Adventures of a lifetime

And so the final episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures was transmitted on Tuesday afternoon at 5.15pm on the CBBC channel. Part Two of The Man Who Never Was completed the curtailed run of the Fifth Season. There was talk that the series might continue without its leading lady. It’s happened before. Blake’s 7 survived, after the departure of Gareth Thomas, as did Taggart, on the death of Mark McManus. But the BBC finally took the opportunity to pull the plug. Credit to Russell T Davies, who fought hard to keep the show on air when it was threatened with cancellation earlier in its life. I believe the BBC took some persuading to make the show in the first place. Bringing back a character, popular in the Seventies, to front a programme aimed primarily at twelve to fourteen-year-olds doesn’t seem like an obvious choice! But it seemed to work, though, in real life, one would no doubt question the motives of a sixty-year-old woman hanging out with a bunch of school children, even if some of the children in question did look as though they were in their early twenties themselves! Yasmin Paige, as Maria Jackson, and then Anjli Mohindra, as Rani Chandra, certainly gave the adventures in which they appeared that additional bounce! But The Sarah Jane Adventures belonged to the late Elisabeth Sladen and, in the present economic climate, it is unlikely we shall see its kind again in the foreseeable future.

It’s a shame really. Programmes such as The Sarah Jane Adventures were commonplace once upon a time. Everyone took them for granted. ITV were always trying to create a winning formula with which they could rival Doctor Who in the mid-to-late Sixties and throughout the Seventies. For the most part, they were as successful. The obvious examples are the string, no pun intended, of hugely popular-to-this-day Gerry Anderson puppet series. They began in the Fifties, of course, but took off when Gerry and then-wife Sylvia turned their hands to science fiction. Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons, Joe 90 and The Secret Service were all hugely exciting. Live action series were equally as popular. Sexton Blake, Freewheelers, Timeslip, Ace Of Wands and The Tomorrow People all left their mark, as did UFO and Space: 1999 when the Andersons put Supermarionation behind them. Peter Davison’s first acting role was in The Tomorrow People, up against the very series he would eventually helm! We’ve seen their like since. The Demon Headmaster and Moondial were two such. Ironically, other than Sarah Jane, the last were Dark Season and Century Falls in the early Nineties, both excellently written by Russell T Davies. Children are being sold short without such fantasy stimulation, and televisual creativity will suffer further because of the demise of this genre!

The girl next door?

Rihanna has been in the headlines again this week, prompting discussions as to the suitability of her live shows for those of a young, impressionable age. “She has to push the boundaries,” enlightened ex-Atomic Kitten singer Liz McClarnon, on Monday’s edition of The Wright Stuff! Does she? Is she? Why? Which boundaries are those, Liz? Musically, like most pop stars, she hasn’t a clue. DJ Tony Blackburn disagrees with me, claiming Rihanna to be very talented and with no real need to overtly sexualise her every single action. And these are the boundaries under discussion, social mores. But, even here, she’s not really doing anything that hasn’t been done before, manifold. In my youth, I was keen on a five-piece all-female band from America called The Runaways. They appeared on the scene around the same time as Blondie and I, for one, found them more appealing than Debbie Harry and the guys! I was older though, than the children parents are taking to see Rihanna simulating sex and sing about guys not being able to get it up! But the lead singer of The Runaways, Cherie Currie, dressed equally as provocatively, in a basque, knickers, stockings and suspenders, whilst triumphantly exclaiming, in their debut single Cherry Bomb, she was gonna, “have you, grab you, ’til you’re sore!”

I saw The Runaways live twice, once in Birmingham, in an enormous converted railway shed - the name of which escapes me, and latterly at The Hammersmith Odeon, London. I suppose, in retrospect, the Brummie gig was the more memorable experience. I was right at the front of the stage, with Cherie, who must be about the same age as me, spreading her legs directly in my face with only a small piece of cotton separating her womanhood from my leering eyes… and those of a thousand other young innocents! I also remember vast tables selling paperbacks including American prints of Space: 1999 novelisations, but that’s another music in a different kitchen!! When I saw the band for the second and last time, Miss Currie had departed, for whatever reason, and Joan Jett had taken centre stage. The Queens Of Noize, as they were nicknamed after the title of their second album, perhaps wanted to be taken more seriously. As a four-piece, they were less glam rock and more hard rock. They were in the UK to promote their latest album, Waitin’ For The Night. The lead single, School Days, has the deepest pressing of any in my collection and is probably the loudest piece of vinyl I own! It’s definitely not as loud on the album, despite being exactly the same recording!

Joan is probably better known, now, as the singer of I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll with her band The Blackhearts. This song was covered by Britney Spears. She, herself, caused controversy for dressing up as a schoolgirl in her debut video for Baby, One More Time. About the same time, Russian duo t.A.T.u. were appalling the easily shocked, running around kissing each other wearing only vagina-hugging panties and see-through shirts. Both Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova have since appeared topless in the uncensored promo for White Robe. Lena takes off her knickers, too, so maybe Rihanna still has some way to go in pushing those social boundaries. Lena’s not the first. I recall a member of L7 pulling her trousers down during a performance on Channel 4’s The Word and giving us all a glimpse of her pubic hair. Can’t remember what the song was! As for lyrics, pop records have always been predominantly about sex. Gary Glitter was chanting Do Ya Wanna Touch Me?, which Joan Jett has covered, back in the early Seventies and bragging he was “the man who put the bang in gang”, so why his later activities came as any surprise is beyond me! And so the debate goes on, with Rihanna the latest in a long line advocating promiscuity of one sort or another but as Mick once put it, “It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll… but I like it…”

Debbie did a Stiff Pilchard

I’m not a Cliff Richard fan! You wouldn’t think there was any need for me to say that. OK, I admit to buying his second Eurovision Song Contest entry, “Power To All Our Friends”, back in the early Seventies in a rare error of judgement but, no, I am not a fan of Sir Cliff. His version of the Lord’s Prayer, with Myleene Klass on backing vocals, is a strong contender for the title of Worst-Ever Single. The English language is notoriously difficult to set to music but this effort is abysmal. Lord only knows how it ever got to Number One but that’s the British record-buying public for you. No taste! Embarrassingly, I now have another confession to make. As of last Saturday, I am now the proud owner of Cliff Richard’s final film, “Take Me High”, which he made in 1973. I can hear you all collectively crying, “We don’t care when it was made! What on earth possessed you?”

Well, please bear with me as I attempt to explain. You may or may not remember but when I started this Journal’s “Telly Visions” strand, my first choice was “Doctor Who” actress Debbie Watling. In the post, I mentioned “she played the female companion throughout what is my favourite year of the science fiction series”. What I neglected to say is this season is also the most heavily depleted in the BBC archives. Most episodes featuring Deborah, as Victoria Waterfield, were junked simply due to lack of storage space, little realising their future value… and I certainly don’t mean financially to the BBC, but culturally. In the intervening years, we fans of Ms Watling have had to get our fixes of her gorgeousness from wherever we can. And one of those sources was repeat screenings, which now seem to have sadly dried up, of “Take Me High”. Long since deleted on VHS and unavailable commercially on DVD… until the Daily Mail came to the rescue on 25th September and for only 80p!

“Take Me High”, as you probably already suspect, isn’t exactly what you would call essential viewing! It has a pretty good cast that includes Arthur Daley, “Minder” star George Cole, and “Brideshead Revisited” actor Anthony Andrews. Deborah would work with the latter again on television wartime drama “Danger UXB”. “Take Me High”, however, is essentially a vehicle for Cliff, surprisingly written by “Space: 1999” author Christopher Penfold. The plot, such as it is, concerns Tim (no, not me but Mr Richard himself!), a successfully-ambitious young financier working for a London Merchant bank. But, even his happy-go-lucky attitude is severely jolted when he is sent to Birmingham instead of the promised New York for his posting! Comedy, romance and songs follow when the enterprising bank manager helps an unsuccessful restaurant compete with its rivals by introducing a new fast food - the Brumburger! Don’t ask… just be thankful that at least these 87 minutes of Debbie have survived the snip!!

also starring Barry Morse

I was saddened to hear of the death of actor Barry Morse this week. He passed away on the morning of February 2nd, aged 89. Although, perhaps, equally well known for roles in “The Fugitive”, “The Adventurer” and “The Zoo Gang”, in which he worked alongside John Mills, Barry will forever remain etched in my mind as Professor Victor Bergman in the first and best series of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s “Space: 1999”. He was, himself, highly critical of the series, particularly the writing, and rightly so. It does leave a lot to be desired, as much as I love the series. But, he did bring rationality to many of the plots and his character helped ground the series in science, however implausible that science was! If he found his season often ludicrous, Lord knows what he would’ve made of the second and final year…

When Barry Morse left “Space: 1999”, to be replaced by the female metamorph Maya played by Catherine Schell, a cure-all serving the same function as K-9 in “Doctor Who”, the series went downhill as logic departed with him. Even when the crew of Moonbase Alpha ostensibly meet “God” during Barry’s time on the show, in an episode entitled “Black Sun”, there is a feeling of gentle but assured scepticism emanating from the good Professor. He was a solver of problems, rather than a quick fixer, in much the same way as earlier incarnations of the Doctor, when compared to those of the present day, and remains an approach to storytelling much to be admired. Series Two of “Space: 1999” might be fun but it is poor science fiction just as present day “Doctor Who” languishes in mediocrity. I continue to miss the kind of television Barry’s character represents.

More of ITV4

As of today, ITV4 will broadcast 24 Hours a day. Up to now, the channel has only been broadcasting between 6pm and 6am but viewers will immediately be able to watch its output anytime of the day. ITV4 began broadcasting on 1 November, 2005 and the mix of shows has, pretty much, remained constant ever since. I noticed a slight decline in the number of showings of old ITC series, of late, but the station will need to fill the schedules with something and I don’t suppose it will include any new programming just more screenings of what has already been bought in!

Shows on offer have included many British drama series originally aired in the Sixties, a handful from the Seventies and the odd one or two from the Eighties. These are interspersed with imports from the States including “The X-Files” spin-off “Millennium”, “Homicide: Life on the Street” and long-running sitcom “Married… with Children” co-starring the lovely Christina Applegate!

As you might expect, I favour the Brit shows! I’m still waiting to catch Harriet Philpin in one of the Douglas Camfield-directed episodes of “The Sweeney” entitled “Thou Shalt Not Kill”. She’s better known to “Doctor Who” fans as Bettan, appearing in the latter half of “Genesis of the Daleks”. More generally, if you’re a fan of “The New Avengers” you might like to try “The Professionals”, created by the same team of Albert Fennell and Brian Clemens. Dennis Waterman can be seen in “Minder”, as well as “The Sweeney”, on ITV4 but my main reason for tuning in, being a Gerry Anderson and SF fan, is both “Space: 1999” and, especially, its forerunner “UFO”.

I recently had the pleasure of watching one of my favourite episodes of “Space: 1999” on the channel, “War Games” co-starring Anthony Valentine and Isla Blair. When I first watched the episode, in my mid-teens, I remember being totally shocked by the death of series regular Doctor Bob Mathias, sucked out into space near the beginning of the story! I had yet to fully take on board the Gerry Anderson plot algorithm of the reset button now so beloved, but not nearly as well utilised, by Russell T. Davies!

I’ve also recently rewatched the “UFO” episodes “Reflections in the Water” and “The Long Sleep”. Both excellent. The latter features Tessa Wyatt as Catherine Frazer waking from a ten year coma with news of a possibly devastating hidden bomb on a farmyard that could rip England in half. She’s the former wife of ex-Radio 1 DJ Tony Blackburn but don’t hold that against her! Give the channel a go and root out some buried treasure… you might be lucky enough to ogle Erotica from “Up Pompeii”, gorgeous Georgina Moon, in her other famous role as Skydiver Operative Lt. Sylvia Howell in one of her eight episodes of “UFO”!

The Night of the Hunter

Sad news regarding the death of actor Gareth Hunt, born Alan Leonard Hunt, at the relatively young age of 64. To most genre fans, he was undoubtedly best known for his role as Mike Gambit in “The New Avengers” alongside Joanna Lumley as Purdey and Patrick Macnee as erstwhile-agent John Steed, from 1976 to 1977. Others will know him from shaking a handful of coffee beans in the popular and long-running Nescafe commercials! He made his name, though, as footman Frederick Norton in eleven episodes of the early-Seventies’ costume drama “Upstairs, Downstairs”, co-devised by ex-“Doctor Who” companion Jean Marsh. And speaking of the Time Lord, Gareth will no doubt be best-remembered by “Doctor Who” fans as Arak in Jon Pertwee’s regeneration story “Planet of the Spiders”, broadcast in 1974.

It’s interesting that most tributes dwell on his contribution to the Seventies’ “Avengers” revival. It may well have been popular but, like many revivals, was, in truth, a far cry from the original series. It was much more action-oriented, as was the vogue of the time, whereas, during its heyday of the two Diana Rigg seasons, “The Avengers” was more about witty word play while, admittedly, nearly always culminating in a fight sequence. Hunt’s character did help retain some of that humour, notably in his tongue-in-cheek pursuit of the lovely Lumley. Gambit was there, though, primarily for the same reason as Ian Marter had been cast as Harry Sullivan in “Doctor Who”, to provide the muscle which Macnee had been more capable of a decade earlier. In Marter’s case, it turned out that the casting of Tom Baker, as the fourth Doctor, meant that, unfortunately, Harry was surplus to requirements.

Gareth popped up in many other series over the years including an appearance in “Minder” in the early-Eighties, opposite original regulars George Cole and Dennis Waterman, and, more recently and briefly, as a hit man in “EastEnders”. I remember him in the “Space: 1999” episode “Guardian of Piri” although his role in that episode was due to be larger but, after a disagreement with “A Fish Called Wanda” director Charles Crichton, he left before the episode was finished and was replaced by Michael Culver. The BBC’s news site are carrying a nice little eight-picture gallery of the late actor including a black and white still from his “Doctor Who” episode as well as one of “The New Avengers” team reunited during the mid-Nineties, I believe for the launch of the series on VHS! So, to complement those images, I thought I’d pay respect by posting a still from his uncredited and all-too-brief appearance as Pete Irvine in the aforementioned episode of the live-action Gerry Anderson series.

1999: A Space Odyssey

With “Space: 1999” currently enjoying a second screening on ITV4, going back to the very beginning of the 48 episodes, I thought it timely to post the covers of the book series that accompanied the first season of the show. I purchased the first nine of the ten paperbacks, at the time, but with the tenth, “Earthfall” by E C Tubb, came a sharp increase in price to which my pocket money, in the mid Seventies, didn’t extend and so I didn’t complete the set! I didn’t know, then, that the tenth was to be the last book in the series otherwise, in retrospect, I might have made extra effort to acquire it. It has subsequently been republished, purchasable through the Gerry Anderson Appreciation Society, but if any of my readers know where I can get hold of the original in reasonable condition at a reasonable price please let me know. Bit of a long shot I know but, as Colin Baker once said, “No ’arm in trying”!

And so to the books themselves… In the days before domestic video recorders, novelisations were a godsend for those wanting to relive particular episodes of favourite television series, the Target “Doctor Who” paperback series perhaps being the finest example. The first six of the ten “Space: 1999” books contain novelisations of 23 of the 24 episodes that comprise the first season of Gerry Anderson’s second live action series. Five of those six novels each includes four episodes between their covers, each story taking just three chapters to tell. The other book retells three episodes, with an allotted four chapters per story on this occasion. The next three books in the series detail untelevised adventures, some of which I believe are from unfilmed scripts rather than wholly original new ideas. The final book, although not having read it I can’t be certain, covers that elusive 24th episode in extended form.

At the time, the exploits of Martin Landau’s Commander John Koenig in deep space held my fascination as much if not more than the then current Doctor, Tom Baker. Last Sunday, I was able to relive what I regard as the show’s two finest episodes, “Dragon’s Domain” and “Mission of the Darians”, as they were broadcast back-to-back. And tonight, in “Black Sun”, the crew of Moonbase Alpha age a lot and get to meet God, as you do when living on a Moon improbably hurled out of its orbit to travel the darkest reaches of the Universe!

The Space Museum!

Geeson in Outer Space!

This Sunday, on ITV4 at 7pm, and repeated in the early hours of the following morning, there is an opportunity to see one of the best episodes of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's "Space: 1999", "Another Time, Another Place". Originally shown sixteenth, on Thursday, 18 December, 1975, as part of the first-season run of twenty-four, the episode guest stars one of my favourite actresses of the Seventies, Judy Geeson. She plays Regina Kesslann who suffers an emotional breakdown, after the moon passes through a rift in space, believing Eagle pilot Alan Carter to be her husband! In need of medical attention, she is pictured above with series regular Barbara Bain as Doctor Helena Russell.

Judy has had a long and varied career dating from a 1961 episode of "Dixon of Dock Green" through episodes of "Star Trek: Voyager" and an appearance in "Charmed". Her roles have shown much diversity. She held her own as John Hurt's wife, Beryl Evans, opposite Richard Attenborough's extremely unnerving portrayal of serial killer John Reginald Christie in "10 Rillington Place", in 1971. A decade later she was Sandy in the notoriously grisly science fiction horror film "Inseminoid". On TV, in 1976, she portrayed Fulvia in the recently-released-on-DVD feminist science fiction series "Star Maidens" and, perhaps more notably, played Susan Mount, alongside Anthony Andrews, in the 1979 war drama "Danger UXB".

In "Another Time, Another Place", the crew of Moonbase Alpha finally return home only to discover an identical moon already orbiting the Earth. They have travelled through time and caught up with their future selves. Not only that, Regina is discovered to have two brains!! The episode is the first of many written by series' script editor Johnny Byrne who went on to write for "All Creatures Great and Small", "Doctor Who" and, most recently, ITV family drama "Heartbeat" which he also devised. Australian actor Nick Tate, who played Captain Carter in both seasons of the show, has often said "Another Time, Another Place" is his favourite episode of "Space: 1999".

Anniversaries Galore!

This year sees no less than five British science fiction/fantasy television shows celebrate their initial appearance on our screens. I thought I'd mention them because in 2003, as "Doctor Who" celebrated its fortieth anniversary, "Quatermass", ten years its senior, seemed to get overlooked. The recent DVD release and revival on BBC4 this year have gone some way to make amends for not celebrating its fiftieth anniversary two years ago! Incidentally, new "Doctor Who" David Tennant appeared as Doctor Briscoe in the latest adaptation of "Quatermass" and, having co-starred alongside "Star Cops" actor David Calder in the recent Radio Four adaptation of "Dixon of Dock Green", seems to be making a habit of appearing in revivals of old shows!!

The youngest show to celebrate its birthday this year is "Bugs". Co-starring Jesse Birdsall, and my personal favourite series of the Nineties, it ran for four seasons and a total of forty episodes. Full of action and adventure, explosions and plenty of gadgets, it celebrated its tenth anniversary on April 1st. Co-created by Brian Clemens, better known for his work on "The Avengers" and "The Professionals", and Stephen Gallagher, who'd written "Warriors' Gate" and "Terminus" for "Doctor Who" as well as overseeing ITV adaptations of his novels "Oktober" and "Chimera", "Bugs" wasn't treated particularly well by the BBC. By the time it reached its fourth season it was removed from the schedules midrun and the final three episodes weren't shown until almost a year later!

Three Gerry Anderson shows also have cause for celebration this year. Supermarionation series "Thunderbirds", concerning the exploits of secret organisation International Rescue, has been enjoying repeat runs for forty years! First seen on our screens in 1965, it ran for 32 episodes, 26 of them filmed in 1964 with the remaining six made two years later as well as spawning two feature film spinoffs along the way. A minor gripe of mine is that BBC2 doesn't see fit to repeat "Fireball XL5" for a change, the excuse being that it was made in black and white which doesn't seem to prevent reruns of "Bilko" or "The Munsters"! "Fireball XL5" hasn’t been shown on terrestrial television since ITV repeated it, weekday mornings, twenty years ago in 1985. ITV reran "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons" at the same time on Sunday mornings and, even though I prefer the indestructible hero, I remember thinking how much more humourous, and therefore probably more entertaining to the general public, was "Fireball XL5"!!

The other Gerry Anderson shows to celebrate their birthdays are two of the live action series he co-created. Having tested the water with a third feature film, the terrific but vastly underrated live action "Journey to the Far Side of the Sun" (1969), recently given a rare though very welcome screening on ITV1, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson went into production with "UFO", first seen on television in 1970. Now 35 years old, 26 episodes were made, an initial 17 being followed with a further nine. It starred the late Ed Bishop as SHADO Commander Ed Straker with George Sewell co-starring as Colonel Alec Freeman in the initial batch of episodes. A second series was proposed but gave way to the other Anderson production celebrating its anniversary, "Space: 1999". Now 30, having first appeared in 1975, this series ran for two very different seasons chalking up a total of 48 episodes between them. It starred husband and wife team Martin Landau, as Moonbase Alpha Commander John Koenig, and Barbara Bain, as Doctor Helena Russell, fighting for their survival after the Moon is blown from its orbit following a nuclear explosion on its dark side.

Last, but certainly not least, and also celebrating 30 years since its first appearance, is "Survivors". This series ran for three seasons and a total of 38 episodes altogether. It was devised by Dalek creator Terry Nation immediately preceding his other great success "Blake's 7". After a flu pandemic is accidentally unleashed on the population of the world, those few left behind face the enormous uphill struggle of building a new life whether battling nature or people with alternative views on how to proceed. The initial run of 13 episodes starred Carolyn Seymour as Abby Grant with James Bond creator Ian Fleming's niece Lucy Fleming as Jenny Richards and Ian McCulloch as Greg Preston. I love all the shows celebrating differing degrees of longevity but, of the five, "Survivors" is my favourite.