Sixties
City presents
a wide-ranging series of
articles on all aspects of the Sixties, penned by the creator of the iconic
60s music paper Mersey
Beat
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sixties
City presents
a wide-ranging series of
articles on all aspects of the Sixties, penned by the creator of the iconic
60s music paper Mersey
Beat
|
||||||
|
  |
A British
action series produced by ITC, filmed in and around Pinewood Studios (Sound
Stages J and K) and on location in London, England during 1966 / 67. There
were 30 colour one-hour episodes, originally screened from September 27th
1967. The eponymous hero was McGill, a former CIA agent, who had been framed
and tossed out of the agency. He became a freelance operator working in
Europe, using his skills as a private eye. Several years prior to becoming a private detective he was third in the chain of command of the European network of the CIA. His immediate superior, Harry Tysson, instructed him to allow a scientist named La Forbe to defect to Eastern Europe. Soon after, Tysson himself was believed killed in a plane crash in the Mediterranean. McGill was then branded a traitor and dishonourably discharged. He later discovered that the situation had been engineered by the CIA to place La Forbe as a double agent – and that Tysson didn’t die. However, to reveal the truth would probably result in the death of the double agent and his former boss, who is also undercover. McGill remains in Europe, with no permanent home, carrying a suitcase with a change of clothes and a gun. For a £300 fee he takes on a variety of dangerous assignments and receives no help from the authorities or his former colleagues. Sir Lew Grade had noticed actor Richard Bradford in the film ‘The Chase’ and offered him the part of McGill (the character’s first name is never revealed). The Texas-born actor had studied at Lee Strasberg’s Method Actor’s School and his hair had begun to turn prematurely grey at the age of 16. He portrayed the character of McGill as a humourless man, but a person sympathetic to the plight of others, with his own code of honour. He is assigned to track down blackmailers, kidnappers, assassins, gold thieves and foreign agents in cases which take him as far afield as Portugal and Africa. Guest players in the series included Judy Geeson, Donald Houston, Felicity Kendall, John Gregson, Donald Sutherland and Barbara Shelley. |
 |
| Episodes
and first transmission dates: BRAINWASH - September 27th 1967 Written by Francis Megahy and Bernie Cooper, Directed by Charles Crichton. Guest stars: Colin Blakely, Howard Marion-Crawford, Suzan Farmer. THE SITTING PIGEON - October 4th 1967 Written by Edmund Ward, Directed by Gerry O'Hara. Guest stars: Robinh Bailey, George Sewell, James Grout, Mark Eden. DAY OF EXECUTION - October 11th 1967 Written by Philip Broadley, Directed by Charles Crichton. Guest stars: Donald Sutherland, Rosemary Nicols, Jeremy Spencer. VARIATION ON A MILLION BUCKS (Part 1) - October 18th 1967 Written by Stanley R. Greenberg, Directed by Pat Jackson. Guest stars: Anton Rogers, Yoko Tani, Ron Randall, Mike Pratt. VARIATION ON A MILLION BUCKS (Part 2) - October 25th 1967 Written by Stanley R. Greenberg, Directed by Robert Tronson. Guest stars: Anton Rogers, Yoko Tani, Ron Randall, Mike Pratt. (These two episodes were syndicated to make a TV movie in the U.S. titled 'To Chase a Million') MAN FROM THE DEAD - November 1st 1967 Written by Stanley R. Greenberg, Directed by Pat Jackson. Guest stars: John Barrie, Angela Browne, Stuart Damon. (The original working title for this episode was 'Man in a Suitcase' but this was used as the series title instead of just 'McGill') SWEET SUE - November 8th 1967 Written by Philip Broadley, Directed by Robert Tronson. Guest stars: Judy Geeson, Peter Blythe, George A. Cooper. ESSAY IN EVIL - November 15th 1967 Written by Kevin B. Laffin, Directed by Freddie Francis. Guest stars: Donald Houston, Peter Vaughan, John Cairney (The working title for this episode was 'The Mine') THE GIRL WHO NEVER WAS - November 22nd 1967 Written by Donald Jonson, Directed by Robert Tronson. Guest stars: Bernard Lee, Priscilla Morgan, Harold Goodwin. (The working title for this episode was 'Love of Venus') ALL THAT GLITTERS - November 29th 1967 Written by Stanley R. Greenberg, Directed by Herbert Wise. Guest stars: Michael Goodliffe, Barbara Shelley, Eric Thompson. (The working title of this episode was 'Mad Dogs and Englishmen') DEAD MAN'S SHOES - December 6th 1967 Written by Edmund Ward, Directed by Peter Duffell. Guest stars: Derren Nesbitt, John Carson, James Villiers. FIND THE LADY - December 13th 1967 Written by Philip Broadley, Directed by Robert Tronson. Guest stars: Patrick Cargill, Maxwell Shaw, Jeanne Roland. (The working title of this episode was 'My Brother Giulio') THE BRIDGE - December 20th 1967 Written by Robert Muller, Directed by Pat Jackson. Guest stars: Bill Owen, Jane Merrow, Rodney Bewes. THE MAN WHO STOOD STILL - December 27th 1967 Written by Raymond Bowers, Directed by Peter Duffell. Guest stars: Rupert Davies, Cyril Shaps, Ricardo Montez. BURDEN OF PROOF - January 3rd 1968 Written by Edmund Ward, Directed by Peter Duffell. Guest stars: John Gregson, Nicola Pagett, Gerald Sim. THE WHISPER - January 10th 1968 Written by Moris Farhi, Directed by Charles Crichton. Guest stars: Colin Blakely, Patrick Allen, Sheila Brennan. (The working title of this episode was 'The Mercenary') WHY THEY KILLED NOLAN - January 17th 1968 Written by Donald Jonson, Directed by Charles Crichton. Guest stars: Sam Kydd, Ursula Howells, Griffith Jones. THE BOSTON SQUARE - January 24th 1968 Written by Wilfred Greatorex, Directed by Don Chaffey. Guest stars: Rex Everhart, Peter Arne, Ed Bishop. SOMEBODY LOSES, SOMEBODY... WINS? - January 31st 1968 Written by Jan Read, Directed by John Glen. Guest stars: Godfrey Quigley, Jacqueline Pearce, Philip Madoc. BLIND SPOT - February 7th 1968 Written by Victor Canning, Directed by Jeremy Summers. Guest stars: Marius Goring, Felicity Kendal, Derek Newark. NO FRIEND OF MINE - February 14th 1968 Written by John Stanton, Directed by Charles Crichton. Guest stars: Peter Williams, Clive Morton, Allan Cuthbertson. THE JIGSAW MAN - February 21st 1968 Written by Stanley R. Greenberg and Reed DeRouen, Directed by Charles Friend. Guest stars: Maurice Kaufmann, Paul Bertoya, Mike Sarne. WEB WITH FOUR SPIDERS - February 28th 1968 Written by Edmund Ward, Directed by Robert Tronson. Guest stars: Ray McAnally, Jacqueline Ellis, Ralph Michael. WHICH WAY DID HE GO, McGILL? - March 6th 1968 Written by Francis Megahy and Bernie Cooper, Directed by Freddie Francis. Guest stars: Donald Sutherland, Jennifer Jayne, J.G.Devlin. PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN - March 13th 1968 Written by Wilfred Greatorex, Directed by Peter Duffell. Guest stars: Terence Alexander, Justine Lord, Gordon Gostelow. THE REVOLUTIONARIES - March 20th 1968 Written by Kevin B. Laffin, Directed by Peter Duffell. Guest stars: Hugh Burden, Ferdy Mayne, Sonia Fox. WHO'S MAD NOW? - March 27th 1968 Written by Roger Parkes, Directed by Freddie Francis. Guest stars: Robert Hutton, Audine Leith, Philip Madoc. THREE BLINKS OF THE EYES - April 3rd 1968 Written by Vincent Tilsey, Directed by Charles Crichton. Guest stars: John Gabriel III, Faith Brook, Drewe Henly. CASTLE IN THE CLOUDS - April 10th 1968 Written by Jan Read, Directed by Peter Duffell. Guest stars: Gerald Flood, Edward Fox, Gay Hamilton. (The working title of this episode was 'The Adventuress') NIGHT FLIGHT TO ANDORRA - April 17th 1968 Written by Jan Read and Reed DeRouen, Directed by Freddie Francis. Guest Stars: Peter Woodthorpe, Zia Mohyeddin, Luanshya Greer. |
 Episode 1   |
 |
Bill Harry attended the Liverpool College of Art with Stuart Sutcliffe and John Lennon and made the arrangements for Brian Epstein to visit The Cavern, where he saw The Beatles for the first time. Bill was a member of 'The Dissenters' and the founder and editor of 'Mersey Beat', the iconic weekly music newspaper that documented the early Sixties music scene in the Liverpool area and is possibly best known for being the first periodical to feature a local band called 'The Beatles'. He has worked as a high powered publicist, doing PR for acts such as Suzi Quatro, Free, The Arrows and Hot Chocolate and has managed press campaigns for record labels such as CBS, EMI, Polydor. Bill is the critically acclaimed author of a large number of books about The Beatles and the 60s era including 'The Beatles Who's Who', 'The Best Years of the Beatles' and the Fab Four's 'Encyclopedia' series. He has appeared on 'Good Morning America' and has received a Gold Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. |
|
Article
Bill Harry 2012 Original
Graphics
SixtiesCity 2012 |
