Dipartimento S

I think that in all the imagination of the ITC writers, Department S was ahead of it's time. First of all, although it was set in the cold war world years,the series really thought of a global society,the crimes were no longer the responsibility of local police but of a higher authority that had to be involved ( thus the chief Sir Seretse, which shows his position seems to be a sort of a U.N appointment). Then the crimes were not only state secrets but industrial and financial. I can't think of too many shows that would involve themselves with the work of Interpol ever since. In addition the mysteries are so bizarre that all the computer and imaginative efforts have to be thrown into the case to solve it. The Lone Ranger theory would be no longer feasible, it would seem we live in a society that has to pull resources together in order to figure out what is going on.

Like NIGHT STALKER and then X-FILES, the show set up a fantastic situation and the main characters had to sort it out. Unlike these, the hero(es) weren't left holding an empty bag at the end. They had usually tangible results. It was also made clear that the 'good guys' were in a dirty profession where they occasionally had to pull some nasty things. Imagination, wit, acting which didn't always take itself too seriously ... I miss it. One reason being, I'm hard pressed to think of too many shows - BANACEK aside - which did as good a job of taking the viewer and grabbing their attention right off the bat. The writers excelled at setting up hugely improbable, if not downright impossible situations which the characters then had to find an explanation to. explanations which often took 90 degree turns into the clearly unexpected yet, for all that, still made sense. Too, I agree with another reviewer that the Anabelle character was somewhat underused, but when she was on screen, it wasn't just for eye candy. She was quite competent in her own right and stood up to the two male leads when she felt the point she was making warranted it. A rarity in those days. Sullivan? If he wasn't in the Department, he'd be working for the KGB or CIA. He's that sort of coldly efficient, ruthless type. He knows how the world works and realizes what it can take to get the job done. King? It's clearly a game to him. One he excels at and which he parleys into ideas for the detective/spy novels he writes as his ostensible 'real' job. He's probably the most fun to watch of the three, although they all have their moments and often, too. I do agree that the eventual spin-off series featuring only his character lacked the interest of the original, however.

Another of my most fondly remembered shows from my pre-teen years was this stablemate of other favourites like The Champions, Randall and Hopkirk Deceased and others.

With a premise, as the DVD box-set claims, not a million miles away from the much later "X-Files" or "Jonathan Creek", only without the creepiness, the intrepid trio of flamboyant ladies-man novelist Jason King (archly played by Peter Wyngarde), straight-arrow Stewart Sullivan (Joel Fabiani) and attractive computer geek Annabelle Hurst (Rosemary Nicols) get called in to solve the cases that MI5, the FBI or Surete reject.

Cue a series of well-crafted 50 minute adventures, often populated by the usual roster of ITC-series supporting actors, top and tailed with another superb theme-tune.

My brother has just bought me the DVD box-set of this show and unlike most DVD box-sets, this won't sit buried away in the cupboard but will certainly be watched, each and every one, critical judgement suspended as I transport myself back to my eight-year-old self lying in front of our family television, raptly gazing up at shows such as this.

With all due respect to Joel Fabiani and Rosemary Nicolls and their characters, Department S will be forever associated with Peter Wyngarde's Jason King.

Most people remember him as this camp, flamboyant and debonair womaniser cum detective in the mould of Austin Powers but that will do a disservice to the character: He's far more nuanced than that.

Jason King is lazy (he often lets Stewart fight all the bad guys and only chips in at the end), he is egotistical (his appreciation of people is based on whether they've read his novels or not), a lot of his detective work is speculation without facts to back them up and he sulks whenever Annabelle is right...and she often is. He's clearly a man having a mid-life crisis and drink drives but.......Jason King is brilliant. If Wyngarde had played him purely as a dashing hero, it wouldn't have worked but he shows King often as a paper tiger, led by his libido, love of finery and prone to grandstanding (and it gets in the way of his detective work at times) but he has some of the best lines and put downs in TV history. And by not playing him as whiter-than-white, the chemistry and interactions between the three lead characters is all the better for it.

Watching it again on DVD recently, you get to see just how much depth Wyngarde put into Jason King.

Department S was one of the first TV programmes I can remember watching and loved it for it's strange plots and interesting characters. I waited for years to see it again and I am delighted to say it has just started a re-run on a UK satellite channel and it's just as good as I remember it. The character of Jason King is fantastic and the two straight-playing members of the trio are also very good. The whole thing looks fantastic, there are some wonderfully corny lines, excellent clothes, theme music that ranks among the very best and it all comes together to present us with something camper than a hut full of cub scouts (and if you ever wondered where many of the ideas for the X Files came from - look no further than Department S). Simply brilliant.