Adam Adamant Lives! (An Edwardian Avengers Shot On Videotape!)

Adam Adamant Lives! is very much a product of its time. Produced by Verity Lambert who had acted as producer on the first two seasons of 'Doctor Who' and created by 'The Avengers' creator Sydney Newman (who also created Doctor Who) the show was made on a shoestring budget by the BBC on a disorientating mixture of film and videotape, as was the industry norm at the time. With one episode being produced every week the production is understandably often shaky and rushed (demonstrated by the behind the scenes takes released as a special feature on the exemplary DVD release) but nonetheless some excellent material was produced during its short run between 1966-1967. 

A frame from the title sequence of the show, Gerald Harper starred as the lead Adam Adamant in the series

The shows central protagonist is the wonderful Adam Adamant, a hero from Edwardian times, who during an encounter with his mortal enemy 'The Face' is cryogenic-ally frozen and remains hidden in this frozen state for 64 years, eventually being re-discovered again in 1966. The casting is excellent, Gerald Harper gives a wonderful performance as Adam Adamant, a hero from the Edwardian era, unaccustomed and often outraged by the starkly different society he has been thrown into. Harper plays the character as a pure gentlemen, a charmer to the ladies despite his naivety of modern times, and they often serve as a enticement towards danger for Adamant in the series! Juliet Harmer makes an excellent sidekick in the form of Georgina Jones, a young woman who is the epitome of the swinging sixties and the wonderful Jack May as the Butler Simms who always can be relied upon to add a touch of humour to the programme.

Gerald Harper and Juliet Harper as his trendy young sidekick Georgina Jones

The show is quite rightly regarded as a cult, its premise is nothing less than inspired and certainly extremely memorable, earning the programme much following during its forty odd years existence. The opening episode 'A Vintage Year for Scoundrels' with a guest performance from the brilliant Freda Jackson is good fun and sets up the story nicely. Unfortunately the following episodes are generally quite poor, both 'More Deadly Than The Sword' and 'Allah Is Not Always With You' feature dreadful racial stereotypes which date the programme considerably. Thankfully the series improved as it went along with the excellent 'The Sweet Smell of Disaster' by Robert Banks Stewart, no doubt an influence for the classic Doctor Who story 'Terror of the Autons' and the Brian Clemens script 'The Terribly Happy Embalmers' which put the programme as close as it has ever been to 'The Avengers' territory, Clemens notably being a regular writer and later producer for 'The Avengers'. Many see Adam Adamant Lives! as a attempt to emulate the success of the aforementioned programme, and there are certainly many similarities. In terms of production values Adam Adamant Lives! could never really compete. As the programme stuck rigidly to the common practice of film and videotape production, 'The Avengers' had just premiered its fourth season with Diana Rigg's Emma Peel as the new sidekick and new glittering production values which included an extra week for production (every episode was recorded in two weeks) and with American backing behind them, 'The Avengers' team also had a lot more money behind them. Adam Adamant Lives! could never afford the slick style of 'The Avengers'. As a result of this the direction of the programme is quite often industry standard for the time, making it easily distinguishable from the polished direction of 'The Avengers' or any of the ITC action series it was competing against during its original run. However, there are some exceptions. The excellent Ridley Scott shows off some of his early talent in the only surviving episode he directed 'The League of Uncharitable Ladies' which comes complete with some slick location footage and freeze frames aplenty and the late Paul Ciappessoni also directed some memorable work, as did the excellent Moira Armstrong who helmed probably the finest existing episode 'Black Echo' an early episode from the second season with a guest appearance from legendary actress Gladys Cooper, who had recently returned to the UK from the States where she had an extremely successful career, appearing as a guest star in the original 'Twilight Zone' and 'The Outer Limits' amongst other classic series. Other notable guest stars include Patrick Troughton (soon to be the second Doctor in 'Doctor Who') television favourite T.P McKenna and John Le Mesurier from 'Dads Army'.

Patrick Troughton guest stars in the classic episode 'D for Destruction', the final episode from the first season

The show ran for two seasons and 29 episodes before being cancelled in 1967 after it failed to continue with any considerable success. Verity Lambert would later consider the show as a bit of a failure and it's a shame that it was never given the chance to grow on audiences, and perhaps more importantly that it was never given a bigger budget. Certainly the 17 episodes that remain are a mixed bag of the brilliant, to the quirky to the downright awful. Other than the episodes already mentioned, essential viewing includes 'The Last Sacrifice', 'Sing a Song of Murder', 'The Village of Evil' and 'A Sinister Sort of Service'. It is a tragic shame like so many other series that 12 episodes of Adam Adamant Lives! are missing, only two episodes exist from the Second Season and seeing as they are two of the best it is a great disappointment that more does not exist. Despite its flaws Adam Adamant Lives! is a fascinating piece of 60's television, one which brilliance often lies with its fantastic premise and solid performances from the lead actors rather than its execution. Not a classic, but worth a watch. To use that old cliché 'They don't make them like this anymore!'.

NOTE: All production stills and photographs used in this review are copyrighted to BBC Television. The first seven of my Screenprick reviews are edited and embellished versions of reviews I have previously published on IMDb (Internet Movie Database) under the account name 'The Valeyard'. Review Eight will be a brand new review posted on this blog first! The next review will focus on 'Star Maidens'.