Who Killed Lamb & Danger Man
Neil Rosen kindly lent me the DVD of Hell Drivers.
On the second DVD were featured two programmes that showcased the acting talents of its two leads – Stanley Baker and Patrick McGoohan.
Who Killed Lamb? was a Yorkshire TV production play from back in the days when ITV produced some terrific drama.
It was set in Oxford and Stanley Baker played a superintendent to solve the murder of a supposedly benign man. It was old-fashioned detective work and Baker played the role with measured authority.
I enjoyed it immensely.
In my youth Danger Man was required viewing.
The TV hero was in the mould of James Bond: nonchalant, well dressed, public school educated.
Think Steed in the Avengers or Simon Templar in the Saint.
Patrick McGoohan plays John Drake in the same genre.
He is sent out to an African country where dodgy dealings are taking place at high level between senior government ministers and the Chinese.
Drake gets stuck into the investigation. There were gizmos too like his lighter that could do everything but light a cigarette.
There were also some fine character actors and acting.
Nigel Stock, who normally plays dimwits and made a marvellous Dr. Watson to Douglas Willmer’s Sherlock Holmes, plays a security chief easily duped by Drake and Ray Brooks of Cathy Come Home the cheeky sparks that can blow a crucial safe.
I felt at the end that – for all the fuss of Line of Duty – TV drama has not improved since when these two were made.
