MAN IN A SUITCASE Former CIA agent is reluctantly made to work for British Intelligence. 30 episodes of 60 minute duration. ITC 1967-1968.

One of the best examples of ITC's 1960's successful stable of spy/action series. Originally broadcast from 1967-1968, 'Man in a Suitcase' boasted a charismatic performance by imported American star Richard Bradford as McGill, a disgraced former CIA operative wrongly accused of treason, exiled to England and forced to make a precarious living in a dirty and thankless job as a freelance trouble-shooter/private investigator.

What set the series apart from other notable entries in the genre being produced at the time was the approach taken to the subject matter by series devisers Richard Harris & Dennis Spooner. In the character of McGill the viewers are presented with a hero much closer to the tarnished knight image of Raymond Chandler's classic Phillip Marlowe, than we are to the slick, almost cartoon sophistication of James Bond or Roger Moore's urban Simon Templar.

McGill is world-weary, cynical and possessed of a hair-trigger temper which often leads to sudden unexpected shocking outbursts of violence. There's no colourful megalomaniacs attempting to take over the world in the shadowy by-ways and seedy London drinking clubs he frequents, just flawed human beings whose greed, jealousy, and hate provide him with the $300-600 per week (plus expenses) needed for a reasonably comfortable survival in the world's most swinging city.

Excellent writing, no-frills direction and a top drawer string of guest stars made 'Man in a Suitcase' powerful entertainment, equal - if not superior - to many of the more glossy, light-weight offerings of the time, added to which it also benefited from one of the best remembered and catchy theme tunes to be composed by the talented Ron Grainer.

'Man in a Suitcase', is available on DVD and a repeated run on UK digital television proves that this is a series which, years later, still stands up to repeated viewing.

BIOGRAPHY: RICHARD BRADFORD