Michael J Bird Tribute Website |
Callan
There is no shortage of information on the web about Callan, which starred Edward Woodward and ran from the late 1960s to the early '70s on Independent Television. If you have not visited them already, the following sites are worth checking out:
My contribution to the cannon consists, largely, of scans from my scrapbooks, compiled at the time, and this episode listing. The excellent Action TV magazine> took an in depth look at the series in a feature called "The Blunt Instrument" in its Autumn 2001 issue No 5 (now sadly out of print, although copies do come up from time to time on e-Bay.) Given they no longer have copies for sale I hope they won't mind me including a scan of the feature here - if nothing else it serves to demonstrate the quality of the magazine. Click the cover alongside. CALLAN SHORT STORIESIn 1967 the TV Times Christmas Extra Magazine featured a Callan short story "Merry Christmas from the Section" - written by Callan's creator James Mitchell. I also have copies of Callan short stories, written by James Mitchell
and published in the
Sunday Express in 1973, at the height of the show's popularity. |
TV Times listing |
I was unaware, though, that in 1976 the newspaper ran a second series of stories, again written by James Mitchell. I am indebted to website visitor, and Callan fan, Mandy Knighton-Clark for providing the scans below, or I might never have got to read them. Each story is on two pages. | ||||
File on a Deadly Don [1] |
from the Sunday Express 15th August 1976 |
File on a Tired Traitor [1] |
from the Sunday Express 22nd August 1976 |
The short stories have been collected together and published in two volumes as "Callan Uncovered" by Ostara publishing. See links below. |
File on a Deadly Don [2] | File on a Tired Traitor [2] | |||
File on a Harassed Hunter [1] |
from the Sunday Express 29th August 1976 |
File on a Beautiful Boxer [1] |
from the Sunday Express 5th September 1976 |
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File on a Harassed Hunter [2] | File on a Beautiful Boxer [2] | |||
Mandy has also sent me scans of a number of related feature
articles from contemporary copies of TV Times, which
I have collected together into a single PDF file.
TV TIMES FEATURES |
CALLAN NOVELS
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Red File for Callan (1969)
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Death & Bright Water (1974)
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Russian Roulette (1973)
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Smear Job (1975)
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Bonfire Night (2002)
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Three of the Callan books have been reissued by Ostara publishing as part of their "Top Notch Thriller" line and simultaneously released electronically for the Kindle. Website visitor Mike Ripley, who writes the column "Getting Away with Murder" in the "SHOTS" Crime and Thriller eZine, has been collaborating on the Callan project with James Mitchell's son Peter. They have also put together a book "Callan Uncovered" a compilation of the Callan short stories (over 20 of them) and an unfilmed script. |
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JOHN CRAIG NOVELS
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JOHN CRAIG NOVELS 1964-1969
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CALLAN ON DVD All surviving Callan episodes have been released commercially on DVD. For a long time the Armchair Theatre 'pilot' episode, "A Magnum for Schneider", and a handful of stories from black and white season's one and two were only available as pirate copies - not brilliant but watchable. Sadly poor Edward Woodward had to die before anyone thought to release them commercially. E-mail me for further details. |
CALLAN - THE MISSING EPISODES As all Callan fans know there are a number of episodes that no longer exist. Eagle eyed Callan fan Mandy Knighton-Clark spotted a bunch of scripts for sale on e-Bay including most of the 'missing' Callan episodes ... | |
Series one 'Goodbye, Nobby Clarke' (15 July 1967) 'The Death of Robert E Lee' (22 July 1967) 'Goodness Burns Too Bright' (29 July 1967) 'But He's a Lord, Mr Callan' (5 August 1967) Series two 'You're Under Starter's Orders' (22 January 1969) 'Land of Light and Peace' (19 February 1969) 'Blackmailers Should Be Discouraged' (26 February 1969) 'Jack-On-Top' (12 March 1969) 'Once a Big Man, Always a Big Man' (19 March 1969) 'The Running Dog' (26 March 1969) |
You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to
open the downloads. |
Public Eye
The adventures of Private Detective Frank Marker ran for ten years between 1965 and 1975. They would never set the world alight, but they were invariably solid, entertaining little yarns, intelligently scripted and well played. You can read more about the series at
My tribute to the Public Eye series are these scans from contemporary 'TV Stars Annuals'. |
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Public Eye on DVD Four Series of Public Eye have been released commercially on DVD by Network DVD. And I have a handful of other episodes. E-mail me for further details. |
If anyone can explain why, as a teenager, I was enthralled by a series about elderly tycoons in Boardroom battles then I would love to hear from you. But enthralled I was, and I acquired an affection for the regular stars (Peter Barkworth, Rosemary Leach, Jack Watling etc.) that carried on into whatever else they did afterwards. You can read more about the series at
I have a few other bits and bobs I may add later. |
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The Power Game on DVD Series 1, 2 and 3 of The Power Game and two volumes of its predecessor The Planemakers have been released commercially on DVD by those excellent Network people. E-mail me for further details. |
Michael J Bird Tribute Website |
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