Friday 20 February 2015

96 The Long Chase


First  watched  : Uncertain

Another one  for  my  personal  Top  10  here. This  was  probably  the  most  ambitious  and  daring  of  all  childrens'  serials , a  thirteen part  thriller  about  two  teenagers  caught  up  in  an  international  criminal  conspiracy  through  the  boys'  father  , a  shamed  policeman . The  action  moved  across  the  length  of  the  British  Isles  and  involved  some  impressive  stunt  work  with  bikes  being  driven  over  cliffs,  a  well-staged  kidnapping   and  as  the  title  implies , plenty  of  nail-biting  chases. It  was  I  think  the  only  dip  into  childrens'  TV  for  the  prolific  writer  N J  Crisp  who  specialised  in  gritty  thrillers  and  this  was  quite  near  the  knuckle  in  its  violence  and  suspense.

It  was  first  broadcast  on  Monday  teatimes  from  September  1972  but  I  don't  think  I  saw  too  much  of  it  then  perhaps  finding  it  a  bit  too  scary  but  I  watched  the  repeats  on  Sunday  afternoons  in  the  summer  of  1974  religiously.

It's  thought  to  be  still  extant  but  the  Beeb  have  so  far  resisted  calls  for  any  further  repeat  or  DVD  release . Much  of  the  clamour  comes  from  fiftysomething  guys  wanting  another  look  at  the  young  Jan  Francis   although  she  was  actually  24  at  the  time  of  filming. Her  partner  on  the  run  was  Simon  Turner, fresh  from  his  success  in  Tom  Brown's  Schooldays  and  the  father  was  rugged  Glyn  Houston  who  starred in  another  Crisp  drama  The  Brothers  that  we'll  be  discussing  shortly.

No comments:

Post a Comment