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gervase_fenThis year especially the escape into the past provided by TV drama of the 70s and 80s via YouTube has never been more enticing. Mrs Fen and I have been bingeing on Softly Softly Taskforce, vintage of 1972, now sadly absent from said website (and exactly the sort of programme that, if was part of their library, would guarantee a subscription to BritBox).
Still around for the time being are the underseen spy series Quiller (1975) and The Enigma Files (1980), starring vehicles for leading actors from The Trial of a Time Lord (1986) (9 to 12). Dipping into the last three episodes of Quiller finds Michael Jayston's title character being written by three different writers, all to some degree writing what they know. Brian Clemens' "Thundersky" reuses plot elements from his Avengers script "The Morning After" (nuclear warheads being assembled in the Home Counties by an antagonist ostensibly on our side) and provides an even more thankless role for Lalla Ward (as a hostage) than the one that she had in Van Der Valk (as a hostage). Michael J Bird's "Safe Passage" gives Quiller a lot more agency, playing three different national interests against each other as he works out what to do with George Cole's ruthless double agent who is trying to re-defect back to the West. Anthony Read's "Day of the Father" has a much more generic intrepretation of European realpolitik, but does include, in the first five minutes, somebody being attacked and killed by stock footage of a lion. The episode title gives a hint as to which popular novel the episode climax is lifted from.
I was too young to see Quiller, but do remember bits of The Enigma Files. The set-up here is that DCI Nick Lewis (Tom Adams, dead straight and slightly thuggish) has been transferred to the cold case section of the Home Office because he's been a bit too hands-on making arrests (and he's also blown the whistle on a corrupt superior.) The plot of the first episode relies on an outrageous last minute co-incidence to resolve the mystery, Sharon M(a)ughan's secretary is given little to do except snipe at her new boss for most of the running time, and the dialogue is so on the nose it was tickling my nostrils. Nevertheless, it's fascinating as an attempt at a US detective show with BBC sitcom production values. Everyone's taking it seriously, so the audience should do too.
Still around for the time being are the underseen spy series Quiller (1975) and The Enigma Files (1980), starring vehicles for leading actors from The Trial of a Time Lord (1986) (9 to 12). Dipping into the last three episodes of Quiller finds Michael Jayston's title character being written by three different writers, all to some degree writing what they know. Brian Clemens' "Thundersky" reuses plot elements from his Avengers script "The Morning After" (nuclear warheads being assembled in the Home Counties by an antagonist ostensibly on our side) and provides an even more thankless role for Lalla Ward (as a hostage) than the one that she had in Van Der Valk (as a hostage). Michael J Bird's "Safe Passage" gives Quiller a lot more agency, playing three different national interests against each other as he works out what to do with George Cole's ruthless double agent who is trying to re-defect back to the West. Anthony Read's "Day of the Father" has a much more generic intrepretation of European realpolitik, but does include, in the first five minutes, somebody being attacked and killed by stock footage of a lion. The episode title gives a hint as to which popular novel the episode climax is lifted from.
I was too young to see Quiller, but do remember bits of The Enigma Files. The set-up here is that DCI Nick Lewis (Tom Adams, dead straight and slightly thuggish) has been transferred to the cold case section of the Home Office because he's been a bit too hands-on making arrests (and he's also blown the whistle on a corrupt superior.) The plot of the first episode relies on an outrageous last minute co-incidence to resolve the mystery, Sharon M(a)ughan's secretary is given little to do except snipe at her new boss for most of the running time, and the dialogue is so on the nose it was tickling my nostrils. Nevertheless, it's fascinating as an attempt at a US detective show with BBC sitcom production values. Everyone's taking it seriously, so the audience should do too.
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Date: 2020-11-18 11:24 pm (UTC)