Jason King

After the huge success of 'Department S', in which the character of Jason King had quickly become dominant, a spin-off series was developed called (not surprisingly) 'Jason King'.

King had left Department S and was working on his novels - the 'Mark Cain' stories. The rest of the cast of Department S did not appear at all, and were never mentioned.

The general premise for the show was that King wandered around the world living a playboy lifestyle and each week was somehow drawn into a crime which he neatly solved in time for the end credits. British Intelligence were often hounding him to work for them as a freelance which he generally resisted until they reminded him of his back-taxes. The series was made on location around Europe, in contrast to Department S which never left the back-lot at Pinewood.

Overall the series lacked much of the original sparkle and zest of Department S, the plots were much thinner and less original, and Wyngarde was becoming to old to play the part of a trend-setting playboy convincingly.

Finally we have a digital channel that is not afraid to run the old ITC pulp series from the late 60's and early 70's. These are the ones we 50-year-olds grew up with!

They were, of course, formulaic having the two-man/one girl teams (almost always with the Canadian/American Hero in order to sell over the pond). With the popularity of the formula it was surprising that 'Department S' spawned an untypical offshoot - Solo British Hero with very few Transatlantic guest parts. This was harking back to the glory days of 'Simon Templar'.

ITV4 has now re-run a number of these old 'Jason King' episodes most recently a two-parter entitled "All That Glisters.." I am absolutely convinced that Clinton Greyn's character of 'John Mallen' was voiced-over by Shane Rimmer, although no mention of this occurs in the credits. Anyone familiar with these stock actors would surely recognise the substitution instantly, unless Greyn had cultivated a mid-Atlantic accent of remarkable similarity during his time in the USA.

If true it is a shame that Rimmer (who, I believe has been unwell recently) received no accolade for the performance. Such 'Lip-Sync' on live actors must be far more demanding than marionettes and is to be admired!

Can anyone out there shed any light on this?

Having just read the write up on this site.. I'm not sure I agree. ITV4 has started showing a lot of old ITC progs, including Department S and Jason King. Watching it now at age 54.. I remember it when first shown.. but now.. I'm enjoying it all over again. I'm surprised they were hour long episodes... but find I have really enjoyed them. Many will compare them to modern series.. well, I view everything with the thought of, they were of their time. I've found what I've seen so far humorous.. and knowing what I know now of Peter Wyngarde, am STILL thoroughly enjoying them? Tongue in cheek.. STYLE.. charm with the ladies.. a laugh.Entertaining. Its a shame modern series with hi tech effects.. often overshadow characters. These shows HAVE characters. Now I know there were 26 episodes, I know a mate who told me there were only 6.. must have read a miss print.

I'd heard for years that JASON KING was a campy badly dated clown show, but after watching it I strongly disagree. There are several good to very good to excellent episodes.

There are also some clunkers, not so much for their comical fashions and out-of-style mores, but for how dull they are as entertainment.

My picks for top quality are:

E01 - "Wanna Buy A Television Series?" E04 - "A Deadly Line of Digits" E05 - "Variations on a Theme" E09-E10 - "All That Glisters..." (Parts I & II) E14 - "Uneasy Lies the Head"

The two-part movie length adventure (9-10) is the best of the series, maybe the best of the entire DEPARTMENT S/JASON KING run, thanks to its sprawling cast, obvious larger budget & location shooting around Paris.

Peter Wyngarde was a unique actor, Jason King is his signature role. DEPARTMENT S, when it worked, had better and more intriguing plots overall, plus a terrific trio of stars, but several episodes of JASON KING are as good (though the failures are duller and worse).

This is by way of a comment on one of the other reviews.

The episode "All that Glisters..." was playing recently on a TV that I could hear but not see. "Thunderbirds!" I thought since I could clearly hear the voice of Scott Tracey. On going in to actually watch the TV I was amazed to see that it was Jason King rather than Thunderbirds and that bizarrely Clinton Greyn was speaking with Scott Tracey's voice. The lip-sync was excellent but it was clearly a dubbed voice since the acoustic was different. And of course, rather than Greyn's rounded Welsh tones we were getting the distinctive Canadian sound of Shane Rimmer. Cant understand why they did this - and then not credit it? Weird.