''Frederick Forsyth Presents'' is a series of British made-for-television films made by

FremantleMedia Fremantle (; formerly FremantleMedia) is a British multinational television production and distribution company based in London. Fremantle takes its name from Fremantle International, acquired by predecessor company All American Television in ...

for

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 unt ...

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 ...

, first broadcast between 2 December 1989 to 8 December 1990. Based on stories which were later published as the Forsyth novel '' The Deceiver'', there are six films, most with the themes of espionage and war. An important character who appears in all six is Sam McCready, played by

Alan Howard Alan Howard may refer to: * Alan Howard (actor) (1937–2015), English actor * Alan Howard (cricketer) (1909–1993), English cricketer * Alan Howard (engineer) (1905–1966), American engineer * Alan Howard (hedge fund manager) (born 1963), hedge f ...

, a

Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

agent who has become an author but continues to work on SIS operations. He plays the lead in most of the films, but in ''A Little Piece of Sunshine'' he has more of a

supporting role A supporting character is a character in a narrative that is not the focus of the primary storyline, but is important to the plot/protagonist, and appears or is mentioned in the story enough to be more than just a minor character or a cameo ap ...

. Each of the stories are introduced on screen by

Frederick Forsyth Frederick McCarthy Forsyth (born 25 August 1938) is an English novelist and journalist. He is best known for thrillers such as ''The Day of the Jackal'', ''The Odessa File'', '' The Fourth Protocol'', '' The Dogs of War'', ''The Devil's Alter ...

Outline

Sam McCready is an experienced SIS field agent who believes in his way of doing things, which is no longer welcome in some quarters. Set in areas of international tension around the world, including the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, and the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

, the films highlight a division in British espionage and government between those who favour a subservient British relationship with the American

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

and those, including McCready, who want to see more independence of thought and action. There is also a tension between the protagonists of

Signals intelligence Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ( ...

, or Sigint, intelligence from electronic interception and satellite observation, and

Human intelligence Human intelligence is the intellectual capability of humans, which is marked by complex cognitive feats and high levels of motivation and self-awareness. High intelligence is associated with better outcomes in life. Through intelligence, humans ...

, or Humint, intelligence from agents in the field. The series mocks the subservient camp and those who are over-awed by technology, as well as more gently finding fault with the CIA.

Production

In 1988 Frederick Forsyth secured a contract with

for six thrillers under the headline name of ''Frederick Forsyth Presents'', with a book to be linked to the series, which came out in 1991 as '' The Deceiver''. The first three episodes were filmed, and the launch of the series was fixed for December 1989. In the run-up to that, the producers said they were hoping to attract eight million television viewers.''

Photoplay ''Photoplay'' was one of the first American film (another name for ''photoplay'') fan magazines. It was founded in 1911 in Chicago, the same year that J. Stuart Blackton founded '' Motion Picture Story,'' a magazine also directed at fans. For mo ...

'' Volume 40, Issues 1-3 (1989), p. 104

Films

Notes

{{reflist

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

Frederick Forsyth 1989 British television series debuts 1990 British television series endings 1980s British drama television series 1990s British drama television series British television films ITV television dramas Espionage television series British thriller television series 1980s British anthology television series 1990s British anthology television series Television series by ITV Studios Television series by Fremantle (company) London Weekend Television shows English-language television shows Films scored by Paul Chihara

Outline

Production

Films

See also

Notes

External links