A short time ago, I mentioned an advert in a '60's U.S. comic for the Emenee Thermo/Craft Workshop. In the mid-'70's, British comics ran a crudely-drawn, one-page comic strip called 'The Airfix Gang'. They were basically three sad-looking boys ( their leader is a dead ringer for Ronnie Corbett ) who've never heard of girls and meet regularly in a shed to compare Fokkers ( I'm talking about the planes ). Another boy - Alan - turns up with a model, begging to join. But as it is not Airfix ( why then is he trying to join an Airfix fan club? ), they won't let him in ( and also because he looks as though he smells ). Ronnie says Airfix kits are better value for money as they are more detailed. They didn't have stress counselling in 1975 so Alan goes to Woolworths to get an Airfix kit ( something he should have done to start with ) and tries again. This time the gang are impressed. Alan is in! But wait, the story's not over. Alan's model planes win prizes at school ( in my class, they would have been laughed at and smashed to pieces by other boys ) and - get this - he goes on to become President of the Airfix Gang! I don't know about you, but I'd be unhappy if someone who'd tried to cheat his way into the club were honoured with such a grand title. Despite the promise of further adventures, there were none, so we never found whether or not Alan was deposed in a coup d'etat or beaten to a pulp by the Airfix Gang's rivals - the Revell Mob.
Onto 'Adam'. 'The Doomsday Plan', written by Richard Harris ( not the Irish actor, but an contributor to 'The Avengers' and 'The Saint' ), starts with the abduction of a B.B.C. newsreader ( Kenneth Kendall, no less ). Over a game of chess with Hinchcombe ( Geoffrey Lumsden ), Adam learns that Kendall was found the next day with no memory of where he had been. The same thing has also happened to an I.T.N. newsreader, and a van containing outside broadcast equipment has been robbed. At Speakers Corner in Hyde Park, fire and brimstone preacher Dr.Mort ( Peter Vaughan ) is predicting the end of the world. Georgina witnesses a man ( Talfryn Thomas ) handing over a parcel. She sneaks a look at the contents when no-one is looking and sees it contains newspapers announcing that World War 3 is imminent. Adam discovers that Dr.Mort is plotting to fake an atomic attack in order to clear the capital, so that all banks, art galleries and furriers can be looted...
Thank goodness this still exists, as it is a corking episode, with Peter Vaughan ( from 'Porridge' and 'Citizen Smith' ) hamming it up as the insane preacher with a Captain Ahab-like beard. His mission conceals an underground lair in which computers chatter and scientists in glasses study print-outs. Great stuff.
In what was quite a violent scene for the time, one of Mort's underlings decides to rat on his boss, and arranges to meet Adamant in private. He is suddenly surrounded on all sides by men wearing sandwich boards carrying religious slogans, and, encircling him, they then beat him senseless. As the poor man lies injured on the road, a car speeds around a corner and goes over straight him. What did Mrs.Whitehouse have to say about this?
A similar plot featured in the 'Amos Burke Secret Agent' episode 'Password To Death', though there the villains had a different motive for faking a nuclear war. Isobel Black, who plays 'Samantha Mort', was daughter of Ian Stuart Black, who wrote several Season 2 stories.
Onto 'Adam'. 'The Doomsday Plan', written by Richard Harris ( not the Irish actor, but an contributor to 'The Avengers' and 'The Saint' ), starts with the abduction of a B.B.C. newsreader ( Kenneth Kendall, no less ). Over a game of chess with Hinchcombe ( Geoffrey Lumsden ), Adam learns that Kendall was found the next day with no memory of where he had been. The same thing has also happened to an I.T.N. newsreader, and a van containing outside broadcast equipment has been robbed. At Speakers Corner in Hyde Park, fire and brimstone preacher Dr.Mort ( Peter Vaughan ) is predicting the end of the world. Georgina witnesses a man ( Talfryn Thomas ) handing over a parcel. She sneaks a look at the contents when no-one is looking and sees it contains newspapers announcing that World War 3 is imminent. Adam discovers that Dr.Mort is plotting to fake an atomic attack in order to clear the capital, so that all banks, art galleries and furriers can be looted...
Thank goodness this still exists, as it is a corking episode, with Peter Vaughan ( from 'Porridge' and 'Citizen Smith' ) hamming it up as the insane preacher with a Captain Ahab-like beard. His mission conceals an underground lair in which computers chatter and scientists in glasses study print-outs. Great stuff.
In what was quite a violent scene for the time, one of Mort's underlings decides to rat on his boss, and arranges to meet Adamant in private. He is suddenly surrounded on all sides by men wearing sandwich boards carrying religious slogans, and, encircling him, they then beat him senseless. As the poor man lies injured on the road, a car speeds around a corner and goes over straight him. What did Mrs.Whitehouse have to say about this?
A similar plot featured in the 'Amos Burke Secret Agent' episode 'Password To Death', though there the villains had a different motive for faking a nuclear war. Isobel Black, who plays 'Samantha Mort', was daughter of Ian Stuart Black, who wrote several Season 2 stories.
