Adam Adamant Lives!

"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.

Adam Adamant Lives! is very much a product of it's time. Produced by Verity Lambert (fresh from Doctor Who) and created by 'The Avengers' creator Sydney Newman, the show was made on a shoestring budget by the BBC on a disorientating mixture of film and videotape. With one episode being produced every week the production is understandably often shaky and rushed, but nonetheless some excellent material was produced during its short run between 1966-1967. The show's central protagonist is the wonderful Adam Adamant, a hero from Victorian times, who during an encounter with his mortal enemy 'The Face' is cryogenic-ally frozen and remains hidden in this frozen state for 64 years, eventually being re-discovered again in 1966. The casting is excellent, Gerald Harper gives a wonderful performance as Adam Adamant, a hero from the Victorian era, unaccustomed and often outraged by the starkly different society he has been thrown into. Harper plays the character as a pure gentlemen, a charmer to the ladies despite his naivety of modern times, and they often serve as a enticement towards danger for Adamant in the series! Juliet Harmer makes an excellent sidekick in the form of Georgina Jones, a young woman who is the epitome of 1960's Swinging Britain and the wonderful Jack May as the Butler Simms who always can be relied upon to add a touch of humour to the programme. The show is quite rightly a cult, it's premise is nothing less than inspired and certainly extremely memorable, earning the programme much following during its forty odd years existence. The opening episode 'A Vintage Year for Scoundrels' with a guest performance from the brilliant Freda Jackson is good fun and sets up the story nicely. Unfortunately the following episodes are generally quite poor, both 'More Deadly Than The Sword' and 'Allah Is Not Always With You' feature dreadful racial stereotypes which date the programme considerably. Thankfully the series improved as it went along with the excellent 'The Sweet Smell of Disaster' by Robert Banks Stewart, no doubt an influence for the classic Doctor Who story 'Terror of the Autons' and the Brian Clemens script 'The Terribly Happy Embalmers' which put the programme as close as it has ever been to 'The Avengers' territory, Clemens notably being a regular writer and later producer for 'The Avengers'. Many see Adam Adamant Lives! as a attempt to emulate the success of the aforementioned programme, and there are certainly many similarities. In terms of production values Adam Adamant Lives! could never really compete. As the programme stuck rigidly to the common practice of film and videotape production, 'The Avengers' had just premiered its fourth season with Diana Rigg's Emma Peel as the new sidekick and new glittering production values which included an extra week for production (every episode was recorded in two weeks) and with American backing behind them, 'The Avengers' team also had a lot more money behind them. Adam Adamant Lives! could never afford the slick style of 'The Avengers'. As a result of this the direction of the programme is quite often industry standard for the time, making it easily distinguishable from the polished direction of 'The Avengers' or any of the ITC action series it was competing against during its original run. However, there are some exceptions. The excellent Ridley Scott shows off some of his early talent in the only surviving episode he directed 'The League of Uncharitable Ladies' which comes complete with some slick location footage and freeze frames aplenty and the late Paul Ciappessoni also directed some memorable work, as did the excellent Moira Armstrong who helmed probably the finest existing episode 'Black Echo' an early episode from the second season with a guest appearance from legendary actress Gladys Cooper. The show ran for two seasons and 29 episodes before being cancelled in 1967 after it failed to continue with any considerable success. Verity Lambert would later consider the show as a bit of a failure and it's a shame that it was never given the chance to grow on audiences, and perhaps more importantly that it was never given a bigger budget. Certainly the 17 episodes that remain are a mixed bag of the brilliant, to the quirky to the downright awful. Other than the episodes already mentioned, essential viewing includes 'The Last Sacrifice', 'Sing a Song of Murder', 'The Village of Evil' and 'A Sinister Sort of Service'. It is a tragic shame like so many other series that 12 episodes of Adam Adamant Lives! are missing, only two episodes exist from the Second Season and seeing as they are two of the best it is a great disappointment that more does not exist. Despite its flaws Adam Adamant Lives! is a fascinating piece of 60's television, one which brilliance often lies in its fantastic premise and performances from the lead actors rather than its execution. Not a classic, but worth a watch. To use a frequently used cliché 'They don't make them like this anymore!'.

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?

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.

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.