Reviews

One of the wonderful things of this first edition of TV Heaven, was the pilot episode of CALLAN. It was great to see this episode which set the formula, for the series that was to be one of ITV's best all times greats.

I had the pleasure that night to videotape it, and would watch it again and again throughout the 1990's.

The repeat of THE FROST PROGRAMME, was the second highlight of this 1967 TV Heaven episode. It was good to watch this famous controversial interview with Emil Savundra, and it proved just how tough and powerful David Frost was as one of television's best interviewers.

I wasn't that interested in the repeats of the CORONATION STREET episode or the AT LAST THE 1948 SHOW, but I did enjoy watching the montage of television clips associated with programmes that were made and broadcast in 1967.

I thought this film was overrated and boring. When I first saw it at my local cinema in 1982, I didn't know what all the hype was about. At my local comprehensive school all the other kids were kept saying, that this film was better than Star Wars. They were wrong because in my opinion Star Wars and it's sequels are much better than this boring, soppy film. A month later BBC Two showed a season of old Hollywood science fiction films from the 1950's and 60's. They were much more realistic and superior than this dreary 1982 rubbish.

In my experience I have watched loads of science fiction movies, that have got the edge on ET. They are Things To Come, Quatermass And The Pit, Invaders From Mars, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Night Of The Big Heat, The Day The Earth Caught Fire and Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD.

I wouldn't waste my money buying the dvd or Blu-ray of ET.

With John Gregson's narration on the main US opening titles of this episode, follow by the powerful scene where Alfie Bass slashes a newspaper poster advert of a visit by The West German President, the viewer knows that they will be for an hour of a political drama, more than a murder mystery.

This episode is about one man's continuous hatred and bitterness towards Germany, because of his stuffing at the hands of The Nazis during The Second World War.

When he learns that the West German President is coming to London on a state visit, he decides to take the law into his own hands, by planting a bomb near where the state visit takes place.

What I like about this episode is the strong use of human psychology, within the persona of all the characters, whether it is Commander Gideon or the ordinary Police Constable on the beat.

It makes good use of the location work which takes place in the city of London. Backed up by good stock footage and reasonable back projection.

The interplay between John Gregson and Gerald Harper is very good. Mr Harper's performance as a young but arrogant and inexperienced Deputy Police Commander is excellent. He is a career man who's marriage is at rock bottom.

The actor who dominates this story is Alfie Bass as the bitter old man who wants to take out his revenge on The West German President.

Has with any episode of this television programme, the makers of this show, use a lot of John Creasey's writing to good effect.

This episode was based on 'Gideon's March' by John Creasey.

In 1965 the second Star Trek pilot episode was entitled Where No Man Has Gone Before, and for the next three seasons Star Trek would dominate our television screens.

The theme for this story was about ESP, and how two crew members of The Enterprise are endowed with superhuman powers.

This episode has more action and suspense than The Cage, plus the characters are more livelier in this second pilot. I have to admit that the sets in this episode, are not as good as in The Cage, both on The Enterprise and on the planet, where the finale of the story takes place.

The uniforms are terrible compared to the ones that the crew wore in the first pilot. But saying that, it is still a good action tense television drama with everything you need for a good classic Star Trek episode.

Leonard Nimoy's performance as Mr Spock in this second pilot episode, is much better than it was in The Cage. There is so much life in his characterisation of Spock, plus there is meat in the part, which makes him a three dimensional character.

This episode is very much a product of its time being the 1960's, you can tell by the language and hairstyles, also the sets have got that 1960's art deco about it.

The two guest stars Garry Lockwood and Sally Kellerman make a handsome couple, who are endowed with superhuman powers, that is beyond there control. It eventually ends in tragic consequences for both of them.

From the opening when Simon Templar, is having a drink during an interval when seeing a play in London's West End, and when he is talking to us, the television audience, we know that we going to be in for an hour of action and suspense.

This is black and white television at its best. Roger Moore gives a very strong and powerful entrance as Simon Templar alias The Saint. No wonder this television series was going to be a success for the next seven years, and would leave its mark on British television for the next sixty years.

The photography for this episode is superb. The director and his cameraman did an excellent job of putting together a one hour episode that is full of tension and suspense.

Derek Farr is excellent as the talented, but psychopathic husband. His character John Clarron is charming, cold and clever, but too clever for his own good. His greatest strength is his greatest weakness, which is his performance as the kindly Mrs Jafferty.

What spoils this episode is Patrica Roc's performance as Madge, the sad and vulnerable third wife of John Clarron. Her acting is awful and it is over the top. She is upstaged by Shirley Eaton as Adrienne the sexy insurance investigator who like Simon Templar is out to stop Clarron from murdering Madge. The interplay between her and Roger Moore is an excellent on screen partnership.

This episode has all the ingredients of a good psychological thriller. It has suspense, a beautiful blonde in the form of Miss Eaton, and an excellent twist at the end of it.

In 1965 the fourth James Bond film Thunderball was released to great acclaim.

The opening sequence has 007, making his escape from a French chateau, with a rocket jet strapped on to his back. He has just killed a SPECTRE agent, plus he is assisted by a beautiful French woman on this mission. This fight scene where Bond kills the SPECTRE agent, is in my opinion one of the most powerful and violent fight scenes ever used in a James Bond film. Both Bond and the villain fight it out to the point where one of them beats the other to death. After Bond has escaped from the heavies in his Aston Martin, the opening titles come next.

They are one of the best opening titles used in a James Bond film. The way these sexy and athletic women are using there bodies just by constantly swimming, is amazing. It is help along with Tom Jones singing the main title song. His singing combined with these titles, have always left a powerful impression on me.

The reasons being the excitement and the thrill of yet again seeing a another James Bond film.

This one is set underwater for the majority of the film.

Thunderball has all the ingredients of a good James Bond film. It has got excitement, manipulation and seduction. The goodies and the baddies play the usual game of cat and mouse. That has always been typical of all of the James Bond films.

The actors may have changed in the sixty years of the Bond films, but the plots stay the same.

The plot involves SPECTRE hijacking an RAF bomber plane, and stealing two atomic bombs. They threaten to destroy Miami, with one of the atomic bombs, unless they paid a huge sum of money.

Yet again SPECTRE use there policy and philosophy of blackmail and extortion, to carry out there threat. It begins in there huge conference room in Paris, where Largo tells Blofeld and other members of SPECTRE about there latest venture.

The setting gives it an eerie and classy environment, where you feel you are a part of it. That scene was reenacted brilliantly in the 2015 James Bond SPECTRE.

When Bond is staying at a health farm, he uses all his charm and seduction techniques on Patricia, one of the pretty nurses. When he finally gets his wicked way with her in the sauna room, the way that scene is shot, with her taking off her uniform, and just seeing her and Bond silhouetted against the window with steam on it, is breaking to say the least. What helps that scene, is John Barry's incidental music that coincides with it.

Sean Connery's performance as James Bond in this film, is one of his best performances ever. He plays Bond with sophistication and coolness, with a touch of the Peter Pan in him. This film alongside The Hill that he made in the same year as Thunderball shows just how versatile an actor he was.

This film as gone down as one of the great cinematic classics of all time. It was the first of the five Harry Palmer films, and it was the launching point for Michael Caine to international stardom.

The first scene that the audience sees is a secret service man called Taylor, escorting a scientist called Radcliffe, and within less than five minutes Taylor is murdered and Radcliffe is kidnapped by enemy agents from the Eastern Block.

The story is about missing scientists and the disillusionment with people who you thought you could trust. The film shows us how far remove it is from the world of James Bond.

Otto Heller's photography gives the film a seedy and grim look of the dark side of the swinging 60's, it is an environment that is depressing to look at. The way it is shot, it is movie making at its best. It tells the story of the film, through many different, interesting and bizarre camera angles.

John Barry's music score has a haunting and creepy feel to it, which works brilliantly. It is different to his work on the James Bond films that he was working on at the time. His music score coincides very well with Otto Heller's camerawork.

Unlike James Bond, Harry Palmer is an ordinary man, who lives in a flat, shops in his local supermarket, drives an ordinary car and cooks for himself. He laughs at his own jokes, which makes him look silly. In reality he would be classed as a boring man.

Michael Caine's performance as Palmer is well cast. He is right for the part. He is working class, with the right attributes for the typical working class antihero of that era, being the 1960's.

Before the likes of him and Albert Finney, the working class in British films were a joke. You just have to look at the likes of John Mills and Richard Attenborough in the 1940's, to see just how ridiculous the way they were portrayed in films prior to the 1960's.

This film was produced by Harry Saltzman. He brought some of his team from the James Bond films to make The IPCRESS File. They created such realism and a unique style to this film, which has become one of the all time greats of British cinema.

This 1965 war movie is one the best films ever made.

It is a excellent true life story of the battle against the V1 and V2 Nazi rocket program.

It has an excellent all star cast, with some excellent cameo roles.

This 1972 French film is one of the best political thrillers, I have ever seen. It is all about betrayal and mistrust in the world of French politics.

It is film you can relate to, if you know what it is like, to be stabbed in the back. While at the same time, you only have one friend in life, for example the Jean Seberg character.

I would recommend this to anyone who like French cinema, and the work of the Jean Seberg.

This is an excellent six part Dalek story from the pen, of the creator of the Daleks being the legendary Terry Nation.

It is an excellent action adventure story, and one that dominants season ten of Doctor Who.

The Daleks are frightening as ever, especially when they have got the Dalek supreme at helm.

This serial reminds of a 1969 war film called Too Late The Hero. They are both similar in many aspects. Both stories are set in a jungle, and it has the theme of a suicide mission.

Although this 1973 BBC drama is now very dated, it still stands up as a good meaty action adventure story.

This 1979 Doctor Who four part serial is one of the best Dalek stories from the 1970's.

It has got a tense feeling within the plot of the story, which is back up by good dialog and excellent acting.

The pace and the setting is very good, and the director Ken Grieve did an excellent job of getting a good performance from the actors, who stared in this Dalek serial. He also did a wonderful job of getting some excellent camera shots, on location and in the studio.

Winspit Quarry in Dorset was a ideal location to use for the Dalek planet Skaro.

This story is nicely written and it is an excellent sequel to the 1975 classic Genesis Of The Daleks.

On the acting side Tom Baker as usual is excellent as Doctor Who. The interplay between him and his leading costar Lalla Ward is a superb double act in this long running television series.

Tim Barlow gives a good performance as the hero Tyssan.

While Peter Straker is excellent as the villain Commander Sharrel. These two actors are supporter well by David Gooderson who plays Davros.

The only bad side to this television serial is the awful performance of Suzanne Danielle as Sharrel's second in command. She moves gracefully, but her acting is wooden.

I recommend this Doctor Who serial, it is worth watching if you have nothing to do on a Saturday afternoon.

This episode belongs to Steed. It also gives insight into his past, as well has his wartime experience.

It is set on a RAF base where everyone has disappeared, only to be brainwashed for one mans greed.

This episode has got good guest stars in it, like Gerald Harper, Dudley Foster and the legendary Roy Kinnear.

I like this episode very much, it has a good twist to the plot of the story. The techniques of brainwashing is used to a powerful effect in this episode.

Yet again Roger Marshall has excel himself by writing a another excellent episode for this series.

The only disappointment is the silly ending where Steed and Emma ride off in a milk float. It is one of the worst ever scenes used in The Avengers.

It has been exactly forty years (1981), since I first saw this film which had a who's who of hell raises in it.

The pace and suspense of this film is excellent. Added to that it has got good action scenes from beginning to end.

This is Richard Burton's best film since Under Milk Wood. He gives one of his best performances ever in this one.

This episode is a good one, because it is set on Indochina border.

This time our leading man is on his own. He hasn't got the lovely Maggie(Tracey Reed) to assist him on this assignment.

The seedy Peter Arne plays the villain in this unusual episode. He gives a sinister performance as an officer in The Red Chinese Army.

The location where they filmed this episode, looks like The Snowdonia Mountains in North Wales.

This episode has got a good twist at the end of it.

This first episode of this excellent ITV thriller series is a good opener for what was to become a very popular television drama of the 1970's.

The seedy characters in this episode are similar to the characters from the BBC's 2011 thriller drama Page 8. Especially the government Security Officer Fairfax. His character is similar to Page 8's Johnny Worricker, being a detached and cynical man.

This episode introduced the tough policeman George Bulman to television audiences, and he would later go on to star in the spin off series Strangers.

What I like about this first episode of The XYY Man, is the powerful performances of the cast. Alan Rowe who plays Bulman's superior Superintendent Cummings dominates this episode the most, with his excellent performance. While the star of the show Stephen Yardley is good as Spider Scott alias The XYY Man.

Spider Scott is an unusual character to have in this groundbreaking ITV thriller series from the 1970's.

He is a villain with an extra chromosome within his body.

This is a television series that shouldn't be miss.

This is an interesting beginning for Jane Tennison. It explains why she became the woman that she was.

What I liked about this first episode is, it gives you an insight into how a young person starts out in the world of work. It shows just how tough it is when you start at bottom, and how you make many mistakes at work.

The interesting thing I notice in this television drama is, how attitudes have change in british society since 1973.

It was a different world back then unlike now in 2021.

It is interesting to compare this television drama to season three of Special Branch which was made in 1973.

The plot of this episode is manipulation and glamour on the French Riviera.

It is interesting how the plot of this episode, slowly builds up into an grand finale.

What is clever at the start of the story is how Gene Bradley, memorises his next mission to Mr Parminter.

It has a very bizarre car chase at the climax of this episode.

The interplay Gene Barry has with his leading ladies in this episode is very good. He plays it with excellent charm. His performance as Gene Bradley is charming, manipulate and cocky.

Catherine Shell who plays The Adventurer's sexy assistant Diane, comes over as cool, clever and charming. She looks gorgeous disguised as a nurse, pretending to be Gene Bradley's carer, and to deceive the foreign agents at the centre of the plot within the story.

Janet Key's performance as a former actress, who is married to a millionaire, is sweet and innocent.

The worst performances in this episode comes from two third rate actors being Richard Marner and Anthony Ainley. There acting is the worst ever seen in a television series of its time.

What is fascinating with this episode is, that it was made in April 1972, and then six months later it was broadcast on television in October of that year. That was fifty years ago.

It makes effective use of its South Of France locations.

This is an excellent six part Dalek story from the pen, of the creator of the Daleks being Terry Nation.

Although this 1973 BBC drama is now very dated, it still stands up as a good meaty action adventure story.

The Daleks are as excellent as ever, especially with the Dalek supreme at the helm.

I recommend this one to anybody who likes the Daleks.

I liked this television film very much.

It has an good and interesting plot to the story.

David Hare has written and directed an excellent film made for television.

The BBC have yet again excelled themselves by making a another good political action thriller drama.

I was pleased that the makers of this drama, used jazz for its opening titles, and for its incidental music. The reason why, is because I like jazz.

The camera work for this television film is shot exactly like the BBC's superb 1979 spy drama Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. In fact it reminds me of that classic television drama, where everyone trusts no one.

Page 8 has all the elements of a seedy spy drama, and it is in the realms of a John Le Carrie type thriller. Once you start to watch it, you have to finish seeing this film to the end.

The story is about the clash of personalities, both within the secret service and the British Government. It is dominated by a bunch of middle class seedy characters.

Bill Nighy is excellent in the main role of Johnny Worricker. He plays him with a detached coldness and cynicism.

Ralph Fiennes is superb as the ruthless Prime Minister, who will go to any lengths to get what he wants.

Judy Davis is good as the head of MI5, and so is Saskia Reeves as The Home Secretary. There characters are both bitchy and unpleasant. They are a couple of vipers.

While Felicity Jones gives a great performance as Worricker's artist daughter.

I enjoyed it, and I recommend it for you the television viewer.