A
Vintage Year for Scoundrels
Yes, it’s time to watch
another old tv series and waffle on about it. This time we’re travelling back
in time to 1966 to meet someone who’s travelled forward in time, sort of. I’ve never
seen this show before so should be interesting…
It
is 1902 and renowned protector of the Crown Adam Adamant falls into the hands
of his arch nemesis The Face (oddly he doesn’t show his actual Face) who
promptly freezes him in a block of ice. 64 years later he is uncovered during demolition
work and when he wakes up finds things have changed rather a lot. Quite what expressions
passed across the faces of television executives when this proposal reached
their desks is unknown but judging from this opening episode their leap of
faith paid off handsomely. Belying its 49 year vintage, this is a smart, crisp
well produced 50 minutes that still ticks most boxes in 2015 which is an achievement
in itself. You’d expect it to creak and groan but just like its sprightly 99
year old hero, it is positively sizzling with energy and style. Somehow it
manages to encompass two different decades by positioning Adamant as a champion
in another, equally crime ridden era. It’s a great match.
Good
ideas like this don’t appear from nowhere of course and the team behind the
series had either form or potential. Producer Verity Lambert was not long off Doctor Who – with which this show bears
some similarities - while head writer Tony Williamson was an up and coming
scripter of inventive yet efficient shows and would go on to contribute to the
likes of The Avengers, The Champions and Randall and Hopkirk- Deceased. A list of the writers of episodes is
full of renowned names such as Brian Clemens, Vince Powell and Dick Sharples while
the series was created by Donald Cotton and Richard Harris.
This first episode sets up the premise perfectly, playing out in essentially three acts- an initial sequence set in 1902, followed by Adamant’s awakening and initial disorientation in modern day London and then a case to solve involving the independent girl who’s taken him in. What’s brilliant about it is that none of these aspects are overplayed and all are superbly directed. Two helmers are credited- David Sullivan Proudfoot and William Slater and however they divvied up the work you certainly can’t’ see the joins. Rather impressively the 1902 stuff is shot with the same dynamic angles as the 1966 material which instantly establishes a style. It also hides some of the choreographed fighting and gives an edge to the villains who we are left in no doubt are dangerous whichever era they’re from. By the end of the episode there’s quite a body count.
Key to the success of the episode of course is Gerald Harper who seems to have been an inspired choice. He conveys Adamant’s sense of duty and fairness strongly and is also convincingly bamboozled when he wakes up. The character’s chivalrous but fair outlook suits Harper’s delivery and he proves quite a man of action seemingly handling much of the fighting himself. If there is a stunt double used, it’s well hidden.
This first episode sets up the premise perfectly, playing out in essentially three acts- an initial sequence set in 1902, followed by Adamant’s awakening and initial disorientation in modern day London and then a case to solve involving the independent girl who’s taken him in. What’s brilliant about it is that none of these aspects are overplayed and all are superbly directed. Two helmers are credited- David Sullivan Proudfoot and William Slater and however they divvied up the work you certainly can’t’ see the joins. Rather impressively the 1902 stuff is shot with the same dynamic angles as the 1966 material which instantly establishes a style. It also hides some of the choreographed fighting and gives an edge to the villains who we are left in no doubt are dangerous whichever era they’re from. By the end of the episode there’s quite a body count.
Key to the success of the episode of course is Gerald Harper who seems to have been an inspired choice. He conveys Adamant’s sense of duty and fairness strongly and is also convincingly bamboozled when he wakes up. The character’s chivalrous but fair outlook suits Harper’s delivery and he proves quite a man of action seemingly handling much of the fighting himself. If there is a stunt double used, it’s well hidden.
Like
all the best series of this nature, matters teeter on the brink of fantasy
without going too far so we may have a villain who can freeze someone for
decades but he does so with an injection rather than some freeze gun. Also the
villains we meet in 1966 are operating a protection racket but there’s just the
right element of quirkiness in Freda Jackson’s menacing Margo Kane and her rather
dim henchmen. As the sidekick character Georgia Jones, Juliet Harmer strikes
the right note between independence and reliability avoiding some of the
`sixties chick` clichés. Adamant’s confusion is mostly confined to one sequence
in which he wanders disorientated around the city. Whether onlookers watching were
deliberately included in shot isn’t clear but it fits somehow. In short it’s all a little out there but convincingly
rendered.
Opening
episodes of brand new series can be over cooked or under ripe but this is
pretty much perfect. Let’s hope the series can match its potential.
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