THE RAT CATCHERS
Based in Whitehall, ’The Rat Catchers’ were a highly secretive band of men who officially didn't exist, but whose job it was to ensure the security of Britain and the Western Alliance. The three main characters were international playboy Peregrine Pascale Smith (Gerald Flood) an Oxford educated managing director and cold bloodied, but expert spy, Brigadier Davidson (Philip Stone) the analytical brains behind the organisation, and newcomer Richard Hurst (Glyn Owen) a former Scotland Yard Superintendent. The series was a far cry from the glitzy world of the superspy as being portrayed in the cinema at that time, and more like the bleak underground world seen through the eyes of James Mitchell's ’Callan’, which began its televisual life just around the time that ’The Rat Catchers’ was ending its.
Associated Rediffusion. Black and white. 1966-1967.
RAWHIDE
Based on George Dutfield's 1866 diary, ’Rawhide’ told the tale of a team of cowboys on a cattle drive from San Antonio, Texas, to Sedalia, Kansas, during the same period. The drovers were led by Gil Favor (Eric Fleming) but the series is probably best remembered these days for the character Rowdy Yates, a part played by up and coming mega-star Clint Eastwood. (It was this role that brought Eastwood to the attention of spaghetti western director Sergio Leone). Other characters included Wishbone (Paul Brinegar), Mushy (James Murdock), and Pete Nolan (country singer Sheb Wooley, who had a 1958 hit with 'Purple People Eater').
217 episodes of 50 minute duration. CBS TV 1959-66.
THE RED BUTTONS SHOW
Former burlesque and Catskill Mountains resort comedian Red Buttons made his TV debut in September 1952 with a tried and tested format of monologues, dance routines and sketches with his cast of regulars and guest stars. The best known of his sketches were about Red and his wife, played by Dorothy Jolliffe. However, by October Jolliffe had given way to Beverly Dennis who in turn was replaced (at the start of the 1953-54 season) by Betty Ann Grove. By that time though the show, which had been an instant hit with the TV audiences, was visibly floundering. CBS cancelled and ’The Red Buttons Show’ was picked up by NBC, who insisted on a change of format. However the show only managed to limp on for another season during which Buttons' difficulties with scriptwriters became legend. As a result of this comedy scribes came and went at an incalculable rate. An 'in-joke' at the time had a writer wandering into Madison Square Garden and, confronted with a screaming mob of 18,000 fans, retreated in panic because he thought he'd stumbled into a meeting of Buttons' writers. In spite of the shows demise Red Buttons went on to have a successful career, earning himself an Academy Award in 1957 as Best Supporting Actor in ’Sayonara’, a film that starred James Garner, Marlon Brando and Ricardo Montalban.
1952-1954 CBS. 1954-1955 NBC.
REDCAP
John Thaw got his first starring role as Sergeant Mann of the Special Investigation Branch of the Royal Military Police (nicknamed a 'Redcap'), after being spotted by the producers in an episode of ’The Avengers’. His forceful investigations concerned British troops accused of anything from rape, murder or simple desertion from places as far flung as Cyprus to Borneo, and many of the characteristics he portrayed (tough, no-nonsense) were re-employed when he became ’The Sweeney's’ Jack Reagan. The series was remade in 2001 with a female lead.
26 episodes of 60 minute duration. ABC (UK). 1964-1966.
THE RED SKELTON SHOW
Like many comedians of this era Red Skelton came to television via a successful radio show bringing with him a whole host of well-rounded comedic characters. Skelton had mastered a type of physical comedy that was ideal for television and it kept him employed on US TV screens for twenty years. The format consisted of an opening monologue by Skelton, musical guest stars and a number of sketches. The only other 'regular' on the show was orchestra leader David Rose (who more famously composed 'The Stripper') who had been with Skelton since his radio days. This changed for the last season when a regular company of players supported the star. Skelton was considered a clown rather than a comic and was highly regarded amongst his fellow professionals.
1951-1953 NBC. 1953-1970 CBS. 1970-1971 NBC.
THE ROARING TWENTIES
Set in New York City in the roaring 1920's this adventure series starred Rex Reason and Donald May as two hard hitting reporters for the New York Daily Record, who tried to discover the big scoops of the day by infiltrating the underworld and exposing the crime bosses who were running the city during the Prohibition era. 'The Roaring Twenties tried to recapture the action, humour, the music and the razzle-dazzle that was so typical of that turbulent era in US history, with daring exploits, Park Avenue scandals, jazz, dance marathons, flappers, speakeasies and bootleggers. Or at least that's how its makers, Warner Brothers, described it at the time. The main characters were Scott Norris and Pat Garrison, who were often aided as well as hindered by cub reporter Chris Higbee (Gary Vinson) and Charleston Club singer Delaware 'Pinky' Pinkham (Dorothy Provine). Most of the shows sparkle came from its dance routines and use of authentic newsreel footage from the era it depicted. A dinner jacket and wig once used by Al Jolson were altered to fit Dorothy Provine for one particular musical number and on one occasion a supporting player discovered, on examining the inside label of a suit he was wearing, that it had been worn by James Cagney 22 years earlier in a full-length film called...'The Roaring Twenties'.
26 shows of 60 minute duration.
ROBIN HOOD
Presented under the Children's Television banner Robin Hood was the first serialised TV outing for Sherwood Forest's most famous inhabitant. Written by Max Kester and broadcast over six weeks in 30-minute episodes from 17th March 1953, Robin Hood was thought to be, like many series of the day, broadcast live, shown once and then lost forever. However, the BBC was just beginning to experiment with a method whereby televised material could be preserved by filming it from a specially adapted monitor. As a result of this, in what is possibly the earliest example of these 'telerecording' experiments, an entire episode ('The Abbot of St Mary') exists in the BBC archives. Future 'Doctor Who' Patrick Troughton played Robin, with Kenneth MacKintosh as Little John, Wensley Pithey as Friar Tuck and David Kossoff as the Sheriff of Nottingham.
6 episodes of 30 minutes duration. BBC TV. 1953
ROBERT TAYLOR'S DETECTIVES
A minor hit on both sides of the Atlantic starring Hollywood screen star Robert Taylor as the hard-nosed and humourless Captain Matt Holbrook, head of a city's detective department. The series was dropped by ABC after its second season but was picked up for one more run by NBC in 1961 under the title ’The Detectives, Starring Robert Taylor’. In the UK it was more appropriately named ’Captain of Detectives’, not relying on the star's name in the title to draw in the audience. Each episode allowed a different member of Holbrook's team to take centre stage and they included Lt. John Russo (Tige Andrews) and Sgt Chris Ballard (Mark Goddard). Holbrook himself was a widower who had little time for romance, although there was a brief affair with a police reporter called Lisa Bonay, who was played by Taylor's real-life wife Ursula Thiess. In the final season the team were joined by Sgt Steve Nelson played by an actor who would go on to make his own mark in television heaven as TV's ’Batman’...Adam West.
ROOTS
Based on the novel by Alex Haley, ’Roots’ chronicled the 100-year history of a black family, from capture in Africa by slave-traders to eventual emancipation in post Civil War America. The series picked up the action around 1750 with the capture of Kunta Kinte (LeVar Burton), and followed him on his journey to the US where he was forced to adopt the new name of Toby (now played by John Amos). Later, his daughter, Kizzy (Leslie Uggams), was raped by her owner (a white plantation owner) and gave birth to a son, who was eventually known as Chicken George (Ben Vereen). George's son, Tom (Georg Stanford Brown), then fought in the American Civil War before moving to Tennessee to be 'freed'. However, freedom involved very few civil rights, grim poverty and poor education. 5 years later, ’Roots: The Next Generation’ picked up the story once again, this time around 1880 and continued through to the late 1960's, finishing with Alex (James Earl Jones), a noted writer who returned to Africa to discover his roots. The impact that the original series had on the American television audience was nothing short of phenomenal, with over half of the country's population tuning in to the last episode and eventually earning over 30 Emmy Awards. ’Roots’ was the show that established the consecutive-night mini-series as a staple diet for television viewers for years to come although, initially, TV executives were much more apprehensive about broadcasting the series. ABC programming chief Fred Silverman hoped that by airing the series on consecutive nights should it prove to be a flop it would cut the network's losses--and get 'Roots' off the air before too many viewers had taken notice of it. But take notice of it they did. The series drew rave reviews from black and white critics alike even if some of them suggested that as a version of true history, the series was questionable to say the least, and that most of America watched in order to repent the sins of their ancestors. Even if true, the fact remains that 'Roots' was the most convincingly honest depiction of slavery that had been seen on our TV screens before.
4 episodes of 120 and 4 episodes of 60 minute duration. ABC 1977
THE ROY ROGERS SHOW
Known as "The King of the Cowboys" Roy Rogers was a clean-cut singing Western movie actor from Cincinnati, Ohio. Transferring to the small screen, Roy lived on the Double R Bar Ranch in Paradise Valley, near Mineral City. From here he maintained law and order in the contemporary west with help from his bumbling sidekick, Pat Brady. Roy's wife, "Queen of the West", Dale Evans, helped him run a diner called the Eureka Café. Pat drove an unreliable jeep known as Nellybelle whilst Roy rode his trusty Palomino stallion, Trigger. As special trappings for the famous horse Roy had a hand-tooled set of saddle, martingale and bridle made (plus chaps and spurs for himself), which were valued at an estimated $50,000. (See "Related Articles" in right hand column.) Dale rode the more modest Buttermilk and they also owned a dog called Bullet. Musical accompaniment came from the 'Sons of the Pioneers.' Evans sang the series' theme song, 'Happy Trails to You,' and the show was broadcast from 1951 to 1957 in the early evening children's slot on Sunday's by NBC, repeated in syndication on Saturday mornings from 1961 to 1964.
NBC. 1951-1957.
