Villains 

An anthology series of dramas looking at the criminal classes.

Creator:

Andrew Brown

Stars:

David Daker, William Marlowe, Tom Adams

Cast

Series cast summary:
David Daker	...	George 6 episodes, 1972
William Marlowe	...	Bill Whittaker 5 episodes, 1972
Tom Adams	...	Bernie Owens 3 episodes, 1972
Martin Shaw	...	Monty Parkin 3 episodes, 1972
Jim Norton	...	'Smudger' Smedley / ... 3 episodes, 1972
Hilary Heath	...	Franca 3 episodes, 1972
Alun Armstrong	...	Terence 'Tel' Bolden 3 episodes, 1972
Michael Culver	...	Glazebrook / ... 3 episodes, 1972
Patrick Durkin	...	Mike Smith 3 episodes, 1972
Bob Hoskins	...	Charles 'Knocker' Grindley / ... 3 episodes, 1972
Mary Healey	...	Jenny 3 episodes, 1972
A.J. Brown	...	Judge / ... 3 episodes, 1972
Bryan Marshall	...	Arnold Hepton 2 episodes, 1972
Gwyneth Powell	...	Belinda / ... 2 episodes, 1972
Paul Eddington	...	Harvey Percival 2 episodes, 1972
David Waterman	...	Man / ... 2 episodes, 1972
Santiago Varela	...	Policeman / ... 2 episodes, 1972

Storyline

An anthology series of dramas looking at the criminal classes.

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 July 1972 (UK)

Also Known As:

Voortvluchtig

Company Credits

Production Co:

London Weekend Television (LWT)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min (13 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

Quite effective but has a clumsy narrative.

"Villains" has some good episodes out of the 13 that were made but the rather clumsy narrative lets it down slightly. The trouble is, is that whilst one episode focuses upon the escape of one particular convict after all of them break out from the prison van, I kept wondering how the other convicts were coping with being on the run. It might have been a better series if the main characters had stuck together after they had escaped. The flashback part that shows the gang carry out the robbery was quite good if a bit repetitive. That also applies to always seeing the same bit where all the convicts are on the prison van, just before the breakout. The best episodes in my opinion, are the ones with David Daker, William Marlowe, Alun Armstrong and Martin Shaw. That totals about 7 that are worth watching. The series suffers from becoming a bit too grim and depressing at times. It is interesting to note that most of the episodes from "Villains" were shot on video for the studio scenes but one instalment was made entirely on film. In which case, why not make the whole series on film? Not a bad series but it could have been much better.