Miss Georgina Jones is a fictional character played by
Juliet Harmer
Juliet Linda Harmer (born 11 May 1941) is an English artist, children's author and actress who was best known in the role of Georgina Jones in the BBC TV series ''Adam Adamant Lives!'' (1966–67).
Early career
Juliet Harmer trained as a pr ...
in the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
television adventure series, ''
Adam Adamant Lives!
''Adam Adamant Lives!'' is a British adventure television series that ran from 1966 to 1967 on BBC 1, starring Gerald Harper in the title role. The series was created and produced by several alumni from ''Doctor Who''. The titular character w ...
'' (1966-7).
Genesis of the character
''Adam Adamant'' was created by
Richard Harris
Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. Having studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, he rose to prominence as an icon of the British New Wave. He received numerous a ...
and
Donald Cotton
Donald Henry Cotton (26 April 1928 – 28 December 1999) was a British writer for radio and television during the black and white era. He also wrote numerous musical revues for the stage. His work often had a comedic bent.
Early BBC career
...
, with significant creative input by
script editor
A script editor is a member of the production team of scripted television and radio programs, usually dramas and comedies. The script editor has many responsibilities including finding new script writers, developing storyline and series ideas wit ...
Tony Williamson and the BBC's Head of Television Drama,
Sydney Newman
Sydney Cecil Newman (; April 1, 1917 – October 30, 1997) was a Canadian producer and screenwriter who played a pioneering role in British television drama from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. After his return to Canada in 1970, he was app ...
. The series was produced by
Verity Lambert
Verity Ann Lambert (27 November 1935 – 22 November 2007) was an English television and film producer.
Lambert began working in television in the 1950s. She began her career as a producer at the BBC by becoming the founding producer of t ...
. The female lead was originally to have been called Sandy, but the name Georgina Jones (sometimes "George" or "Georgie" to her friends) had been adopted by the time of a 1966 pilot in which the part was played by
Ann Holloway. Holloway was replaced in the series itself by Juliet Harmer.
Miss Jones and Adam Adamant
Adam Adamant was an adventurer who, having foiled a plot to assassinate King
Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910.
The second child ...
, had been
cryopreserved
Cryopreservation or cryoconservation is a process where biological material - cells, tissues, or organs - are frozen to preserve the material for an extended period of time. At low temperatures (typically or using liquid nitrogen) any cell m ...
by his enemies in 1902 and had come back to life in 1966. Miss Jones' grandfather, Sam Jones, had met him at
Henley Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It differs from the thre ...
in 1901. She herself claimed that Adamant had been a childhood hero of hers and that she had been a witness to the demolition of his former home in the mid-1950s.
From the very start, when she found him stumbling in the vicinity of
Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End of London, West End in the City of Westminster. It was built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with Piccadilly. In this context, a ''List of road junctions in the Unite ...
, Miss Jones (whom Adamant rarely addressed by her first name) was Adamant's staunch friend and supporter. These were characteristics that Adamant, who was coming to terms with a very different world to that which he had left over sixty years earlier, did not always appreciate.
Swinging sixties ''v.'' Edwardian values
Miss Jones worked in a
discothèque
A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighting displays, and a ...
, which was subject to a vicious
protection racket
A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from vio ...
, and lived in a flat which, among other things, displayed a large letter "G" above her single bed. Her clothes typified those of "
Swinging London
The Swinging Sixties was a youth-driven cultural revolution that took place in the United Kingdom during the mid-to-late 1960s, emphasising modernity and fun-loving hedonism, with Swinging London denoted as its centre. It saw a flourishing in ...
" - a
John Lennon-style cap, striped tops,
miniskirt
A miniskirt (or mini-skirt, mini skirt, or mini) is a skirt with its hemline well above the knees, generally at mid-thigh level, normally no longer than below the buttocks; and a dress with such a hemline is called a minidress or a miniskirt ...
s – and she rode around on a
Vespa
Vespa () is an Italian brand of scooters and mopeds manufactured by Piaggio. The name means wasp in Italian. The Vespa has evolved from a single model motor scooter manufactured in 1946 by Piaggio & Co. S.p.A. of Pontedera, Italy, to a ...
motor scooter.
This was all quite baffling to Adamant, with his
Edwardian
In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...
attitudes to women; in fact, when he first met her, he thought that she was a boy. His initial reluctance to use Miss Jones' flat as an overnight refuge and a scene in which he sees her win a beauty contest and then catches her half-undressed after the show illustrated both his prudery (or maybe, in the latter instance, surprise at the contrast between 1960s'
lingerie
Lingerie (, , ) is a category of primarily women's clothing including undergarments (mainly brassieres), sleepwear, and lightweight robes. The choice of the word is often motivated by an intention to imply that the garments are alluring, fashio ...
and Edwardian
corsetry
A corsetmaker is a specialist tailor who makes corsets. Corsetmakers are frequently known by the French equivalent terms corsetier (male) and corsetière (female). Staymaker is an obsolete name for a corsetmaker.
Design and distribution
The bes ...
) and her lack of inhibition. However, aided and abetted by Miss Jones, Adamant picked up where he had left off at the turn of the century, fighting evil in his own inimitable way.
Miss Jones also had a slightly awkward relationship with Adamant's manservant, a former music hall artist named William E. Simms (
Jack May
Jack Wynne May (23 April 1922 – 19 September 1997) was an English actor.
Early life and education
May was born in 1922 in Henley-on-Thames, and was educated at Forest School in Walthamstow. After war service with the Royal Indian Navy in Br ...
), who was acquired during an adventure in
Blackpool
Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...
.
There were 29 episodes of ''Adam Adamant'', of which 17 survive.
[''Adam Adamant Lives!'' DVD (2006)]
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Georgina
Action television characters
Television characters introduced in 1966
Fictional British people
Television sidekicks