513 Winston Churchill The Wilderness Years

First  viewed  : September  1981

I  only  caught  snatches  of  this  because  my  Dad  was  watching  it  but  I  got  the  general  gist.

The  eight  part  serial  covered  Churchill's  lost  decade  from  the  Conservatives'  election  defeat   in  1929  to  the  outbreak  of  the  Second  World  War  due  to  disagreements with  the  Tory leadership  over  Indian  home  rule, the  Abdication  crisis  and  rearmament  but  also  the  small-minded  Baldwin's  distrust  of  people  who  were  much  cleverer  than  himself. What  gave  it dramatic  potential  was  that  during  this  period  he  attracted  a  coterie  of  journalists, businessmen  and  schemers   of  dubious  character  most  notably  the  Irish  writer  and  fellow  MP Brendan  Bracken, well  played  by  Tim  Pigott-Smith. Churchill  himself  was  played  by  Robert Hardy  who  didn't  look  like  him  but  did  a  mean  impersonation  of  the  voice   and  odious  son Randolph  was  played by  Nigel  Havers  with  a  charm  that  did  not  correspond  to  anyone's memory  of  the  man.  

512 The Amazing Spider-Man

First  viewed : September  1981

This  was   the  first   live  action  rendering  of   Spider-Man  with  the  over-intense  Nicholas Hammond  playing  Peter  Parker / Spider-Man.  The  pilot  film  was  released  as  a  feature  film  in Europe  in  1977  and  I  remember  going  to  the  cinema  to  see  it. The  ensuing  series  was cancelled  in  1979  in  the  US  after  two  seasons  of  five  and  seven  episodes . It  was  actually popular  but  not  with  the  desired  audience  ( i.e.  adults ). ITV  used  it  to  fill  out  the  Friday  night  schedule  in  the  autumn  of  1981.

I  thought  it  was  OK  but  suffered  from  the  same  problem  as  The  Incredible  Hulk  ; the  budget  wouldn't  stretch  to  providing  Spidey  with  appropriate  adversaries  so  instead  of  facing  Dr  Octopus  or  the  Green  Goblin  you  just  had  run  of  the  mill  megalomaniacs  with   martial  arts-trained  heavies  to  overcome.

511 Stay With Me Till Morning

First  viewed :  August / September  1981

I  only  have  vague  memories  of  this  three-part  adaptation  of  a  John  Braine  novel  on  Friday  nights  on  ITV.  It  featured  Nanette  Newman, star  of  a  series  of  ads  for  Fairy  Liquid  at  the  time,  as  a  woman  whose  outwardly  successful  marriage  is  starting  to  crumble  at  the  start  of  the  seventies. All  I  can  really  recall  is  a long  party  scene  and  a  lot  of  middle  class  angst. Critical  reaction  was  largely  negative  and  it's  fallen  into  obscurity.

510 Salem's Lot

First  viewed  : 7  September  1981

This  was  the  first  adaptation  of  one  of  Stephen  King's  novels  for  television  and  the  best.

In  his  most  significant  role  post- Starsky  and  Hutch, David  Soul  plays  Ben  Mears,  a  successful  writer  returning  to  his  home  town  with  its  "haunted"  mansion  the  Marsten  House. He  finds  it's  just  been  bought  by  a  suavely  sinister  antique  dealer  Mr  Straker  ( James  Mason )  and  his  unseen  partner  Mr  Barlow. Soon  after  their  arrival,  a  child  disappears  and  a  spate  of  mysterious  deaths  or disappearances  begins. Mears  gradually  comes  to  realise  that  a  vampire  is  at  work.

The  two-part  series  was directed  by  Tobe  Hooper  of  Texas  Chainsaw  Massacre  fame . Constrained  by  the  TV  veto  on  anything  too  gory, Hooper  nevertheless  delivers  a  number  of  potent  shocks  with  atmosphere,  imaginative  make-up  and  great  acting. The  greatest  scene is  where  the  first  child  victim  returns  to  claim  his  brother  by  calling  at  his  bedroom  window. The  sight  of  the  cadaverous  boy  in  his  pyjamas  emerging  out  of  the  mist  and  clawing  at  the  panes  is  absolutely  terrifying . Two  of  my  friends  played  a  trick  on  their  little brother  ( who  shouldn't  have  been  watching  it  of  course )  by  going  outside  and  tapping  on  the  window  once  he'd  gone  to  bed.

Mason  was  absolutely  superb  as  the  vampires'  mortal  watch-dog  personifying  urbane  evil. There  were  also  great  performances  from  Geoffrey  Lewis  as  the  gravedigger, Bonnie  Bedelia as  Ben's  love  interest  and  Kenneth  McMillan  as  the  police  chief. The  one  character  I  wasn't so  keen  on  was   Mark  Petrie  ( Lance  Kerwin  )  a  younger  counterpart  to  Soul's  character  but as  he's  a  typical  Stephen  King  boy-hero  you  have  to  accept  he  goes  with  the  territory.

The  story  is  also  notable  for  having  no  real  conclusion. Ben  and  Mark  manage  to kill  Straker,  then  find  and  destroy  Barlow  in  the  nick  of  time  but  can't  eradicate  the  nest. As  the  ending  makes  clear  they  are  going  to  be  on  the  run  for  the  rest  of  their  lives  trying  to  stay  one  step  ahead  of  the  vengeful  vampires.

509 Blood Money

First  viewed  :  6  September   1981

This  was  an  excellent  thriller  serial  produced  by  Secret  Army  creator  Gerard  Glaister  and  featuring  three  alumni  from  that  series  in  Bernard  Hepton, Juliet  Hammond-Hill  and  Stephen  Yardley. Its  writer  Arden  Winch  also  wrote  an  early  episode  of  Secret  Army.

Blood  Money  is  set  in  the  present  day  and  starts  with  the  kidnapping  of  a  young  aristocratic  boy  from  his  public  school  by  a  terrorist  cell  led  by  German  Irene  Kohl  ( Hammond-Hill ). Her  cohorts  are  former  mercenary  James  Drew  ( Yardley ), IRA-connected  Danny  Connors ( Gary  Whelan )  and  arrogant  posh  boy  Charles  Vivian  ( Cavan  Kendall ). They  send  a  ransom  note  threatening  to  kill  the  boy  unless  their  demands, cash  and  the  release  of  other  terrorists  IIRC  are  not  met. Hepton  is  the  by  the  book   Supt  Meadows  trying  to  find  them  with  the  not  entirely  welcome  assistance  of  Secret  Service  chief  Captain  Percival  ( Michael  Denison ). I  immediately  recognised  Denison  as  the  much  older  version  of  Algernon   in  the  film  version  of  The  Importance  of  Being  Ernest  which  we  just  studied  for  English  Literature  O  Level. Hepton's  force  included  Nicholas  Young  trying  to  break  into  adult  roles  after  his  long  stint  as  John  in  The  Tomorrow  People .

The  series  is  all  about  tension, both  that  created  by  the  kidnappers' deadline  and  the  human tensions  on  both  sides. Hepton  has  to  rub  along  with  outsiders  who  operate  by  a  different  set of  rules  while  amongst  the  kidnappers,  Drew  and  Vivian   don't   attempt  to  disguise  their mutual  loathing   and  Connors  compromises  the  mission  by  forming  a  friendship  with  the captive  boy.

The  series  was  deservedly  well  reviewed  but  attracted  a  storm  of  criticism  for  the  brutal  cynicism of  its   denouement. Having  lured  the  terrorists  out  of  their  bolt-hole  by  a  phoney  TV  broadcast , Percival   ( without  Meadows  being  in the  loop  )  calls  in  the  SAS  to  gun  them  down  in  the  street  in  an  eerily  accurate  preview  of  the  Gibraltar  killings  seven  years  later. Having  got  to  know  them  over  six  episodes,  it  was  a  real  jolt  to  see  them ( especially  Connors )  obliterated  without  a   second  thought . That  was,  no  doubt,  the  intention.

Winch  wrote  two  more  thriller  serials  featuring  Captain  Percival  , Skorpion ( 1983 )  and  Cold  Warrior ( 1984 ) , the  latter  also  re-introducing  Dean  Harris  as  Danny  Quirk, the  undercover  cop  who'd  caught  his  eye  in  Blood  Money. I  was  interested  but  they  were  broadcast  while  I  was  living  in  a  hall  of  residence  without  my  own  TV,  making  me  very  reluctant  to  start  serials  with  no  guarantee  I'd  be  able  to  follow  them  fully.

508 Gary Numan Wembley 1981

First  viewed  :  5  September  1981

One  of  the  big  musical  stories  of  1981  was  Gary  Numan's  decision  to  retire  from  performing live, a  bare  two  years  after  his  commercial  breakthrough  with  Are  Friends  Electric ?  He  
marked  the  occasion  with  a  string  of  sell-out  concerts  at  Wembley  Arena  in  1981. The  Beeb decided  to  show  edited  highlights  of  one  of  them  on  a  Sunday  afternoon  in  September.

For  casual  viewers,  the  condensation  of  a  two  hour  concert  into  40  minutes  was  probably  a  good  thing  as  Gary's  sludgy  mix  of  Kraftwerk  and  punk  with  his  reedy  drone  over  the  top  can  get  a  bit  samey  in  large  doses. The  BBC  version  concentrated  on  the  hits  and  the  guest  star  spots  from  New  Romantic  dance  troupe  Shock  ( one  of  whom  appeared  to  be  topless ) and  mad  Canadian  violinist  Nash  The  Slash.  The  still-impressive  light  show  and  perfect  sound   compensated  for  Gary's  lack  of  banter   and  limited  range  of  stage  moves.

Gary  was  banking  on  still  selling  enough  albums  to  fund  his  aeronautical  adventures  but  the  "Dance"  album  released  the  day  before  this  was  broadcast, heralded  a  sharp  contraction  in  his  popularity. The  following  year  he  played 18  dates  in  the  US  to  promote  the  "I  Assassin"  album  and  in  autumn  1983  played  a  40  date  tour  in  the  UK  to  support  "Warriors".    

507 Flamingo Road

First  viewed  :  15  August  1981

This  Southern  soap  originally  replaced  Roots  on  a  Saturday  evening, the  pilot  episode  being  shown  the  week  after Arthur  Haley's  epic  finished.

Flamingo  Road   was  based  on  a  novel   by  Robert  Wilder   and  1949  film   starring  Joan Crawford  , both  of  the  same  name. The  action  was  brought  forward  to  the  present  day  and,  as  you'd  expect,  soon  moved  away  from  the  source  material.

A  dancing  girl  and  murder  witness  in  hiding  Lane  Ballou  ( the  lovely  but  not  very  talented  Cristina  Raines )  declines  to  move  on  from  a  small  Florida  town  when  the  carnival  leaves  town  and  catches  the  eye  of  deputy  sheriff  Fielding  Carlisle  ( Mark  Harmon ). Unfortunately  this  makes  an  enemy  of    local  sheriff  Titus  Semple  (  Howard  Duff )  who's  arranged  for  him  to  marry  spoiled   bitch  Constance  ( Morgan  Fairchild )  adopted  daughter  of  his  business  associate  Claude  Weldon  ( Kevin  McCarthy ). At  first  he  railroads  her  but  she  returns  as  a  singer  in  the  bordello  house  of  Lutie  May  ( Stella  Stevens )  protected  by  the  interest  of  local  playboy  Sam  Carter  ( John  Beck ). As  usual  in  soapland  everybody  has  a  murky  past.

I  watched  the  pilot  but  wasn't  engaged  enough  to  stick  with  the  series. The  main  problem  was  the  lack  of  any  likable  characters  you  could  root  for. Raines'  wooden  acting  made  it  impossible  for  you  to  really  sympathise  with  her   especially  as  the  guy  she  was  pining  for  was  a  shit. prepared  to  marry  someone  he  didn't  love  to  advance  his  career. As  the  show's  JR  figure  Titus  was  just  a  venal,  corrupt, childless   fat  guy  with  no  redeeming  qualities  or  charisma. Everyone  else  was  either  hypocritical, weak  or  indolent . It  also  betrayed  its  forties  roots, neither  Titus  nor  Lutie-Mae  were  believable  characters  for  the  eighties.

Though  it  started  quite  well  in  the  US  ratings  the  audience  started  to  peel  away. To  pep  up  the  second  series,  the  producers  introduced  David  Selby   as  Michael  Tyronne, a  businessman   with  a  revenge  agenda  and  voodoo  powers  but  it  didn't  recover. There  were  plans  to  make  a  third  series  and  relegate  it  to  a  daytime  slot  but  they  came  to  nothing  so  the  show  ended  without  closure  in  May  1982.

The  Beeb  didn't  show  the  second  series  until  the  summer  of  1983,  when  it  was  broadcast  late  on  Tuesday  and  Wednesday  nights  if  there  wasn't  much  sport  going  on  that  week,  and  I  actually  got  back  into  it. I  liked  the  idea  of  Michael  as  this  avenging  angel   destroying  the  lives  of  all  the  horrible  regulars  and  enjoyed  the  supernatural  element. In  the  final  episode  he  was  supposed  to  have  been  killed  but  the  last  scene  revealed  he  was  still  alive  and  coming  back  for  more. Or  so  he  thought.