''Department S'' is a British spy-fi adventure series, produced by

ITC Entertainment The Incorporated Television Company (ITC), or ITC Entertainment as it was referred to in the United States, was a British company involved in production and distribution of television programmes. History Incorporated Television Programme Compan ...

. It consists of 28 episodes which originally aired in 1969 and 1970. It stars

Peter Wyngarde Peter Paul Wyngarde (born Cyril Goldbert, 23 August 1927 – 15 January 2018) was a British television, stage and film actor from the late 1940s to the mid 1990s. He was best known for portraying the character Jason King, a bestselling novelist ...

as author Jason King (later featured in spin-off series '' Jason King''),

Joel Fabiani Joel Fabiani (born September 28, 1936, in Watsonville, California) is an American film, television and theater actor. Known for his leading role in the British TV series '' Department S'', Fabiani has guest starred in '' The FBI'', ''Barnaby Jon ...

as Stewart Sullivan, and

Rosemary Nicols Rosemary Nicols (born Rosemary Claxton; 28 October 1941, in Bradford, England) is a British actress. She comes from a theatrical family and was the author of the 1967 book ''The Loving Adventures of Jaby''. Biography She was educated at Haberd ...

as computer expert Annabelle Hurst. These three are agents for a fictional special department (the "S" of the title) of

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

. The head of Department S is Sir Curtis Seretse (

Dennis Alaba Peters Dennis Alaba Peters (1927-1996) was a Gambian actor who worked in the United Kingdom. He is known for his portrayal of Sir Curtis Seretse in the TV series '' Department S'' (1969–70). Early life Dennis Alaba Peters was born in The Gambia. P ...

Production

"When a case proves too baffling for the minds of Interpol, they turn to the talents of Department S." – from the ITC trailer for the series. The series was created by

Dennis Spooner Dennis Spooner (1 December 1932 – 20 September 1986) was an English television writer and script editor, known primarily for his programmes about fictional spies and his work in children's television in the 1960s. He had long-lasting profess ...

and

Monty Berman Nestor Montague "Monty" Berman (16 August 1913 in Whitechapel, London, England – 14 June 2006 in London, England) was a British cinematographer and film and television producer. Early career Berman began his film career as a camera assistant ...

, although neither wrote any of the episodes, which were instead scripted by ITC regulars such as

Terry Nation Terence Joseph Nation (8 August 19309 March 1997) was a British screenwriter and novelist. Especially known for his work in British television science fiction, he created the Daleks and Davros for ''Doctor Who'', as well as the series '' Surviv ...

and Philip Broadley. Many of the directors on the show had also worked on other ITC shows such as ''

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 ...

'', ''

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 ...

'' and ''

Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) ''Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)'' is a British private detective television series, starring Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope respectively as the private detectives Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk. The series was created by Dennis Spooner and p ...

''. The series was shot on

35mm 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 ...

film and designed, like all ITC's film productions, to fit the United States commercial format. Although episodes begin with a

cold open A cold open (also called a teaser sequence) is a narrative technique used in television and films. It is the practice of jumping directly into a story at the beginning of the show before the title sequence or opening credits are shown. In Amer ...

(after the 'S' logo is shown), unusually, the episode title, writer and director credits appear on screen before the opening title sequence, though after the theme tune has started. With a few exceptions, the principal cast is always studio-bound. Some exteriors are represented by studio buildings, while the rest are mainly shown in second-unit footage using doubles where necessary. Outside locations were, in common with similar series, largely restricted to the Hertfordshire countryside in the vicinity of

Borehamwood Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly know ...

. At least one foreign location was used, featuring Peter Wyngarde on the streets of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Otherwise, foreign locations are usually established by the use of stock footage. To further cut costs, the series was produced back-to-back with ''

''.

Synopsis

Department S is a division of

headed by international bureaucrat Sir Curtis Seretse (

). Its headquarters is in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and its members investigate international cases that other crime agencies cannot solve. The team itself is led by American and former FBI agent Stewart Sullivan (

), who takes direction from Seretse. Outside of his FBI experience, little is known about Sullivan except that he is pragmatic and hands-on, and does much of the leg-work, confronting the criminals. Jason King (

) is the ideas man, but also helps in the field. He is an adventure novelist who uses details from their cases to write his novels. The living he makes writing novels affords him a hedonistic lifestyle, and he is often seen with beautiful women though he has no permanent love interest in the series; in one episode he mentions he is a widower whose wife was killed in a plane crash. King also serves as comic relief in the series, especially in scenes of hand-to-hand combat where he winds up being subdued as often as he prevails. Annabelle Hurst (

) is a computer expert and analyst as well as a field investigator. A very attractive woman, Hurst sometimes appears in seductive, glamorous disguises, as well as her underwear in the first episode. There are ongoing hints of romantic interest between Sullivan and Hurst during the series.

Cast

as Jason King *

as Stewart Sullivan *

as Annabelle Hurst *

as Sir Curtis Seretse

Episodes

Filming took place between April 1968 and June 1969. The air dates are for ATV Midlands.

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 ...

regions varied date and order. The production numbers here refer to ITC synopsis guide numbers and the sequence in the Network DVD booklet.

Re-runs

A repeat run of ''Department S'' began on

ITV4 ITV4 is a British free-to-air television channel which was launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc, and is part of the ITV network. The channel has a line-up that consists of sports, cult classic ...

in November 2005, alongside others of a large number of similar ITC productions. Episodes of ''Department S'' screened on ''London Live'' TV channel in the London area in March–April 2022.

Home media

The first two episodes of ''Department S'' were released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

in Britain by Carlton Television (now part of

ITV plc ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom. ITV plc is listed on the ...

). ''Department S'' was released on DVD in Australia by

Umbrella Entertainment Umbrella Entertainment is an Australian film distribution company that began operating in 2001. It is based in Kew, Victoria. Umbrella Entertainment manages the theatrical, physical, and digital releases of Australian films, documentaries and a ...

in a box set. This version is in

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

with no region code. Network released the series on

in the United Kingdo

featuring many exclusive extras, including commentaries and part of a documentary series also covering Jason King: ''Wanna Watch a Television Series? Chapter One: Variations on a Theme''. ''Department S'' first appeared in high definition on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

as a single episode on Retro Action Volume 1 released by the Network imprint on 19 September 2011. This contained the episode "A Small War of Nerves", which features

Anthony Hopkins Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor, director, and producer. One of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins has received many accolad ...

. Volume-by-volume release of the entire series in new high-definition transfers on Blu-ray began in 2017, with the first available on 27 February. There are six volumes in total; the first two each contain four episodes, the next four contain five episodes each. A complete box set of the entire series was released in Blu-ray on 2 October 2017, coded for all three regions.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0063893, title=Department S
British Film Institute Screen Online
1969 British television series debuts 1970 British television series endings 1960s British drama television series 1970s British drama television series Television shows shot at Associated British Studios Espionage television series Television series by ITC Entertainment ITV mystery shows British science fiction television shows British detective television series Television series by ITV Studios Television shows set in England Fictional intelligence agencies