CITY BENEATH THE SEA (1962) and SECRET BENEATH THE SEA (1963) – FORGOTTEN TELEVISION

CITY BENEATH THE SEA (1962) – For starters, this is NOT the 1970s movie nor the 1950s movie of this title. This City Beneath the Sea is a seven-part television serial from Great Britain. In the past Balladeer’s Blog has covered similar British tv serials like the original Quatermass adventures, Pathfinders in Space and its sequels, in addition to The Trollenberg Terror, plus Object Z and Object Z Returns.  

This was still pre-Doctor Who, but it has that same “stand-still adventure” ambience and the stiff upper lip British characters as in the Doctor’s escapades. The program features the expected lame special effects and outdated science typical of the time period, so it makes a viewer laugh while also providing quaint, old-fashioned entertainment.  

City Beneath the Sea stars Gerald Flood as reporter Mark Bannerman and Stewart Guidotti as his photographer Peter Blake. The villains are led by Germans who served in World War Two, like Denis Goacher as former U-Boat commander Kurt Swendler and Aubrey Morris as mad scientist Professor Ludwig Ziebrecken.   

For obsessive Star Wars fans let me point out that among the few characters important enough to feature in all seven episodes of this serial is the original Mon Mothma from Return of the Jedi, Caroline Blakiston herself, as Dr. Ann Boyd. British television staple Morris Perry rounded out the regulars as a naval radio operator.   

The story of City Beneath the Sea began with a British scientist working on a futuristic submarine but getting abducted by men led by former German U-Boat commander Kurt Swendler. Next, Swendler and company hijack the atomic submarine itself – the Cyana – during its maiden voyage.

The villains force the submarine to go to the advanced underwater city called Aegiria. Captain Swendler and his men turn over the abducted scientist AND the hijacked submarine to Professor Ludwig Ziebrecken, who rules the underwater city. 

Reporter Mark Bannerman and his photographer Peter Blake have been swept up in all this and do their best to thwart Ziebrecken or at least expose Aegiria’s location to Her Majesty’s Government. Ziebrecken has been having Captain Swendler and like-minded men abduct scientists from around the world to pick their brains in furtherance of the mad scientist’s ugly plans for ruling the world.

With the world’s best scientific minds at his disposal, Professor Ziebrecken has made Aegiria a miracle city several decades ahead of its time. He has also stockpiled and designed atomic weaponry for his nefarious purposes.

Over the course of the seven (roughly) half-hour episodes, the professor’s plans are thwarted, Swendler is captured and Aegiria, believe it or not, does NOT blow up during the finale like such places tend to do in so many similar stories over the decades. 

The individual installments are titled The Pirates, Escape to Aegiria, Tide of Evil, Cellar of Fear, Power to Destroy, Operation Grand Design and Three Hours to Doomsday. The serial ran from November 17th to December 29th, 1962.   

SECRET BENEATH THE SEA (1963) – This sequel serial aired from February 16th to March 23rd, 1963, so it was still pre-Doctor Who. Bannerman and Blake are back as our heroes, with Blake getting a romantic interest in Janet Slayton, played by Ingrid Sylvester.

Peter Williams as Captain Payne and Richard Coleman as Dr. Deraad round out the regular cast.

Bannerman, Blake and Janet Slayton travel to Aegiria for an updated report on the underwater city. It has been run by the United Nations since Professor Ziebrecken’s defeat. Captain Swendler is on the loose, however, and is up to new villainy. 

Swendler and his new boss Dr. Deraad are discovered covertly mining a brand-new element from deposits underneath Aegiria. That new metal, called Phenicium, has unique properties that will let it revolutionize space travel and weaponry.

Swendler gets taken out of the action in the second episode this time around, and our heroes battle sabotage attempts on mining Phenicium that are carried out by evil corporate interests. Those interests want to manipulate the U.N. into granting them exclusive rights to the new element.

Like in the earlier serial, it is sometimes distracting the way that the actors muff their lines, but no retakes are done. Fans of American shows like Dark Shadows can certainly sympathize.

The villains of Secret Beneath the Sea are thwarted like their predecessors, but the whole production is rather lackluster compared to City Beneath the Sea, so it’s not surprising that there were no additional sequel serials. The individual episodes were titled The Mysterious Metal, Voyage into Danger, Sabotage, The X-Layer, Takeover and The Death Trap.   

FOR MORE FORGOTTEN TELEVISION CLICK HERE:   https://glitternight.com/category/forgotten-television/