ESPIONAGE (1963-1964) FORGOTTEN TELEVISION

ESPIONAGE (1963-1964) – This British spycraft anthology series was produced for ITV in Great Britain. Assorted time periods were used for the stories, but most center around the Cold War and World War Two. The series ran for 24 one-hour episodes.

STANDOUT EPISODES:

THE INCURABLE ONE – In this pilot episode an American agent (Steven Hill) is sent to Europe years after World War Two is over. His mission – to find and take down Celeste (Ingrid Thulin), a former Scandinavian countess whom he trained as an assassin. She has become a freelance killer now that the war is over. Also starring Michael Gwynn and Elsie Wagstaff.  

COVENANT WITH DEATH – A pair of Norwegian Resistance agents during World War Two are tried for killing an elderly couple during the war, but their defense is that the slayings were necessary for the war effort. More of a courtroom drama than a spy story, but what can you do? Bradford Dillman, Allan Cuthbertson, Aubrey Morris and Lily Freud-Marle are among the stars.   

THE WEAKLING – During World War Two a complaining, trouble-making soldier (Dennis Hopper) is judged by intelligence officials to be a weak man who will easily break under torture. He is assigned to relay a vital message that his superiors know to be false information intended to mislead the Nazis in Occupied France.

Astonishingly, when the man gets caught as his superiors planned, he does not break even under blow-torch torture and more, so the Germans never even get exposed to the disinformation. After the war, his superiors deal with their own guilt feelings because Hopper’s character will spend the rest of his life in mental facilities because of the tortures the Nazis put him through. Patricia Neal also stars.

HE RISES ON SUNDAY AND WE ON MONDAY – During World War One, Roger Casement (Andrew Keir) returns to Ireland in April of 1916 to lead the Easter Uprising. Patrick Troughton, Billie Whitelaw and Jack MacGowran also star, giving us a Doctor Who, The Omen and The Exorcist theme. T.P. McKenna is also along for the ride.   

THE DRAGON SLAYER – Another episode taken from real-life events. In 1896 London, THE Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-Sen is seized by Chinese regime agents who plan to smuggle him back to China. Assorted British and Asian forces work for his release. Starring Lee Montague, Patrick Cargill, Gwen Cherrell and Michael Chow. Fans of Reilly, the Ace of Spies should like this episode.

THE WHISTLING SHRIMP – Fictionalized version of the CIA’s hand in assassinating Patrice Lumumba. Earle Hyman portrays the fictional leader of an emerging African nation and Arthur Kennedy plays a journalist investigating the Agency’s activities regarding the man. Also starring are Roscoe Lee Browne, Tim O’Connor, Nancy Wickwire and Dana Elcar.

FESTIVAL OF PAWNS – An East German woman named Lina (Sean Connery’s ex-wife Diane Cilento) defects to the West. Her handlers interrogate and investigate her to see if she is a sincere defector or a spy. Sam Wanamaker and George Grizzard also star.

NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON A FRIEND – During World War Two, an Allied operation finds an American, a Brit and a Soviet Russian sent on a covert mission inside Norway. They raid a Heavy Water facility and escape with a Nazi nuclear scientist. He plays the three spies against each other, offering atomic secrets exclusively to the nation whose agent kills the other two. Julian Glover, Mark Eden, Pamela Brown and Donald Madden star. 

DO YOU REMEMBER LEO WINTERS? – Sort of a Sandbaggers feel to this episode as it deals with the uncomfortable need to spy even upon “friendly” nations. A storied and accomplished British intelligence diver from World War Two is reactivated in the postwar years to carry out a mission against an American naval vessel at Portsmouth. Starring George A. Cooper, Rhoda Lewis, Cyril Luckham and Brian Peck. 

WE THE HUNTED – Israeli agents conduct a covert operation in Spain to determine if a targeted man really is a Nazi war criminal. If so, they need to abduct him and escape the country. James Campanella, Anthony Dawson (Margheriti) and Madlyn Rhue star.

THE FRANTICK REBEL – In 1777, Patience Wright (Jill Bennett), an American woman acting as a spy, arrives in England. No less a duo than Dr. Samuel Johnson and James Boswell suspect her but she never lets them find her out. Roger Livesy, Stanley Baxter and Patsy Byrne also star. 

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