CALLAN...

The mid-'80s seemed to be a good time for repeating classic TV shows from the '60s and '70s.  We looked at BUDGIE in the previous post, but around the same time it was repeated, so also was CALLAN.  Callan, played by EDWARD WOODWARD, was a realistic spy series which had none of the panache of 007.  Created and written by author JAMES MITCHELL, it was grim, grimy, gritty, and - when RUSSELL HUNTER's character LONELY was on screen - could also be described as grotty.  It started in 1967 and ran for four series of 44 episodes until 1972, though it was absent from TV in '68 and '71.  There was also a movie in 1974, which was an expanded version of the ARMCHAIR THEATRE pilot episode (A MAGNUM For SCHNEIDER), first shown in February of '67.

There was also a TV 'reunion' movie called WET JOB in 1981, which I didn't know about or see until '84 or '85, when it was repeated.  Thing is, I wasn't aware it was a repeat, and seem to recall it being advertised in the TV listings as though it was a new production, so I wonder if perhaps it wasn't shown in Scotland in '81.  (Or maybe it aired when I was in Southsea for a few months and it just slipped under my radar.)  It wasn't 'til a few short years ago that I first learned it had been transmitted earlier, and it was quite a surprise to me.  I was living in another house between 1983 and '87, and therefore associate the film with there, rather than the previous abode I was in when it was originally broadcast, and in which I once again reside.  (It's complicated, but unimportant from your perspective, so don't worry about it.)

It was strange to view episodes I hadn't seen since the '60s and early '70s, when I'd lived in a prior house to the two referred to above.  I even remembered specific scenes, so it was like revisiting my past, something I always enjoy.  (Not that it's relevant to anything, but the final series of Callan ended three weeks to the day before we flitted in 1972.)  Anyway, I purchased series 3 & 4 (the colour years) from my local SAINSBURY's a week or so back, and will be buying what survives (several episodes were wiped) of series 1 & 2 (the monochrome years) before very long.  Callan had a haunting theme tune (known as 'Girl In The Dark', and also 'This Man Alone'), as well as atmospheric opening titles, which anyone who ever saw the show will surely remember.  Unfortunately, because of an ongoing copyright dispute, the theme wasn't used for the '74 movie or '81 feature-length special.

So who else remembers Callan?  Surely everyone around my age will recall it fondly, so why not share your reminiscences  with your fellow Crivs?!

Posted in: Cartoons