Ace of Wands

I suppose everyone has one television programme from their childhood which stays with them down the years and evokes instant nostalgia at the slightest remembrance. Well for me "Ace Of Wands" is that show, as, aged about 10 I would rush home after school to watch it before going out to play with friends.

Of course, the groovy, spacey, psychedelic theme tune, by later Status Quo side-man Andy Bown was a great hook for starters, but I remember the stories too as being exciting and imaginative, each episode invariably ending Dr Who-style, with a cliffhanger of some type.

Michael MacKenzie was Tarot, a magician/conjurer hero long before the days of Jonathon Creek, leading his companions in and out of danger, the peril usually supernatural in some way. I duly bought the boxed DVD of the surviving third series and of course it's not as good as I remember, with iffy special effects, dodgy sets and some unconvincing acting. But you know, nothing can take away the nostalgic glow I get just remembering it again and would dearly love to see the sadly wiped first two series.

That, however, is a mystery that even Tarot himself couldn't solve these forty odd years since...

I remember this TV series back in the early 1970s because it had such an impact on me as a young teenager(only just). I fell in love with the lead character Tarot and aspired to be like his assistant Lulli.

It has stayed in my mind over 20 years so it must have had something. I remember the main character was a performing magician/conjurer who was involved in solving mysteries of a supernatural/magical nature and I remember a guy with a white glove who used to refer to it as the hand of stabs or something similar. I used to rush home from school to watch it - wish we'd had video recorders then I'd love to see it again. Anyone else out there remember it?

I missed series one and two due to the fact I had no TV whilst living in bedsitter land at the time. I had my grandparents old B&W in time for series 3, despite being 20 by then I was still attracted to the Sci fi element and enjoyed every episode. I have recently acquired the DVD box set of all available episodes, series 3 in fact. Nice to see the lyrics to Andy Bown's theme printed in the booklet, despite the fact that I now know he sings 'Tarot the Diamond man' it still sounds like Tarot banana man.

OK so the production values are a bit cheap, typical 70's stuff but the story lines are well written and acted by Michael Mackenzie (what ever happened to him) Roy Holder, who still pops up now and then and the lovely Petra Markham who I still would given half the chance.

Shame the first two series have vanished without trace, hopefully someone will find them in an attic somewhere so I can finally get to watch them.

Idling around a few weeks ago I searched for Ace of Wands online and found a short video clip. I was prompted to buy a region 0 DVD of the surviving episodes (I live in the US now). But in 1970/71 I was a spotty kid in a London, UK School not having such a good time, so escapism like this show was great. I never really did watch shows about kids, I wanted to see grown up situations, like Dr. Who and Ace of Wands.

What I noticed about the show after receiving the DVD was that Ace of Wands is actually still quite watchable - some shows from the early 1970's I certainly can't watch now. I guess they mixed it up for the kid audience, so it was never dull. For some reason, my memory of the show was that it had a lot of atmosphere, but the sets were bad and the acting dire. On re-seeing the shows, that's certainly not the case. All the acting is good, and the sets were perfectly good for what I'm sure was a low budget venture. Michael Mackenzie as Tarot is very good in the lead and in no small way carries the show; at 6'2" he towers over most of the relatively short UK cast, but isn't aloof in the way he plays the role. I'm puzzled why Mackenzie didn't achieve lead status in UK films or other TV shows. No one ever really knows the reason for why one actor become big and others languish.

The first two series were wiped, which is a shame because I preferred Judy Loe and Tony Selby. Nowadays, it's not that unusual to see a UK star do children's TV. In the 1970's, it wasn't exactly a mark of accomplishment, and perhaps both actors felt career-wise it wasn't a good idea to hang around. Petra Markham (sister-in-law of Vanessa Redgrave) and Roy Holder are good enough in their roles in the third series though.

The stories often used to hinge on telepathy between Tarot and his assistant (Loe or Markham) and some were quite inventive. The show was replaced on ITV by the "Tomorrow People", which can actually be streamed on Amazon (I'm sure this is due to their status of being shown in the US - Ace of Wands wasn't).

I'm hoping Thames sold the show to another European countries and that someday the wiped episodes will surface. In the meantime, what's available is a good idea of what the show brought to kids in the early 1970's.