Content area
Full Text
I used to be one of those nerds who'd circle in pen the programmes I wanted to watch; now I don't even bother looking at the listings. Why?
Because I know there's sod-all on.
Of course, the Sixties and Seventies had their fair share of crud, but it's no coincidence that the bulk of TV shows being released on DVD herald from this golden age of British television. My challenge to Michael Grade in his new role at ITV is to make shows that
once again touch such a popular chord. Pretty much every cult show back then came from the same stable, ITC - The Saint, The Prisoner, Thunderbirds, The Persuaders, Danger Man, Stingray... the list is endless. There are fan clubs for each individual show, and conventions allow fans to meet their heroes, now mostly old and grey and rather bemused by all this idolisation. "They really are anoraks," says Francis Matthews, the voice of Captain Scarlet. "They dress up and stare at you when you're signing the autograph as if you're some kind of extraordinary god!"
All this can't just be nostalgia, people of a certain age wallowing in the memories of their youth, because all the time these shows are winning new generations of fans. When ITV4 started screening much of ITC's output at prime time earlier this year they were surprised when the shows pulled in the highest ratings on the channel. And Sky One wouldn't be wasting millions on a major reworking of The Prisoner, either.
ITC's origins go back to the birth of independent television itself in 1955 when cigar-chomping entrepreneur Lew Grade brought Robin Hood to the small screen (played by Richard Greene), in a series that ran 143 episodes and led to other historical derring-do in the shape of William Tell and Sir Lancelot. Desperately creaky today, these shows did give early exposure to future film stars such as Peter O'Toole, Christopher Lee, Robert Shaw and Michael Caine. With the arrival of the spy series Danger Man, Robin Hood and his stocking-clad imitators looked redundant. Danger Man changed everything, becoming the blueprint for practically every future ITC show.
In the person of Patrick McGoohan, TV also had its first big star, but an eccentric one...