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.

RIP George A Cooper

George A Cooper has died at the age of 93.

A familiar and seemingly never aging face on British TV and film for over fifty years, Cooper was perhaps best known to anyone of my generation as the officious Mr Griffiths, caretaker of Grange Hill, a role which he played for seven years from 1985 to 1992. 

Born in Leeds in 1925, Cooper trained as an electrical engineer and architect and worked for the Royal Artillery in India as part of his National Service. Upon demob, he joined Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop in Manchester and began life as an actor; using his middle initial (it stood for Alphonsus) to avoid any confusion with an American actor called George Cooper. He made his first TV appearance in 1946 and remained a regular fixture on the small screen for the next fifty years, appearing in shows such as Coronation Street, Doctor Who, Some Mother's Do 'Ave 'Em, Steptoe and Son, The Avengers, The New Avengers, The Saint, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Man in a Suitcase, Z Cars and Dixon of Dock Green. His film credits included The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (in which he played a thinly disguised Harold Wilson, the then Labour Prime Minister), Hell is a City, Dracula Has Risen From the Grave, Smashing Time, Life at the Top, Violent Playground and Red Monarch. He made his last appearance in an episode of Casualty in 1995 and passed away in a Hampshire nursing home on Friday, November 16th.

RIP

Hanging on the Telephone

Annette Andre as Jeannie Hopkirk in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)

RIP Peter Wyngarde

Jason King star Peter Wyngarde has died at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital at the age of 90 following a short illness.

A unique talent, Wyngarde shot to fame in the 1960s with his role as the campy flamboyant author turned sleuth Jason King in the ITC drama Department S. So popular was Wyngarde in the role that, when it came to a second series, ITC decided to relaunch it solely around his character, and Jason King was born, making Wyngarde an international star. Australia was so besotted with the actor and the Jason King character that, following his being voted 'The man most Australian women would like to have an affair with', Wyngarde was mobbed at Syndey airport and was so roughly manhandled by the lust crazed ladies of Oz that he was hospitalised for three days. At the height of his fame, Wyngarde even released an album; When Sex Leers Its Inquisitive Head is a psychedelic offering that has to be heard to be believed. My favourite track from the album is his version of The Attack's Neville Thumbcatch

Despite his ladies man pin up status, in reality Wyngarde was homosexual and had, for some time during the 60s it is alleged, enjoyed a relationship with fellow actor and flatmate Alan Bates. One of his first major roles was in the controversial 1959 ITV drama South, which saw him cast as a Polish army lieutenant during the American Civil War torn between the love of a plantation owner's niece and a fellow officer. Broadcast live, this groundbreaking drama was said to be the first to tackle homosexuality on British television just two years after the Wolfenden Report. The Daily Sketch critic at the time remarked "I do NOT see anything attractive in the agonies and ecstasies of a pervert, especially in close up in my living room" Wyngarde's sexuality became public knowledge in 1975 when he was fined £75 and convicted of an act of gross indecency when caught cottaging with a lorry driver. The revelation put an end to his career as a leading man, but he did memorably go on to star as Klytus in Mike Hodges' Flash Gordon five years later. 

Wyngarde was presumed to have been born in France in 1927 (he offered various contrasting accounts of his birth over the years) and grew up in the Far East. During WWII he was interned alongside other European and US citizens (including the young JG Ballard) in Lunghua, Shanghai. Upon ceasefire, Wyngarde came to the UK and initially studied law at Oxford for three months before taking a job in advertising. He made his theatrical debut in 1946 and his first television appearance was in Dick Barton Strikes Back just three years later. In 1961 he starred alongside Deborah Kerr in The Innocents, Jack Clayton's acclaimed adaptation of the Henry James story The Turn of the Screw. Wyngarde went on to guest star in a number of ITC dramas including The Saint and as Number 2 in The Prisoner, as well as starring as John Cleverley Cartney in the infamous A Touch of Brimstone episode of The Avengers. Other roles include that of Timanov in the 1984 Doctor Who serial The Planet of Fire and Langdale Pike in The Three Gables from the 1994 series The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.

RIP

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 

RIP Burt Kwouk

Very very sad to hear that the legendary Burt Kwouk has died today aged 85

Kwouk will forever be remembered for his iconic role as the karate-practicing manservant Cato in the hilarious Pink Panther films starring alongside Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau, but his career was very long and extremely varied thanks in no small part to being constantly in demand as an actor of Oriental appearance.

Though he was born in Warrington in 1930, Kwouk's family moved to Shanghai where the young Kwouk stayed until he was 17. He went to the US to study at Bowdoin College, graduating in 1953 and returning to his family in the UK the following year. He claimed he was nagged into acting by a girlfriend and made his big screen debut in 1957's Windom's Way, following up a year later with a crucial role in The Inn of Sixth Happiness.

The '60s followed and proved to be a highly productive time for Kwouk, who became a stalwart of ITC drama with roles in Danger Man, The Avengers, The Champions and The Saint and the like and three appearances in James Bond films; Goldfinger, Casino Royale and You Only Live Twice alongside his debut in the Pink Panther film A Shot In The Dark.

His partnership with Peter Sellers continued in the '70s, but the decade also saw him play a completely different kind of role, that of Major Yamuachi in WWII Japanese POW camp drama Tenko, alongside roles in films like Deep End and Rollerball, and TV shows such as It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Shoestring, The Tomorrow People, Monkey Magic and Minder. In the '80s and '90s, Kwouk became something of a cult favourite appearing in Doctor Who, Lovejoy, Carry On Columbus, I Bought A Vampire Motorcycle, Leon The Pig Farmer and The Harry Hill Show as well as Hollywood fare like Empire of the Sun and Air America. In most recent years Kwouk appeared as Entwistle, a regular lead character in the final incarnation of the BBC's long running gentle Yorkshire Dales set sitcom Last of the Summer Wine.

RIP

Theme Time : Tony Christie - The Protectors

Ah, The Protectors. Gerry Anderson's live action adventure serial from 1972 starred Robert Vaughn, Nyree Dawn Porter and Tony Anholt as a trio of affluent international troubleshooters based in London, Italy and Paris respectively.

It was shite!

But what a theme tune!

Written and produced by Mitch Murray and Pete Callander, and sung by the golden throat of Yorkshireman Tony Christie, Avenues and Alleyways is stonkingly good song/theme tune that staggeringly only reached number 37 in the charts in Feb 1973. Perhaps it was the association with the rather dull The Protectors that was the problem? If ever a theme tune deserved a better programme it was this one; the lyrics and overall tone of the song suggest a hard boiled, swaggering and bold crime drama rather than the rather twee international rescue (yes, pun intended) of Vaughn et al. 

Undeterred, Christie re-released Avenues and Alleyways in 2005 off the back of his success with the re-released Is This The Way To Amarillo alongside Peter Kay for Comic Relief earlier in the same year. It did marginally better, peaking at number 26 and included this wonderfully knowing video

Prior to this re-release, the song had received a new lease of life featuring prominently in Ray Burdis and Dominic Anciano's star studded improvisational comedy gangster film from 2000, Love Honour and Obey

RIP Aubrey Morris

News of another sad passing, veteran actor Aubrey Morris has died at the age of 89

Born in 1926, of Jewish-Ukranian descent Aubrey Steinberg studied at RADA and made his stage debut in 1944. A versatile and prolific performer, he was the grand master of the sinister and camp, often portraying unctuous and cunning oily types. He is perhaps most famous for his role as the probation officer Mr Deltoid in A Clockwork Orange and Morris the gravedigger in The Wicker Man, two absolute classics of the 1970s.

Further film credits included roles in Up The Junction, The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery, Ken Russell's Lisztomania, Lifeforce, The Rachel Papers, My Girl 2 and the classic Hammer horror Blood From The Mummy's Tomb 

His TV credits included roles in ITC favourites like The Saint, The Prisoner and Danger Man, The Champions and Man In A Suitcase, The Avengers, Space 1999, Lovejoy, The Sweeney and Z Cars, classic serials and period dramas such as Cold Comfort Farm, Disraeli and Oliver Twist, comedies like The Rag Trade, The Fenn Street Gang, Not On Your Nellie, Chance In A Million, and Hot Metal. Moving to the States in later life he also cropped up in Murder She Wrote, Sledgehammer!, Columbo, Boy Meets World, Babylon 5, Alien Nation, Deadwood and his last role this year, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

RIP

Margaret Nolan

One of the stars of today's film The Best House In London (although to be fair, she has one line, delivered in a Scottish accent; "Do you fancy threading the needle?" before waggling her ample breasts at a prospective punter - yeah, it's that kind of film) along with a plethora of comedies, ITC dramas and Carry On's (she has a memorable scene in Carry On Henry which airs on ITV tonight/the small hours which enchanted me as an impressionable child!) as well as the James Bond film Goldfinger in which she played Bond girl masseuse Dink and the golden girl in the opening credits, it's Margaret Nolan (also known as Vicki Kennedy in some modelling work) and any old excuse for a picspam

  

RIP Brian Clemens

Another sad loss to the entertainment world, Brian Clemens, creator of The Avengers and The Professionals has died aged 83.

The scriptwriter and producer had a host of impressive TV credits including The Avengers, The New Avengers, The Professionals, CI5: The New Professionals, The Persuaders!, Danger Man, The Champions, The Baron, The Protectors, Adam Adamant Lives!, Remington Steele, Perry Mason, Bergerac and Bugs. He was also responsible for the Hammer films Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter and Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde, as well as And Soon The Darkness, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Highlander II: The Quickening. In 2010 the Queen awarded him the OBE for services to drama and broadcasting; valid recognition for a man who left an indelible and influential mark upon the TV landscape. He truly had the Midas touch when it came to the adventure genre

RIP  

Hanging On The Telephone

RIP Kate O'Mara

Another sad passing as legendary vamp Kate O'Mara has died aged 74 following a short illness.

Star of Hammer horrors, classics from ITC, Dynasty, Triangle, Howards Way and Doctor Who, she'll be much missed.

Theme Time : Edwin Astley & Laurie Johnson - Department S & Jason King

The theme tunes to the classic ITC serials Department S and Jason King which introduced the world to Peter Wyngarde's dilettante dandy, author, investigator and international playboy Jason King.