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Adam Adamant Lives! - A Vintage Year for Scoundrels
episode 1.1
UK 1966
produced by Verity Lambert for BBC
directed by David Sullivan Proudfoot, William Slater
starring Gerald Harper, Juliet Harmer, Freda Jackson, Ivor Salter, Frank Jarvis, Peter Ducrow, Mary Hignett, Joby Blanshard, Bartlett Mullins, Gordon Faith, Kenneth Benda, Antony Ruth, Tom Macaulay, Lionel Gamlin, John Greenwood, Pamela Sholto, Grania Hayes, Guy Standeven
written by Tony Williamson, created by Donald Cotton, Richard Harris (II), music by David Lee
TV-series Adam Adamant Lives!
review by Mike Haberfelner
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London 1902: Adam Adamant (Gerald Harper) is a hero in the
swashbuckling tradition and the prime defender of the crown - and
he suspects that all the problems that have befallen the empire lately
were caused by just one man ... but he has no clue who. So when
whoever-it-is invites him into an obvious trap, Adamant accepts the
challenge ... and his newfound archenemy (Peter Ducrow) promptly freezes
him into a block of solid ice. London 1966: During construction work,
the block of ice containing Adamant is unearthed, thawed, and Adamant is
brought back to life ... but before the authorities can even begin to
think about what to do with him, he makes a getaway and wanders the
streets of London alone, a London that looks like hell to his Victorian
mind, and thus he is soon overcome by a slight panic attack - but saved by
a girl called Georgina (Juliet Harmer), who by some weird coincidence
knows who he is/was and isn't surprised in the least to find a man who
disappeared in 1902's London wandereing the streets of 1966's London
without having aged a day. Georgina soon becomes the witness in a
murder, and the woman behing the murder, Margo (Freda Jackson), who runs a
profitable protection racket, soon wants her dead. And since Adam Adamant
meddles in her affairs, Margo soon wants him dead as well. Suffice to
say, in the end Adam Adamant saves the day ... A TV-show that
is likeable more for its basic idea (a Victorian man in the London of the
Swinging Sixties) than its execution, because quite frankly, the story of
this first episode leaves a lot to be desired: Sure, the narrative set-up
is great, but eventually it just descends into your typical crime story,
and not even an especially exciting one, and above all a story that isn't
really in need of a Victorian hero. On top of that, apart from a few
likeable shots from Swinging Sixties London, the directorial effort is
less than great, and especially the action sequences seem to be
half-heartedly handled. All that said, the show is still some fun, it
just could have been much better.
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