Sword of Justice

Jack Cole is sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit. Because of his status as a "rich kid" he faces retribution. After a personal loss he his accepted by the general population. He decides to take advantage of the situation and learn "the tricks of the trade". Learning lock picking, how to beat security systems, and other outside the law activities. The commonsense thing is: "If the guys were so good why did they get caught?" Hey, its fantasy.

The M.O. is when acquiring a target the perpetrator is sent a series of cards with the number "three" as a warning with a "catch phrase" finally ending with the three of spades. The number three is for the number of years served in prison by the way.

When I was a teenager, i would excitedly await each episode each week on British TV. Part of the delight about it was the ingenuity of the way that he would take down the criminals that he was challenging, rather than the standard punch up and corner the baddie in the control room that is common in the genre (cf James Bond). Indeed, Jack Cole wold usually find a way to ensure that the villains would turn on each other or defeat themselves.

For a TV series that lasted only 9 episodes, it certainly went out on a high note with Blackjack, regarded by many as the best episode. After Union funds have been embezzled to finance a mob-run Casino, the Feds have the problem that by the time they audit the books, the Casino will have been able to repay the money. Cole's solution? Stop the Casino repaying the money by bankrupting it on its own Blackjack table. His plan is so ingenious that it is said to have scared various real life Casinos in Las Vegas who realised that it might actually be possible.

As a period piece, it is also glorious to watch.

The one sad fact about the show though is that it is utterly unobtainable now. If only they would bring it out again as some sort of cult classic.

This isn't as bad as SuperTrain -- which came out about the same time -- but it has an awful concept. Jack Cole, framed for a crime he didn't do (who hasn't been???), picks up a lot of criminal and not-so criminal skills in the slam. Lock picking and forgery are a stretch but I suppose you could do this in prison. But every week the opening credits would have a guy say "You never know when precision gymnastics might come in handy." And so, Jack Cole practices gymnastics in the joint. What a crock. It was the 70s and this is 70s television in all its glory.

I loved every episode even though I was only in two

It was a favorite as a lad, even though it was short-lived