Colonel March Of Scotland Yard
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''Colonel March of Scotland Yard'' is a British television series consisting of a single series of 26 episodes first broadcast in the United States from December 1954 to Spring of 1955. The series premiered on British television on 24 September 1955 on the newly opened ITV London station for the weekends
Associated Television ATV Network Limited, originally Associated TeleVision (ATV), was a British broadcaster, part of the ITV (TV network), ITV (Independent Television) network. It provided a service to London at weekends from 1955 to 1968, to the Midlands on week ...
. It is based on author
John Dickson Carr John Dickson Carr (November 30, 1906 – February 27, 1977) was an American author of detective stories, who also published using the pseudonyms Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson, and Roger Fairbairn. He lived in England for a number of years, and ...
's (aka Carter Dickson) fictional
detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...
Colonel March from his book ''The Department of Queer Complaints'' (1940). Carr was a mystery author who specialised in locked-room whodunnits and other 'impossible' crimes: murder mysteries that seemed to defy possibility. The stories of the television series followed in the same vein with March solving cases that baffle
Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...
and the British police. The department itself is sometimes referred to as "D3".
Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), known professionally as Boris Karloff () and occasionally billed as Karloff the Uncanny, was a British actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film ''Frankenstei ...
starred as Colonel March.


Production

The series was made at Southall Studios in Middlesex, England (and, later,
Nettlefold Studios Walton Studios, previously named Hepworth Studios and Nettlefold Studios, was a film production studio in Walton-on-Thames in Surrey, England.Walton-on-Thames Walton-on-Thames, known locally as Walton, is a market town on the bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames, Thames in northwest Surrey, England. It is in the Borough of Elmbridge, about southwest of central London. Walton forms part ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
) and was produced by Fountain Films for ITV. In July 1952, Karloff and his wife Evelyn sailed to England, where Karloff filmed three different pilot episodes to be shown to TV executives. While awaiting a decision on more episodes, the three pilots were combined into a feature film called '' Colonel March Investigates'' (1953). In 1953, Karloff returned to England to film 23 more episodes, making a total of 26. The ''Colonel March'' TV series premiered first in the United States from Dec. 1954 to Spring of 1955, with a total of 26 episodes. It first premiered in England in 1955 on
Associated Television ATV Network Limited, originally Associated TeleVision (ATV), was a British broadcaster, part of the ITV (TV network), ITV (Independent Television) network. It provided a service to London at weekends from 1955 to 1968, to the Midlands on week ...
(ITV London, weekends), broadcast on 26 consecutive Saturday evenings from 24 September 1955 until 17 March 1956. The show starred Boris Karloff as the urbane, tweed-wearing, eye-patched sleuth. No reason was ever given for the wearing of the patch. Other regular actors included Ewan Roberts as Inspector Ames of
Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...
and
Eric Pohlmann Eric Pohlmann (; born Erich Pollak; 18 July 1913 – 25 July 1979) was an Austrian theatre, film and television character actor who worked mostly in the United Kingdom. He is known for voicing Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the primary antagonist of t ...
as Inspector Goron of the Paris Sûreté. (In the episode "The Second Mona Lisa", Pohlmann played a Middle Eastern character called The Emir.) Roberts' Scottish accent grows stronger as the series progresses, from posh English in some episodes to strong Scottish burr for others. The opening title sequence showed Colonel March taking off his coat in his office and writing the title of each episode in a book. This then dissolves to an image of an object from within the following story, what
Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...
would call a
MacGuffin In fiction, a MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself. The term was originated by Angus MacPhail fo ...
, a fairly unimportant plot device that starts the story rolling and/or keeps it moving along. Often it's a murder weapon or an item of clothing. Sometimes its relevance is a mystery until it is revealed later in the episode. Other episodes, such as in "The Headless Hat", show the item that the episode is named after. The episode "The Talking Head" uses the complete version of the original theme tune during the end credits. It was usually truncated and faded up whilst some way through. The show's slightly mysterious and threatening theme tune was changed for the episodes "Error at Daybreak" and "The Silver Curtain" to a piece of jaunty, faster-paced music that had originally been used in previous episodes to accompany shots of a busy city. Other guest actors in the series include Alan Wheatley, Christopher Lee, Patrick Barr, Hugh Griffith,
Marne Maitland James Marne Kumar Maitland (18 December 1914 – March 1992) was an Anglo-Indian actor and voice artist. He worked extensively in Britain, mainly in character roles, but also appeared in many Italian productions, after moving there in the 1 ...
(twice), Joan Sims,
Anthony Newley Anthony Newley (24 September 1931 – 14 April 1999) was an English actor, director, comedian, singer, and composer. A "latter-day British Al Jolson", he achieved widespread success in song, and on stage and screen. "One of Broadway's greatest ...
, Patricia Owens, George Coulouris,
Anton Diffring Anton Diffring (born Alfred Pollack; 20 October 1916 – 19 May 1989) was a German actor. He had an extensive film and television career in the United Kingdom from the 1940s to the 1980s, latterly appearing in international films. Primarily a c ...
, Martin Benson, Zena Marshall, Mary Parker Henryetta Edwards, and
Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and author Entertainers and artists * Washboard Sam or Robert Brown (1910–1966), American musician and singer * Robert W. Brown (1917–2009), American printmaker ...
. The episode "Death and the Other Monkey" features a small acting part by future film director
John Schlesinger John Richard Schlesinger ( ; 16 February 1926 – 25 July 2003) was an English film and stage director, and actor. He emerged in the early 1960s as a leading light of the British New Wave, before embarking on a successful career in Hollywood ...
as a Dutch ship's captain. The episode "Error at Daybreak" features a performance from the then 10-year-old actor Richard O'Sullivan who later went on to star in ''
Man About the House ''Man About the House'' is a British sitcom created by Brian Cooke and Johnnie Mortimer. It starred Richard O'Sullivan, Paula Wilcox, Sally Thomsett, Yootha Joyce and Brian Murphy (actor), Brian Murphy. Six series were broadcast on ITV (TV netw ...
'', '' Robin's Nest'' and several other ITV series.


Critical reception

In Britain, the series was initially evaluated in the larger context of the programming of the newly launched ITV. Critic
Bernard Levin Henry Bernard Levin (19 August 1928 – 7 August 2004) was an English journalist, author and broadcaster, described by ''The Times'' as "the most famous journalist of his day". The son of a poor Jewish family in London, he won a scholarship t ...
opined: "If there were only something of signifiant badness, then one could at least take a hatchet to it. But who could take a hatchet to Wilson, Keppel, and Betty, stars of Saturday night's variety programme, or to the adventures of 'Colonel March of Scotland Yard', the intellectual content of which is the nearest thing to a hole I have ever seen?"


List of episodes


Home media

Eight episodes (only) of the series have been released to home video by
Alpha Video Alpha Video (also known as Alpha Home Entertainment) is an entertainment company founded in 1985 as New Age Video, based near Philadelphia, that specializes in the manufacturing and marketing of public domain movies and TV shows on DVD. Alp ...
. The region 2 DVD release of the 1970 Karloff film ''
Cauldron of Blood ''Cauldron of Blood'' (Original title: ''El Coleccionista de cadáveres''/ ''The Corpse Collector''), also known in USA as ''Blind Man's Bluff'', is a 1970 horror film filmed in Spain and directed by Santos Alcocer, credited as "Edward Mann". The ...
'' (aka ''Blind Man's Bluff'') includes the episode "The Silver Curtain" as an extra. All 26 episodes are available to stream on
Amazon Prime Amazon Prime (styled as prime) is a paid subscription service of Amazon which is available in many countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services inclu ...
,
Apple TV Apple TV is a digital media player and a microconsole developed and marketed by Apple. It is a small piece of networking hardware that sends received media data such as video and audio to a TV or external display. Its media services include ...
and
Hoopla (digital media service) Hoopla (stylized as hoopla) is a web and mobile ( Android/iOS) library media streaming platform launched in 2010 for audio books, comics, e-books, movies, music, and TV. Patrons of a library that supports Hoopla have access to its collection ...
. The show has been regularly shown on the UK TV channel
Talking Pictures TV Talking Pictures TV (TPTV) is a British free-to-air vintage film and nostalgia television channel. It was launched on 26 May 2015 on Sky. Later it also became available on Freeview, Freesat and Virgin Media. It is on air 24 hours a day and fe ...
.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Colonel March of Scotland Yard ITV mystery shows 1950s British drama television series 1955 British television series debuts 1956 British television series endings 1950s British crime television series British detective television series ITV television dramas