cult tv, mostly British, of the 60s and 70s

I’d always been inclined to be somewhat disdainful towards the Cathy Gale era of The Avengers. Not that I have anything against the character of Mrs Gale or Honor Blackman’s acting, but my impression, based on the few episodes I’d seen, was that these early stories were very studio-bound and a little slow. Even a little dull, lacking the surreal qualities of the stories of the Emma Peel-Tara King eras.

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Art Garfunkel's "All I Know" for Callan/Lonely. 4:3 aspect ratio; PAL; MP2: 228 MB; MP4: 33 MB.

Jackson Browne's "Running on Empty" for Callan. 4:3 aspect ratio; PAL; MP2: 249 MB; MP4: 36 MB.

Glen Campbell's "Time" for Callan's boss, Hunter. 4:3 aspect ratio; PAL; MP2: 166 MB; MP4: 24 MB.

http://www.iment.com/maida/keepthissecret/songvids/crimesong.htm
http://www.iment.com/maida/keepthissecret/songvids/index.htm#latest

Best, Mary

Jackson Browne's "Song for Adam" for Callan & Cross. 16:94:3 aspect ratio; PAL; MP2: 146 MB; MP4: 22 MB.
http://www.iment.com/maida/keepthissecret/songvids/crimesong.htm#adam
http://www.iment.com/maida/keepthissecret/songvids/index.htm#latest

Made these videos around 1988 and am FINALLY working in PAL so becomes easy to upgrade the videos. PAL plays well on your computer, but not good to drop to a DVD unless you've got a multistandard or PAL system. Let me know if this is a problem.

There will be 2 or 3 more videos coming over the next day or so as I get them all upgraded.

Best, Mary

Dear fellow fans of old TV series,

Please make this the season when we go all-out to persuade the BBC’s DVD production company to release “The Further Adventures of the Musketeers” on DVD.

Details of the 16 episode series are here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424640/

Brian Blessed appeared in 16 episodes, and Michael Gothard appeared in ten episodes.

When I enquired about this series (which came out in 1967, but still exists in their archive), the BBC replied that they had no plans to release it just now.

However, they also said:

“Your correspondence will be kept on file as each quarter we review public enquiries and often revisit titles which are frequently requested.”

During the month of April, please write an e-mail to dvdenquiryline@bbc.com – saying that you would like them to bring out “The Further Adventures of the Musketeers” on DVD, as you are a fan, either of one of the actors, such as Michael Gothard, Brian Blessed, Joss Ackland, and John Woodvine, or of the Three Musketeers, or of historical drama, or any combination of the above.

If every member of this group, and all the other groups where I have posted this, would send an e-mail it would surely have an effect.

All for one, one for all!

If we're talking about overlooked women in 60s cult TV then mention must be made of Juliet Harmer who played Georgia Jones in the BBC's delightful Adam Adamant Lives! OK, she's not quite an action heroine but she's certainly plucky, sometimes too brave for her own good. And she's the perfect foil for the Adam Adamant character.

In another thread wytchcroft quite rightly asked: "if we're talking women, why does Barbara Bain always seem to slip under the radar of appreciation???"

There are actually quite a few female action/adventure series stars who don't get sufficient appreciation. Rosemary Nicols who played Annabelle Hurst in Department S is one. Of course Peter Wyngarde tended to overshadow everybody in that series.

Fog is one of those episodes of The Avengers that really polarises opinions. I’ve heard it described as not only the worst of the Tara King episodes, but the worst-ever episode of The Avengers. But it has its admirers, and I’m one of them.

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I finally weakened and bought myself the The Girl from UNCLE boxed set. It’s kind of fun, although nowhere near as good as The Man from UNCLE. Perhaps even more camp than The Man from UNCLE, and perhaps at times overdoing it a little.

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Here's my review of the first Blake's 7 CD box set from Big Finish:

Review of The Liberator Chronicles