''Adam Adamant Lives!'' is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

adventure television series that ran from 1966 to 1967 on

BBC 1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

, starring

Gerald Harper Gerald Harper (born 15 February 1931) is an English actor, best known for his work on television, having played the title roles in ''Adam Adamant Lives!'' (1966–67) and '' Hadleigh'' (1969–76). He then returned to his main love, the theatre. ...

in the title role. The series was created and produced by several alumni from ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

''. Proposing that an adventurer born in 1867 had been revived from hibernation in 1966, ''Adam Adamant Lives!'' was a satirical look at life in the 1960s through the eyes of an

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

(Adamant vanished in 1902, when

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...

had been on the throne just one year). In 2020,

Big Finish Productions Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays (released straight to compact disc and for download in MP3 and m4b format) based, primarily, on cult science fiction properties. These include ''Doctor Who'', the ...

reimagined the series as an audio drama.

Main character

The main character originally went through a number of possible names: "Cornelius Chance", "Rupert De'Ath", "Dick Daring", "Dexter Noble", "Aurelian Winton", "Magnus Hawke" and even "Darius Crud" before

Sydney Newman Sydney Cecil Newman (April 1, 1917 – October 30, 1997) was a Canadian film and television producer, who played a pioneering role in British television drama from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. After his return to Canada in 1970, Newman w ...

settled on Adam Adamant, named after the generic mineral term

adamant Adamant in classical mythology is an archaic form of diamond. In fact, the English word ''diamond'' is ultimately derived from ''adamas'', via Late Latin and Old French . In ancient Greek (), genitive (), literally 'unconquerable, untameable'. ...

ine which, since medieval times, has commonly referred to diamond. In the opening episode, "A Vintage Year for Scoundrels", Adam Llewellyn De Vere Adamant—to give him his full name—is a

swashbuckling A swashbuckler is a genre of European adventure literature that focuses on a heroic protagonist stock character who is skilled in swordsmanship, acrobatics, guile and possesses chivalrous ideals. A "swashbuckler" protagonist is heroic, daring, ...

Victorian

gentleman A gentleman (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man) is any man of good and courteous conduct. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire and above a yeoman; by definition, the ra ...

adventurer who, in 1902, goes to rescue his kidnapped girlfriend Louise, but is lured into a trap whereupon he is captured and condemned to be frozen forever in a block of ice by his nemesis, the Face, whose identity is concealed behind a leather mask and who speaks in a sinister whispering voice. The Face grants his helpless prisoner one last request, and Adam asks to see Louise; but in his last moments of life before being frozen, Adam learns to his horror that Louise had faked her kidnapping and had been working for the Face all along. Adam is found in 1966, when a building is being knocked down, and he is revived. On emerging from a hospital and collapsing on the London streets, Adam is rescued by

Georgina Jones Miss Georgina Jones is a fictional character played by Juliet Harmer in the BBC television adventure series, ''Adam Adamant Lives!'' (1966-7). Genesis of the character ''Adam Adamant'' was created by Richard Harris and Donald Cotton, with signif ...

and taken to her flat. Though in many ways a typical

swinging sixties The Swinging Sixties was a youth-driven cultural revolution that took place in the United Kingdom during the mid-to-late 1960s, emphasising modernity and fun-loving hedonism, with Swinging London as its centre. It saw a flourishing in art, mus ...

woman, Georgina had grown up idolising Adam through tales of his turn-of-the-century exploits. She tries to get in on all his cases, despite his efforts to stop her, and often manages to get a job at the scene in question at a moment's notice so she can interfere in the case. The part originally went to Ann Holloway in the untransmitted pilot episode, but was recast with

Juliet Harmer Juliet Linda Harmer (born 11 May 1941) is an English artist, children's author and actress who was best known in the role of Georgina Jones in the BBC TV series ''Adam Adamant Lives!'' (1966–67). Early career Juliet Harmer trained as a Pri ...

as it was felt that Holloway's performance did not fit the series. Adam is an expert swordsman; he carries a

swordstick A swordstick or cane-sword is a cane containing a hidden blade. The term is typically used to describe European weapons from around the 18th century, but similar devices have been used throughout history, notably the Roman ''dolon'', the Japanes ...

and will cold-bloodedly kill any enemy who deserves it. He is not the only British hero with such a weapon;

John Steed Major The Hon. John Wickham Gascoyne Beresford Steed usually known as John Steed, is a fictional character and the central protagonist on the 1960s British spy series '' The Avengers'' and its 1970s sequel '' The New Avengers'', played by Patr ...

of '' The Avengers'' had a sword umbrella, and

Lord Peter Wimsey Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey (later 17th Duke of Denver) is the fictional protagonist in a series of detective novels and short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers (and their continuation by Jill Paton Walsh). A dilettante who solves mysteries for ...

had a specially-made sword cane with a compass, which was also marked in inches so it could serve as a measuring tool. He was a Colonel and has been on the volunteer strength of the 51st Yeomanry since 1895 – though he is naturally listed on their official records as being "missing, presumed killed" since 1902. He is also a good boxer and occasionally demonstrates proficiency in jujitsu, which had been introduced to England several years before he was frozen. Adam immediately became embroiled in the criminal world of the 1960s when Georgina was threatened after almost being witness to the murder of her grandfather by

protection racket A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from viol ...

eers at a disco. Though there is no indication of where his money comes from or how he supports himself, Adam rebuilt his old home, the long demolished 26A Albany Street, on the top of a

multi-storey car park A multistorey car park (British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a build ...

, which he had bought, at 17 Upper Thames Street in central London. It is accessed by a lift hidden on the other side of a sliding wall, activated from the outside by pressing a cleverly hidden call button. He also purchased a

Mini Cooper S The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...

with the personalised numberplate ''AA 1000''. The car is dark green and tan (or perhaps dark brown and gold), it has a sun-roof, electric windows, and a very posh interior. It was a special conversion: a "Mini de Ville" by Harold Radford Coach Builder LTD.Mini Special about the car in the DVD He occasionally does a job for the British Government, as in "More Deadly Than the Sword". When he is knocked unconscious, Adam usually dreams of how he was caught by the Face and of Louise telling him: "So clever, but oh so vulnerable." This is apt, as many women take advantage of his Victorian naïveté. During the second episode, "Death Has a Thousand Faces", the events of which are set in

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

, he acquires a manservant in the form of former music hall artiste and present

Punch and Judy Punch and Judy is a traditional puppet show featuring Mr. Punch and his wife Judy. The performance consists of a sequence of short scenes, each depicting an interaction between two characters, most typically Mr. Punch and one other character w ...

man William E. Simms. The character was originally to have been played by John Dawson, who hurt his back lifting an actress during rehearsals for "The Sweet Smell of Disaster" and was unable to continue; the part was recast, going instead to

Jack May Jack Wynne May (23 April 1922 – 19 September 1997) was an English actor. Early life and education May was born in 1922 in Henley-on-Thames, and was educated at Forest School in Walthamstow. After war service with the Royal Indian Navy in Bri ...

. In terms of fashion, the series captured well the gradual shift in 1966/67 from the "mod" styles of "Swinging London" to the more

Bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

(eventually

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

) styles that characterised the late sixties. Adam has his 100th birthday in the final episode, "A Sinister Sort of Service", and gets a telegram from the Queen (a UK custom for people who have reached that age), as well as a birthday cake bearing one hundred candles. The opening episode of Series 2, "A Slight Case of Reincarnation", apparently set in 1902, reminded viewers of the Face, who had not been seen since "A Vintage Year for Scoundrels"; his reappearance in the present day being explained in the next episode "Black Echo" by his having frozen himself back in 1902, with Louise (who, of course, aged naturally) watching over him during the years in between until the time came for him to be revived. The Face appeared in four more episodes during Series 2—namely "Face in a Mirror", "Tunnel of Death", "The Resurrectionists" and "A Sinister Sort of Service"—in which he would urge on the main villain(s) of each story, but while Adam would defeat the villain(s) on each occasion, the Face himself would never be captured or vanquished, always escaping to fight another day and vowing vengeance on Adam when they met next time. Though he didn't really need them,

wore false eyebrows based on the make-up lady's own eyebrows. He also wore a wig. Harper was a bit shortsighted and wore glasses, which he removed as soon as filming was ready to start. His shortsightedness did cause opponents to keep their distance in sword-fights since, as one actor put it, he could have inadvertently knocked their eye out. When the series ended, the make-up lady sewed the eyebrows onto a sampler, with "Here lie the Eyebrows of Adam Adamant, 1966–1967" underneath, which was framed and given to Harper as a memento. Harper also kept Adam's swordstick, and both remain on his wall at home to this day.

Production

Series development

''Adam Adamant Lives!'' has been called by modern observers "what ''

'' did next", because at least three ''Doctor Who'' alumni had key positions on the pilot. Most obviously, it reunited producer

Verity Lambert Verity Ann Lambert (27 November 1935 – 22 November 2007) was an English television and film producer. Lambert began working in television in the 1950s. She began her career as a producer at the BBC by becoming the founding producer of ...

with Head of Television Drama

. Together they had been at the core of decision-makers who launched ''Doctor Who''. But the series also brought

Donald Cotton Donald Henry Cotton (26 April 1928 – 28 December 1999) was a British writer for radio and television during the black and white era. He also wrote numerous musical revues for the stage. His work often had a comedic bent. Early BBC career ...

, who had the same year written two serials for ''Doctor Who'', back into Newman's orbit. Cotton and partner

Richard Harris Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. He appeared on stage and in many films, notably as Corrado Zeller in Michelangelo Antonioni's '' Red Desert'', Frank Machin in ''This Sporting ...

would write the first script, "A Vintage Year for Scoundrels", and would thus come to be credited as co-creators. Over the years, Newman has been cited as creator of the show. Even the BBC has at times propagated this idea, calling him the creator on some of their own pages devoted to the programme,https://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/classic/adamant/trivia.shtml Trivia page at the BBC Cult pages on the programme. but not on others. In truth, he is probably more correctly seen as the executive producer or as having "developed the series for television". ''Adam Adamant Lives!'' was a quick replacement for the show he had actually intended, an adaptation of the adventures of literary detective

Sexton Blake Sexton Blake is a fictional character, a detective who has been featured in many British comic strips, novels and dramatic productions since 1893. Sexton Blake adventures were featured in a wide variety of British and international publications ...

. When the rights to the character suddenly became unavailable, it fell to writers Donald Cotton and Richard Harris, along with

script editor A script editor is a member of the production team of scripted television and radio programmes, usually dramas and comedies. The script editor has many responsibilities including finding new script writers, developing storyline and series ideas wi ...

Tony Williamson Tony Williamson (18 December 1932 in Manchester – 19 June 1991) was a prolific British television writer, most active from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s. He wrote primarily for the action-adventure and espionage genres. Perhaps because of h ...

, to come up with a replacement idea. Newman indicated near the end of his life that he had, indeed, been significantly involved in the rewrites, suggesting that his critic

Mary Whitehouse Constance Mary Whitehouse (; 13 June 1910 – 23 November 2001) was a British teacher and conservative activist. She campaigned against social liberalism and the mainstream British media, both of which she accused of encouraging a more permiss ...

had been partial inspiration for the character. Like ''Doctor Who'' which had preceded it, ''Adam Adamant Lives!'' was thus a show created somewhat by committee and circumstance. Many of the indoor scenes were filmed at Studios 3 and 5 at the BBC Television Centre in London.

Cancellation

Reasons for the cancellation of ''Adam Adamant Lives!'' vary according to the source. Television critic Paul Stump opines in "The Cult of ... Adam Adamant!" that the programme ended because ''The Avengers'' was a "sexier, slicker, better-funded" version of the same concept. The programme's largest fan website counters by saying that Sydney Newman, as the BBC's Head of Television Drama, cancelled the show "due to a difference of opinion between himself and his star". An ''Avengers'' fansite agrees with both assessments. It says that the production values didn't match ''The Avengers'' and that despite good ratings "Newman wasn't happy with the show overall, and the star in particular." Gerald Harper went on to appear in

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

's ''

Gazette A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

'' and its sequel '' Hadleigh''.

Episodes

The untransmitted pilot episode, "Adam Adamant Lives", now no longer exists in the BBC Archives, and is believed to be lost. All of series one, with the exception of "Ticket to Terror", is held by the BBC. Series two has not fared so well, with only "Black Echo" and "A Sinister Sort of Service" remaining in existence.

Pilot episode - Adam Adamant

Series 1 (1966)

Series 2: 1966–67

* Approximately four minutes from this episode exist on audio tape in a private collection, and is included as part of the Special Features on the DVD release.
** This episode currently exists only as an off-air audio recording.

Lost episodes

There were originally 29

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

episodes composing two series, plus one unbroadcast pilot titled ''Adam Adamant Lives'' (without exclamation mark, as here). The 1902 sequence is now all that is known to survive of this unseen debut episode of the series, and only exists because it was later reused in "A Vintage Year for Scoundrels". No script of ''Adam Adamant Lives'' is known to exist, and the only documentation that remains is the description given in the Drama Early Warning Synopsis issued on Thursday 10 March 1966; this is included in the booklet ''Adam Adamant Lives!: Viewing Notes'' accompanying the DVD boxed set ''Adam Adamant Lives!: The Complete Collection'' released by

2entertain 2 Entertain (stylized as 2 , entertain) is a British video and music publisher founded in September 2004 by the merger of BBC Video and Video Collection International in 2004. Under CEO Richard Green, the company operated as a joint venture b ...

Ltd. in July 2006. The first series, with the exception of "Ticket to Terror", was made as a mixture of single camera

16mm film 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, educ ...

for the location sequences, and multi-camera studio recording using 625-line electronic cameras. However, instead of being edited on

video tape Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocassette ...

, as was the usual

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

procedure, the series was edited entirely on film, with the output of the studio cameras being telerecorded, for ease of editing (at that time, videotape editing was technologically difficult). "Ticket to Terror" from the first series, and all of the second series, were made with the usual BBC mix of tape and film, but were edited on tape.

Wiping Lost television broadcasts are mostly those early television programs which cannot be accounted for in studio archives (or in personal archives) usually because of deliberate destruction or neglect. Common reasons for loss A significant prop ...

by the BBC in the 1970s has resulted in no master videotapes having survived. Film recordings haven't all survived either as, in one case, one episode on

35mm film 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock * 35MM 35 mm may refer to: * 135 film, a type of still photography format ...

is known to have been destroyed. The result of all this is that only 16 episodes remained in the archives when the BBC realised the value of such material, including the first and last episodes in broadcast order. These were mainly in the form of 35mm film telerecordings, with a handful of episodes as 16mm film recordings or reduction prints. In the case of some episodes, the 35mm location footage also exists, and has been used to remaster those surviving episodes. The last episode of Series One, "D For Destruction", thought to be among those lost forever, was recovered in 2003, from a mislabelled film can in the BBC Archives. It has been shown in public at the Missing Believed Wiped event, and is included in the ''Complete Collection'' DVD set. Another lost episode, "The Basardi Affair", was recovered as a complete off-air audio recording in 2017, and remains to date the only missing ''Adam Adamant Lives!'' episode known to exist in this format. A public appeal campaign, the

BBC Archive Treasure Hunt BBC Archives are collections documenting the BBC's broadcasting history, including copies of television and radio broadcasts, internal documents, photographs, online content, sheet music, commercially available music, BBC products (including ...

, continues to search for missing episodes.

List of lost episodes

* This episode currently exists only in audio form.

Home media

VHS

''Adam Adamant Lives!'' * Label: BBC Video * Release Date: 6 May 1991 * Catalogue Nº: BBCV 4613 * Availability: Deleted Contains the first two episodes of Series One, "A Vintage Year for Scoundrels" and "Death Has a Thousand Faces", the latter replacing the previously considered "The Village of Evil". Although there were rumours of two further releases towards the end of 1991, these did not appear owing to poor sales.

DVD

''Adam Adamant Lives!: The Complete Collection'' * Label: 2entertain Ltd. * Release Date: 26 July 2006 * Catalogue Nº: BBCDVD 1479 * Availability: Deleted (unconfirmed) Five-disc Region 2 DVD box set containing all 17 surviving episodes in digitally re-mastered form. Includes 64-page collector's booklet ''Adam Adamant Lives!: Viewing Notes'', written by Andrew Pixley.

Special Features

*''This Man is the One:'' 52-minute documentary featuring Gerald Harper, Juliet Harmer, Verity Lambert and Brian Clemens. Presented by

Mark Gatiss Mark Gatiss (; born 17 October 1966) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, director, producer and novelist. His work includes writing for and acting in the television series ''Doctor Who'', '' Sherlock'', and '' Dracula''. Together with ...

. *''Commentary Tracks:'' Available on "A Vintage Year for Scoundrels" and "A Sinister Sort of Service". Featuring Gerald Harper, Juliet Harmer and Verity Lambert. *''Adam Adamant's Wheels:'' 7-minute mini-documentary on Adam Adamant's faithful Mini Cooper S. *''Missing Sounds:'' Audio extract from missing Series Two episode "A Slight Case of Reincarnation". *''Outtakes:'' Filming and studio outtakes from "A Vintage Year for Scoundrels" and "Sing a Song of Murder". *''Photo Gallery:'' 13-minute photo gallery featuring colour and black and white pictures from the series, plus stills from the unbroadcast pilot episode, accompanied by music from the series – including the full version of "The Adam Adamant Theme" performed by Kathy Kirby. *''PDFs:'' (DVD-Rom only. PC/Mac) : – ''Radio Times'' articles : – Full scripts for the 12 missing broadcast episodes : – ''The Adam Adamant Annual'' : – ''TV Comic'', ''TV Comic Holiday Special'' and ''TV Comic Annual'' comic strip stories ''Note'': On both the VHS and DVD releases, "A Vintage Year for Scoundrels" and "Death Has a Thousand Faces" have had music edits made due to the originally featured tracks by the Rolling Stones not being able to be cleared for commercial release. For the former, "Route 66" was replaced by "Piano Rocket" from the Parry Music Library CD ''Time Periods 1'', while the latter featured "Bye Bye Blues" from the KOK Library CD ''Pop Era'' in place of "Now I've Got a Witness" .

Influences and legacy

''The Avengers''

With its pairing of an upper-class adventurer with a "trendy" woman of the 1960s, parallels have been drawn with competitor

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

's ''The Avengers''. There was also a similarity with Granada's '' Mr. Rose'' (1967) in which

William Mervyn William Mervyn Pickwoad (3 January 1912 – 6 August 1976) was an English actor best known for his portrayal of the bishop in the clerical comedy ''All Gas and Gaiters'', the old gentleman in ''The Railway Children'' and Inspector Charles Rose i ...

as a retired police inspector was assisted by a youngish confidential secretary (

Gillian Lewis Gillian Lewis (born 1935) is an English character actress who, after a varied stage career in the 1950s and early '60s, appeared in a number of television drama series until the late 1970s. Her best known roles were probably as the runaway heir ...

) and a manservant (Donald Webster). However, because ''Adam Adamant'' was a last-minute replacement for another concept, the degree to which the BBC intended such similarities with ''The Avengers'' is unclear. One recent statement has directly addressed the issue: However, a reviewer of the 2006

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

retrospective ''The Cult of ... Adam Adamant Lives!'' detected something more to the issue when Lambert and other principals were interviewed on camera: This latter view has been echoed by fans of ''The Avengers''. Indeed, an ''Avengers''-biased biography of ''Adamant'' star Gerald Harper, who also frequently guest-starred on the ITV show, flatly calls ''Adamant'' "unashamedly modelled on ''The Avengers''". It backs up this claim by demonstrating how individual episodes of ''Adamant'' parallel those of ''The Avengers''. Finally, it points out that in the programme's second series ''Adamant'' was scheduled in direct competition for ''Avengers'' in some parts of Britain, making contemporary comparison between the shows impossible for viewers.http://theavengers.tv/forever/pnote-harper.htm Stampede, Pete. "Gerald Harper". theavengers.tv. More neutral observers have generally reflected this dichotomy of perspective. Anthony Clark at the

BFI The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

notes that while the show "owes a stylistic debt to ''The Avengers''", it was "the BBC's reply to the success of ITV's spy and action series like ''

The Saint The Saint may refer to: Fiction * Simon Templar, also known as "The Saint", the protagonist of a book series by Leslie Charteris and subsequent adaptations: ** ''The Saint'' (film series) (1938–43), starring Louis Hayward, George Sanders an ...

'' (1962–69) and ''

Danger Man ''Danger Man'' (retitled ''Secret Agent'' in the United States for the revived series, and ''Destination Danger'' and ''John Drake'' in other overseas markets) is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again b ...

'' (1960–69)". He goes on to call the character of Adamant "more age-of-empire adventurer than spoof spy". A Television Haven review admits that while the programme has been "long cited as the BBC's answer to ''The Avengers''", it in fact "owes more to the slick style, tone and format of

Lew Grade Lew Grade, Baron Grade, (born Lev Winogradsky; 25 December 1906 – 13 December 1998) was a British media proprietor and impresario. Originally a dancer, and later a talent agent, Grade's interest in television production began in 1954 ...

's phenomenally successful ITC stable of action series rather than the sleek and sophisticated antics of Steed and Mrs Peel". The show's premise also bears more than a passing resemblance to the 1964 return of Captain America in Marvel Comics' (completely unrelated) ''The Avengers''. Both characters are adventurers from an earlier era who are thawed out of blocks of ice in the present day.

''Doctor Who''

Harper's portrayal of Adamant has been cited as formative to

Jon Pertwee John Devon Roland "Jon" Pertwee (; 7 July 1919 – 20 May 1996) was an English actor, comedian, entertainer, cabaret performer and TV presenter. Born into a theatrical family, he served in the Royal Navy and the Naval Intelligence Division during ...

's interpretation of the Doctor. One writer opines that Pertwee's "suave, dashing portrayal was very much surfing the ''

zeitgeist In 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy, a ''Zeitgeist'' () ("spirit of the age") is an invisible agent, force or Daemon dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history. Now, the term is usually associated with Georg W. F. ...

'' of the time, borrowing from contemporaries such as ''Adam Adamant Lives!'', ''

Doomwatch ''Doomwatch'' is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC, which ran on BBC1 between 1970 and 1972. The series was set in the then present day, and dealt with a scientific government agency led by Doctor Spencer Quist ( ...

'', ''

Quatermass Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional scientist, originally created by the writer Nigel Kneale for BBC Television. An intelligent and highly moral British scientist, Quatermass is a pioneer of the British space programme, heading the Brit ...

'', and

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

in the cinema." The BBC's episode guide to ''Doctor Who'' is more specific, claiming parallels between the Third Doctor's inaugural scenes in a hospital with those of Adamant in his pilot, "A Vintage Year for Scoundrels".

''Austin Powers''

"Adamant" is frequently viewed as partial inspiration for '' Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery''.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118655/movieconnections IMDB's list of movie connections for ''Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery''. In particular, allusions are seen between the way in which

Austin Powers ''Austin Powers'' is a series of American spy action comedy films: '' Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery'' (1997), '' Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me'' (1999) and ''Austin Powers in Goldmember'' (2002). The films were produced an ...

, like Adamant, is revived from

cryogenic In physics, cryogenics is the production and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures. The 13th IIR International Congress of Refrigeration (held in Washington DC in 1971) endorsed a universal definition of “cryogenics” and “cr ...

sleep and befriended by an attractive woman who had known of his exploits before being frozen. The formula is exactly reversed in ''Powers'', however, in that his partner,

Vanessa Kensington The following is a list of fictional characters from the ''Austin Powers'' series of films. ''Austin Powers'' is a series of American spy action comedy films: '' Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery'' (1997), '' Austin Powers: The Spy Who ...

, is not impressed with his previous record of service, whereas Georgina Jones is a positive fan of Adamant.

Big Finish audio series

Audio drama production company

announced that they would be producing a new series of audio plays, written by and co-starring actor-novelist

Guy Adams Guy Adams (born 6 January 1976) is an English author, comedian, and actor, possibly best known for the novel ''The World House''. Adams is also a regular writer for Big Finish productions, who produce audio plays based on ''Doctor Who'', as wel ...

Nicholas Briggs Nicholas Briggs (born 29 September 1961) is an English actor, writer, director, sound designer and composer. He is associated with the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and its spin-offs, particularly as the voice of the Dale ...

is the director.

Blake Ritson Blake Adam Ritson (born 14 January 1978) is an English actor and director. Early life Blake was born on 14, June, 1978 in London and attended the Dolphin School in Reading, Berkshire until 1993, before going to St Paul's School in West Londo ...

took over the title role. The first volume, "A Vintage Year for Scoundrels", was released in January 2020. A second volume, "Face Off" was released in August 2020.

''Volume 1: A Vintage Year for Scoundrels''

''Volume 2: Face Off''

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0059963, title=Adam Adamant Lives!
British Film Institute Screen OnlineVideo clips from the BBCBBC Treasure Hunt
1960s British drama television series 1960s British science fiction television series BBC television dramas British science fiction television shows British adventure television series English-language television shows Television shows set in England Lost BBC episodes Television series set in the 1900s Television series set in the 1960s