''Strange Report'' is a British television crime drama series starring
Anthony Quayle
Sir John Anthony Quayle (7 September 1913 – 20 October 1989) was a British actor and theatre director. He was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his supporting role as Thomas Wolsey in the film ''Anne of the Thousand Days'' (1969). ...
as Adam Strange. It was 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 ...
and first broadcast in 1969 on
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 ...
In the United States, NBC broadcast ''Strange Report'' between 8 January and 10 September 1971. It aired on Fridays from 10:00 to 11:00 p.m.
Eastern Time
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small port ...
throughout its American run.
Plot
Adam Strange, a retired
Home Office criminologist, solves bizarre cases with the help of Hamlyn Gynt (
Kaz Garas
Kaz Garas (born 4 March 1940) is a Lithuanian-American retired actor, best known for his starring role in the TV-series ''Strange Report'', and for his numerous portrayals of sheriffs in low-budget thrillers.
Early life
Garas was born in Kaunas ...
), Evelyn McClean (
Anneke Wills
Anneke Wills (; born Anna Katarina Willys, 20 October 1941) is an English actress, best known for her role as the Doctor Who companion Polly in the long-running BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''.
Biography
Wills's father, Al ...
) and sometimes Professor Marks (
Charles Lloyd-Pack
Charles Lloyd-Pack (10 October 1902 – 22 December 1983) was a British film, television and stage actor.
Life and career
Lloyd-Pack was born at Wapping, East London, to working-class parents. He was seen in several horror films produced by th ...
). He employs the latest techniques in
forensic investigation
Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and crimina ...
, which he undertakes in his own laboratory in his flat in
Warwick Crescent
Warwick Crescent is a street in Little Venice, London. It connects Harrow Road with Westbourne Terrace Road, running along the southern edge of the Grand Union Canal.
The street began to be built up around 1852 when William Buddle purchased 12 p ...
in the
Maida Vale
Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district consisting of the northern part of Paddington in West London, west of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn. It is also the name of its main road, on the continuous Edgware Road. Maida Vale is p ...
/
Little Venice
Little Venice is a district in West London, England, around the junction of the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, the Regent's Canal, and the entrance to Paddington Basin. The junction forms a triangular shape basin. Many of the buildi ...
area of London.
Cast
*
Anthony Quayle
Sir John Anthony Quayle (7 September 1913 – 20 October 1989) was a British actor and theatre director. He was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his supporting role as Thomas Wolsey in the film ''Anne of the Thousand Days'' (1969). ...
as Adam Strange
*
Kaz Garas
Kaz Garas (born 4 March 1940) is a Lithuanian-American retired actor, best known for his starring role in the TV-series ''Strange Report'', and for his numerous portrayals of sheriffs in low-budget thrillers.
Early life
Garas was born in Kaunas ...
as Hamlyn Gynt
*
Anneke Wills
Anneke Wills (; born Anna Katarina Willys, 20 October 1941) is an English actress, best known for her role as the Doctor Who companion Polly in the long-running BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''.
Biography
Wills's father, Al ...
as Evelyn McClean
Production
Development
Unlike other ITC productions, which were created in order to be sold to the U.S. market, ''Strange Report'' was created in collaboration with
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
's films unit Arena in the United States (the show's executive producer was
Norman Felton Norman Francis Felton (April 29, 1913 – June 25, 2012) was a British-born American television producer, known for his involvement in shows such as ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' and '' Dr. Kildare''.
Background
Felton was born in London, the son ...
, better known for his involvement in ''
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' is an American spy fiction television series produced by MGM Television, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who wo ...
''); the suggestion was that the first half of the series would take place in the United Kingdom, and the second half would see Strange visiting the United States. This idea could not be agreed upon, which explains why such a short season of episodes was created. Quayle and Wills decided not to continue with the series, owing to personal concerns.
Music
The series's opening theme, composed by
Roger Webb
Roger Webb (7 April 1934 – 19 December 2002) was a British songwriter and jazz pianist best known for leading Roger Webb's Trio (1963-1965) for television series and club performances, and Roger Webb's Orchestra. The Roger Webb Trio appear ...
, was also available as sheet music.
Filming
It was filmed between July 1968 and March 1969, on location and at
Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London.
The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to te ...
, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire.
Episodes
Airdate
[Dates from ITC Episode guide issued with the Network DVD] is 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.
Broadcast
The series was repeated on UK satellite channel
Bravo
Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels
*Bravo (band), a Russian rock band
* Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984
*Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing company ...
in 1996/1997, and on UK digital terrestrial channel
ITV4
ITV4 is a Television in the United Kingdom, 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 (TV network), ITV network. The channel h ...
, from digitally restored prints, in 2005/2006. (The episode 'Heart' was not screened by ITV4.) Satellite channel
Men and Motors
Men & Motors was a men's lifestyle television channel in the UK. It was the last remaining station operated by the former Granada Sky Broadcasting joint venture, set up by Granada Television (now part of ITV plc) and satellite broadcaster Brit ...
also screened the series in 2007.
Home media
Techno Film released two episodes – "SHRAPNEL" and "HOSTAGE" – on
Super 8 cine film for home use in 1970.
ITC Video released two VHS tapes of the series in the UK in 1994, containing the episodes – 'Heart'/'X-Ray', and 'Covergirls'/'Cult'.
The series was digitally restored for Carlton Visual Entertainment by
BBC Resources in 2003. The full series was 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 kin ...
in the UK by the Network imprint as a five-disc special edition in 2004 and as a four-disc edition in 2005. The special edition was subsequently re-released in the UK in 2007 and the regular one in 2009. The series was also released on DVD in Australia by Umbrella Entertainment in 2007. In 2011, Network re-released the episode 'Kidnap' in its retro-ACTION! Volume 1 Blu-Ray, this is the first time an episode of the series had been shown in a superior high-definition quality. The same episode was further released in Network's 2018 retro-ACTION! Blu-Ray.
In other media
Books
A paperback novel "based on the famous TV series" and written by
John Burke was published by
Hodder & Stoughton
Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint (trade name), imprint of Hachette (publisher), Hachette.
History
Early history
The firm has its origins in the 1840s, with Matthew Hodder's employment, aged 14, with Messrs ...
in 1970.
Records
The theme to the series by
Roger Webb
Roger Webb (7 April 1934 – 19 December 2002) was a British songwriter and jazz pianist best known for leading Roger Webb's Trio (1963-1965) for television series and club performances, and Roger Webb's Orchestra. The Roger Webb Trio appear ...
was released as a 7 inch single on
Columbia records (DB 8803) in 1971. "The World of Love", the song from the episode 'Cult', was released as the B-side of The Strangers' first single, "I've Got You", on the little-known Harvard record label (Harv 001) in 1970. The accompaniment to the song is credited to
Geoff Love
Geoffrey Love (4 September 1917 – 8 July 1991) was a prolific British arranger and composer of easy listening and pop versions of film themes. He became famous in the late 1950s, playing under the pseudonym of Manuel and The Music of The Mo ...
who, in 1972, recorded his own version of the ''Strange Report'' theme for the
Music For Pleasure LP ''Geoff Love and his Orchestra Play Your Top TV Themes'' (MFP 5272). This version can also be found on the
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...
CDs ''This Is Easy'' (1996) and ''This is....Cult Fiction Royale'' (1997), and the ''ITV 50 Cult TV Themes'' CD (2005) released to celebrate 50 years of ITV.
In 2009, Network issued a soundtrack album containing Webb's theme music and original scores composed for the episodes "REPORT 4407: HEART – No Choice for the Donor", "REPORT 1553: RACIST – A Most Dangerous Proposal", "REPORT 0649: SKELETON – Let Sleeping Heroes Lie", "REPORT 5055: CULT – Murder Shrieks Out", "REPORT 7931: SNIPER – When is Your Cousin Not?" and "REPORT 3424: EPIDEMIC – A Most Curious Crime", as well as unused and alternate takes, plus library music from other composers also used in the series.
Note: 'The Strangers' mentioned here should not be confused with either the Australian or Irish groups of the same name.
References
External links
*
*
{{ITC Distributions
1960s British drama television series
1969 British television series debuts
1970 British television series endings
Television series by ITC Entertainment
ITV television dramas
NBC original programming
Television series produced at Pinewood Studios
English-language television shows
Television shows set in London