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Love On A Rooftop & Lucas Tanner Mike Spadoni 2010 All articles are copyright © Television Heaven or their individual authors where stated |
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Love On A Rooftop & Lucas Tanner Mike Spadoni 2010 All articles are copyright © Television Heaven or their individual authors where stated |
Sunday teatime series aimed at children and no doubt inspired by the success of the previous years 'Timeslip', 'Jamie' was yet another variation on the time travel theme with, in this case, the hero being transported from era to era on a magic carpet. On his journey's Jamie (Garry Miller), accompanied by his friend, Tink (Nigel Chivers) encountered famous figures from British history such as Guy Fawkes (in the story entitled "Remember, Remember") and Horatio Nelson ("England Expects"). The other constant in the series was the enigmatic Mr Zed (Aubrey Morris) who always encouraged Jamie on his travels and seemed to know a lot more about the magic carpet than he ever let on. The one thing that he did reveal was that neither Jamie nor Tink, try as they might, could ever change history.
Children's drama series broadcast over 13 episodes from February 1973. Written by Carey Harrison (son of actor Rex Harrison), 'The Jensen Code' told the tale of 16 year-old Terry Connor (Dai Bradley) who is sent to an outdoor activity centre in Derbyshire. Along with Alex (Tony Wright) he stumbles across a plot to steal the Jensen Code from a nearby Ministry of Defence base. The codes creator is then murdered, but not before entrusting Terry with the code. The trouble is Terry doesn't know to trust and his dilemma is further complicated when he wakes up in hospital with his memory of the code completely erased.
One of the major female recording artists of all time, Jo Elizabeth Stafford (1917-2008) was an American singer of traditional pop music and jazz standards whose career ran from the late 1930s to the early 1960s by which time she had sold in excess of 25,000,000 records. Among her best sellers were Make Love To Me, Jambalaya, Temptation and You Belong To Me. On September 9, 1961 viewers caught their first glimpse of nine star-studded shows seen fortnightly. This was billed as the most ambitious series ever launched by a British television production company, the first international musical series incorporating artistes from Britain and America. Produced at ATV's Boreham Wood studios each show had a theme. The first show dealt with the basic difference in the English language as spoken in America and the UK. Guests in this show included Graham Stark and Peter Sellers. One show dealt with the subject of love and Stafford was joined by Ella Fitzgerald for a musical medley while Claire Bloom recited verse and Kathleen Harrison and George Benson performed in a sketch. Another show on travel starred Kenneth More who bought with him the vintage motor car 'Genevieve' as seen in the movie of the same name. Other guests included Roy Castle, Peter Lawford, Edd Byrnes, Rosemary Clooney, Peggy Lee, Bob Hope, Benny Hill, Harry Secombe and Mel Torme. Other themes included the four seasons, chivalry and big bands. One show was recorded at the London Palladium, starred Robert Morley, Stanley Holloway and Morecambe and Wise.
The seventeen episodes that made up 'Journey to the Unknown' were a mixture of psychological suspense, medical experimentation and science fiction with a little murder and mystery thrown in for good measure -So it's not surprising to learn that executive producers Joan Harrison and Norman Lloyd had previously worked on another TV series, with the master of suspense himself...Alfred Hitchcock. Hammer Films made the series in Britain although US filmmakers Twentieth Century Fox financed it to the tune of £70,000 per episode. This was Hammer's first venture into TV after establishing itself in the mid 1950's with cinematic retellings of such classics as Frankenstein and Dracula (although its first international success came in 1955 with 'The Quatermass Xperiment' -US title 'The Creeping Unknown'). The series premiered in the US several weeks prior to its UK debut (on ABC) but even then it was not afforded a steady run, being shown mainly in the London area with only sporadic viewings elsewhere. A steady mixture of American and British stars appeared and they included Michael Gough, Dennis Waterman, Milo O'Shea, Stephanie Powers, George Maharis, Joseph Cotton, Nanette Newman, David Hedison, Jane Asher, Bernard Lee, Roddy McDowell, Ingrid Pitt, Barbara Bel Geddes, Jack Hedley, and Paul Daneman. The 'Unknown' referred to in the title was the Human Mind.
Early Sunday evening presentation shown under the 'Heyday Theatre' banner. This four-part children's adventure series was a modern version of Marion St. John Webb's story (originally published in 1917), starring 15-year old 4ft 5in Jack Wild, by this time internationally famous as the Artful Dodger in Lionel Bart's musical 'Oliver!' Wild was teamed with young Sally-Ann Jones - three years his junior but the same height - to play twins Jack and Molly. Comedienne Hattie Jacques starred as their Aunt Nancy, a magical lady who lead the children off into a world of fun and fantasy. The serial started at the children's 12th birthday party, presided over by Nancy. Later, when the twins are in bed, Molly has a dream about one of her presents, a pin cushion, which turns into a walking "Grey Pumpkin Man" (played by diminutive character actor Norman McGleen). The rest of the serial was devoted to Molly's fantasy world, where she and Jack got involved in all sorts of adventures. Two stars from 'Please Sir!' appeared in the series; Eric Chitty and Liz Gebhardt.
From the prolific master of US televisual sci-fi, Irwin Allen, came this tale of a sub-orbital commercial flight that entered a space-warp and crash-landed on a planet that was home to people 12 times the normal height. The crew and passengers of the US rocketship "Spindrift" trapped in this land of giants were Capt Steve Burton (Gary Conway), Dan Erikson (Don Marshall), Mark Wilson (Don Matheson), Barry Lockridge (Stefan Arngrim), Valerie Scott (Deanna Lund) and Betty Hamilton (Heather Young). Whereas Allen's 'Lost In Space' was based on the Swiss Family Robinson, so 'Giants' was based on 'Gullivers Travels' and like 'LIS' it featured a resident villain, Commander Alexander Fitzugh (Kurt Kasznar). Although very dated now, the series used trick photography and elaborate props and was funded to the tune of $250,000 per episode, making it the most costliest series to date between its two season run from 1968-70.
Hugely popular children's show that began on BBC in 1956. Terry Hall was one of the first ventriloquists to use an animal rather than a little boy as his dummy and Lenny was also one of the first to be given the abilty to move his arms, where he was, at times, prone to burying his head in embarrassment. One of Lenny's endearing qualities was his inability to pwonounce his 'R's. Apart from the original series there was 'Lenny's Den' from 1959-61, and 'Pops and Lenny' from 1962-63 which featured an early appearance by The Beatles.
Between the fourth and fifth seasons of the hugely popular sitcom 'The Larkins', star David Kossoff took time off from being second fiddle as the put-upon husband, Alf Larkin, to make a pilot for a show written especially for him. Kossoff starred as a wise but stubborn furniture maker and master craftsman by the name of Marcus Lieberman. Having arrived in England some years before as a Latvian immigrant without so much as a penny in his pocket, Marcus was, with some justification, proud of the fact that he had built a thriving business for himself. However, when he introduced his educated and equally ambitious son Simon into the business, he was forced to modernize. Granada Television were impressed enough to order a full series although filming had to wait until Kossoff was free of his commitment to series five of 'The Larkins', which didn't finish until December 1963. With 'A Little Big Business' running from February to April 1964, series six of The Larkins running from July to August and then ALBB series two going out from January to March 1965, David Kossoff was seldom off our TV screens for almost a decade ('The Larkins' had debuted in 1958). For the series proper there were numerous cast changes from the pilot with most notably Francis Matthews (later TV's 'Paul Temple') taking over from James Maxwell in the role of Simon. 'Little Big Business' (the 'A' was dropped for the last series) was a gentle generation-gap comedy full of Jewish humour and inspired by Kossoff's own experiences of working in the furniture trade prior to becoming an actor.
Little Grey Rabbit was the creation of prolific British writer Alison Uttley (1884 - 1976) who wrote over 100 books the first of which were a series of tales about animals, including Little Grey Rabbit, The Little Red Fox, Sam Pig and Hare. The stories were adapted for television and told by Ann Hogarth and Jan Bussell with their glove puppets. First introduced on 8th September 1950 Little Grey Rabbit along with a number of other daytime programmes formed BBC's essential children's output originally titled For The Children but later the more famously remembered Watch With Mother. Little Grey Rabbit returned to the screens 50 years later courtesy of Cosgrove Hall Films as an animated series with Pauline Collins, Hugh Laurie and Andrew Sachs providing voices.
Six-part children's TV series with an educational theme set in Elizabethan London and written by schoolteacher Joy Thwaytes. The idea was to take its young audience inside the Globe Theatre while side-stepping any idea of documentary. "Shakespeare needn't be a bore" Thwaytes was quoted as saying in a TV Times article, "but it depends on how you treat him. I decided the best way was to let viewers see the Globe through the eyes of a boy who gets there by accident." The little ship of the title is a model made by Giles Kendall (Jimmy Ray) of his father's ship, the Pheonix. A shy, country boy of 14, he is searching Southwark for his father or news of his ship when he meets Dr Pietro (Peter Collingwood), the alchemist. Hoping to buy the model, the wily Pietro pretends he can find Giles' father.
BBC children's series set in the imaginary village of Little Hemlock about a mischievous 12 year-old girl, Penelope Arbuckle (played by future Blue Peter presenter Tina Heath), and her imaginary witch friend (Sonia Dresdel), who only Penelope (and the TV audience) could see. Penelope was the Lizzie Dripping of the title, the name being a provincial term in the Nottingham area for a plucky girl who has difficulty in telling the difference between fact and fiction. The character was created by Helen Cresswell for a single 'Jackanory Playhouse' presentation entitled 'Lizzie Dripping and The Orphans' in 1972 and commissioned as a full series the following year. Told entirely from the young girl's point of view with a narrative supplied by Heath for moments when Penelope was thinking (Hannah Gordon did the honours in the pilot). The series was filmed in the Nottinghamshire village of Eakring, where Cresswell lived at the time. Only eight episodes were made, the first four in 1973 and the other four two years later and in between there were three 'Lizzie Dripping' books all published in 1974.
Michael Medwin, recently demobbed from The Army Game, was given a 26-week sitcom (although it was eventually extended to 30) as dance-band trumpeter Mike Lane; always broke, always short of rent, always running after easy money or a hard-to-get blonde. He is an inveterate woman chaser, and his hunting costume is a padded dressing gown and long cigarette holder. His equipment includes a record-player pitched to woo, soft lights and an unscrupulous eye for an unfair advantage. However, this being the moralistic early 1960s, it isn't surprising that Mike's schemes always end in failure. Appearing with Medwin were Brian Wilde as his flat-mate (although only for the first seven episodes - he was replaced by Bernard Fox), George Roderick, from The Larkins, as a henpecked neighbour who is always popping in and Carmel McSharry as Mike's char lady. Medwin, Roderick and Fox teamed up again the following year for Three Live Wires.
Newly-married couple David and Julie Willis were from two different worlds: David (Peter Duel) was an apprentice architect making a grand total of $85.37 a week; Julie (Judy Carne) was the daughter of a wealthy family and was more of a dreamer than a practical homemaker. But love won out, and the pair set up housekeeping in a small top-floor walk up apartment with a beautiful view of the San Francisco Bay. David and Julie had to deal with neighbours Stan and Carol Parker (impressionist Rich Little and Barbara Bostock), along with Julie's parents Phyllis and Fred Hammond (Edith Atwater and Herb Voland), who didn't approve of the couple's Spartan lifestyle. Sandy Kenyon was David's co-worker Jim Lucas. Despite decent ratings, ABC ended Love On A Rooftop after just one season. But the network aired repeats during the summer of 1971, in part to capitalize on the two stars—Duel was by that time starring on the series Alias Smith & Jones and Carne was a regular on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.
David Hartman could have been a professional baseball player–or an economist. Instead, he pursued acting and did rather well at it, starring in The New Doctors instalment of NBC’s The Bold Ones anthology and guest starring on other series and in films. Lucas Tanner cast Hartman in the title role of a former baseball player and sportswriter who started a new life after his wife and son died in a car accident. He moved to St. Louis, Missouri and became an English teacher at Harry Truman High School in the suburb of Webster Groves (where the series was filmed). His down-to-earth style of education (and his way of dealing with teen issues such as sex, violence and peer pressure) didn’t sit well with his fellow teachers, but was supported by principal Margaret Blumenthal (Rosemary Murphy). Young Robbie Rist played Lucas’ neighbour Glendon Farrell. In mid-season, Margaret was replaced as school principal by John Hamilton (John Randolph), who was more of an adversary for Lucas. The pilot episode of Lucas Tanner premiered in May 1974 as a 90-minute TV film; an ad in TV Guide magazine featured the headline "Once he pitched in the majors, now he throws curves at the establishment-and the students love him for it!" But the show was a marginal performer in the ratings, and the network set it free after one season. Lucas Tanner was David Hartman’s last role as an actor. In November 1975, he began a new career as the host of ABC’s breakfast show Good Morning America, which became the first programme to successfully challenge NBC’s entrenched Today. Hartman left the show in 1987 after a dispute with ABC over salary and programme control. He continues to host documentaries for public television and other outlets.
Convinced that he could find a starring vehicle that would make his 'discovery' David Jason a household name in Britain (see review of 'The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs'), producer Humphrey Barclay invited Terence Frisby ('There's A Girl In My Soup') to write a 13-episode sitcom that would be tailor made for the actor's talents. In the series Jason plays Shorty Mepstead, a South-East Londoner who lives at home with his mum (Pat Heywood) and brother, Randolph (Peter Armitage). The brothers, who run their own plumbing company, are like chalk and cheese, with Shorty being the shy and reserved type and Randolph being a confident 'lad' who has no problem 'pulling' the ladies. The problem for Shorty is that in the first episode Randolph 'pulls' Kath (Cheryl Hall), who he is in love with. However, by the end of the series the 'lucky feller' gets his girl. The Stage reviewed the series on its debut with the prophetic statement that, 'Somewhere there is a writer whose idea's Mr Jason can execute to great effect but they have not met yet.'
13 part Anglo / Australian co-production that was two years in the making and told the adventures of the Firbeck family who are uprooted from their Yorkshire home by their father in 1829 following the death of their mother, and taken to the other side of the world to start afresh in New South Wales. Their journey was not meant to be a speculative one, as the father, former naval lieutenant Jason Firbeck (James Condon), set out to claim land bequeathed to them by an old friend. However, when they arrive in Australia they find that the land promised to them is occupied by others and, without enough funds to return home, they are forced to set up residence in the bush. Proclaimed by law as squatters, the Firbeck's have to stand up to prejudice, other settlers, outlaws and native Aborigines in order to survive. The family consisted of daughter Jassy (Elisabeth Crosby), and sons Samuel (Gerard Maguire) and Luke (Oliver Tobias), the hero of the piece who more often than not risked life and limb in order to protect his family in their pursuit of a peaceful existence. Tobias, with his rugged good looks was already on his way to making a career of period-piece dramas having previously starred in 'Arthur of the Britons,' he would follow this series with a guest appearance in 'Dick Turpin' and a starring role in 'Smuggler.'
