UKRIDGE
Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge is a fictional character from the short stories and novels of P. G. Wodehouse. And while Ukbridge (pronounced Ewkridge) never enjoyed the same popularity as Bertie Wooster and Jeeves here was another of the author's amiable eccentric characters from the 1920s bought to life in exemplary style by the BBC. Ukridge is a bounder, a schemer and an outrageous conman who will do anything for financial gain - as long as it doesn't involve working. He is an opportunist who never passes up a chance to exploit any kindness shown to him. And yet, as with so many other television rogues down the years, the viewing public took him straight to their collective heart, due in no small part to the amiable performance of Anton Rodgers in the lead role, suitably accompanied by Julian Holloway as his chum, Corky, and Marian Spencer as Aunt Julia. Richard Waring adapted Wodehouse's scripts for television. Wodehouse must have retained a certain fondness for him; his last appearance in a Wodehouse story being was as late as 1966.
7 episodes of 30 minute duration. BBC TV. 1968.
VAN DER VALK
British made detective series starring Barry Foster in the title role as Dutch detective Commissaris Piet Van der Valk. The series was based on the novels of Nicolas Freeling (the first of which was published in 1962) but this was not the detective's first screen outing, having first appeared in a 1968 British made b-movie entitled 'Amsterdam Affair' featuring German actor Wolfgang Kieling in the main role. Following the TV series debut in 1972 a Dutch language version was made by Filmking in 1973, 'Because of the Cats' was a Dutch/Belgian co-production starring British actor Bryan Marshall and there was also a Franco-German series of made-for-TV movies starring Frank Finlay: 'Van der Valk und das Mädchen' (1972), 'Van der Valk und die Reichen' (1973), and 'Pas de frontičres pour l'inspecteur: Le bouc émissaire' (1975). But it is Barry Foster's portrayal which is best remembered as the moody blond, curly haired detective who works for the local CID. Also memorable was the beautifully filmed extensive Amsterdam location shots which acted as a backdrop for the investigation of such gritty cases of drugs, prostitution and murder. After an initial two-year run (6 episodes in 1972 and 7 episodes in 1973) the series disappeared from our screen for four years returning in 1977 in a longer, twelve-episode, third series made by Thames Television's subsidary, Euston Films. The format was revived once again towards the end of Thames' life as a part of the ITV network, with four two-hour episodes of the fourth series in January and February 1991, and the fifth series three two-hour episodes in February 1992 in a longer two-hour format. The series signature tune, Eye Level played by the Simon Park Orchestra, reached number one in the UK singles charts in 1973.
25 episodes of 60 minute duration and 4 of 120 minutes. Thames Television. 1972-73. 1977. 1991-92. Van Der Valk - Series 1 Box Set [1972]
VENDETTA
Underworld investigations series based on an idea and format by writers Brian Degas (co-creator of 'Colditz') and Tudor Gates and starring Italian actor Stelio Candelli as ex-Mafia man turned investigator, Danny Scipio. The series, produced by the BBC, ran for two seasons (between 1966 and 1968) and was filmed mainly on location in Malta, which doubled (trebled or even quadrupled for that matter) for any of the foreign locations where the particular episode was meant to be set. Scipio was aided by fellow crime-busting partner Angelo James (Neil McCallum), and the series featured a number of British actors in supporting roles. (Kenneth Cope is featured in the above photograph with Candelli and McCallum from left to right).
Kieron Moore took over as Mike Hammond, a District Attorney, half-way through the last series when Neil McCallum's character Angelo James was badly wounded in an ambush. All 36 episodes were produced by William Slater whose other TV credits include 'Maigret,' 'Drama Playhouse' and 'The Onedin Line.'
36 shows of 50 minute duration. 1966-1968.
WHACK-O!
50's comedy series from the pens of Denis Norden and Frank Muir and starring Jimmy Edwards who had been awarded the DFC during the war when he fought with the RAF. Edwards, whose trademark was a magnificent handle-bar moustache, had been a radio star since the 1940's as Pa Glum, but it was for his role as Professor Jimmy Edwards, the corrupt, crafty and cane swishing headmaster of Chiselbury School for which he will always be most famously remembered. His bullying tactics were not confined simply to his students, and members of his staff were given a particularly rough ride, especially his weedy right-hand man, Mr. Pettigrew (played by Arthur Howard, brother of movie star Leslie). During it's initial four-year run Kenneth Cope (Marty Randall in 'Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)'), and Peter Glaze of 'Crackerjack' fame appeared regularly. A cinema version 'Bottoms Up' was released in 1960. and the series itself was revived in 1971.
55 episodes of 30 minute duration. B&W and Colour. BBC TV 1956-60 and 1971-72.
WHIPLASH
With America growing tired of the British produced 'swashbucklers' such as Sir Francis Drake' and 'The Adventures Of Robin Hood' ITC decided to have a go at producing the more popular US genre, the Western. 'Whiplash' was based on the true story of Cobb & Co., a stagecoach line that grew up in Australia in the Wells Fargo mould following the 1850's gold rush. Boss of the company was US actor Peter Graves (brother of 'Gunsmoke' star James Arness) who would later find fame as Jim Phelps in the 60's spy thriller series 'Mission Impossible', and 'Whiplash' was filmed at Alice Springs and used for its backdrop such locations as the MacDonnell Ranges, the Ormiston Gorge and Ayer's Rock.
Scripts were written by American writers which included Harry Fink and Gene Roddenberry and Australian writers Michael Noonan and Michael Plant, although there was (apparently) considerable concern amongst the Australian writers about 'unsuitable' American scripts - it was claimed that one script called for a scene featuring a 'herd of stampeding sheep!' The production was beset with other problems right from the beginning and before the series went into full production Executive Producer Ralph Smart resigned to be replaced by Leslie Harris. Graves played company boss Christopher Cobb, a handsome 30 year-old Bostonian and son of Jeremiah Fulton Cobb, a transportation tycoon in the USA with a sprawling railroad and stagecoach empire. The empire that they set up in Australia meant that by 1870 Cobb and Co. were using 6,000 horses a day over incalculable miles a week of sometimes trackless outback and by 1880 they controlled over 4,000 miles of coach routes. Their 'Great Coach' with 12 horses pulled some ninety or so passengers but by far their biggest coach was the 'Leviathan', which was pulled by 22 horses! The series itself mainly concerned itself with standard Wild West stories with outlaws being replaced by bushrangers and the character got his name from his preference to using a bullwhip rather than a gun. At the time the series had a good following and was rated as slightly above average although it's star wasn't so certain that they really did it justice to it. Some years later Peter Graves told 'TV Week': "Whiplash could have been much, much better. It was kept in the mould of the American show because there was no time for proper research and production planning. The writers here should have gone down there and really studied the Cobb & Co era. Not enough was made of Australia itself, we were too often confined to the back-lot." The series is believed to be the first to feature aborigines acting in a tv film.
34 episodes of 25 minute duration. Associated TeleVision. 1960-61.
WORZEL GUMMIDGE
The series, scripted by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall that brought back Barbara Euphan Todd's popular talking scarecrow after a TV absence of 26 years. Starring former 'Doctor Who', Jon Pertwee (who suggested the project in the first place), as the turnip headed inhabitant of Scatterbrook Farm in Ten Acre Field, and Una Stubbs as his reluctant girlfriend Aunt Sally. The part gave Pertwee a chance to show off his comedy skills and funny voices that he had used on so many BBC radio shows including 'The Navy Lark', and was a huge hit, boosting sales of the original books and spawning a number of merchandise items, including a single by Pertwee called 'Worzel's Song'. The Crowman, Worzel's creator was played by former 'Catweazle' star Geoffrey Bayldon. When programme makers Southern Television lost it's franchise production was halted until a New Zealand company purchased the rights to make Worzel Gummidge Down Under in 1987.
Forty twelve episodes of 30 minute duration and one of 60 minutes. Southern TV 1979-81.
