As compared to Columbo or the Love Boat (or even Sesame Street for that matter, Big Bird did go to China), the Ironside series did not usually send the cast to exotic locations when they had a plot located outside of San Francisco. The Universal set dressers must have sighed heavily when they got the notice that they needed Japanese or, in this case, London streets! But they do a good job,actually. London buses, phone boxes, bobbies, they're all there! As for the British accents of the actors, well, they're spotty.
The spottiest is actually the protoganist, Lloyd Bochner. He had such a mellifluous voice I guess the producers thought anyone that sounds that intelligent and suave must be foreign!
If you think the plot is a little far-fetched - a sleeper Russian agent who rises to the top ranks of Scotland Yard - well it's not at all! Britain was rife during this era with Soviet spies who got insanely close to leading MI5, their version of the CIA.
There's also an allusion to the Irish IRA as a terrorist threat, but they don't say it specifically.
So a fun episode with the "setting" in London, getting to see fun Universal sets, Ironside involved in some cloak and dagger stuff. I would say much better than when Columbo goes to London and they make him out to be pretty daft!
Some fun character actors in this one. We start with Bochner. Actually from Canada, so that passes for British, right? Look him up on IMDB and seriously, it looks like he was every single TV show made in the 1960's and 1970's. Wow. Most famously he had the lead in the classic Twilight Zone episode, "To Serve Man." He was was really good in the Thriller episode, "Prisoner in the Mirror," where his body is taken over by a psychopath.
One of my all time favorite actors is in this, Donald Moffat. Ironically he was actually British, but he sounds pretty American here as the killer. He was truly memorable as Garry in the 1982 classic film, "The Thing." The Ironside/Star Trek connection is stronger than Spock's nerve pinch in this one. Stefan Gierasch, "Muller," was in Star Trek the Next Generation. But the big link is with Michael Bell, an actor and voice actor who looks to have voiced every animated series, well, ever! He voiced Star Trek video games in the 1990's and also appeared in the STNG pilot. Also, get this: He was the voice of Zan and Gleek the Monkey in the Superfriends animated series! All hail Michael Bell.
The spottiest is actually the protoganist, Lloyd Bochner. He had such a mellifluous voice I guess the producers thought anyone that sounds that intelligent and suave must be foreign!
If you think the plot is a little far-fetched - a sleeper Russian agent who rises to the top ranks of Scotland Yard - well it's not at all! Britain was rife during this era with Soviet spies who got insanely close to leading MI5, their version of the CIA.
There's also an allusion to the Irish IRA as a terrorist threat, but they don't say it specifically.
So a fun episode with the "setting" in London, getting to see fun Universal sets, Ironside involved in some cloak and dagger stuff. I would say much better than when Columbo goes to London and they make him out to be pretty daft!
Some fun character actors in this one. We start with Bochner. Actually from Canada, so that passes for British, right? Look him up on IMDB and seriously, it looks like he was every single TV show made in the 1960's and 1970's. Wow. Most famously he had the lead in the classic Twilight Zone episode, "To Serve Man." He was was really good in the Thriller episode, "Prisoner in the Mirror," where his body is taken over by a psychopath.
One of my all time favorite actors is in this, Donald Moffat. Ironically he was actually British, but he sounds pretty American here as the killer. He was truly memorable as Garry in the 1982 classic film, "The Thing." The Ironside/Star Trek connection is stronger than Spock's nerve pinch in this one. Stefan Gierasch, "Muller," was in Star Trek the Next Generation. But the big link is with Michael Bell, an actor and voice actor who looks to have voiced every animated series, well, ever! He voiced Star Trek video games in the 1990's and also appeared in the STNG pilot. Also, get this: He was the voice of Zan and Gleek the Monkey in the Superfriends animated series! All hail Michael Bell.
