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Ace Of Wands Season 3

Peacock Pie – Part 1

Ace Of WandsMikki bumps into an ordinary-looking man after nearly being knocked to the ground by armed security guards at a bank. The man tells her that she needs a holiday, and in her mind Mikki sees a remote seaside location. When she next sees Tarot and Chas, Mikki announces that she needs a holiday, a declaration that surprises them. She also describes, briefly, her encounter with the nondescript man, as well as the mental image she picked up from him, which worries Tarot. When they learn the next day that the very bank Mikki visited has been robbed of £40,000, Tarot becomes more convinced that the man she met is involved, and the three set out to investigate. But Mr. Peacock doesn’t want to be investigated, nor does he want to be bothered – and he can overcome even Tarot’s mind to ensure that he’s left alone.

written by P.J. Hammond
directed by John Russell
music by Andrew Bown

Cast: Michael MacKenzie (Tarot), Roy Holder (Chas), Petra Ace Of WandsMarkham (Mikki), Brian Wilde (Mr. Peacock), Dorothy Frere (Mrs. MacFadyean), Jenny McCracken (young Mrs. MacFadyean), and Fred Owl (Ozymandias)

Notes: Chas mentions that Mikki “just has a holiday in Egypt”, a reference to the events of the previous four-part story, The Power Of Atep. A fixture on British TV since the early 1950s, Brian Wilde (1927-2008) has guest starred on such genre fare as The Avengers, Out Of The Unknown, and an episode of Doomwatch that ultimately went unbroadcast; he’s probably best known for playing Foggy in Last Of The Summer Wine. Peter “P.J.” Hammond counts Ace Of Wandsthe (sadly now lost) 1971 Ace Of Wands three-parter Joker as one of his early screenwriting credits; he would also write the script for the series’ final story before resume a “guest writer” career that included the likes of Z Cars, Couples, The Sweeny, Dixon Of Dock Green, Eastenders, Space Island One and Torchwood; he submitted several story outlines (and even some scripts) for the 23rd season of Doctor Who, all of which were left on the cutting room floor (and, later, in the recording studios of audio drama makers Big Finish Productions) when that season was delayed and reworked from the ground up, resulting in The Trial Of A Time Lord. Hammond may be best known for his own creation, the 1979-82 ITV series Sapphire & Steel.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 1 Tomorrow People

Slaves Of Jedikiah – Part 1

Tomorrow PeopleYoung Stephen Jameson walks through London, unaware that two very different groups of people are monitoring him closely. He suffers some sort of attack, crumples to the ground, and is rushed to a hospital. When he wakes up, he meets a young woman named Carol, one of his observers, who tells him that he has experienced his “breaking out” – the moment when he evolved from homo sapiens to homo superior, one of the Tomorrow People, the next stage in human evolution. He has mental powers beyond those of most people, and must learn to control those powers to serve a higher good. Two men dressed as doctors appear, but they’re not doctors – they’re members of the other faction watching Stephen’s progress. He is taken to their master, Jedikiah, who intends to harness Stephen’s powers for less noble purposes.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Brian Finch and Roger Price
directed by Paul Bernard
music by Dudley Simpson

Tomorrow PeopleCast: Sammie Winmill (Carol), Nicholas Young (John), Peter Vaughan-Clarke (Stephen), Stephen Salmon (Kenny), Francis de Wolff (Jedikiah), Michael Standing (Ginge), Derek Crewe (Lefty), Philip Gilbert (TIM), Patricia Denys (Mrs. Jameson), Peter Weston (Policeman), Neville Barber (Dr. Stewart), Christine Shaw (Staff Nurse)

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Classic Season 1 Tomorrow People

Slaves Of Jedikiah – Part 2

Tomorrow PeopleJedikiah and his thugs interrogate Stephen, trying to gauge his emerging powers while learning more about their rivals, the Tomorrow People. Using the telekinetic ability of Jimmy, the youngest Tomorrow Person, Carol and John, the team’s leader, home in on where Stephen is being held, and rescue him from Jedikiah and an entity known only as Cyclops. The return to their top-secret base, built into an abandoned section of the London Underground, introducing Stephen to TIM, the sentient computer whose information helps to guide their efforts. There’s just one problem: Stephen isn’t entirely in control of his actions.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Brian Finch and Roger Price
directed by Paul Bernard
music by Dudley Simpson

Tomorrow PeopleCast: Sammie Winmill (Carol), Nicholas Young (John), Peter Vaughan-Clarke (Stephen), Stephen Salmon (Kenny), Francis de Wolff (Jedikiah), Michael Standing (Ginge), Derek Crewe (Lefty), Philip Gilbert (TIM), Robert Bridges (Cyclops), Patricia Denys (Mrs. Jameson), Peter Weston (Policeman)

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Classic Season 1 Tomorrow People

Slaves Of Jedikiah – Part 3

Tomorrow PeopleCarol and John discover that something has happened to their base: TIM is offline, which means that their longer-distance ability to “jaunt”, or teleport, is not available. When they arrive at their base, they discover that Jedikiah and his minions lie in wait for them; an attempt to jaunt to safety leaves them trapped in hyperspace. Now only Kenny remains to fend off the invasion of the Tomorrow People’s base.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Brian Finch and Roger Price
directed by Paul Bernard
music by Dudley Simpson

Tomorrow PeopleCast: Sammie Winmill (Carol), Nicholas Young (John), Peter Vaughan-Clarke (Stephen), Stephen Salmon (Kenny), Francis de Wolff (Jedikiah), Michael Standing (Ginge), Derek Crewe (Lefty), Philip Gilbert (TIM), Robert Bridges (Cyclops)

Notes: It is revealed that the Tomorrow People have jaunted to other planets and met non-human forms of life, none of which are meant to visit Earth because it is a “closed” planet.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 1 Tomorrow People

Slaves Of Jedikiah – Part 4

Tomorrow PeopleJohn and Carol have regained control of TIM and the base, and free Stephen from the silencing band that soaks up his telepathic ability, but Kenny has been abducted by Jedikiah. Jedikiah sheds his human disguise, revealing himself as a robot controlled by the alien Cyclops. Base at their base, John, Carol and Stephen discover that Cyclops is on a spacecraft, speeding toward Earth, where he expects to take control, somehow using their talents.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Brian Finch and Roger Price
directed by Paul Bernard
music by Dudley Simpson

Tomorrow PeopleCast: Sammie Winmill (Carol), Nicholas Young (John), Peter Vaughan-Clarke (Stephen), Stephen Salmon (Kenny), Francis de Wolff (Jedikiah), Michael Standing (Ginge), Derek Crewe (Lefty), Philip Gilbert (TIM), Robert Bridges (Cyclops)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 1 Tomorrow People

Slaves Of Jedikiah – Part 5

Tomorrow PeopleTIM refuses to go along with the plan to jaunt John, Carol and Stephen into the alien ship at the same time and in the same place, depositing Carol elsewhere on the ship. The damaged Jedikiah robot goes mad and begins blasting its way into other areas of the ship, causing severe damage. Cyclops begs the Tomorrow People for help…but can it be trusted?

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Brian Finch and Roger Price
directed by Paul Bernard
music by Dudley Simpson

Tomorrow PeopleCast: Sammie Winmill (Carol), Nicholas Young (John), Peter Vaughan-Clarke (Stephen), Stephen Salmon (Kenny), Francis de Wolff (Jedikiah), Michael Standing (Ginge), Derek Crewe (Lefty), Philip Gilbert (TIM), Robert Bridges (Cyclops)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 1 Tomorrow People

The Medusa Strain – Part 1

Tomorrow PeopleIn deep space, Jedikiah floats through eternity for 500 years until rescued by the flamboyant captain of a passing spaceship, who supplies him with enough power to change his shape again. On the ship, a young boy is being held, a youth whose unique abilities are not unlike those of the Tomorrow People already encountered by Jedikiah, but he is kept from using those powers by the threat of a brain-sapping Medusa creature being unleashed upon him. Jedikiah, obsessed with revenge upon the Tomorrow People, harnesses the boy’s gift for time travel. On Earth, time stops.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Brian Finch and Roger Price
directed by Roger Price
music by Dudley Simpson

Tomorrow PeopleCast: Sammie Winmill (Carol), Nicholas Young (John), Peter Vaughan-Clarke (Stephen), Stephen Salmon (Kenny), Roger Bizley (Jedikiah), Michael Standing (Ginge), Philip Gilbert (TIM), Roger Booth (Robowski), Richard Speight (Peter), Dave Prowse (Android), Norman McGlen (The Medusa)

Tomorrow PeopleNotes: Yes, that’s future Darth Vader David Prowse, as you’ve never seen him before, nearly in the buff and painted gold as Robowski’s android servant. Both before and after his work on Star Wars, Prowse was a mainstay of British sci-fi monster suits, with appearances in Doctor Who, Space: 1999, and The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 1 Tomorrow People

The Medusa Strain – Part 4

Tomorrow PeopleJedikiah is so obsessed with destroying the Tomorrow People that he turns against his allies. Despite this, he nearly succeeds in neutralizing their power. Only Carol and Peter can save their own kind (with some help from Ginge), and their best hope is to use Jedikiah’s newfound fixation of time travel against him.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Brian Finch and Roger Price
directed by Roger Price
music by Dudley Simpson

Tomorrow PeopleCast: Sammie Winmill (Carol), Nicholas Young (John), Peter Vaughan-Clarke (Stephen), Stephen Salmon (Kenny), Roger Bizley (Jedikiah), Michael Standing (Ginge), Philip Gilbert (TIM), Roger Booth (Robowski), Richard Speight (Peter), Dave Prowse (Android), Norman McGlen (The Medusa)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 1 Tomorrow People

The Vanishing Earth – Part 1

Tomorrow PeopleSevere storms and violent volcanic eruptions are increasing in frequency the world over; John decides that it’s up to the Tomorrow People to do something about it…but even John admits that it may be far beyond their powers. At a seaside amusement arcade, Ginge finds a pleasant distraction in the person of a young woman named Joy, and then finds himself in a metallic world populated by robots…and by something of a decidedly more organic nature called Spidron.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Brian Finch and Roger Price
directed by Paul Bernard
music by Dudley Simpson

Tomorrow PeopleCast: Sammie Winmill (Carol), Nicholas Young (John), Peter Vaughan-Clarke (Stephen), Stephen Salmon (Kenny), Kenneth Farrington (Smithers), Michael Standing (Ginge), Derek Crewe (Lefty), Philip Gilbert (TIM), Kevin Stoney (Steen), John Woodnutt (Spidron), Nova Llewellyn (Joy), David Weston (No. 300), Bara Chambers (Control voice)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 1 Tomorrow People

The Vanishing Earth – Part 2

Tomorrow PeopleLefty returns to the Tomorrow People’s base to report Ginge’s disappearance, and Stephen returns with him to look for Ginge. Carol and John are still preoccupied with studying the outbreak of storms and volcanic eruptions, but when they return to their base, TIM tells them not only of Stephen’s mission, but that it may represent an immediate danger to Stephen. When Stephen and Lefty enter the same haunted house in which Ginge vanished, only Lefty emerges; Stephen is dumped at sea and retrieved by an older man who has been watching all of this activity. Carol and John try to stop him from taking Stephen…only to watch him disappear.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Brian Finch and Roger Price
directed by Paul Bernard
music by Dudley Simpson

Tomorrow PeopleCast: Sammie Winmill (Carol), Nicholas Young (John), Peter Vaughan-Clarke (Stephen), Stephen Salmon (Kenny), Kenneth Farrington (Smithers), Michael Standing (Ginge), Derek Crewe (Lefty), Philip Gilbert (TIM), Kevin Stoney (Steen), John Woodnutt (Spidron), Nova Llewellyn (Joy), David Weston (No. 300), Bara Chambers (Control voice)

Notes: We find out that Ginge’s given name is Ginger Hardy.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Classic Season 1 Tomorrow People

The Vanishing Earth – Part 4

Tomorrow PeopleSpidron and Steen confront each other, though Spidron seems to make a quick getaway – if, indeed, he was ever there and not appearing in holographic form. John and the Tomorrow People ask Steen, a law enforcement officer for a galactic federation, for help in either saving Earth or evacuating some of its people to another suitable planet. Steen reveals that, with Earth’s primitive state of development, it’s not an important enough planet to merit such extraordinary measures. John, Carol and the others take it upon themselves to prove otherwise by trying to stop Spidron with all of the powers at their disposal.

Download this episode via Amazonwritten by Brian Finch and Roger Price
directed by Paul Bernard
music by Dudley Simpson

Tomorrow PeopleCast: Sammie Winmill (Carol), Nicholas Young (John), Peter Vaughan-Clarke (Stephen), Stephen Salmon (Kenny), Kenneth Farrington (Smithers), Michael Standing (Ginge), Derek Crewe (Lefty), Philip Gilbert (TIM), Kevin Stoney (Steen), John Woodnutt (Spidron), Nova Llewellyn (Joy)

Tomorrow PeopleNotes: This is the final appearance of either Carol or Kenny in the series; both actors elected to move on after the first season was produced, leaving no time for a formal farewell scene to be written. The first episode of the second season would provide an explanation for their departure while introducing new cast members.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Orson Welles' Great Mysteries

Unseen Alibi

Orson Welles' Great MysteriesInvited to London by a fashion model he only just met, American bachelor Jerry arrives at the appointed place, at the appointed time, opens the door of her apartment, and walks in. He a framed photo of a man, and then stumbles upon the corpse of the man in that photo, dead of a stab wound. In his panic, Jerry accidentally finds the murder weapon nearby, leaving his fingerprints on it. He panics and runs, only to be arrested by police waiting just outside the door of the apartment. Jerry is now the prime suspect in a murder, though he can produce no evidence or witnesses to exonerate himself. What he doesn’t know is that he’s walked innocently into an elaborate crime to be the decoy for the real killers.

Orson Welles' Great Mysteriesteleplay by Kenneth Jupp
based on a story by Bruce Graeme
directed by Mark Cullingham
theme music by John Barry

Cast: Dean Stockwell (Jerry Norton), Joss Ackland (Inspector Hud), Lewis Wilson (Police Sergeant), Raymond Skipp (Police Constable), James Ottaway (Hotel Porter), Gary Myers (Burford), Orson Welles (Narrator)

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Robert's Robots Season 1

Follow That Robot

Robert's RobotsEccentric inventor Robert Sommerby designs and builds robots – some of them smarter than others – and this has brought him to the attention of the government, as well as earning some research grant money from them as well. Mr. Fosdyke, a visitor from the Ministry of Technology, pays Robert a visit, meets the hulking but none-too-smart robot Katie, and is stunned to learn that Robert’s robots are being programmed to experience emotions. Fosdyke wants Robert’s research to remain top secret.

That doesn’t matter to Mr. Gimble, the private investigator sitting outside Robert’s lab. His employer, the mysterious and heavily-accented Mr. Marken, has ties to international electronics companies who will pay handsomely for Robert’s research – without actually paying Robert, of course. Gimble climbs over the fence and breaks into the lab, hurriedly donning a lab coat when he hears someone coming. His visitor is none other than Mr. Fosdyke…who has been told to go meet the robot wearing a lab coat with an “R” on the back. But how long will he follow Gimble around in the belief that Gimble is a robot?

Robert's Robotswritten by Bob Block
directed by Vic Hughes
music not credited

Cast: John Clive (Robert Sommerby), Brian Coburn (Katie), Nigel Pegram (Eric), Doris Rogers (Aunt Millie), Richard Davies (Gimble), Leon Lissek (Marken), Robert Dorning (Fosdyke), Dudley Jones (Doctor Randell), Larry Noble (Man), Janet Burnell (Woman)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Orson Welles' Great Mysteries

The Ingenious Reporter

Orson Welles' Great MysteriesHarry Langley, an ambitious American reporter working in Paris, learns of an unsolved murder and hatches a scheme to pose as the murderer to get himself arrested, and to then send his employer “exclusive interviews” with the prime suspect in the case…at least until he is released for a lack of any actual evidence. By hanging out near the scene of the crime, making suspicious comments, Langley attracts police attention soon enough, especially when he throws a suitcase of “incriminating evidence” into the nearby river. His resolve to get the big story cracks when he is told that his Parisian girlfriend was the victim; suddenly, despite his innocence, Langley looks like the guiltiest man in the world.

Orson Welles' Great Mysteriesteleplay by Carey Harrison
based on a story by Pontsevrez
directed by Peter Sasdy
theme music by John Barry

Cast: David Birney (Harry Langley), Geoffrey Bayldon (Magistrate), James Maxwell (Duperrey), Ronald Radd (Leduc), Anthony Ainley (Lafarge), John Cater (Martell), Orson Welles' Great MysteriesJames Mellor (Bucheron), Neil Wilson (Concierge), Peter Madden (Judge), Pam St. Clement (First Woman), Eamonn Boyce (First Man), Mia Nardi (Henriette)

Notes: Fresh from a recent stint as the star of the spy series Spyder’s Web, actor Anthony Ainley appears here in the courtroom scenes. Throughout the 1980s, Ainley would take on the role of the Master in Doctor Who.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

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Robert's Robots Season 1

Love At First Light

Robert's RobotsRobert takes Eric to the local ice skating rink to test the robot’s ability to function gracefully in cold temperatures, while Aunt Millie is dismayed that Robert’s other robot, Katie, has fallen in love with her stove, even going so far as to remove it from her house. As is often the case, Mr. Gimble is watching from nearby, and decides to lure Katie away by loading the stove into a truck and driving off with it. Katie follows, but then gets lost along the way – so Gimble doesn’t have him, but he’s also not in the safety of Robert’s lab. Love is also on Robert’s mind as he gets ready to propose to his girlfriend, but she doesn’t know the true nature of the work he does, so the robotic mishaps that begin happening around her are something Robert can’t explain without endangering his government funding.

Robert's Robotswritten by Bob Block
directed by Vic Hughes
music not credited

Cast: John Clive (Robert Sommerby), Brian Coburn (Katie), Nigel Pegram (Eric), Doris Rogers (Aunt Millie), Jenny Hanley (Angie), Richard Davies (Gimble), Leon Lissek (Marken), Ian Gray (Policeman), Edward Phillips (Man at door)

LogBook entry by Earl Green