweet and the church verger return with bad news: an exorcism, complete with chalk circles on the floor, will have to be performed on all who have touched the paper. During this ritual, the hand-drawn serpent becomes a real snake – and a terrified Lulli steps out of the protection of her circle.

written by Trevor Preston
directed by Pamela Lonsdale
music by Andrew Bown

Ace Of WandsCast: Michael Mackenzie (Tarot), Judy Loe (Lulli), Tony Selby (Sam), Donald Layne-Smith (Mr. Sweet), Russell Hunter (Mr. Stabs), Ian Trigger (Luko), Harriet Harper (Polandi), Llewellyn Rees (Mr. Christopher), Jack Woolgar (Charlie Postle)

Notes: This is the premiere of Ace Of Wands’ second season, but along with the rest of the second season, is missing due to ITV’s policy of erasing and reusing then-expensive videotape in the 1970s. This synopsis is based on the original scripts (included as bonus features on Network DVD’s box set release of the surviving third season) as well as very low-quality audio recordings of the episode in question.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
UFO

Reflections In The Water

UFOThe sinking of a commercial boat, followed quickly by the death of an underwater cameraman, gets SHADO’s attention focused on the Atlantic Ocean. Reports of objects resembling metallic flying fish tie both incidents together, and Straker orders Skydiver to investigate the region near a volcanic island where the boat was attacked. Skydiver’s sensors find an underwater power cable connected to a large artificial dome structure. When Straker and Foster investigate that dome in person, they see one of their own inside – a possible traitor within SHADO’s midst. They return to SHADO HQ, only to find the presumed traitor there too, but when questioned, he remembers nothing about the underwater dome. Straker and Foster return to the dome, this time to go inside and investigate…and what they find is their entire crew, and the SHADO control center, duplicated in every detail by the aliens…and ready to take over the real SHADO HQ.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by David Tomblin
directed by David Tomblin
music by Barry Gray

UFOCast: Edward Bishop (Cmdr. Straker), Michael Billington (Col. Foster), James Cosmo (Lt. Anderson), Gordon Sterne (Helmsman), Conrad Phillips (Skipper), Fredric Abbott (1st Seaman), Richard Caldicot (Film Producer), Mark Griffith (Underwater Cameraman), Keith Bell (Film Director), Gerald Cross (Insurance Man), David Warbeck (Skydiver Captain), Anouska Hempel (Skydiver Operative), Wanda Ventham (Col. Virginia Lake), Barry Stokes (Skydiver Navigator), Ayshea (SHADO Operative), Vladek Sheybal (Dr. Jackson), Dolores Mantez (Moonbase Commander), Steven Berkoff (Astronaut)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Ace Of Wands Season 2

Seven Serpents, Sulphur And Salt – Episode 2

Ace Of WandsWhen Lulli makes a hasty – and premature – exit from the exorcism ritual, the snake vanishes, and Lulli begins claiming that she is Kildaa, the bird spirit – and subtly announces her plans to go to the roof of the building in which Tarot lives so she can fly away. Tarot manages to break the spell and bring Lulli back, but the piece of paper with the serpent drawn on it has vanished. Mr. Postle, the church verger who was performing the exorcism, believes that the paper may have been 1/7 of a map to the location of a legendary secret: the ability to turn base metals into gold. Mr. Sweet and Mr. Postle also find evidence of a magician who was previously seeking that secret, named Estabis – over 200 years ago. Tarot and Sam follow a clue to find Mr. Stabs’ base of operations, where they overcome Stabs’ lackey, Luko, and photograph the other map segments in Stabs’ possession. But Stabs himself, in the guise of a reporter seeking an interview with Tarot, gains entry to Tarot’s apartment, which is occupied only by Lulli and Ozymandias the owl when he drops by. He casts a spell on Lulli to force her to give him the photograph of the missing segment of the map…and to force her to poison Tarot’s next cup of coffee…

written by Trevor Preston
directed by Pamela Lonsdale
music by Andrew Bown

Ace Of WandsCast: Michael Mackenzie (Tarot), Judy Loe (Lulli), Tony Selby (Sam), Donald Layne-Smith (Mr. Sweet), Russell Hunter (Mr. Stabs), Ian Trigger (Luko), Harriet Harper (Polandi), Jack Woolgar (Charlie Postle)

Notes: Along with the rest of the first and second seasons of the series, this episode of Ace Of Wands is missing due to ITV’s policy of erasing and reusing then-expensive videotape in the 1970s. This synopsis is based on the original scripts (included as bonus features on Network DVD’s box set release of the surviving third season) as well as very low-quality audio recordings of the episode in question.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Ace Of Wands Season 2

Seven Serpents, Sulphur And Salt – Episode 3

Ace Of WandsA suspicious Sam prevents Tarot from drinking the poisoned coffee, and again, Tarot is able to break the spell over Lulli, bringing her out from under Mr. Stabs’ control. But when she reveals that Stabs has the photo of the missing segment of the map, it’s clear that this race for an ancient secret is in a dead heat: everyone now has the complete map, it’s just a matter of who can decipher it and reach it first. The map leads to a dangerous abandoned well in a graveyard near the ruins of a castle, and Sam decides it’s safest for him to scale his way down the well to find part of the symbol that will unlock the secret. The other part of the symbol is under a large, marked stone, guarded by a particularly poisonous snake, though Tarot is able to retrieve it without disturbing the snake. But it’s only now that his nemeses have done the hard work that Mr. Stabs shows up to claim victory…and in that moments, it looks as though Tarot might switch sides.

written by Trevor Preston
directed by Pamela Lonsdale
music by Andrew Bown

Ace Of WandsCast: Michael Mackenzie (Tarot), Judy Loe (Lulli), Tony Selby (Sam), Donald Layne-Smith (Mr. Sweet), Russell Hunter (Mr. Stabs), Ian Trigger (Luko), Jonathan Cecil (Mr. Thwaites)

Notes: Along with the rest of the first and second seasons of the series, this episode of Ace Of Wands is missing due to ITV’s policy of erasing and reusing then-expensive videotape in the 1970s. This synopsis is based on the original scripts (included as bonus features on Network DVD’s box set release of the surviving third season) as well as very low-quality audio recordings of the episode in question.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Ace Of Wands Season 3

The Meddlers – Part 1

Ace Of WandsTarot visits a run-down street market, learning that unlucky accidents have been befalling the merchants there – a grocer whose goods go rotten, a bookseller whose cart catches on fire, and so on. A trio of wandering street musicians draw Tarot’s attention as well, particularly the somewhat threatening attitude of their spoon player. Tarot meets a photographer named Chas and his sister Mikki, discovering that he has a psychic link to Mikki similar to that which he once shared with Luli. Realizing that the stakes are becoming deadly, Tarot decides to stay and help revitalize that market, only to discover that someone doesn’t want his help…and intends to send that message forcefully.

written by P.J. Hammond
directed by John Russell
music by Andrew Bown

Ace Of WandsCast: Michael Mackenzie (Tarot), Petra Markham (Mikki), Roy Holder (Chas), Michael Standing (Spoon), Barry Linehan (Mockers), Paul Dawkins (Dove), Stefan Kalipha (Drum), Honora Burke (Madge), Neil Linden (Accordion Player)

Notes: This is the premiere of Ace Of Wands’ third season, the only season of the show left intact by ITV’s policy of erasing and reusing then-expensive videotape in the 1970s. While Doctor Who fans may feel Ace Of Wandsunlucky that so many 1960s episodes of that series are missing, Ace Of Wands was produced much more recently, and none of its first two seasons’ episodes now exist in the archives. Involving a crime-solving stage magician with mystic powers and ESP, the series introduced new characters in this episode, replacing the departed Roy (Tony Selby) and Luli (Judy Loe), who had been Tarot’s accomplices in the first two years of the show.

LogBook entry by Earl Green