''Thirteen Against Fate'' is a British mystery thriller series, comprising thirteen individual stories by the Belgian writer,
Georges Simenon
Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer. He published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, and was the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret.
Early life and education ...
. There are no links between each story, other than the original author, and no story features Simenon's most famous creation,
Jules Maigret
Jules Maigret (), or simply Maigret, is a fictional French police detective, a '' commissaire'' ("commissioner") of the Paris ''Brigade Criminelle'' ('' Direction Régionale de la Police Judiciaire de Paris:36, Quai des Orfèvres''), created b ...
. Intended to be more of a psychological series than the usual British detective serial of the time, ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'' described the first episode as " intelligent television crime series that concentrates on the character of the criminal instead of the almost invariably successful process of detection is overdue."
Episode list
''The Lodger'' (transmitted 19 June 1966)
Writer:
Hugh Leonard
Hugh Leonard (9 November 1926 – 12 February 2009) was an Irish dramatist, television writer, and essayist. In a career that spanned 50 years, Leonard wrote nearly 30 full-length plays, 10 one-act plays, three volumes of essay, two autobiograph ...
Director:
James Ferman
James Alan Ferman (11 April 1930 – 24 December 2002) was an American television and theatre director. He was the Secretary (later termed Director) of the British Board of Film Classification from 1975 to 1999.Michael Brook"Ferman, James (1 ...
Principal Cast:
Zia Mohyeddin
Zia Mohyeddin (; born 20 June 1931) is a British-Pakistani actor, producer, director and television broadcaster who has appeared in both Pakistani cinema and television as well as in British cinema and television throughout his career.
Zia M ...
,
Gwendolyn Watts
Gwendolyn Watts (23 September 1937 – 5 February 2000) was an English actress of the 1960s and 1970s. she was best known for her role as Iris in ''On The Buses''.
Career
Born in Carhampton, Somerset, the daughter of Colin B. Watts and Annie ' ...
,
Gemma Jones
Jennifer "Gemma" Jones (born 4 December 1942) is an English actress. Appearing on both stage and screen, her film appearances include ''Sense and Sensibility'' (1995), the ''Bridget Jones'' series (2001–2016), the ''Harry Potter'' series ( ...
, Nicolas Chagrin, Clive Cazes, Neil Wilson
Based on the Simenon story "Le Locataire" (1934)
''Trapped'' (transmitted 26 June 1966)
Writer:
Julia Jones
Julia Jones (born January 23, 1981) is an American actress, known for playing Leah Clearwater in '' The Twilight Saga'' films and Kohana in the HBO series ''Westworld''. She also co-stars on '' Dexter: New Blood''.
Early life and education
Jul ...
Director:
George Spenton-Foster
George Spenton-Foster (11 November 1926 – 26 December 1993) was a British television director and television producer.
For the BBC, Spenton-Foster directed two '' Doctor Who'' stories: ''Image of the Fendahl'' (1977) and '' The Ribos Operati ...
Keith Buckley
Keith Buckley (born November 19, 1979) is an American singer, best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the now defunct hardcore punk band Every Time I Die and the heavy metal supergroup The Damned Things. He is also a published author.
Earl ...
,
Sylvia Coleridge
Sylvia Coleridge (10 December 1909 – 31 May 1986) was a British stage, film, radio and television actress. She was married to Albert George Fiddes-Watt and their daughter Kate, born 1943, is also an actress as ''Kate Coleridge.''
Birth
Coler ...
,
Tenniel Evans
Walter Tenniel Evans (17 May 1926 – 10 June 2009) was a British actor and, latterly, clergyman.
Family
Walter Tenniel Evans was born in Nairobi, Kenya. His middle name derived from the illustrator Sir John Tenniel, a distant relation.
,
John Barrard
John Barrard (12 September 1924 – 13 October 2013) was a British people, British character actor who had a career spanning five decades and who perhaps is best known for playing Dooley, Santa's No. 2, in ''Santa Claus: The Movie'' (1985). ...
,
Donald Eccles
Donald Eccles (26 April 1908 – 2 February 1986) was a British character actor.
Donald Yarrow Eccles was born in Nafferton, Yorkshire on 26 April 1908 the son of Charles Henry and Constance Eccles; his father was a doctor. Eccles was educated ...
, Geoffrey Cheshire,
Derek Martin
Derek Martin (born Derek William Rapp; 11 April 1933) is an English former actor. Beginning his career as a stuntman, he moved into acting and played many roles on UK television. One of his most widely known roles is Charlie Slater on the BBC ...
Based on "Cours d’Assises" (1941)
''The Traveller'' (transmitted 3 July 1966)
Writer: Stanley Miller
Director:
Herbert Wise Herbert Wise (31 August 1924 – 5 August 2015) was an Austrian-born film and television producer and director.
He was born as Herbert Weisz in Vienna, Austria, and began his career as a director at Shrewsbury Repertory Company in 1950. He was at H ...
Principal Cast:
Kenneth J. Warren
Kenneth John Warren (25 September 1929 – 27 August 1973) was an Australian actor.
Bald and heavily built, Warren went to North Sydney Boys High School. He started acting in 1949.
He emigrated to the UK in the late 1950s, after appearing in t ...
,
Hywel Bennett
Hywel Thomas Bennett (8 April 1944 – 24 July 2017) was a Welsh film and television actor. He had a lead role in ''The Family Way'' (1966) and played the titular "thinking man's layabout" James Shelley in the television sitcom '' Shelley'' (1 ...
,
André van Gyseghem
André van Gyseghem (18 August 1906 – 13 October 1979) was an English actor and theatre director who also appeared in many British television programmes.
Early life
Van Gyseghem was born on 18 August 1906 in Eltham, Kent, the son of Georges Em ...
,
Alan Lake
Alan Lake (24 November 1940 – 10 October 1984) was an English actor, best known as the third and final husband of screen star Diana Dors.
Biography
Alan Lake was born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire on 24 November 1940.Donnelley, Paul ...
,
Kevin Stoney
Kevin Stoney (22 January 1921 – 22 January 2008) was an English actor. He was best known for his television roles, in which he became familiar for his "portrayal of establishment types".
During the Second World War, Stoney served with the Ro ...
, Joan Young,
Edward Burnham
Edward Burnham (25 December 1916 – 30 June 2015) was an English actor whose career spanned over 60 years.
Early years
Burnham was born in Lincolnshire, England, 25 December 1916. After training at RADA and briefly at the Comédie-Française i ...
, Michael Hawkins, Jocelyn Birdsall
Based on "Le Voyageur de la Toussaint" (1941)
''The Widower'' (transmitted 10 July 1966)
Writeript:
Clive Exton
Clive Exton (11 April 1930 – 16 August 2007) was a British television and film screenwriter who wrote scripts for the series ''Poirot,'' ''Jeeves and Wooster,'' and ''Rosemary & Thyme.''Silvio Narizzano
Silvio Narizzano (8 February 192726 July 2011) was a Canadian film and television director who worked primarily in the United Kingdom. His directorial credits included the critically acclaimed films ''Georgy Girl'' (1966) and '' Loot'' (1970), w ...
Principal Cast:
Joss Ackland
Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland CBE (born 29 February 1928) is an English retired actor who has appeared in more than 130 film and television roles. He was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for portraying Jock Del ...
Aimée Delamain
Aimée Delamain (21 April 1906 – 18 June 1999) was an English actress, known for spending most of her career playing elderly ladies.
Biography
Her father, Colonel Frank Delamain was a member of King Edward XI's Bengal Lancers. Upon his re ...
Based on "Le Veuf" (1959)
''The Judge'' (transmitted 17 July 1966)
Writer: Hugh Leonard
Director:
Naomi Capon
Naomi Capon (''née'' Mattuck; 17 December 1921 – 10 February 1987) was a British television director and producer.
Capon was born in Amersham, Buckinghamshire and was one of the earliest female drama directors to work in British television. ...
Principal Cast:
Alexander Knox
Alexander Knox (16 January 1907 – 25 April 1995) was a Canadian actor on stage, screen, and occasionally television. He was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe for his performance as Woodrow Wilson in the film '' Wilson'' (1944).
...
,
John Ronane
John Ronane (11 December 1933 – 15 May 2019) was a British actor.
He appeared onstage in the West End, in movies in Hollywood and Europe, on television and radio. As a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he appeared in the original produ ...
Erik Chitty
Erik Chitty (8 July 1907 in Dover, Kent – 22 July 1977 Brent, Middlesex), was an English stage, film and television actor.
Early life
Chitty was the son of a flour miller, Frederick Walter Chitty and his wife Ethel Elsie Assistance née Fr ...
,
Keith Pyott
Keith Pyott (Blackheath, London, 9 March 1902 - 6 April 1968) was a British actor.
He transferred from stage to screen and was a regular face in drama in the early days of television, appearing in '' Educated Evans'', ''The Prisoner'', ''Out of ...
,
Wolfe Morris
Wolfe Morris (born Woolf Steinberg, 5 January 1925 – 21 July 1996) was an English actor, who played character roles on stage, television and in feature films from the 1950s until the 1990s. He made his film debut in ''Ill Met by Moonlight''. ...
,
Rosamund Greenwood
Rosamund Mary Greenwood (12 June 1907 – 15 July 1997) was a British actress who was active on screen from 1935 until 1990.
Biography
After training at London's Central School, she was on stage from the late 1920s. Her theatre work included sta ...
Based on "Les Témoins" (1955)
''The Schoolmaster'' (transmitted 24 July 1966)
Writer:
Alun Richards
Alun Morgun Richards (27 October 1929 – 2 June 2004) was a Welsh novelist, best known for his novel '' Ennal's Point'', about the work of a lifeboat crew in South Wales.
Richards was born in King Edward Avenue, Caerphilly. He was educated at ...
Helen Cherry
Helen Mary Cherry (24 November 1915 – 27 September 2001) was an English stage, film and television actress. She was born in Worsley, Lancashire, and brought up in Harrogate, West Riding of Yorkshire.
Marriage
Whilst working at the Arts Thea ...
,
Cyril Shaps
Cyril Leonard Shaps (13 October 1923 – 1 January 2003) was an English actor of radio, television and film, with a career spanning over seven decades.
Early radio
Shaps was born in the East End of London to Polish-Jewish parents; his father ...
Petra Markham
Petra Mavis Markham (born 17 March 1944 in Prestbury, Cheshire) is a British theatre, television and film actress. She is a daughter of actor David Markham and writer Olive Dehn (1914–2007). She has three sisters: actress Kika Markham, Sonia ...
,
Russell Waters
Russell Waters (born 10 June 1908, Glasgow, Lanarkshire – died 19 August 1982, Richmond, Surrey) was a Scottish film actor.
Waters was educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School, Glasgow and the University of Glasgow. He began acting with the ...
, Robin Scott
Based on "L’Evadé" (1936)
''The Witness'' (transmitted 31 July 1966)
Writer: John Hale
Director:
John Gorrie
John B. Gorrie (October 3, 1803 – June 29, 1855) was a Nevisian-born American physician and scientist, credited as the inventor of mechanical refrigeration.
Early life
Born on the Island of Nevis in the Leeward Islands of the West Indies t ...
Daphne Heard
Delia Phyllis Daphne Heard (21 August 1904 – 22 June 1983) was an English actress and acting teacher. She was born in Plymouth, Devon. She appeared in numerous made-for-TV movies and TV series. But was perhaps best known in latter years a ...
,
Moultrie Kelsall
Moultrie Rowe Kelsall (24 October 1904 – 13 February 1980)Biographical info
Barry Jackson, Sheila Grant, Christopher Burgess,
Basil Moss
Basil David Moss (25 May 1935 – 28 November 2020) was a British character actor, who featured regularly on television in the 1960s and on radio in the 1970s.
Early life
He was educated at St Paul's School, which he followed with actor's traini ...
, Will Stampe,
Trevor Baxter
Trevor Baxter (18 November 1932 – 16 July 2017) was a British actor and playwright. He was educated at Dulwich College and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Early years
A postal worker's son, Baxter was born in Lewisham, London, England, and ...
, Reginald Barratt
Based on "Le Haut Mal" (1933)
''The Friends'' (transmitted 7 August 1966)
Writer:
Anthony Steven
Anthony Steven (3 August 1916 – 26 May 1990) was a British television scriptwriter whose career spanned over three decades. Notable works include '' All Creatures Great and Small'', '' The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'' and ''The Forsyte Saga ...
Director: Michael Hayes Principal Cast: Jessica Dunning,
Frederick Jaeger
Manfred Frederick Jaeger (9 May 1928 – 18 June 2004) was a German-born British film, television, theatre and radio character actor.
Biography
Jaeger was born in Berlin, Germany, but moved to England following Adolf Hitler's rise to power. He ...
,
Sandor Elès
József Sándor Éles (15 June 1936 – 10 September 2002), sometimes credited simply as Sándor Éles, was a Hungarian actor. He was best known latterly for TV and film work.
Born in Tatabánya, 60 km from Budapest, Éles was orphaned dur ...
,
Joby Blanshard
John Henry "Joby" Blanshard (7 November 1919 – 26 November 1992) was an English film and television actor, most famous for playing Colin Bradley in 32 episodes of the early 1970s "science-fact" series, ''Doomwatch''.
Filmography
* ''The Pas ...
,
Michael Robbins
Michael Anthony Robbins (14 November 1930 – 11 December 1992) was an English actor and comedian best known for his role as Arthur Rudge in the TV sitcom and film versions of ''On the Buses'' (1969–73).
Career
Michael Robbins was born in ...
, Edward Dentith
Based on "Chemin sans issue" (1938)
''The Survivors'' (transmitted 14 August 1966)
Writer: Stanley Miller
Director:
Rudolph Cartier
Rudolph Cartier (born Rudolph Kacser, renamed himself in Germany to Rudolph Katscher;
17 April 1904 – 7 June 1994) was an Austrian television director, Filmmaking, filmmaker, screenwriter and Film producer, producer who worked predominantly i ...
Principal Cast:
Lila Kedrova
Yelizaveta Nikolaevna Kedrova (Russian: Елизавета Николаевна Кедрова; 9 October 1909 – 16 February 2000), known as Lila Kedrova, was a Russian-born French actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actre ...
,
David Buck
David Keith Rodney Buck (17 October 1933 – 27 January 1989) was an English actor.
Buck was born in London, the son of Joseph Buck and Enid Marguerite (née Webb). He starred in many television productions from 1959 until 1989. One of his ea ...
Terence De Marney
Terence Arthur De Marney (1 March 190825 May 1971) was a British film, stage, radio and television actor, as well as theatre director and writer.
Career
Actor
The son of Violet Eileen Concanen and Arthur De Marney, and the grandson of no ...
,
Hamilton Dyce
Hamilton Dyce (14 March 1912 – 8 January 1972) was an English stage, film and television actor.
His television work included the 1970 ''Doctor Who'' serial ''Spearhead from Space'', where he played General Scobie.
Selected filmography
* ...
,
Jerold Wells
Jerold Wells (8 August 1908 – 19 July 1999) was an English actor. He was born in Wallington, Hampshire, and died in Bath, Somerset.
He appeared primarily in British comedies. Films included ''Adventures of a Plumber's Mate'' and the TV-made ...
, Michael Brennan Based on "Les Rescapés du Télémaque" (1938)
''The Son'' (transmitted 21 August 1966)
Writer: Jeremy Paul
Director:
Waris Hussein
Waris Hussein ('' né'' Habibullah; born 9 December 1938) is a British-Indian television and film director. At the beginning of his career he was employed by the BBC as its youngest drama director. He directed early episodes of '' Doctor Who'', i ...
Principal Cast: Joan Miller,
Simon Ward
Simon Anthony Fox Ward (16 October 194120 July 2012) was a British stage and film actor. He was known chiefly for his performance as Winston Churchill in the 1972 film ''Young Winston''. He played many other screen roles, including those of Sir ...
,
Jack Woolgar
Jack William Woolgar (15 September 1913 – 14 July 1978) was a British character actor working in television and film in the 1960s and 1970s. He began acting towards the end of the Second World War and turned professional shortly afterwards, wo ...
,
Clive Dunn
Clive Robert Benjamin Dunn (9 January 19206 November 2012) was an English actor. Although he was only 48 and one of the youngest cast members, he was cast in a role many years his senior, as the elderly Lance Corporal Jones in the BBC sitcom ' ...
,
Lila Kaye
Lila Kaye (7 November 1929 – 10 January 2012) was an English actress. She spent a number of years working in the United States, on Broadway and in television, before returning to England.
Born in Middlesbrough, North Riding of Yorkshire, sh ...
John Tillinger
John Tillinger (born June 28, 1938) is a theatre director and actor.
Life and career
Joachim F. Tillinger was born in Tabriz, Iran. His father was German Jewish and his mother was Protestant. Tillinger was raised in England, where he was first ...
,
Kevin Manser
Kevin Baden Manser (16 February 1929 – 21 December 2001) was an Australian actor best known for his career as a Dalek operator in the early seasons of the British science-fiction television series ''Doctor Who''.
He was born in Adelaide ...
Based on "Les Destins des Malous" (1947)
''The Murderer'' (transmitted 28 August 1966)
Writer: Clive Exton
Director:
Alan Bridges
Alan Bridges (28 September 1927 – 7 December 2013) was an English film and television director.
In 1967 Bridges directed a television adaptation of Charles Dickens' ''Great Expectations'' starring Gary Bond as Pip.
He won the ''Grand Pri ...
Principal Cast:
Frank Finlay
Francis Finlay, (6 August 1926 – 30 January 2016) was an English stage, film and television actor, Oscar-nominated for a supporting role as Iago in Laurence Olivier's 1965 film adaptation of ''Othello''.
In 1983, Finlay was directed by Ital ...
,
Michael Goodliffe
Lawrence Michael Andrew Goodliffe (1 October 1914 – 20 March 1976) was an English actor known for playing suave roles such as doctors, lawyers and army officers. He was also sometimes cast in working-class parts.
Biography
Goodliffe was ...
,
Annette Crosbie
Annette Crosbie (born 12 February 1934) is a Scottish actor.Annette Crosbie fil ...
,
Lyndon Brook
Lyndon Brook (10 April 1926 – 9 January 2004) was a British actor, on film and television.
Family and early life
Lyndon Brook was born on 10 April 1926 in Los Angeles, California, to British parents. He came from an established acting fami ...
,
Jeremy Spenser
Jeremy Spenser (born Jeremy John Dornhurst de Saram 16 July 1937) is a British actor who made his screen debut aged 11 in ''Anna Karenina'' (1948).
The following year he played in the black comedy ''Kind Hearts and Coronets'' as the young Loui ...
,
Norman Mitchell
Norman Mitchell Driver (27 August 1918 – 19 March 2001), known professionally as Norman Mitchell, was an English television, stage and film actor.
Born in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, his father was a mining engineer and his mother a ...
,
Stephanie Bidmead
Stephanie Bidmead (29 January 1929 – 22 September 1974) was a British stage and television actress.
Early life
She was born in Kidderminster. She attended Kidderminster High School for Girls, a girls' grammar school, now part of King Charles ...
, John Gill
Based on "L’Assassin" (1937)
''The Suspect'' (transmitted 4 September 1966)
Writer: Donal Giltinan
Director: Michael Hayes.
Principal Cast:
Marius Goring
Marius Re Goring, (23 May 191230 September 1998) was a British stage and screen actor. He is best remembered for the four films he made with Powell & Pressburger, particularly as Conductor 71 in '' A Matter of Life and Death'' and as Julian Cr ...
Peter Halliday
Peter Halliday (2 June 1924 – 18 February 2012) was a Welsh actor.
Early life
The son of an auctioneer and estate agent, Halliday was brought up in Welshpool in Montgomeryshire, and attended Oswestry School in Shropshire. On leaving school ...
, David Garfield,
Noel Johnson
Noel Frank Johnson (28 December 1916 – 1 October 1999) was an English actor. He was the voice of special agent Dick Barton on BBC Radio and Dan Dare on Radio Luxembourg.
Life
Johnson was born 28 December 1916 in Birmingham, England and at ...
,
Jon Rollason
Jon Rollason (9 April 1931 – 20 February 2016) was an English television actor. He is best remembered for the role of Dr. Martin King in '' The Avengers''. He also appeared in episodes of '' Doctor Who'' (as Harold Chorley in ''The Web of Fea ...
,
John Forgeham
John Henry George Forgeham (14 May 1941 – 10 March 2017) was an English actor known for his television work, notably the role of businessman Frank Laslett in the ITV (TV network), ITV series ''Footballers' Wives''.
Born in Kidderminster, Wo ...
Based on "Les Fiançailles de M. Hire" (1933)
''The Consul'' (transmitted 11 September 1966)
Writer:
Director: John Gorrie.
Principal Cast: Jonathan Burn,
Michele Dotrice
Michele Dotrice (born 27 September 1948) is an English actress. She portrayed Betty Spencer, the long-suffering wife of Frank Spencer, portrayed by Michael Crawford, in the BBC sitcom ''Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'', which ran from 1973 to 1978, ...
, Jeannette Sterke,
Michael Pennington
Michael Vivian Fyfe Pennington (born 7 June 1943) is a British actor, director and writer. Together with director Michael Bogdanov, he founded the English Shakespeare Company in 1986 and was its Joint Artistic Director until 1992. He has writt ...
,
John Ringham
John Henry Ringham (10 February 1928 – 20 October 2008) was a British actor who appeared on both television and stage. Among his roles was that of Norman Warrender in the 1980s sitcom ''Just Good Friends''.
Early life
Ringham was born in Che ...
,
Andreas Malandrinos
Andreas Malandrinos ( el, Ανδρέας Μαλανδρίνος; 14 November 1888, in Greece – 11 July 1970, in Surrey) was a Greek-born actor who started appearing in British films from 1930, until his death 40 years later in Surrey, England ...
,
Geoffrey Beevers
Geoffrey Beevers (born 15 January 1941) is a British actor who has appeared in many different stage and screen roles.
Career Theatre
Beevers has worked extensively at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond upon Thames, both as an actor (including ...
John Savident
John Savident (born 21 January 1938) is a retired British actor, known for his numerous television roles, including his portrayal of Fred Elliott in the soap opera '' Coronation Street'' from 1994-2006. He is also known for his performance as ...
, Michael Lynch.
Based on “Les Gens d’en Face” (1933)
Archive status
Long thought almost entirely
lost
Lost may refer to getting lost, or to:
Geography
*Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland
* Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US
History
*Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...
, the entire series was recovered from the
British Film Institute
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 to encourage film production, ...
(three episodes) and the American
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...