''Hannay'' was a 1988

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 ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

, a

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term " ...

spin-off from the 1978 film version of

John Buchan John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. After a brief legal career ...

's 1915 novel '' The Thirty-Nine Steps''. The film and series starred

Robert Powell Robert Powell (; born 1 June 1944) is an English actor who is known for the title roles in ''Mahler'' (1974) and '' Jesus of Nazareth'' (1977), and for his portrayal of secret agent Richard Hannay in '' The Thirty Nine Steps'' (1978) and its ...

as Richard Hannay in the post

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

years.

Plot

In the series, Powell reprised the role of Hannay, an Edwardian mining engineer from

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

of Scottish origin. It features his adventures in pre-

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Britain. These stories had little in common with

's novels about the character, although some character names are taken from his other novels.

Principal Cast

as Richard Hannay *

Gavin Richards Gavin Richards (born 3 July 1946) is an English actor, writer and director. He is best known for playing Captain Alberto Bertorelli in the BBC sitcom Allo 'Allo!'' from 1987 to 1989, and Terry Raymond in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' be ...

as Count Von Schwabing *

Christopher Scoular Christopher is the English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or '' Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Christ" or "Anointed", and φέρει� ...

as Reggie Armitage * Jill Meager as Eleanor Armitage

Episodes

Series One

Series Two

Production

There were two series, the first with six episodes, the second with seven. Though a mixture of studio and location filming, the entire production (with the exception of the opening and closing title footage) was shot on videotape rather than the more expensive (yet typical) practice of shooting TV drama location exteriors on

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 ...

. This maintained a more consistent atmosphere and look to the episodes.

Home media availability

''Hannay'' was released in a four-disc Region 2

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 kin ...

set by Delta Visual Entertainment in February 2006. ''Hannay'' was later released in a four-disc Region 2

set by Network in September 2016.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hannay 1988 British television series debuts 1989 British television series endings 1980s British drama television series British adventure television series English-language television shows Espionage television series ITV television dramas John Buchan Television shows based on British novels Television series by Fremantle (company) Television shows produced by Thames Television Television series set in the 1910s Television series set in the 20th century Detective television series Live action television shows based on films