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ITV Means ACTION In The 60s-70s

MrRING

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I've been watching Man in a Suitcase and rather enjoying it... considering that I like a number of UK shows from the 60's & 70's that originated somewhere in the ITV cannon (Avengers, Jason King, The Prisoner, Danger Man, The Protectors, The Persuaders - I think they are all ITV anyway) I was curious to know what other series are recommended from this period, and is there any guide to ITV from that period that lists their action/spy/fantastic shows?
 
I've been watching Man in a Suitcase and rather enjoying it... considering that I like a number of UK shows from the 60's & 70's that originated somewhere in the ITV cannon (Avengers, Jason King, The Prisoner, Danger Man, The Protectors, The Persuaders - I think they are all ITV anyway) I was curious to know what other series are recommended from this period, and is there any guide to ITV from that period that lists their action/spy/fantastic shows?

This belongs in the Spy fi thread, mate!

One of my very first posts on this here forum - about, oh, three or four years back now - was an attempt to locate and identify a show that i had seen when I was about seven and was very much of this genre. The scene was so intensely curious that I have been haunted with it ever since.

Briefly - there's a guy who is being meanced by two comanions. He's always lying on a couch and having hallucinatory dreams or flashbacks. One of these involved being in a large glass tube - and his two `friends` are outside of it dressed as penguins - and every now and then they pull a chain and the water, wuth ice cubes in it rises...

It wasn't ThePrisoner, Danger Man or Adamant - but had elements of all of these....
 
...and is there any guide to ITV from that period that lists their action/spy/fantastic shows?

I own a copy of the gloriously titled Fags, Slags, Blags & Jags - the Sweeney: the Unofficial Companion to the TV Series by Mike Kenwood and George Williams - but I think it might be hard to find these days.

You'll probably have more luck with a book which is actually called, Shut It - but despite what it says on the blurb about 70's cop shows, it's really just about The Sweeney and The Professionals.

(Oh, how I miss the old Murder One on Charing Cross Road.)
 
You'll probably have more luck with a book which is actually called, Shut It - but despite what it says on the blurb about 70's cop shows, it's really just about The Sweeney and The Professionals.
Ha! When I was watching that Nissan Almera ad above, the words 'shut it' came to mind! :)
 
This belongs in the Spy fi thread, mate!

One of my very first posts on this here forum - about, oh, three or four years back now - was an attempt to locate and identify a show that i had seen when I was about seven and was very much of this genre. The scene was so intensely curious that I have been haunted with it ever since.

Briefly - there's a guy who is being meanced by two comanions. He's always lying on a couch and having hallucinatory dreams or flashbacks. One of these involved being in a large glass tube - and his two `friends` are outside of it dressed as penguins - and every now and then they pull a chain and the water, wuth ice cubes in it rises...

It wasn't ThePrisoner, Danger Man or Adamant - but had elements of all of these....
The Avengers?
 
I own a copy of the gloriously titled Fags, Slags, Blags & Jags - the Sweeney: the Unofficial Companion to the TV Series by Mike Kenwood and George Williams - but I think it might be hard to find these days.

You'll probably have more luck with a book which is actually called, Shut It - but despite what it says on the blurb about 70's cop shows, it's really just about The Sweeney and The Professionals.

(Oh, how I miss the old Murder One on Charing Cross Road.)

Sadly elusive--would like to read.

Published by Uslag Press, no less!

The-Sweeney-FagsSlagsBlags-Jags-Unofficial-companion-Kenwood-2.jpg The-Sweeney-FagsSlagsBlags-Jags-Unofficial-companion-Kenwood-_57-2.jpg

Edit: found this sample.
fags_slags_spread.jpg
 
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I've been watching Man in a Suitcase and rather enjoying it... considering that I like a number of UK shows from the 60's & 70's that originated somewhere in the ITV cannon (Avengers, Jason King, The Prisoner, Danger Man, The Protectors, The Persuaders - I think they are all ITV anyway) I was curious to know what other series are recommended from this period, and is there any guide to ITV from that period that lists their action/spy/fantastic shows?

Fans of ITC who produced the above may be excited to know Network are releasing a Blu-ray box set of selected episodes of their output in July, all remastered. Their UFO and Space: 1999 box sets looked great in HD, so here's hoping this will get the same treatment.
 
So is the Sweeny kind of like the more serious cop dramas of the 70's, like Kojac for instance?
 
What I liked best about those shows was waiting for this scene to crop up - if the bad guys were in a white Jag you knew this was going to happen

Similar to that, I seem to recall that a helicopter explosion (possibly from a Jame Bond film) got re-used in a few TV shows later on.
 
So is the Sweeny kind of like the more serious cop dramas of the 70's, like Kojac for instance?

I think the word that gets bandied around is 'gritty'--albeit exaggerated.

Morally ambiguous characters in that fag-end, tawdry London that we inherited from underinvestment and the Luftwaffe. Although since presented/parodied as emblematic of the era, Regan, the anti-hero protagonist, is actually supposed to be an atavistic throwback in the setting--the one whose methods are ill-suited to the winds of modernisation blowing into the police force (see the Operation Journeyman thread), but he's perfectly adapted for the rough parish that he polices.

All the genuinely 'good guys' are victims: working-class Graham Greenes with more out-and-out atheism than existential and religious doubt--lots of psychologically damaged characters. It does give a great sense of environment: strip clubs, boozers, caffs, warehouses, bookies' shops and dogs' tracks--and a proper cast of villains with nicknames and memorable modi operandi. Nobody ever seems to get called by their Christian name unless it's showgirls or hookers, in which case they're probably fake. Everybody smokes all the time.
 
Similar to that, I seem to recall that a helicopter explosion (possibly from a Jame Bond film) got re-used in a few TV shows later on.

Oh yes, I remember that. I'm sure it's the helicopter scene in From Russia With Love.
 
This belongs in the Spy fi thread, mate!

One of my very first posts on this here forum - about, oh, three or four years back now - was an attempt to locate and identify a show that i had seen when I was about seven and was very much of this genre. The scene was so intensely curious that I have been haunted with it ever since.

Briefly - there's a guy who is being meanced by two comanions. He's always lying on a couch and having hallucinatory dreams or flashbacks. One of these involved being in a large glass tube - and his two `friends` are outside of it dressed as penguins - and every now and then they pull a chain and the water, wuth ice cubes in it rises...

It wasn't ThePrisoner, Danger Man or Adamant - but had elements of all of these....

If it wasn't The Avengers, it sounds like one of the wackier episodes from Department S.
 
I think the word that gets bandied around is 'gritty'--albeit exaggerated.

Morally ambiguous characters in that fag-end, tawdry London that we inherited from underinvestment and the Luftwaffe. Although since presented/parodied as emblematic of the era, Regan, the anti-hero protagonist, is actually supposed to be an atavistic throwback in the setting--the one whose methods are ill-suited to the winds of modernisation blowing into the police force (see the Operation Journeyman thread), but he's perfectly adapted for the rough parish that he polices.

All the genuinely 'good guys' are victims: working-class Graham Greenes with more out-and-out atheism than existential and religious doubt--lots of psychologically damaged characters. It does give a great sense of environment: strip clubs, boozers, caffs, warehouses, bookies' shops and dogs' tracks--and a proper cast of villains with nicknames and memorable modi operandi. Nobody ever seems to get called by their Christian name unless it's showgirls or hookers, in which case they're probably fake. Everybody smokes all the time.

All that and Morecambe and Wise.

An American series in comparison would probably be The Streets of San Francisco, except The Sweeney didn't end every episode with everyone laughing.
 
I've tried to watch Police Squad! with some non-native English speakers before and it's just rabbit in the headlights stuff as the jokes fly over their head at an unprecedented rate.

I'm afraid that a lot of American comedy leaves me cold, but that series--and obviously the Airplane films--are right up there with the greats.
 
I've tried to watch Police Squad! with some non-native English speakers before and it's just rabbit in the headlights stuff as the jokes fly over their head at an unprecedented rate.

I'm afraid that a lot of American comedy leaves me cold, but that series--and obviously the Airplane films--are right up there with the greats.

Apparently the millennials consider Airplane the ultimate "dad joke" movie - and I thought it was so cutting edge when I first saw it! Oh well. Presumably The Kentucky Fried Movie would make many heads explode these days.
 
Presumably The Kentucky Fried Movie would make many heads explode these days.

I've never seen that, nor anything with Cheech & Chong, whom I associate with it mentally--was there some connection?
 
I've never seen that, nor anything with Cheech & Chong, whom I associate with it mentally--was there some connection?

Nothing to do with Cheech and Chong, it was from the ZAZ Airplane boys and John Landis. It's a series of sketches in bad taste, and for me, with my liking for 1970s trash, it's absolutely hilarious. I don't feel brave enough to recommend it too often, however.
 
I really hope my mother has kept my Sweeney annual. I wouldn't bet on it though, this woman gave away all of my Star Wars toys.


Yeah it's bittersweet. I think of my toys that were destroyed through playing with them or just given away when I got to old for them. Action Man and Star Wars spring to mind.

Toys are supposed to be played with they are not some sort of collectables wet dream for fat bloke in their 40's.

Men collecting toys is just odd.
 
This is one of my favourite LPs...

R-1249408-1231876921.jpeg.jpg


...bought when I worked at HMV back in 2001 and nobody pressed vinyl, so it's worth a few bob nowadays.

I'd never part with it though, it's a double LP of the original opening and closing themes (full length versions), and the rest is jazz-funk KPM library music that was used in the show.

Best feature is the dialogue samples in between each track, an absolute goldmine when you're knocking up a mixtape.

"We're the Sweeney son, and we haven't had any dinner!"

"Where's the money?"
*punch*
"Where's the money?"
*punch*
"Where's the money?!"
*punch*

*pause*

"Where's the ambulance?"

And my personal favourite "Put your trousers on, you're nicked!"
 
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