Spyder's Web

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Spyder's Web
Spyder's Web.jpg
Starring Patricia Cutts
Anthony Ainley
Veronica Carlson
Roger Lloyd-Pack
Peter Sallis [1]
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes13
Production
Running time50 minutes
Production company ATV
Original release
Network ITV
Release21 January (1972-01-21) 
14 April 1972 (1972-04-14)

Spyder's Web was a British crime drama television series produced by ATV for ITV and broadcast in 1972. [2] It starred Anthony Ainley as Clive Hawksworth and Patricia Cutts as Charlotte "Lottie" Dean as two secret agents working for the mysterious Spyder organisation in the interests of the British government.

Contents

Overview

In common with many other such series of the time, Spyder's Web adopted an ironic approach to its subject matter. The Spyder organisation used as its cover a down-at-heel film company, Arachnid Films, and only Dean and Hawksworth were in on the secret; the company's other employees, Wallis Ackroyd and Albert Mason, believed the cover to be genuine. Indeed, Dean claimed to have won awards for her documentaries. Hawksworth, the "action man," was a knowing caricature of the steely-eyed, jutting-jawed heroes of former times, and was alleged to have been "steeped in Bulldog Drummond from an early age." (His response: "We were just good friends.") Five of the thirteen episodes were written by Roy Clarke, who created Last of the Summer Wine . The programme ran for just one series.

Home media

The series was released on DVD by Network in 2011; eleven of the episodes do not survive in colour [3] - only episodes 7 and 9 of the release were presented as colour episodes.

Cast

Episode list

Episode no.TitleFirst transmission (UK)DirectorWriter
1"Spyder Secures a Main Strand"21 January 1972 Dennis Vance Roy Clarke
2"The Executioners"28 January 1972James Gatward Alfred Shaughnessy
3"Romance on Wheels"4 February 1972James GatwardRoy Clarke
4"The Hafiz Affair"11 February 1972Dorothy DenhamRoy Clarke
5"Life at a Price"18 February 1972Dennis VanceFrank Driscoll
6"Emergency Exit"25 February 1972David Wickes David Ellis
7"Red Admiral"3 March 1972John Cooper Alan Hackney
8"Lies and Dolls"10 March 1972Dennis VanceAlfred Shaughnessy
9"Things That Go Bang in the Night"17 March 1972Ian FordyceMarc Brandel
10"An Almost Modern Man"24 March 1972Dennis VanceRoy Clarke
11"Nobody's Strawberry Fool"31 March 1972John Cooper Robert Holmes
12"The Prevalence of Skeletons"7 April 1972Ian FordyceMarc Brandel
13"Rev Counter"14 April 1972Dorothy DenhamRoy Clarke

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References

  1. "Spyder's Web (1972)".
  2. Tise Vahimagi, British Film Institute, ed. (1994). British television: an illustrated guide. Oxford University Press. p. 208. ISBN   978-0-19-818336-5.
  3. "These Programmes, Which We Think are Missing or Somehow Incomplete, Matched Your Search: Spyder's Web". tv-brain. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  4. "Spyder's Web (1972)".