Theme Time: Edwin Astley - Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)

It was fifty years ago this week that one of ITC's most enduring crime dramas Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) arrived on our screens.

Starring Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope as Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk, private investigators who won't let a little thing like death get in the way of their business, whilst Annette Andre starred as Marty's widow, Jeanie.

Unlike much of its stablemates at ITC, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) was, by its very nature, fantastical, and yet at the same time much more down-to-earth in its downbeat depiction of the then swinging London. Perhaps it's that slightly more recognisably real world vibe that has ensured it hasn't dated as much as Department S or Jason King say, whilst the fact that Reeves and Mortimer remade it for two series in the early '00s proved that this was a show that the public still had a lot of time for. 

And then there's that theme tune. A wonderfully evocative, atmospheric track from ITC composer supremo Edwin Astley. It's the sonic equivalent of a tingle running down your spine.

Last Year In Marienbad (1961)

What did I make of Last Year In Marienbad and can I put it into words without sounding pretentious? Hmm. 

Find out by reading my review at The Geek Show

Theme Time: Ron Grainer - The Prisoner

September 29th this year will mark the 50th anniversary of Patrick McGoohan and George Markstein's iconic, innovative yet utterly incomparable cult TV series The Prisoner, one of my absolute favourites

And here's Ron Grainer's superb theme tune...

Be seeing you 

Destiny - Der Mude Tod (1921)

This Fritz Lang classic will be released as part of the Masters of Cinema series in July.

You can read my full review of it at The Geek Show

Theme Time: Jay Gruska - Lois & Clark: New Adventures of Superman

With Doctor Who seemingly consigned to TV history, Saturday teatimes of the 1990s were all about a family friendly, fantasy action drama imported to the BBC from the US; The New Adventures of Superman

Entitled Lois & Clark in America, the series was devised for television by Deborah Joy LeVine as a modern, relationship-centric revision of the DC Comics legend, taking its cue from comic book writer and artist John Byrne who was charged with rejuvenating the superhero with a modern origins story that depicted Clark Kent as the true personality and Superman the disguise. The show starred Dean Cain as Clark and Superman, and Terri Hatcher as Lois Lane, making the previously unknown pair household names all over the world. And yes, I did crush on Hatcher - I was a teenage boy after all. The show ran from 1993 to 1997, spawning tie-in novels and a soundtrack CD from the composer Jay Gruska, including his stirring, wonderful theme tune...

Here in the UK, the series made its debut Saturday 8th January 1994 and became one of the regular building blocks of the Saturday night schedule alongside Noel's House Party, Casualty and later, the National Lottery. The BBC renamed the series The New Adventures of Superman and held the rights to the first three seasons, before Sky One stepped in to broadcast the fourth and final season first in the UK, with BBC1 playing catch up a few weeks later. Repeats were still being broadcast on the BBC as late as 2002 in the CBBC Saturday morning schedules and on BBC2 weekday teatimes.

Just hearing the theme gives me a huge nostalgia rush!

Ghost In The Machine (2012)

Ghost In The Machine is an extremely cute and quirky short movie that is frankly impossible not to love.

Directed by Oliver Krimpas (who co-wrote the script with Christopher Coppice) Ghost in the Machine feels rather like something Roald Dahl might have written; a fairy tale for adults if you will, in which a modern day badly done to Cinderella gets to experience the romance and independence she has longed for all her life.  This character is Noreen played by the brilliant Jessica Gunning, star of Pride, White Heat and What Remains to name but a few. 

Noreen is an overweight teenage farm girl who lives in the shadow of her domineering, cruel and unsympathetic father who treats her little more than a slave, expecting her to tend to the land for nothing, thus making a saving on hired labour. To escape her harsh and lonely existence, Noreen likes to daydream that she is a beautifully dressed, much sought after lady in the rolling fields of America; captured in the honeyed glow she rebuffs the advances of a lovestruck, handsome cowboy, instructing him to kiss her boot to show his affection for her. But it isn't long before she's falling back to earth with a bump, facing the blunt insulting comments and criticisms from her father and gaining little comfort from her cold, meek mother either.

Then, one day whilst out in the fields she finds a chance at love where she least expects it - from an abandoned talking tractor!

When the broken down, long-forgotten 1953 Massey Harris tractor tells her, with a Texan drawl, that she’s pretty, Noreen's first reaction is to think that she is crazy. But she's so starved of love and affection that she has to go back to it, her curiosity piqued despite, having fished around for clues regarding it, her father informs her that the tractor once killed one of his labourers. Pretty soon she's visiting it secretly everyday and an unlikely relationship with the smitten and romantic tractor develops into something that ultimately saves Noreen from drudgery forever.

Oliver Krimpas' lightly black comic fantasy is really beautiful, with some really effective contrasts between the warmth of Noreen's daydream and the scenes with the tractor and the bitter slate grey coldness of her reality. Rural Lincolnshire is wonderfully captured but there's a nod to America, home of the tractor too. The story is really well constructed and its subject matter pretty timeless, making it perfect for the short film medium. Admittedly the central conceit of a talking tractor who appreciates the fuller figure may be too quirky and whimsical to appeal to everyone, but the assured and confident playing of the cast, especially Jessica Gunning (along with the vocal work of Nathan Osgood as the tractor) means the idea flies and is never embarrassing or played for unintentional laughs. There's one lovely, wickedly funny scene in which the tractor convinces Noreen to take off her dowdy dungarees and straddle his seat; shot from a POV inside the grill, we see Gunning slowly strip making 'eye contact' throughout, to soundtrack of Al Green's Love and Happiness, and ends with her shivering upon his seat remarking how cold it is, to which he wryly replies "Warming up though" - it's just so sweet and so funny and pretty much encapsulates the film for me and its unabashed, unafraid look at the universal appeal of love, for all; be it thin, fat, tall, short or even antiquated tractor! Because, if you look beyond the fantastical elements, what you are actually witness to is simply a tale about falling in love and finding your knight in shining armour - and which of us can't identify with that?

You can view the trailer here

RIP Gareth Thomas

Gareth Thomas, the Welsh actor most famous for his role as political dissident Roj Blake in Terry Nation's cult 1970s sci fi drama Blake's 7, has died of heart failure at the age of 71.

A great actor who cut a strapping, burly frame with a mop of tight black curls (and later white badger-streak waves), Thomas enjoyed a successful career both on TV and on stage, with several RSC productions. He earned a BAFTA nomination in 1972 for his role in Stocker's Copper, and received a second nomination in 1984 for his role in Morgan's Boy as a welsh hill farmer caring for a teenager. Other roles included regular parts in Sutherland's Law, London's Burning, The Citadel, Heartbeat and as the astrophysicist father in cult children's fantasy drama The Children of Stones. Most recently he had appeared in the likes of Shipman, Midsomer Murders, Vic and Bob's reboot of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and Torchwood.

RIP

RIP Sylvia Anderson

Sylvia Anderson, co-creator of Thunderbirds with her former husband Gerry Anderson, and the voice of Lady Penelope, has died at the age of 88.

Anderson collaborated with her husband Gerry, who passed away in 2012, on evergreen shows such as Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, Fireball XL5, Stingray and UFO, which she designed the costumes for. But it's perhaps Thunderbirds that she will forever be associated with thanks to its glamourous agent Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward whom she provided the voice for and whose appearance was modelled upon her own.

Gerry and Sylvia split in 1981 and Sylvia subsequently went on to become a head of programming at HBO as well as an author.

RIP 

Red Shift (1978)

God love the BFI. Another near forgotten treasure is released from the vaults this month; Red Shift is an adaptation of The Owl Service author Alan Garner's sci fi fantasy children's novel (and let's use the term children loosely) that appeared in the acclaimed Play For Today strand in 1978. It's a mark of the quality and distinction TV had at the time that the two plays that sandwiched Red Shift were David Hare's Licking Hitler and Jim Allen's The Spongers. Remember when the BBC gave a toss about intelligent drama and showcasing a variety of voices? This was then.

Time figures much in Red Shift. The story is set in South Cheshire and the slip roads leading to the M33 (the 'red shift' of the title; its triangular formation allegedly being something seen by the naked eye from space to have a red glow) and beyond, the hills of Mow Cop (the subject of today's Wordless Wednesday). But, whilst the setting may remain static, it literally shifts across three time periods; a heartfelt but strained romance in the 70s is our introduction and meat of the piece, before we flit back to a beleaguered militia coming into contact with a pagan goddess in Roman times and a bloodthirsty massacre during the English Civil War. 

In each segment the narrative focuses on a disturbed and troubled youth, Tom, Macy and Thomas, each linked by his location, the discovery of an axehead and 'visions' that appear like fits when words can no longer be summoned up. As you can see from such a description, it's a deeply elliptical and disturbing piece that neatly fits the burgeoning 70s preoccupation with folklore, the ancient characterisation of women having the ability to heal or hurt man, specifically when they are fated to hurt already, and paganism - an echo of which Garner appealingly suggests runs through the arteries of the modern day motorways that course through our ancient countryside. It commences like the standard fare one perhaps stereotypically expects from a Play For Today, depicting the 70s setting as little more than a tale of small town frustration featuring a verbose and intelligent yet clearly pained young man trapped by his overbearing yet well meaning parents as his modern thinking girlfriend looks set to move on thanks to a career opportunity in London. One can only imagine what the unexpecting viewers at the time thought with the sudden shift to a different timezone.

Directed beautifully by Long Good Friday director John Mackenzie and starring some truly excellent television actors including Lesley Dunlop, Bernard Gallagher, Ken Hutchison, James Hazeldine and Michael Elphick, BFI have restored the original print in crisp HD, present this beguiling headscratcher to a new generation.

The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen (1988)

Only Terry Gilliam...

I was a child when The Adventures of Baron Munchausen came out and I recall being very excited about watching it. When I finally got round to it, I must admit its baroque bloatedness did alienate me a little in places, but I was still somewhat besotted by it.

Twenty Six years on and watching it with adult eyes rather than that of a child, I still feel more or less the same. I'm not alienated as such, but the faults and errors are readily apparent within the otherwise boldly beautiful structure. As with a lot of Gilliam's work it's nearly but not quite, hampered almost inevitably by bad luck and mismanagement from the studios. If ever a film would benefit from a director's cut it's this one.

Some of the miss-steps include not having enough emotional contact with the town that is besieged throughout. We're no sooner introduced to it than we rush headlong into the visiting acting troupe (headed up by a fabulous Bill Paterson as Henry Salt) and their wrangling with Gilliam's in joke towards financiers played (far too OTT) by Jonathan Pryce. The main problem with the piece is I think its pacing, everything feels like its working against the clock leaving us breathless in all the wrong ways by Gilliam's bold creative imagination. The film needed time to breathe, time to allow the ideas and concepts to grow and flourish. 

Some of the highlights though are of course the fabulous set and costume design, the cinematography and the direction as well as the sheer charm of so many of the set pieces. Richard Neville was something of an infrequent screen presence, preferring the theatre to the big screen, which is a real shame as he holds everything together wonderfully here and it is perhaps his elusive yet familiar nature that nails the Munchausen character. He's ably supported by the talented beyond her years presence of Sarah Polley as Sally Salt and the pair have a real chemistry both loving and fractious that's a joy to watch.

An epic such as this needs big characters and Gilliam pulled out all the stops bringing us the likes of fellow Python Eric Idle, a very young Uma Thurman, Oliver Reed (who, at the time, was at his most fun for ages) and the late Robin Williams - or Ray D. Tutto, 'king of everything' as he was credited.

Warning: Sting is also in it. But only briefly. Phew.