Counterstrike (1969 TV series)

Last updated

Counterstrike
Genre Science fiction
Starring Jon Finch
Sarah Brackett
Katie Fitzroy
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes10 (1 unaired; 6 missing)
Production
Running time50 minutes
Original release
Network BBC
Release8 September 1969 (1969-09-08)

Counterstrike is a British science fiction television series produced by the BBC in 1969. It starred Jon Finch as an alien living on Earth posing as a journalist named Simon King. As King, he attempts to prevent an alien invasion.

Contents

Star Jon Finch called it "a big disappointment... a good cast but poor scripts." [1]

The series

Counterstrike was originally proposed to the BBC in 1966 and a theme tune and effects were produced, but the project was shelved due to the airing of the US import series The Invaders on ITV, which had a similar premise. [2] [ better source needed ]

It lasted for one series of ten episodes, of which nine episodes were actually transmitted. "Out of Mind", the sixth episode, was cancelled on the night it was due to be shown and was replaced by a documentary on the Kray brothers who, on the same day, had been refused leave to appeal against their prison sentences. "Out of Mind" was, for unknown reasons, never rescheduled; it remained unscreened and was subsequently wiped from the BBC Archives, thus making it one of the rarest pieces of British science-fiction television.

"King's Gambit", "Joker One", "On Ice" and "Nocturne" still exist in the BBC Archives as 16mm black and white film telerecordings, while the remaining five transmitted instalments "Monolith", "The Lemming Syndrome", "Backlash", "All That Glisters" and "The Mutant" are listed as missing by the Lost Shows website. [3]

Episodes

Episode descriptions are from the Radio Times [4]

King's Gambit (8 September 1969)

Two apparently respectable businessmen, running an electronics factory, are investigated by a journalist called Simon King. The businessmen turn out to be far from respectable and the journalist, they discover, is not a journalist. Who is Simon King—or rather, what is he?

Joker One (15 September 1969)

Every war has a flash-point, a fuse, a detonator—something, however small, that triggers it off. In 1914 it was an assassin's bullet at Sarajevo. What could trigger off an atomic war today? The Centaurans think they have the answer. And Simon, of all people, appears to be helping them...

On Ice (22 September 1969)

Three scientists are mysteriously lost on a sledging party that set out from a polar research station.

Nocturne (29 September 1969)

The madman lives in a No-Man's-Land a borderline between fantasy and reality... where the real becomes unreal, the unreal real—and life itself a waking nightmare. Simon finds himself living in such a nightmare. Has he gone mad or is he merely suffering from temporary delusions? Above all, why should he want to kill a perfect stranger?

Monolith (6 October 1969)

Sir Charles Munday is the richest man in the world. Might there be a Centauran plan to murder him?

Out of Mind (unaired; scheduled for 13 October 1969)

Mary, visiting a village where she stayed as a child, finds that the woman who used to look after her, Hannah Webley, is now regarded as a witch by the superstitious villagers and Mary herself is soon caught up in the ensuing witch hunt.

The Lemming Syndrome (20 October 1969)

A hundred and forty-three people in one small seaside town commit suicide by drowning. Or were they under some strange and alien influence? Simon decides they probably were ...

Backlash (27 October 1969)

In a period of student riots, strong calls for a return to ' law and order' are made by General Falcon, a blood-and-guts commander of the Korean war. Suddenly he starts to emerge as an important political figure capable of swaying public and government opinion during an international crisis. Such a man, Simon King decides, is dangerous.

All That Glisters (3 November 1969)

When adults start acting childishly it is no surprise to Simon. By his standards most people are childish. But when they start acting childishly even by their own standards—when a grown man plays hopscotch and another falls off a rocking horse—then something is wrong. But can there be any connection between childish behaviour and the Centauran plan to take over the earth? It seems unlikely—but Centauran plans frequently do. Until they start to work...

The Mutant (10 November 1969)

A deadly new germ gets loose at a biological warfare laboratory. Can an antidote be found before the germ spreads into a killer plague?

Cast

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street</span> 22nd episode of the 1st season of The Twilight Zone

"The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" is the 22nd episode in the first season of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. The episode was written by Rod Serling, the creator-narrator of the series. It originally aired on March 4, 1960, on CBS. In 2009, TIME named it one of the ten best Twilight Zone episodes.

<i>BBC Television Shakespeare</i> Series of British TV adaptations of the plays of Shakespeare

The BBC Television Shakespeare is a series of British television adaptations of the plays of William Shakespeare, created by Cedric Messina and broadcast by BBC Television. Transmitted in the UK from 3 December 1978 to 27 April 1985, the series spanned seven seasons and thirty-seven episodes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Favreau</span> American filmmaker and actor (born 1966)

Jonathan Kolia Favreau is an American filmmaker and actor. As an actor, Favreau has appeared in films such as Rudy (1993), PCU (1994), Swingers (1996), Very Bad Things (1998), Deep Impact (1998), The Replacements (2000), Daredevil (2003), The Break-Up (2006), Four Christmases (2008), Couples Retreat (2009), I Love You, Man (2009), People Like Us (2012), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Chef (2014), and several films created by Marvel Studios.

<i>Invasion of the Dinosaurs</i> 1974 Doctor Who television serial

Invasion of the Dinosaurs, simply titled Invasion in Part One, is the second serial of the 11th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 12 January to 16 February 1974.

<i>Macbeth</i> (1971 film) 1971 film by Roman Polanski

Macbeth is a 1971 historical drama film directed by Roman Polanski, and co-written by Polanski and Kenneth Tynan. A film adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name, it tells the story of the Highland lord who becomes King of Scotland through treachery and murder. Jon Finch and Francesca Annis star as the title character and his wife, noted for their relative youth as actors. Themes of historic recurrence, greater pessimism and internal ugliness in physically beautiful characters are added to Shakespeare's story of moral decline, which is presented in a more realistic style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yaphet Kotto</span> American actor (1939–2021)

Yaphet Frederick Kotto was an American actor for film and television. He starred in the NBC television series Homicide: Life on the Street (1993–1999) as Lieutenant Al Giardello. His films include the science-fiction horror film Alien (1979), the science-fiction action film The Running Man (1987), the James Bond film Live and Let Die (1973), in which he portrayed the main villain Dr. Kananga, and the action comedy Midnight Run (1988) opposite Robert De Niro.

The War Games is the seventh and final serial of the sixth season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in ten weekly parts from 19 April to 21 June 1969.

<i>Quatermass and the Pit</i> British television serial

Quatermass and the Pit is a British television science-fiction serial transmitted live by BBC Television in December 1958 and January 1959. It was the third and last of the BBC's Quatermass serials, although the chief character, Professor Bernard Quatermass, reappeared in a 1979 ITV production called Quatermass. Like its predecessors, Quatermass and the Pit was written by Nigel Kneale.

Image of the Fendahl is the third serial of the 15th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 29 October to 19 November 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slitheen</span> Alien species from the Doctor Who franchise

The Slitheen are a fictional family of massive, bipedal extraterrestrials from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. They are adversaries of the Ninth Doctor and later Sarah Jane Smith. The Slitheen are a family of egg-laying calcium-based aliens from Raxacoricofallapatorius. Though their family name is Slitheen, their species are named Raxacoricofallapatorians. The Slitheen are instinctive hunters who are trained from a young age to be ruthless criminals whose main motivation is profit. They were convicted on their home world, not willing to return to their planet in fear of receiving a death sentence.

<i>The Celestial Toymaker</i> 1966 Doctor Who serial

The Celestial Toymaker is the mostly missing seventh serial of the third season in the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 2 to 23 April 1966.

"School Reunion" is the third episode in the second series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It first aired on BBC One on 29 April 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon MacCorkindale</span> British actor (1952–2010)

Simon Charles Pendered MacCorkindale was a British actor, film director, writer, and producer. He spent much of his childhood moving around owing to his father's career as an officer with the Royal Air Force. Poor eyesight prevented him from following a similar career in the RAF, so he instead planned to become a theatre director. Training at Studio 68 of Theatre Arts in London, he started work as an actor, making his West End debut in 1974. He went on to appear in numerous roles in television, including the series I, Claudius and Jesus of Nazareth, before starring as Simon Doyle in the film Death on the Nile (1978). This proved to be a breakthrough role and allowed him to move to the United States. He appeared in a variety of films and TV series including Quatermass (1979), The Riddle of the Sands (1979), The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982) and Jaws 3-D (1983).

<i>The Paradise of Death</i> 1993 Doctor Who radio play

The Paradise of Death is a 5-part BBC radio drama, based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who, and starring Jon Pertwee as the Doctor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Finch</span> English actor

John Nicholas Finch was an English stage and film actor who became well known for his Shakespearean roles. Most notably, he starred in films for directors Roman Polanski and Alfred Hitchcock.

"The Runaway Bride" is a special episode of the long-running British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor. It was produced as the Doctor Who Christmas special for 2006, broadcast on 25 December, and aired between the second and third series of the relaunched show.

"Ghost Machine" is the third episode of the first series of the British science fiction television series Torchwood, which was broadcast on the digital television channel BBC Three on 29 October 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nightmare in Silver</span> 2013 Doctor Who episode

"Nightmare in Silver" is the twelfth and penultimate episode of the seventh series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and was first broadcast on BBC One on 11 May 2013. It was written by Neil Gaiman and directed by Stephen Woolfenden.

The Spread of the Eagle is a nine-part serial adaptation of three sequential history plays of William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, and Antony and Cleopatra, produced by the BBC in 1963. It was inspired by the success of An Age of Kings (1960), which it was unable to rival. The episodes also aired in West Germany in 1968-69 and in 1972.

"The Witchfinders" is the eighth episode of the eleventh series of the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. It was written by Joy Wilkinson and directed by Sallie Aprahamian, and was first broadcast on BBC One on 25 November 2018.

References

  1. Nisse, Neville (25 November 1971). "Young man going places fast". Grimsby Evening Telegraph. p. 11.
  2. Counterstrike on the WikiDelia.
  3. Counterstrike Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine , Lostshows.com.
  4. BBC Radio Times online archive search, accessed 25 August 2015