As a small boy, I loved the Francis Durbridge TV series which were stand-alone mysteries. I preferred them to the Paul Temple shows which weren't based on Durbridge's original material. One series that sticks in my mind, but which I've never been able to track down is A Man Called Harry Brent. This has now surfaced on YouTube and I've devoured it with enthusiasm.
The set-up is terrific. The eponymous Harry (Edward Brayshaw, an Australian actor) takes a train trip to see his fiancee Carol (Jennifer Daniel). A fellow passenger is a woman who is carrying a bunch of flowers. Harry meets Carol, who is a secretary, and her boss Tom Fielding. Carol is leaving her job to marry Harry, and Fielding is interviewing potential replacements (one is described as having a 'big bust', a line that you wouldn't find in a script today). The latest candidate is the woman from the train. But she has come to shoot Fielding. And it turns out that she'd previously laid those flowers on the grave of Harry's parents.
A dramatic start, to put it mildly. DI Alan Milton investigates the shooting. He is Carol's ex - their relationship broke down because he is a workaholic. He is played, with considerable aplomb, by Gerald Harper, who was a very successful actor at the time (he later took the lead in Adam Adamant!), and is still alive. He soon finds out that Harry's account of events doesn't add up. What is Mr Brent up to?
Brayshaw's performance is rather wooden, it must be said, but there are some very reliable names in the supporting cast, including the estimable Judy Parfitt as a mysterious actress, John Horsley as a sinister caretaker, and Brian Wilde as an enigmatic chap with an equally enigmatic wife. The cliff-hangers that end each episode are brilliantly done. This is a six-part series with barely a wasted word - quite a contrast to so many modern offerings. And each episode is only 25 minutes long. Great nostalgic viewing.
Ah, those cliffhangers! They were utterly perfect, and were probably what gave me my taste for crime fiction, looking back. A Francis Durbridge thriller every year was part of my growing up, and I especially remember Melissa and the suave Tim Frazer, as well as Harry Brent. Edward Brayshaw appeared in a lot of TV dramas of the late Fifties/early Sixties, and was a wooden actor in everything. BUT he had the over sculptured Brylcreem Man look so popular at the time. Paul Temple was a huge later TV hit, but was similarly strangely miscast, but I do recall how daring it seemed to have a female and very feminine heroine called Steve - notably Dinah Sheridan from the early films, but on TV, Roz Drinkwater. Harry Brent was later turned into a novel, and an especial fun fact is that the popular Paul Temple of the Fifties, Peter Coke, gathered his own shell museum, which after his death has become a Shell Gallery by the seaside at Sheringham in Norfolk, and remains a popular tourist attraction.
ReplyDeleteNow that really is a fun fact, Liz!! I didn't see the original Melissa or Tim Frazer. Harry Brent may have been my first encounter with Durbridge. It was certainly a good one!
ReplyDeleteI have just watched the first episode. Great stuff!
ReplyDeleteYes, they don't write them like that any more! And if they do, they don't televise them in the same way...
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for bringing this to our attention! I was unaware of the Durbridge TV programmes, but my favourite offering on Radio 4Extra is Paul Temple and I've listened to them over and over until I know some of them by heart. I watched the Harry Brent series yesterday and enjoyed it so much! I love the genuine period settings and for sentimentality, the acting and directing style of the age.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you enjoyed it!
ReplyDelete