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ACTION
TV ONLINE EPISODE GUIDE
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Director : Gerard Glaister Cast : Edward Chapman (Mr Grandland), Derrick Sherwin (Wilmot), Michael Murray (Mr Irving), Colette Wild (Mrs Irving), Michael Wynne (The Clerk), Molly Veness (Miss Pettiward), Anne Pichon (Miss Fry), Simon Meddick (The Photographer), John Forbes-Robertson (Rex), Magda Miller (Toni) and Betty Cooper (Mrs Palmer). Publicity : The Men From Room 13 - Bill Evans introduces Michael Gilbert's new series of detective thrillers, starting on Monday: A mysterious department of Scotland Yard - said to have existed after the war, though this has never been admitted - is the background of thriller-writer Michael Gilbert's new television series which is to run for twelve weeks starting on Monday. Entitled The Men From Room 13, it is based on the story of the Yard's "Ghost Squad" as told by the late Stanley Firmin in his book Men In The Shadows published six years ago. Tall, bespectacled Michael Gilbert, a London solicitor whose writing is a sideline - he wrote the scripts on his morning train from Kent - explained some of the mystery for me in the quiet of his Lincoln's Inn office. "I think the background of the book was true enough. Firmin says that after the war, facing a big crime wave, the Yard found things difficult because their informers weren't working well. Perhaps some of them had gone the way of all flesh! And post-war criminals were much tougher. So somebody at the Yard said: "We've got lots of new chaps coming into the police - and older ones coming back from the war whose faces won't be familiar. The crooks don't know them …". "According to Firmin, a carefully selected batch was chosen - from both sexes - told what parts of London to go to, what to look for, and given careful instructions on how to contact the Yard. On giving the right code-word their calls were connected to a special line at Scotland Yard that had a tape-recorder attached to it day and night". The Ghost Squad is said to have been organised on the lines of a wartime operation. It is thought that only three men knew the details: a superintendent, a chief superintendent - the latter from the Flying Squad - and an assistant commissioner. Though he never met Mr Firmin, Michael Gilbert read his book several times and had access to a film script based on it. "Having read them I largely forgot the details and made up six plots. The bones of about three could be found in the book while the other three came out of my head," he says. "Each one is in two half-hour episodes, with a `cliff-hanger' at the end of the first part. Viewers will see a criminal enterprise taking shape, and as they get to know the gang will be led to wonder who is the disguised policeman or policewoman. It could be anybody, of any age. Sometimes the police officers in disguise are revealed quite soon, the suspense turning on whether the crooks will guess; sometimes they're well concealed; other times we hope viewers will think they know them but find they are wrong!". Producer Gerard Glaister thinks he has found the right actors to play the two leading roles, for John Welsh plays Superintendent Halcro, and William Fox plays Chief Superintendent Maw, the men who run "Room 13". They are concerned in each story, while other actors will appear in separate stories. In particular, that veteran character-played, Edward Chapman, will be in the first two episodes. Gilbert and Glaister have a fellow feeling about television, for it was Glaister who produced Gilbert's first serial, The Crime Of The Century, three years ago. They were also teamed in the serial Wideawake and the production, last year, of the play Blackmail Is So Difficult. Gilbert is one of the few people to complain about faster railway trains: "Now they've speeded up the line I travel on, my writing time is cut by six minutes a day," he says, with a twinkle in his eye. (Radio Times, October 30, 1959 - Article by Bill Evans). Notes : The series was originally transmitted 8:05pm to 8:35pm on BBC 1.
Director : Gerard Glaister Cast : Edward Chapman (Mr Grandland), John Forbes-Robertson (Rex), Magda Miller (Toni), Derrick Sherwin (Wilmot), Colette Wild (Mrs Irving), John Ebdon (The Passport Official), Allan Casley (The Customs Officer), Doreen Keogh (Miss Manifold), Deevis Ward (George), Barry Raymond (Police Constable Brown) and Roderick Griffiths (The Purser).
Director : Gerard Glaister Cast : Kenneth J Warren (Dingus), Sam Kydd (Cracker), Charles Lloyd Pack (Mr Adler), Martin Sterndale (Mr Holbrook), Ellen McIntosh (Rhoda Patterson), George Roderick (Sam Summers), Manning Wilson (Detective Sergeant Baker), Jack Howarth (The Publican), Beckett Bould (The Old Man), Katherine Parr (The Publican's Wife) and John Gabriel (Santro).
Director : John Gibson Cast : Ellen McIntosh (Rhoda Patterson), John Gabriel (Santro), Rita Webb (Mrs Melrose), Manning Wilson (Detective Sergeant Baker), Raymond Hodge (Sergeant Clitheroe), John Watson (The Police Officer), George Roderick (Sam Summers), Sam Kydd (Cracker), Kenneth J Watson (Dingus), Peter Lewiston (Lloyd) and Charles Lloyd Pack (Mr Adler).
Director : John Gibson Cast : Geoffrey Keen (Fred Anderson), Andree Melly (Caroline), Barbara Cavan (Mrs Emma Keighly), Oliver Johnston (Max), William Sherwood (Albert), James Sharkey (Leonard), Franky Shelley (Mr Martin), Carmen Blanche-Sichel (Madame) and Donald Morley (Joe).
Director : John Gibson Cast : Geoffrey Keen (Fred Anderson), Andree Melly (Caroline), Oliver Johnston (Max), Donald Morley (Joe), James Sharkey (Leonard), William Sherwood (Albert) and Frank Pendlebury (The Sergeant).
Director : John Warrington Cast : Emrys Jones (Mr Mortleman), Paul Hansard (Jan Sommering), Derek Sydney (Ben), James Culliford (Shiner), Grenville Eves (Assistant Commissioner Mr Romer), Edward Evans (Chief Superintendent Dick), Victor Platt (Sergeant Mulliner), Frazer Hines (The First Young Hooligan), John Symonds (The Second Young Hooligan), Llewellyn Rees (The Prison Governor), Bruce Boa (Eddie Conlan), Alistair Hunter (The First Warder), Frank Thornton (The Second Warder), Ivor Salter (The Policeman) and Reginald Green (The Police Sergeant).
Director : John Warrington Cast : Emrys Jones (Mr Mortleman), Alan Tilvern (Williams), James Culliford (Shiner), Derek Sydney (Ben), Arnold Ridley (The Cashier) and Fred Ferris (Foxy Barnes).
Director : John Warrington Cast : Lawrence James (Police Constable Garner), Sydney Bromley (A Tramp), Walter Horsbrugh (Mr Harberson), Robert Raglan (The Station Sergeant), Denny Bettis (The Youth), Geoffrey Lumsden (Mr Walliker), Malcolm Webster (Mr Barr), Colin Douglas (Detective Inspector Toft), John Flexman (Goodwin), Rex Rowland (Lamb), Jack May (Mr Honey) and John Stuart (Doctor Grierson).
Director : Michael Bakewell Cast : Colin Douglas (Detective Inspector Toft), Michael Bird (The Photographer), Geoffrey Lumsden (Mr Walliker), Jack May (Mr Honey), John Ebdon (Mr Wilkins), Lawrence James (Police Constable Garner), Walter Horsbrugh (Mr Harberson), Van Boolen (The Man In The Car) and Malcolm Webster (Mr Barr).
Director : Michael Bakewell Cast : Barry Foster (Detective Sergeant Gunn), Anne Blake (The Matron), Nanette Newman (Miss Blaize), Peter Welch (Bat), Glen Williams (Billy), Dorothy White (Connie), Danny Green (Mr Turner), Gretchen Franklin (Mrs Paterson), Jillian Gotts (The Nurse), Bill Parsons (The Barman) and Derek Tansley (Joe Patridge).
Director : Michael Bakewell Cast : Barry Foster (Detective Sergeant Gunn), Peter Welch (Bat), Glen Williams (Billy), Danny Green (Mr Turner), Kathleen Moutall (Mrs Merryweather), Dorothy White (Connie), Barry Raymond (Police Constable Brown) and Nanette Newman (Miss Blaize).
Director : Terence Dudley Cast : Steve Plytas (Miller), Hana Pravda (Mrs Miller), Lewis Wilson (Cox), Natalie Kent (Mrs Stigant), Anthony Sagar (Birch), Pauline Knight (Vicky), Pauline Petrie (Mrs Hapgood), Peter Collingwood (Johnson) and Endre Muller (Otto Bucholtz). Publicity : Brian Wilde as Detective Superintendent Halcro in The Men From Room 13 - A new series of crime stories: "I've got men and women all over London, busy keeping their ears open. They're regular policemen, but they've never been in uniform. If they have to give evidence - well, that's the end of their usefulness and they come back into the Force. But the best of them have been lying low for years". That is what Detective Superintendent Halcron has to say about the mysterious department in Scotland Yard - the men from Room Thirteen - of which he is in charge. About fifteen months ago we saw thriller-writer Michael Gilbert's first series about this "Ghost Squad" - a squad which is said to have existed after the war, although its existence has never been admitted. Half of his stories in this first series were based on a book called Men In The Shadows, the other half were his own invention. "But all the stories in the new series - which starts tonight - come from my own imagination," he told us. Each adventure will run to two half-hour episodes, and the final one to three. The first story is called The Man Who Made Fires. Somewhere in London lives a man who can organise "accidental" fires at the drop of a hat. Because he is so elusive, the anonymous men from Room Thirteen are given the task of running him to earth. Superintendent Halcro, the man at the head of the "Ghost Squad", will be played this time by Brian Wilde. Two important roles in tonight's episode will be taken by Steve Plytas and Hana Pravda. Michael Gilbert does all his writing in the train on his daily journeys between his home in Kent and the Lincoln's Inn office where he works as a solicitor. Look out for a new and enthralling play by Michael Gilbert tomorrow night - The Scene Of The Accident. (Radio Times, April 27, 1961). Synopsis : The first in a new series of investigations by Superintendent Halcro, head of Room Thirteen - the control centre of Scotland Yard's undercover men. Somewhere in the London area lives a man who can organise large-scale "accidental" fires at the drop of a hat. It seems an impossible task to find him - which is why the job is given to the men from Room Thirteen. Notes : The series was originally transmitted 7:15pm to 7:45pm on BBC 1.
Director : Terence Dudley Cast : Anthony Sagar (Birch), Pauline Knight (Vicky), John Martin (Detective Inspector Woodroffe), Natalie Kent (Mrs Stigant), Edwin Brown (Sergeant Beale), Cameron Hall (Harry), Frank Sieman (The Foreman), David Jarrett (Andy), Rita Davies (Joyce) and Bill Cartwright (The Police Constable). Synopsis : Superintendent Halcro is looking for the man who can organise large-scale "accidental" fires at the drop of a hat. A single clue and a report from one of his undercover men put him on the track of the fire-raiser - a German-born scientist called Miller, who has a small chemist's shop in North London. Miller suspects that Mr Johnson, who lodges next door, is taking too much interest in him. When Johnson breaks into his stockroom one night, Miller kills him in a fit of panic.
Director : Arthur Williams Cast : Stephanie Voss (Mavis Deane), Peter Madden (Mr Shaw), Jacqueline Ellis (Marianne Benson), Joyce Gregg (The Night Sister), Denis Cleary (The Doctor), Reginald Green (The Police Constable), Geoffrey Bayldon (George Yates), Hazel Graeme (Toni), Edward Higgins (Detective Constable Hills) and Daphne Odin-Pearse (Mrs Fanshawe). Synopsis : A list of four words, written on a sheet of paper by a dying man, is all Halcro has to go on. But he is convinced that the words are intended to convey vital information to him, and that somehow he must discover the link between them.
Director : Arthur Williams Cast : Stephanie Voss (Mavis Deane), Peter Madden (Mr Shaw), Jacqueline Ellis (Marianne Benson), Joan Hickson (Mrs Shaw), Edward Waddy (Mr Marker), Richard Clake (Detective Sergeant Moser) and Patrick Garland (Mr Phillips). Synopsis : "House - Butler - Marker - Sea". These four words, listed on a sheet of paper by a dying man from Room Thirteen, leads Halcro to investigate the activities of Mr and Mrs Shaw, who run an employment agency and a hostel for formerly delinquent girls.
Director : Campbell Logan Cast : Raymond Huntley (Marcus Palmer), Gladys Henson (Mrs Briggs), Pete Murray (Curly Elphick), James Raglan (The Assistant Commissioner), John Forbes Robertson (Sergeant Costigan), Brian Harrison (Detective Carter), Hilary Tindall (Tessa Hoosen), Stella Riley (Doreen), Arthur Mayne (The Police Sergeant), Sidney Vivian (Sam), Kenneth Edwards (The Police Surgeon) and Michael Earl (The Police Constable). Synopsis : Halcro and Maw are determined to cut down on recent larceny figures. In this case they know who their man is. The difficult is to prove it, for he makes very careful arrangements.
Director : Campbell Logan Cast : Raymond Huntley (Marcus Palmer), Gladys Henson (Mrs Briggs), Pete Murray (Curly Elphick), Alan Rolfe (The Reporter), Hilary Tindall (Tessa Hoosen), Sidney Vivian (Sam), Beatrice Kane (Beatrice), Betty Romaine (The Female Assistant), Gwenda Ewen (The Customer), Roger Snowden (Mr Carstairs), John Forbes Robertson (Sergeant Costigan) and Brian Harrison (Detective Carter). Synopsis : When Halcro and Maw suspect that Marcus Palmer has arranged to take delivery of a valuable haul of jewellery, they make sure that a search warrant is slapped on him as soon as he returns from his rendezvous with the thief. But the police draw a blank. The sudden death of an old man in a dingy City office throws fresh light on the situation.
Director : Michael Bakewell Cast : Arnold Bell (Arthur), Ian MacNaughton (Jock), James Raglan (The Assistant Commissioner), John Boxer (Mr Proudfoot), Trevor Martin (The Warder), Peter Welch (Ray), Loelia Kidd (Mabel), Toke Townley (Lennie), Maxwell Shaw (Tommy), Jack Smethurst (Davis), Arnold Bell (Arthur), Vi Stevens (Kiosk Attendant) and Norman Wynne (The Station Man). Synopsis : A German called Mailler, who has developed a photographic process for printing perfect forgeries of English bank notes, disappears just before the police catch up with him. Scotland Yard suspects that Mailler is being forced to work for a well-organised gang, who are stock-piling a vast quantity of forged notes and plan to unload them suddenly on the public …
Director : Michael Bakewell Cast : Arnold Bell (Arthur), Ian MacNaughton (Jock), James Raglan (The Assistant Commissioner), Maxwell Shaw (Tommy), Otto Diamant (Mailler), Jack Smethurst (Davis), Toke Townley (Lennie), Edward Kelsey (Detective Sergeant Morris) and Walter Randall (Sam). Synopsis : Superintendent Halcro is looking for Mailler, the German who has developed a photographic process of printing perfect forgeries of English bank notes. When undercover man C17 is framed by the gang who are forcing Mailler to work for them, Halcro is back where he started …
Director : Campbell Logan Cast : Marian Spencer (Mrs Roseberry), Henry Oscar (Major George Repton), Jennifer Wright (Celia Brace), Terry Scully (Sydney Light), Sir William Dark (George Curzon) and Michael Brennan (Burgess).
Director : Campbell Logan Cast : Marian Spencer (Mrs Roseberry), Henry Oscar (Major George Repton), Jennifer Wright (Celia Brace) and Terry Scully (Sydney Light). Synopsis : Mrs Roseberry, a widow with private means, has fallen into the clutches of a confidence trickster who calls himself "Major Repton". Her companion, Celia Brace, tries to persuade her not to invest a large sum of money in one of Repton's financial enterprises, but Mrs Rosberry will hear nothing against the charming and helpful Major. Meantime, Superintendent Halcro waits for Repton to make a false step.
Director : Douglas Allen Cast : Jacqueline Hills (Miss Angel), Anthony Sharp (Brigadier Hunt), Harold Berens (Melosi), Roland Curram (The Boy), Geoffrey Hibbert (Jacko), Arnold Diamond (Massimo), Hugh Cross (Joseph), Peter Stephens (Dummy), Ina de le Haye (Mrs Melosi), Frank Seton (The Police Constable) and Edward Brooks (Detective Constable Jackson). Synopsis : The owners of two small restaurants in South East London run into trouble when they refuse to continue paying for the privilege of being "protected" by the Massimo gang. Superintendent Halcro and Maw decide it is time to break up Massimo's protection racket.
Director : Douglas Allen Cast : Jacqueline Hill (Miss Angel). Synopsis : Superintendent Halcro and Maw are trying to break up a protection racket run by Massimo, an Italian with an unsavoury war record. So far, Massimo's gang of trouble makers are always one jump ahead - as Halcro finds out to his cost when he walks into his office one night.
Director : Douglas Allen Cast : Jacqueline Hill (Miss Angel), James Raglan (The Assistant Commissioner), Arnold Diamond (Massimo), Hugh Cross (Joseph), Peter Stephens (Dummy), Geoffrey Hibbert (Jacko), Roland Curram (The Boy), Daphne Odin Pearse (Mrs Fanshawe), Edward Higgins (Detective Sergeant Hills) and Jennifer Browne (Stella). Synopsis : Superintendent Halcro and Maw are determined to break up the protection racket run by Massimo, and Italian with an unsavoury war record, and his gang of trouble makers. Halcro gets a shock when a message comes through on the tape from C5, a former undercover man named Connor, who is believed to be long-since dead. Halcro arranges a secret meeting with Connor and is caught in a murder trap. |
The series was created and written by Michael Gilbert. Series 1 was produced by Gerard Glaister (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11 and 12) and John Warrington (Parts 7, 8, 9 and 10). Series 2 was produced by Terence Dudley (Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4), Campbell Logan (Parts 5, 6, 9 and 10), Michael Bakewell (Parts 7 and 8) and Douglas Allen (Parts 11, 12 and 13). The signature tune for the series was composed by Ron Grainer. Text © Matthew Lee, 2005. |
