495 Magnum P.I.

First  viewed : Uncertain

I  think  I'm  probably  covering  this  a  bit  early  but  as  I  have  no  idea  when  I  first  caught  an  episode  we  may  as  well  get  it  out  of  the  way  now.

Magnum  PI  was  first  broadcast  on  ITV  towards  the  end  of   May  1981. It  inverted  the  usual  cliches  of  private  eyes  being  somewhat  down  at  heel  by  placing  its  protagonist  in  the  ludicrous  situation  of  living in  a  beachside  mansion  at  the  gift  of  its  unseen  owner  ( voiced  occasionally  by  Orson  Welles )  , an  extravagant  reward  for  unspecified  previous  service , and  only  working  when  he  felt  like  it.

The  series  was  generally  light  in  tone , somewhat  akin  to  The  Rockford  Files  and  Tom  Selleck,  the  hairy  faced  giant  with  the  squeaky  voice  in  the  title  role, was  an  amiable  presence.  What  made  it  rather  unpalatable  was  that  Magnum  had  to  put  up  with  the  owner's  disapproving  English  butler, a  trope  filched  from  Two's  Company  , although  the  said  Higgins  was  played  by  an  American  actor  John  Hillerman. With  his  dodgy  accent  and  stiff, anal  personality   Higgins  seemed  almost  designed  to  get  up  the  nose  of  English  viewers.

Nonetheless  it  was  popular  on  both  sides  of  the Atlantic   and  ran  for  early  8  years. Selleck  was  able  to  enjoy  a  reasonably  successful  film  career  for  the  next  decade. Hillerman's  career  petered  out  not  long  afterwards.