Cult TV Blog

Caution: there is a possible plot spoiler in this post. It is below the line. Our second show where the white Jag gets it and our second episode of The Baron. This one may even have some tenuous connection to the antiques trade, because as you all know, a cameo brooch is heavily involved. I'm liking this Baron very much because it is very firmly out of the ITC stable and yet is a solid mystery. It is set in Spain, which gives it its ITC sophistication. For the main part it is also visually very ITC, however I think many props are used to set up the mystery in a way very characteristic of The Avengers. What I mean by this is the amount of 'antique' (reproduction in reality) furniture and other props. I would suggest that ITC usually would be more likely to go for a modern look. If you put this clobber in an episode of The Avengers, it would spell out that a great old English family has gorn to the dogs.  Here the old family set up is contrasted with the modem set up of the l...

I mooted several possible linked posts plans in my last post. As you can see I have gone for the idea of a series of posts on the episodes of shows featuring the famous ITC white Jaguar plummeting over the cliff. You can read more about the making of this  here  which is also the list I'm going by for my posts. I hope I can complete this, however I might have difficulty with the final appearance on the list, an episode of Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense. My first thought about the use of these Jaguars is that it was relatively economical to shoot this footage once and reuse it. I imagine nowadays it could be done virtually and I see new Jaguars cost between £30,000 and £65,000 so at current prices it would be very expensive! Nor were the cars new at the time: they used a mixture of Mark 1 (1955 to 1959) cars and Mark 2 (1959 to 1967) cars. You won't see them on the road here now -as far as I can see the numbers remaining of both models are down to the hundreds, not least ...

I was becoming worried recently that this blog had far too much Doctor Who, & thus was becoming too much like many another UK TV blog. But, fickle soul that I am, I've made up for that by my more recent rash of ITC viewing, & The Baron is the latest ITC series that I've never seen before but now have a box set of. In my real/unreal television dichotomy, this is aimed more or less at the real side, featuring an antiques dealer gentleman adventurer, actually, in true ITC style, played by an American. It also has a symbiotic relationship with The Saint (explored at length, & contrasts drawn, at http://doubleosection.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/dvd-review-baron-complete-series.html?m=1 ). It's interesting coming to this straight from later shows like Jason King & Hazell, to see how sheerly dated it feels. It was made around the time that Mrs Peel was kicking her way through The Avengers - this reference is also a way in to mention that the street scenes of London ...