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Drake's Venture (1980)
Drake's Venture
Drake's Venture was produced by Westward Television. A small regional ITV company as a way of saving their franchise. That aspect failed as they lost it as soon as this was broadcast.
John Thaw stars as Francis Drake. Here portrayed as less heroic. A buccaneering adventurer in the true meaning, which is shorthand for unethical even piracy.
Told in flashback it becomes less about his voyage of circumnavigation. More of a murky expedition on behest of Queen Elizabeth and other investors to raid Spanish ships in South America.
The main part of the drama is Drake falling out with gentleman Thomas Doughty (Paul Darrow) for mutiny. Doughty was a friend of Drake, an investor, a lawyer and also commanded one of the ships.
A paranoid Drake accused Doughty of mutiny and witchcraft. He very much held a kangaroo trial under his authority as a captain.
The production portrays Drake under a dark light. Cynical, self serving and lucky. He managed to plunder successfully and that won him Elizabeth's protection. He cruelly discarded Portuguese navigator Nuno da Silva on the shores of Mexico. Drake wanted to keep part of the voyage secret only to English eyes.
This was a prestige production, there was a full scale replica of the Golden Hind. Although it was clear the ship never ventured far from the English channel or the Cornish coast.
I did think it was less about Drake's adventures, more about the Doughty incident. It was notable that Darrow was rather restraint as Doughty.
Police Woman: The End Game (1974)
The End Game
Back in the 1970s, American television wanted a variety of cop shows. So you had a scruffy cop, old cop, fat cop, bald cop, cop in a wheelchair. Police Woman, well the title tells you all.
Angie Dickinson is Sergeant Pepper Anderson. A female cop in Los Angeles. Her colleagues look like gritty cops, in fact they look like they grew up in the hood.
There is trouble with a series of bank robberies. Three men, two women with one of them black. It cannot be anyone local. So they must be from out of town.
The clue could be they are from Las Vegas as they could not find the correct television stations at a household where they held a family in terror.
It means the police could finally be one step ahead of the robbers.
Police Woman was not a police procedural. The first episode does not get many marks for accuracy. It is an adventure of the week that needs to be wrapped up in a hour.
Age-Old Friends (1989)
A Month of Sundays
British writer Bob Larbey was better known for sitcoms he co wrote such as The Good Life. A Month of Sundays was a stage play he wrote about two elderly men in an old people's home.
This made for cable movie transplants the play to the USA.
John Cooper (Hume Cronyn) and Michael Aylott (Vincent Gardenia) are spiky friends at the care home. Two men who still have a bit of spirit left in them. They dream of escaping the care home and going to Switzerland dressed as nuns.
Only now Michael is getting forgetful. He knows it, when the care home tells his sister, she stops visiting him. It's no use if Micheal cannot remember his own sister.
On a Sunday, once a month. John is visited by his daughter, her husband and his grandson. John looks forward to seeing his grandson but he does not want to come any longer. All granddad does is talk about ill people and those who have recently died in the home..
Despite the long drive they have to undertake each month. John has nothing to talk about with his daughter. He detests nostalgia and he does not want to talk about his wife who he misses.
Instead he prefers to flirt with young nurse Wilson but she might be going away soon as her boyfriend has proposed to her.
Soon John could be on his own unless he opts to move in with his daughter. He certainly does not want to do that despite not being as mobile as he used to be.
I don't think the play has transplanted that well to an American setting. The black humour is missing. The stage roots are there. It does avoid mawkish sentimentality for most parts.
Four Star Playhouse: Welcome Home (1952)
Welcome Home
This hard boiled noirish short story is very much inspired by the ending of Angels with Dirty Faces.
Eddie White (Dick Powell) is surrounded by the police. There is nowhere to run.
Flashbacks show that he has checked in a crummy hotel, in a dead end town under the name of John Smith. He has gained the hostility of Chuck Stern. The hot headed teenage son of the hotel owner.
Only Eddie used to live here. He left 15 years ago and got notoriety. He became a gangster as a teenager. Now he is wanted man for murder.
As Eddie walked around town, Chuck follows him. Just what is his game and how much does he know. Chuck is sure Eddie is not John Smith, even hinting that he knows Eddie's surname is white.
The moral of the story is there is no way out for Eddie, maybe he could save Chuck before he too completely loses his way.
It all felt rather hokey and it also looked cheap. Maybe because it was meant to be crummy place but it felt too much like a studio backlot.
The Glass: Episode #1.2 (2001)
Episode 2
The second episode ramped up but this really is a third rate Dallasty without the glamour or the camp.
Nephew Paul Duggan is not the wet behind the ears barman from New York. He is a Machiavellian puppet master hell bent on revenge on uncle Jim Proctor. Paul is pulling everyone's strings.
It is all to do with how Jim treated Paul's mother who is in institution with mental health issues.
Paul leaks to the press, that Jim is due to retire. Now the firm is looking for a mole. He also jeopardises Carol's relationship with Jim and the marriage proposal that went awry.
It really is a lot of tosh. You cannot take it seriously at all.
Hancock's Half Hour: The Reunion Party (1960)
The Reunion Party
Tony Hancock stocks up on the booze. He is holding a reunion party with his old wartime buddies. He has not seen some of them for 15 years.
Sid pops along as Tony boasts of the adventures he and his buddies got up to.
Tony finds out that time does not stand still. Smudger Smith is no longer a party animal. He only drinks sherry now and he married Mavis. As Tony describes her, the ugly bird with a big hooter. She is also a teetotaller and Tony did not buy any sherry.
Later Ginger Johnson (Clive Dunn) arrives and he is now bald and is another sherry drinker. While 'Chalky' White is now a padre.
Everyone has moved to boring middle age. Apart from Tony Hancock, an evening ruined.
A good episode but not as funny or sharp as other Hancock episodes. The guest cast shine though.
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em: Moving House (1978)
Moving House
After three years away. Frank Spencer returns in series 3 of Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em.
This time Michael Crawford is credited with story ideas as well. Frank has also developed malapropisms.
As Frank has wrecked his house with unauthorised and bodged DIY repairs. The council has evicted the Spencers just before the house collapses.
A new quiet neighbourhood awaits them. It will not be quite for long. Baby Jessica cries all night. Once again Frank carries out repairs late in the evening. Upsetting Mr Lewis (Glyn Edwards) the new neighbour.
Again it is more mayhem with Fran Spencer, so normal service is resumed. Crawford does his own stunts like sliding down the floorboard. I wondered how Milton Johns kept a straight face.
The Adventures of Robin Hood: The Salt King (1957)
The Salt King
Salt was essential as a preservative in the old days. People could store food throughout winter, so it was important to local villagers that they had access to salt.
All this is at risk. Lord Guthrie claims salt is at short supply. He may need to look at alternatives but it will mean the price for salt will rise fivefold.
Maid Marian hears of this and believes the local lords will not go for it. Only the lords have to provide salt for the villagers.
The cunning Lord Guthrie forms an alliance with the Sheriff of Nottingham. A profit share where they go halves.
Robin Hood manages to acquire several bags of sea salts and distributes them for free to the villagers. The Sheriff does not put up with that. So Robin pretends to be a salt diviner.
Another subtext about greed and abuse of monopolistic practices. I did wonder why the sea salt sellers did not hike up their prices.
Interpol Calling: The Absent Assassin (1960)
The Absent Assassin
There have been a series of targeted bombings around the world. Inspector Duval finds out that they have several features in common.
The victims were judges for the International War Crimes Tribunal involving Nazis. They all had received threatening letters. The bombs were set off by remote control.
This narrows it down to Karl Hausmann (Donald Pleasence) who was sentenced by the Tribunal. He had vowed revenge. More importantly Hausmann was an explosives expert.
Duval faces a race against time to save the final victim. Hausmann has a cunning plan. An armed decoy duck in a pond that will be triggered by remote control.
This was the final episode of Interpol Calling. Pleasence brings his trademarked menace.
I could not help noticing that pagers were used to set off the explosives. Over 60 years later, the Israeli security services used the same method.
Doctor Who: The Two Doctors: Part Three (1985)
The Two Doctors: Part Three
The Doctor Who production team made a big play about this episode being filmed in Seville. So far they seem to be in the outskirts of Seville.
Only in this episode they manage to film in the city. Director Peter Moffatt makes a cardinal mistake. He does not show off the historic sights of the city. The action is played in the narrow streets.
The Sontarans are looking for time travel and think they have an edge. Not fathoming that the Sixth Doctor laid a trap.
The Sontarans have also been double crossed by the Androgum, then again the Sontarans planned to cheat them. The Sixth Doctor mentions that no one wants to ally themselves with the Sontarans as they are untrustworthy.
Chessene wants to transform the Second Doctor into an Androgum by using some of Shockeye's DNA. Before the transformation is finished, both men take a gastronomic tour of Seville.
To be frank it was mainly silly. It was like two different adventures trying to mesh with Baker playing it straight. The death of Oscar was unnecessary and probably largely to do with Saward than Holmes. It looked odd given that James Saxon was playing his death scene for comedic effect.
Troughton and Stratton made it the restaurant scene work as they dressed up to dine out. It was bizarre black comedy.
The Cuckoo Waltz: The Model (1976)
The Model
Gavin has trouble retaining his secretarial staff. Maybe it is because he is a lothario who thinks he is Robert Redford despite having dark hair.
Fliss starts working as a temp for Gavin. Filling his work shortage situation. She creates a faux pas with a Dutch client and in return he takes Fliss out for lunch.
They end up in the sam restaurant where Chris is with pretty Pansy Potter. She is Gavin's latest girlfriend and is a model.
Gavin persuaded Chris to do a feature with this aspiring model. Chris ha trouble finding an angle for the story. He is distracted by what Fliss is up to.
It turns out Pansy is not so dipsy, she has a Phd. Now Chris has a story.
The writing is flimsy but really is not that funny. Pansy was fun though.
The Zoo Gang: The Lion Hunt (1974)
The Lion Hunt
A very bittersweet episode. The last British production for Roger Delgado. He was killed while filming for his next production in Europe.
Delgado plays Pedro also known as El Leon. He is a sort of Robin Hood character in a South American country. While he is visiting the south of France, an attempt is made on Pedro's life and Georges Roget ends up arresting El Leon.
This is potential mess up by Georges. A freedom fighter for some people but a terrorist to others. El Leon is facing extradition and potential abduction.
The Zoo Gang plan to free El Leon but it is not as simple. Some other people realise El Leon is valuable and worth a king's ransom.
Each time ITC dipped their toes in Latin American or African politics. It was always a range of similar plotlines. This was no different and a simplistic look at complex issues.
Watch it for Delgado.
Recipes for Love and Murder: Do You Lick Everything? (2022)
Do You Lick Everything?
By the end of the third episode. I felt this could had been similar to Death in Paradise, if only they had a crime of the week format.
The story arc is stretched and is getting lost with soapy elements. It seriously weakens the series.
Tannie and Jessie end up at the police station being interrogated by an irate Khaya Meyer. Did they come across another murder?
Tannie has an important clue based on her liking of wanting to taste everything. Something else that irritates Meyer.
At least Meyer thinks he got a peace offering from Tannie. A box of gourmet sandwiches. It was meant for others in the police station.
The sandwiches were an inspiration for the man who wanted to impress his girlfriend with his cooking skills. He could only boil an egg which his girlfriend loved and she thought he was a serious cook.
26 Men: The Slater Brothers (1957)
The Slater Brothers
Frank Slater is a well respected rancher. His brother Earl can be a bit wild.
When cattle rustlers fatally injure a ranch hand. He named Earl Slater as a rustler. Travis goes hunting for him and ends up shooting Earl dead.
This does not go down well with the townsfolk. The Slater brothers were popular and it might be that Travis might had shot Earl in cold blood.
Travis is sent off to clear his name but an ambush is ready and waiting for him. Eventually someone is ready to squeal about the Slaters.
A simple but effective story. Also how easy for a rich man to rile up the locals with perceived injustices.
Moonflower Murders: Episode #1.3 (2024)
Episode 3
The third episode fleshes out Frank Parris. He is even more repulsive as he tries to force the sale of the house his sister Joanne resides in.
They both own half shares but Frank wants to liquidate his half share. It means his sister will have to leave the house.
Could Joanne be a suspect? Susan Ryeland certainly begins to wonder if the wrong man was incarcerated for the murder of Frank Parris.
Locke is not happy with Susan poking her nose around an old done and dusted open and shut case. He orders her off the town or have her arrested.
Susan also meets her sister Katie and they seem distant.
Once again the Atticus Pund scenes are both fun and cheesy. I do think that Horowitz is stretching out the material.
Shine on Harvey Moon: Fools Rush In (1984)
Fools Rush In
Harvey Moon's relationship with Frieda still has her brother's disapproval. Harvey thinks taking on the local fascists might place him in Erich's good books.
Harvey organizes a meeting of anti fascists. He does not get a good turnout from the Jewish community because he held it on the sabbath. Monty Fish does turn up. He's been keeping his eye on the neo nazis.
Later at the dog track, Harvey gets beaten up by the fascists.
Harvey has more on his plate. Maggie finds out that Leo is gay when she catches him kissing another man. She wonders why her mother is going out with him.
An episode that makes good use of Monty Fish. Beating up the fascists and getting Harvey and Frieda closer.
There are also several comedy high spots and Stanley liking girls.
Beau Geste: Episode #1.1 (1982)
Episode 1
The BBC's dramatisation of PC Wren's classic novel stars Benedict Taylor as Michael 'Beau' Geste. Taylor was well known for his roles in children's television drama.
The other brothers were played by Jonathon Morris who would later become better known in the comedy Bread. Anthony Calf who some years later in New Tricks.
All three are absent on the first episode. The Geste family are children, their aunt Lady Brandon has a valuable gem.
Before that Major de Beaujolais approaches Fort Zinderneuf approaches Fort Zinderneuf only to find the soldiers are dead. They were under attack and the legionnaires had little time for Sergeant-Major Lejaune.
This version of Beau Geste was made for the BBC teatime slot. A quarry and some blue screen stood in for the desert. It was a little confusing with the flashback.
Travelling Man: First Leg (1984)
First Leg
1984 was a busy year for writer Roger Marshall. There was the broadcast of the series Mitch carried over from the previous years. It was poor. ITV were embarrassed to broadcast it.
Travelling Man owed more to one of Marshall's previous show, Public Eye. In that show, Frank Marker was an ex con who carries on as a low rent private eye. Trying to make good for sins of the past.
Here Alan Lomax (Leigh Lawson) is an ex cop imprisoned for stealing some drugs money. Lomax claims he was set up.
Now he is out. His wife has divorced him and fled to Canada. His son has gone missing. His ex police colleagues do not want Lomax hanging about in London. A journalist and some underworld figures are circling around wondering is Lomas will lead them to his hidden loot.
Instead Lomax jumps on a barge, the one thing his ex wife left behind. Lomax travels on the barge and ends up in various adventures.
In the first episode, it is a middle class woman who is a drug addict. She is a former nurse who got addicted to painkillers. Now she is being fleeced by her dealer.
Lomax decides to confront the dealer in order to help her out.
Like Marker, Lomax is a toughie with a heart of gold. The main plot was lightweight. Lomax recognises the signs that the woman is a druggie. He talks to her, she rebuffs him but then confesses all a little later.
Worzel Gummidge: Worzel the Brave (1980)
Worzel the Brave
Move over Mrs Bloomsbury-Barton. There is a new military man in the mansion. Colonel Bloodstock (Thorley Walters) who is full of pomp and bluster.
Meanwhile Mr Shepherd is looking around the village for his missing Aunt Sally. She has gone walkabouts again, in fact she has managed to become the new maid for the Colonel.
Worzel Gummidge is right on her tail. He is still smarting that she went out with the strongman from the circus.
Once again Aunt Sally ghosts poor old Worzel and then gets involved in a spat with the Colonel.
Only to go with his tail between his legs to the Crowman. Worzel wants to be brave and needs a new head that is full of courage. The Crowman has one but refuses to give it to Worzel, so he steals it later in the evening.
Jon Pertwee was a hoot as the brave Germanic scarecrow. Some resemblance to the story with the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz might be entirely coincidental.
XIII: The Series: Rampage (2012)
Rampage
Roger Avary has definitely shook things up in the second series. The big reveal is XIII.2. An exact physical double of XIII but who is he working for and what is his agenda.
After a bombing outrage. XIII is committed to terrorism which has upset his new cohorts in the Veil. This was not sanctioned by them and the US government are after them.
President Carrington plans to strengthen the Patriot Act. Jones is reprimanded for not finishing him off. Then XIII is framed for a grievous killing.
Only it is not him, it was the doppelganger framing XIII.
The second series could not go with more of the same. It needed the ingredients to change somewhat. It seems one major character has gone, another one though has entered the scene. Amos does not look happy.
The Law and Mr. Jones: The Walkout (1962)
The Walkout
Abraham Lincoln Jones is acting in a divorce case. His client Mr Thompson went to a convention, got drunk and lived to regret it.
Mrs Thompson egged on by her harridan mother Mrs Dorn wants to divorce for adultery.
Mrs Dorn is making sure there is no time for self reflection between the parties. After all children are involved.
It gets worse for Jones. The other side wants the hearing to be held privately. No dirty laundry to be done in public.
Jones does not want that, he believes that Mrs Dorn will just make it worse for his client with baseless accusations.
Three old men who regularly visit the courts to sit in the public gallery do not help matters. They use the place like a public library and a form of entertainment.
Jones soon learn that these men have picked up a thing or two about the law.
A lighthearted episode that does stretch credibility. If only Jones listed to these wise sages, they even handed him some precedents.
The Upchat Connection: The Torchbearer (1978)
The Torchbearer
After John Alderton departed. The Upchat Line was retooled by writer Keith Waterhouse as The Upchat Connection.
The character of sponger and ladies man Mike Upchart has been inherited through the centuries. The John Alderton version had won it in a poker game.
Now the Robin Nedwell version won it in a raffle. The previous one wanting to suddenly wants to go abroad.
So the Nedwell version has inherited the locker at the train station. He has had a crash course on how to be Mike Upchart.
The new variant finds himself up to pasta in a double date at two nearby restaurant. Does he have the gift of the gab of the previous version?
There was always a touch of Billy Liar about Upchart, another Waterhouse creation. Nedwell is not as smooth as Alderton. Being both manic and sweaty. Unless it was the hot studio lights.
Boy with a Flute (1964)
Boy with a Flute
The presenters tells a story about personal column adverts. Dorothy Winters saw one about a painting called Boy With a Flute. An American art collector is after it and is willing to pay good money.
Dorothy goes to see Conrad Bestow with her painting Boy With a Flute that she has had for years. Just as Conrad is about to write out his cheque, a young woman Caroline arrives claiming that she too has the genuine Boy With a Flute.
Who is telling the truth. Maybe Conrad should put the paintings in the safe. Take the ladies out for lunch while an art expert arrives to authenticate the paintings.
To Dorothy's surprise, her art expert believes she has the forgery. While she was at lunch, Conrad's assistant did a switcheroo.
Conrad and Caroline are in cahoots and are pulling a scam. It is Dorothy's wheelchair bound sister Anne Winters who notices. She has stared at the painting for years. The one Dorothy has brought home is not the same.
They go to the police but what help can they be? Superintendent Fitch is a man with a plan.
This low budget British short is effective. No flab and you sense the con is on but here, it takes place twice.
Doctor Who: The Two Doctors: Part Two (1985)
The Two Doctors: Part Two
The Second Doctor has been abducted and is planned to be turned into an Androgum. The Sontarans wants to delve into his DNA as it might contains the secrets of time travel. Something the Sontarans crave.
The Sixth Doctor comes into contact with an unconscious Jamie. He realises that if Jamie is present, his earlier incarnation must be about somewhere.
Frustratingly another episode where there is no meeting between the Second Doctor and Sixth Doctor. At least the latter meets Jamie.
Holmes has trouble getting a sure grip with the script. It is too talky although Dastari is insane. Shockeye is gastronomically mad.
Doctor in Charge: The Research Unit (1972)
The Research Unit
Professor Loftus is surprised and pleased to learn that he might be in line for a knighthood for services to medicine.
It would also be good for St Swithins to have a distinguished surgeon with a title. To bring it over the line, it is suggested that Professor Loftus needs to be involved in a medical breakthrough.
The only suitable research that the hospital was involved in is research for plastic catheters led by Dr Lawrence Bingham (Richard O'Sullivan.) Only Loftus has more confidence with Dr Waring and places him in charge of the research.
This annoys Bingham and he tries to sabotage the project. Even involving the press to be hostile towards Dr Waring.
The episode introduces Dr Bingham as the antagonist character. Only he inadvertently gets Dr Waring to succeed with the research. Even by the second episode, the humour is from the tight knit trio of Waring, Collier and Dick Stuart-Clark.