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ACTION
TV ONLINE EPISODE GUIDE
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Director : David Giles Script : Michael Robson Cast : Charles Gray (Commander Nevil), David Waller (Lord Haslemere), Dominique Barnes (Lady Anne), Davyd Harries (Harrap), Joyce Grant (Madame Sonya), Timothy Barlow (Taverner), Philip McGough (Kupitt), Timothy Block (Sergeant Bennett), Kenneth Midwood (The Tailor), David Gooderson (The Ship's Steward), Peter Clayburgh (Nanty), David Pinner (The Police Constable), Neville Phillips (The Club Clerk), Derek Ware (The Embassy Guard), Gracie Cole (The Pianist), Stuart Fell (Todd) and Glyn Grimstead (The Club Porter). Publicity : It is South West Africa in 1912 and Richard Hannay, played by Robert Powell, is minding his business when a would-be assassin leaps out and shoots him in the back. As the blood seeps through his shirt, a black stone is pressed in his hand. Since a series can hardly lose its hero in the first five minutes, it is no surprise when our man rises from the dead and, en route for England, reckons it is about time he tasted a bit of civilisation. We are in John Buchan's country, though Hannay (ITV, 9:00pm) is a modern pastiche which makes use of the characters and ambience and invents the stories. Given the date, two years before the First World War, the villain can hardly be other than a German and, sure enough, Hannay is soon on the trail of one Count von Schwabing, who is out to scupper the British fleet in Scapa Flow. Meanwhile, Hannay is trying to insinuate himself into London society in his amorous pursuit of the lovely Lady Anne, whose twenty-first birthday ball is imminent. This sub-plot is often more diverting than the main adventure, which develops into a familiar Buchan double chase with Hannay pursued equally by police and heavies. Since von Schwabing is a standard caricature German who could have strayed in from 'Allo 'Allo it is hard to take him or his nefarious activities seriously, while Hannay has such a miraculous facility for getting out of desperate situations which for other mortals mean certain death, that the plot is rather lacking in tension. But Powell is a personable Hannay (as he has already demonstrated in the film The Thirty-Nine Steps) and his attempts to get himself accepted by the British aristocracy are amusingly charted. Preparing for Lady Anne's ball he seems to be doing everything right - visiting the best tailor and taking dancing lessons - but as he struggles with his bow tie, it is obvious he has some way to go. So, perhaps, has this series. (The Times, January 6th, 1988). Notes : The series was originally transmitted 9:00pm to 10:00pm on ITV.
Director : Guy Slater Script : Michael Robson Cast : Terrence Hardiman (Harman), Geraldine Alexander (Lady Madrigal Fitzjames), Michelle Evans (La Motte), Mark Tandy (Cully), Kevin Stoney (Brim), Ann Curthoys (Mrs Harman), Davilia David (Mrs Brim), Martyn Read (Privitt) and John Hughes (The Station Master). Synopsis : Hannay and Lady Madrigal Fitzjames are invited to attend Lady Broughton's ball at Whadham Hall.
Director : Guy Slater Script : Michael Robson Cast : Stephen Churchett (The Reverend Martin Kennedy), Oliver Ford Davies (The Russian Ambassador), Nick Stringer (Brabazon), Amanda Rosen (Madeline Christiansen), Trevor Bowen (The Foreign Secretary), Mark Buffery (Grand Duke Alyukin), Joan Blackham (Miss Payne), Helen Ryan (Babuschka), John Ringham (Manners), George Mikell (Baron Vogel), Alan Hunter (Saunders), Gordon Whiting (Sir James West), Peter Corey (Edgar), Paul Kirk (Drage), Clive Curtis (The Seaman), Neville Phillips (The Club Clerk), Sidney Livingstone (The Police Commissioner), Simon Williamson (Raymond), Richard Cubison (Oleg) and Nicholas Coppin (Knipper). Synopsis : 1912, and the governments of Great Britain and Imperial Germany are in a race to arm their countries with the latest battleships. Hannay's arch adversary, Count von Schwabing, is determined that Germany will win the race.
Director : David Giles Script : Michael Robson Cast : Serena Gordon (Simone Angeketell), Denis Lill (Inspector Bristow), Colin Jeavons (Hugh Wotton), Michael Culver (Major Edmund Philipson), Malcolm Tierny (Latimer), Frank Mills (Postman Pete), Selina Cadell (Miss Harkness), Dan McCorkindale (Harry Bateman), David Rose (Ford), David Hatton (Tarrant), Brett Forrest (Sim Hailey) and Vincenzo Nicoli (The Gypsy). Synopsis : Hannay and Reggie Armitage discover they are the intended targets of a deranged killer.
Director : Jeremy Summers Script : Michael Robson Cast : Phyllis Logan (Alison Ross), Iain Cuthbertson (Sherrif Elliston), Gordon Kane (Adam Logan), Oliver Cotton (George Duxbury), Hilton McRae (Lord Drysdale), Iain Lauchlan (Simon Rintoul), Martin Cochrane (Chief Inspector Crombie), David Ashton (Alec Cauldshaw), Anne Kidd (Catriona Todd), William MacBain (Noah Rintoul), Derek Anders (Sergeant Forbes), Brian Patterson (Fergus Tod), Stuart Mungall (Neil Tod), Angus Lennie (Drummond), Joe Van Dyke (Major Crawford), Peter McCulloch (The Mining Foreman), Nicola Stapleton (Betty) and Robert Brown (Robertson). Synopsis : Hannay takes a sentimental trip to the Scottish village where he was born and finds himself in conflict with the locals.
Director : Jeremy Summers Script : Michael Robson Cast : Edward de Souza (Barone Di Castigliani), Leonie Mellinger (Lady Veronica Strickland), Gary Watson (Sir Greville Strickland), Gary Bond (Ned Jollifant), Ken Farrington (Alfred Flete), Dermot Crowley (Doctor Forgan), Michael Sheard (Perrin), Nicholas Coppin (Knipper), Victoria Burgoyne (Maisie Thorpe), Albert Welling (Meredith), Glyn Baker (Guy Thorpe), John Rolfe (Ross), Pavel Douglas (Frederick), Neville Phillips (Ernest), Pat Pelton (Nurse Barraclough), Harry Van Engle (The Croupier), Trevor Bowen (The Foreign Secretary) and Johnny Brogden (Matthew). Synopsis : Hannay saves the life of a young lady little knowing that his brave act will bring him into contact with his arch-enemy von Schwabing.
Director : Robert Reed Script : Richard Carpenter Cast : Anthony Valentine (Sir Marcus Leonard), Joanna David (Sybil Verney), Leslie Schofield (Tennant), Diane Bull (Sal Alford), Deirdre Costello (Ivy), Felix Bowness (The Music Hall Comedian), Jan Hartley Morris (The Music Hall Singer), William Davies (The Music Hall Pianist), Peter Sproule (Mitchell), Katy Landis (Mary) and Harry Jones (Billy). Publicity : Within ten minutes of the opening of Hannay (ITV, 9:00pm) our Edwardian bachelor hero (Robert Powell) has not only fallen in love for the first time but is on the way to thwarting a blackmailer. In other words, we have a good, satisfying plot on our hands, embellished with sparky dialogue. Already this new series is looking more promising than its disappointing predecessor. Anthony Valentine (looking curiously like Sir Ralph Richardson) adds to his gallery of suave rogues by playing Sir Marcus Leonard, a landed gent and fencing enthusiast who hides a dark secret in his safe. Joanna David plays the society beauty just back from Martinique who first has Hannay swooning all over her and then claims that the fencing land-owner is blackmailing her father. Always willing to help a damsel in distress, Hannay takes lessons in safecracking from the barmaid at the local music-hall. If the ingredients are conventional enough, the writer Richard Carpenter mixes them cleverly and takes the story through several twists before the final credits. (The Times, January 31st, 1989).
Director : Ken Hannam Script : Michael Robson Cast : Alex Kingston (Kirsten Larssen), Peter Halliday (Eric Dearth), Frank Moorey (Doctor Nils Larssen), David Howey (Lord Hurst), Jonathan Oliver (Edgar), Jane Hollowood (Maisie), Tony O'Callaghan (Sharpe), James Mansfield (Muller), Michael Shevelen (The Army Captain), Andy Readman (The Army Corporal), Isobel Nisbit (The Nurse) and Maureen O'Reilly (The Shop-Keeper). Synopsis : When a British scientist who is working on vaccines against possible germ warfare becomes suspicious of his assistant, the Edwardian adventurer is called in to help.
Director : Henry Herbert Script : Michael Robson Cast : Nigel Le Vaillant (Henry Milner), Cathryn Harrison (Barbara Leigh), Bernard Kay (Chief Inspector Rodier), Conrad Phillips (Dirk Huysman), Tom Watsom (Desmond Leigh), Ian Redford (Meredith Baxter), Simon Smith (Rupert Baxter), Chris Jenkinson (Wilfred Stott), Arthur Whybrow (Hubert), Denys Hawthorne (The Counsel For The Defence), Graham Poutney (The Counsel For The Prosecution), David Conville (The Judge), Geoffrey Hudson (The Foreman Of The Jury) and Colin Rix (The Clerk Of The Court). Synopsis : Dirk Huysman, the man who brought up Hannay in South Africa after his parent's death, makes a death-bed request of him to find Desmond Leigh and deliver a fortune in uncut diamonds to him.
Director : Henry Herbert Script : Robin Miller Cast : David Haig (Conrad Smith), Marc Zuber (Auguste Kars), Sharon Maughan (Dore Nicholson), Derek Smith (Colonel Walmesley-Jones), Peter Pacey (Boy Morland), Henri Szeps (The Police Inspector), Charles Collingwood (Freddie Parkinson), Colin Prockter (The Reverend Harker), Paul Humpoletz (The Conductor), Chris Sanders (Chef De Train), Rupert Bates (Ambrose Meek), Daniel Andre Pageon (The Maitre d'Hotel), Steven Wickham (Boris), Grant Thatcher (Mr Osborne), Donna Wilson (Mrs Osborne), Graham Elder (The First Gendarme), Peter Rylands (The Second Gendarme) and Richard O'Callaghan (The Bald-Headed Man). Synopsis : Richard Hannay has a nightmare journey while traveling on the Trans European Express from Venice.
Director : Robert Reed Script : Michael Robson Cast : Andrew Woodall (Doctor Angus Birbeck), Ron Pember (Charlie Peterson), Diane Bull (Sal Alford), Garry Cooper (Joe Morris), Rebecca Ladby (Florence Peterson), Peter Ledbury (Major Davenport Smith), Hugo James Ellis (The Honorable David Tremayne), Martin Clunes (Lord Amersham), Paul Toothill (Arnold, The Police Constable), Susannah Davis (The Music Hall Singer), Felix Bowness (The Music Hall Comedian), William Davies (The Music Hall Pianist), Alec McKenzie (Sid), Dave Atkins (Fred) and Nigel Makin (The Milkman). Synopsis : In the will of his friend, Pelham Swinbourne, Richard Hannay is left a walking stick, a pair of binoculars and a lighthouse on a Fenland marsh. At first sight there seems to be no connection until Hannay examines them carefully.
Director : Ken Hannam Script : Michael Robson Cast : Caroline Lee Johnson (Vivien Laputa), Richenda Carey (Marigold Hudspith), Richard Pasco (Eugene Delahunty), Richard Moore (Gus Thorpe), Carol Burns (Muriel Thorpe), Angus Banett (Cromwell Thorpe), Spencer Leigh (Vermillion Thorpe), Phil Smeeton (Toby Hickathrift) and Frank Baker (Gotobed Otterspoor). Synopsis : Gentlemen from the Twentieth Century Rugby Club, led by Richard Hannay, come to the aid of a music hall owner whose livelihood is threatened by a protection racket gang.
Director : Guy Slater Script : Paul Wheeler Cast : Paul Rogers (Lord Berenger), Karen Archer (Madge Drayton), James Simmons (Michael Harrington), Claire Parker (Susan Dawny), Simon Cowell-Parker (Smythe), John Bardon (Rose), Murray Ewan (Hinton), John Keenan (The Pianist), John Hughes (The Butler), Patrick Carter (The Workman), Ken Drury (The Cabbie), Seva Novgorodsev (The First Russian) and Roger Heathcott (The Second Russian). Synopsis : Hannay helps his god-daughter to look for her missing bridegroom who jilted her on their wedding day and also investigates fraudulent insurance claims against the company for which the would-be groom works. |
The series was based on the novels written by John Buchan. The series was produced by Richard Bates. Text © Matthew Lee, 2006. |
