Freewheelers

As far as I know, this show was never repeated on UK television after its original run in the late '60s / early '70s, and most episodes are now sadly "missing presumed wiped".

Series 6 from 1971 however still exists in its entirety, and I recently got the chance to watch it all, the best part of 4 decades on.

After rushing home from school, Freewheelers was essential viewing for me and many of my contemporaries back in those halcyon days of flared trousers, Slade and Chicory Tip. And watching it again brought a nostalgic lump to the throat.

Never mind the bad / hammy acting, the unintentionally amusing fight scenes, plot holes wide enough to pilot a large ocean-going yacht through and the "frightfully, frightfully" RADA accents of the lead players.

No - forget all that. Because Freewheelers harks back to a bygone (dare I say "golden") age of kids' TV drama, when the shows were simply about rip-roaring fun and didn't take themselves so seriously. Before they became obsessed with all the angst-laden "ishoos" that today's screenwriters have their young protagonists fret over, such as relationships, pregnancy, drugs, STIs etc.

No doubt if it were "remade for a modern audience" in these days of all-pervasive political correctness, the boss figure would be a black female, one of the young male heroes would be a Muslim, the other would be a white lad confused about his sexuality and the girl would be an all-action go-getter with an IQ off the scale, who'd be forever getting the lads out of scrapes and making them look foolish - in other words a million miles removed from Wendy Padbury's deferential, ankle-spraining washer-upper.

It's a show that's very much "of its time". But is that a bad thing? I for one don't think so.

The freewheelers were a group of three young (late teens/early twenties) agents who worked for British Intelligence. Their boss was the eye-patch wearing Colonel Buchan, who assigned them onto various adventures around Britain. Each adventure story would last several weeks, and at the end of each episode one of the team would find themselves in some terrible danger, only to be promptly rescued (Dick Barton style) at the beginning of the next episode. The series was aimed at 9 - 13 year old's, and was very popular in that age group at the time.

Production of all episodes of this series took place in Solent Water, near Southampton, and was made possible by the use of MV Southerner, Southern Television's own outside broadcast vessel, with three cameras, mixer, video recorder, etc. In many episodes the boat also appeared as the baddies' ship. Production of all episodes of this series took place in Solent Water, near Southampton, and was made possible by the use of MV Southerner, Southern Television's own outside broadcast vessel, with three cameras, mixer, video recorder, etc. In many episodes the boat also appeared as the baddies' ship. Production of all episodes of this series took place in Solent Water, near Southampton, and was made possible by the use of MV Southerner, Southern Television's own outside broadcast vessel, with three cameras, mixer, video recorder, etc. In many episodes the boat also appeared as the baddies' ship.

The Freewheelers, that certainly brings back memories! I have not seen the show since it was canceled nearly 30 years ago so I might be disappointed if I was to see it again. This show was consistent with the times as Enid Blyton and "boy's own" adventure story books were popular in those days. Today most kid's shows are about drugs, teenage pregnancies, problems with dopey or abusive parents and whose making out with who (for the British reader" who fancies who") I can't remember the theme song for the show although I do remember Holtz's haunting classical piece "Mars, the bringer of war "which was often played either during a tense moment or else when an episode was coming to a climax. I also remember the evil Von Gelb who lived on what can best be described as a World war II E-boat, (the mounted gun turret was a dead give-away) which looking back must have given the harbor master cause for concern. Nobody who remembers the Freewheelers can for get the infamous rouges Ryan and Burke,who had the limp wrist-ed 'karate-chop' on the back of the neck down to a fine art. Even as an eight year old I was often surprised at how these two clowns were able to get the better of people, because by today's standard these two looked as hard as Laurel and Hardy.

During it's run the team changed over the years, (presumably the rotation was due to the fact that that some of the freewheelers eventually passed their A-levels and went to University, although how they had time to study is any bodies guess, wish I could have devoted so little time) which I think added to it's interest. Never the less despite some flaws the freewheelers 5-year run reflected how popular this show was for the 8-14 year olds ( and perhaps older) during the late 60's and early 70's and I looked forward to watching it during the children's hour in the early evening.