Adam Adamant Lives!

For the uninitiated, Adam Adamant is an Edwardian adventurer, betrayed to his arch enemy, frozen in a block of ice and is thawed out in 1966. Sixties dollybird Georgina Jones helps him come to terms with his strange surroundings, and with butler Simms resumes his mission of thwarting dastardly criminal schemes.

To emphasise his anachronistic circumstances and dashing style, Adamant retains his Edwardian attire. A big but unavoidable plot hole is that while his revival was front page news, few people he encounters seem to know who he is. Quite a few episodes are somewhat formulaic. Against strict instructions, Miss Jones scampers after him like an eager puppy, infiltrating dodgy organisations as a night club hostess, domestic servant, even an unlikely Geisha girl.

Sadly, barely more than half the 29 episodes still exist. I have no strong preference about which are the best, a couple piqued my curiosity due to similarities with other anthologies. The Terribly Happy Embalmers echoes The Avengers ep Dial a Deadly Number in which put options (which allow the holder to profit from a falling share price) are bought in companies prior to the Chief Executive being bumped off. I had an even stronger feeling of deja vu with The League of Uncharitable Ladies. John Carson plays hypnotist Randolph, leader of a sinister occult group, exactly as he did years later in the Hammer House of Horror story (in my view the best one) Guardian of the Abyss. Far too much of a coincidence.

It's sometimes suggested AA should be remade as a Hollywood movie. This sounds like expecting a modern artist to knock out a Rembrandt, what could possibly go wrong?

"Adam Adamant Lives" was something quite different from the BBC in attempting to be a more original television series. I became susceptible to this from the moment I first heard of this series. It is about the coming together of two completely different worlds and cultures - the former being the very early 1900s and the latter being the swinging 1960s. I found the opening episode to be ideal in setting up the regular cast and Gerald Harper in particular. The opening scene where Adamant has a confrontation with his arch nemesis before being frozen alive is very exciting and imaginative. He displays much vulnerability in his adjusting to what was then modern day England and plays his role very well. I can't understand why some episodes were shot on film and others on videotape but it is of little consequence. As with most programmes of this era, a number of episodes of "Adam Adamant Lives" are still missing from the archives (thanks a f****** bunch BBC!). However, the ones that do exist present a pretty good idea at how this series works. I find most of the instalments to be thoroughly enjoyable and I like the way that Adam Adamant brings his own set of Edwardian values into the modern day. Typically, the budget was pretty modest but it's the writing and the acting that matter.

First I would like to lament over the missing episodes and I hope they are found like Adam Adamant was: a perfectly preserved time capsule to better days.

This a great series that I can't recommend enough. Absolutely amazing! It wastes no time in the opening episode and is a no fuss sort of show. It is a well written, well acted, simply shot, rather innocent show with a compelling hero, a dastardly villain, and a strong moral compass.

It is also of great value in the modern world. If it were well known it would be highly quotable and memeable, and that's good for such an old work. It's good swashbuckling fun from a different era, much like Adam Adamant was to the people of the 60's.

One of those mid 60's adventure series I actually don't remember ever watching as a child so it was nice to research and then track it down for perusal. The background apparently is that it was devised by the production and writing team behind Dr Who, setting down a time-travelling Edwardian adventurer for king and country in the modern day, modern day being 1966 swinging London, with a young girl as his crimefighting companion.

I've only watched one episode and out of curiosity will watch as many as I can mainly because I like the premise and enjoy seeing depictions of mid-60's London.

Gerald Harper, later to get a longer run on TV as country gent "Hadleigh". is the dashing upper-class toff struggling to adjust to the morality and technology of the all-action capital and Juliet Harmer is the plucky young girl who takes him in and tries to quite literally bring him up to date.

This first episode, concerning a protection racket run by a Ma Baker-type gangster was a touch ropey with some hackneyed acting and less than convincing fight scenes but I'm going to persevere with it as it has a period charm I rather like.

I'm pleased to report that Adam Adamant remains largely as entertaining to its fans who remember it as when first viewed 40 years back. Adamant is the gracious man of action propelled through the marvels of suspended animation by a devious foe, Samurai Jack-like, to the future - an enigmatic event revisited in brief flash back by the programme most weeks. And best of all at the start of each episode, the larger than life mood is set splendidly by a memorable Goldfinger-like ballad, sung by a full throated Kathy Kirby.

The first episode sets up the key situation, and all the others I have seen thereafter take place in the 60's, with the now 99 year-old, but still youthful, adventurer taking on a different bunch of foes each week - often at the unoffficial behest of the British Government, who value his peculiar, off beat talent for sniffing out dire deeds.

Aiding Adamant in his efforts is a vaguely camp, risqué limerick loving, manservant Simms - permanently installed in his discreet flat hidden above a London car park - and Miss Jones (Juliet Harmer), a young, impulsive, typically swinging sixties bird, who inevitably gets into scrapes and precipitates the main crisis each week as she gets captured. Adamant himself is amusingly disdainful of modern mores and fashions - although he does allow himself the pleasure of driving a mini one notices. He also remains impeccably dressed in the style of a 1880's gentleman, complete with spats, waist coat and a sword stick (making up an odd if dashing, figure, never made an object of derision, even by his fiercest enemies).

Those who enjoy the tongue in cheek qualities which hallmarked The Avengers will find some similarities here, not just in the dashing, Steed-like turn out of the central character (and indeed it shares at least one of that programme's writers, Brian Clemens, at times) although it has to be admitted the better known show deserves its superior reputation. The Adamant script formula is fairly rigid by comparison, with the same set ups each week - including the prompt and slightly ludicrous appearance of Miss Jones as employee in every establishment which finds itself under suspicion - and it lacks the implicit sexual magneticism, larger budget, and surreal sophistication of the other show. Despite the best charms of Miss Jones, Adamant is above real flirtation (although he is a ladies' man in his own, genteel way) an element of his character which somewhat weakens a potentially interesting relationship.

More often than not Adam confronts each week a conspiracy of some sort against the general public or public finances, whether it originates from a bunch of crooked embalmers, religious fanatics, frock designers, casino operators, record companies and soap manufacturers - or even from those who, in one episode, plan to devastate Blackpool's golden mile, with exploding light bulbs no less.

The best moments of the series are usually in the weird Adamant household, with some low level bitching usually going on between frosty, ever loyal manservant and Miss Jones. Some episodes rise to very entertaining heights, notably the one set within a fashion house this while, as Adamant kills the odd henchman with his sword stick or exposes the workings of an evil escort agency, one is reminded that not all viewers would have been youngsters. But over all, its very atmospheric fun, marvelously preserved, very much of its period if you care for the time capsule experience.

The set includes a whimsical, but ultimately not very informative, commentary on one or two shows by the now elderly Adamant (Gerald Harper) and associates, as well as a documentary and stills from the missing episodes. No less a talent than Ridley Scott worked on one episode - very much a journeyman effort - of which not all exist. Those which do are largely from the first of two seasons. Fortunately each one stands alone, enjoyable in their own right.