Own the rights?
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
Created by Tim Heald, Simon Bognor was an agent of a special investigations department of the Board Of Trade. If a newspaper editor was murdered or some bounders tried to kill a champion poodle or steal the formula for a new type of honey, Bognor was, despite being a bit dim, the man to sort it out. The poor man's 007, you might say. He was happily married to the lovely Monica, though occasionally pretty women threw themselves his way. His boss was the gruff Parkinson. In 1981, Thames T.V. turned 'Bognor' into a twice-weekly series, starring David Horovitch. Three books formed the basis for the show's first ( and only ) run - 'Unbecoming Habits', 'Deadline', and 'Let Sleeping Dogs Die'. A 'T.V. Times' cover at the time showed Bognor in the distinguished company of John Steed, Callan, Simon Templar and Dick Barton. As it turned out, he was lucky to find himself mentioned in the same breath as Inspector Clouseau. Critics and public alike hated 'Bognor' with a vengeance. In spite of scripts by reliable word smiths such as T.R. Bowen, the show failed to capture the books' satirical tone, while Horovitch's deadpan performance won him few fans. Rare acclaim came from a 'News Of The World' reader after an episode aired in which Simon was seen sporting a busted lip following a bruising encounter with thugs. In an era when television heroes were lucky to get a hair out of place, it was a most unusual sight indeed.Despite guest appearances from thespians such as Robin Bailey, Peter Jeffrey and Patrick Troughton, viewers did not give a tinker's cuss whodunnit. I.T.V. yanked 'Bognor' from prime-time, dumping the remaining six episodes in a graveyard slot. Horovitch later played 'Detective Inspector Slack' in the B.B.C. 'Miss Marple' series starring Joan Hickson. It would be nice to see 'Bognor' again, if only for that 'Avengers'-style title sequence - a catchy electronic tune by Mike Steer accompanied moving targets ( on which Bognor can be seen ) at a fun-fair rifle range. These images were later reproduced on the covers of the Arrow tie-in paperbacks.
You may report errors and omissions on this page to the IMDb database managers. They will be examined and if approved will be included in a future update. Clicking the 'Update' button will take you through a step-by-step process.
You may add a new episode for this TV series by clicking the 'add episode' button
