TV Cream

A bit of business

Clemens time

Brian Clemens is the subject of a season of screenings at the British Film Institute on the South Bank in London, beginning on 2 July.

The man responsible for the story behind Highland II: The Quickening, the teleplay for Perry Mason: The Case of the Heartbroken Bride and a whole six episodes of Father Dowling Investigates is getting a month-sized doff of the hat in the shape of a line-up that – perhaps wisely – contains none of those offerings.

Instead if you’re in London or the south east (as Simon Groom used to say), there are episodes of The Avengers, The New Avengers, Danger Man, Adam Adamant Lives, The Professionals, The Invisible Man and Thriller to enjoy.

There are also screenings of Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde, Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter and numerous extremely rare offerings from the BFI’s vaults (which we like to think are Clemens-esque in their size and furnishings, including plush carpets and a steam-powered organ).

The man himself is scheduled to make two appearances, one to talk specifically about The Avengers (22 July) and then to roam back over his entire career (28 July).

You can find full details of all events, and how to book tickets, on the BFI website.

3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. Mr Grimsdale

    June 21, 2010 at 10:09 am

    Surely one of the great unknown heroes of of 1960s-70s television. How may times, as a kid, have I watched opening titles or end credits of a programme and seen Brian Clemens’ name appear. He seemed to be responsible for everything on ITV in the second half of the 60s.

  2. Cindylover1969

    June 27, 2010 at 6:35 pm

    “The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier” – one of the best TV books ever – has a story where several UK TV writers were hunted up to write for the show; I’ve always wondered if Brian Clemens was one of them. (For the record, the only Brits who *did* make the cut were Donald James and Leigh Vance – unsurprisingly both had plenty of experience with ITC shows, and Vance [unlike James, whose “Mission: Impossible” episode would be his only American TV work] ultimately went on to spend the rest of his career across the pond.)

    Clemens also worked on shortlived-but-not-bad anthology series “Darkroom” and co-wrote the TV movie “The Woman Hunter” (in which Barbara Eden heads to Mexico on the run from Robert Vaughn. Despite having the credit “Teleplay by Brian Clemens and Tony Williamson; Story by Brian Clemens”, not made by ITC but rather by Bing Crosby Productions).

  3. George White

    March 27, 2018 at 8:20 pm

    He does reveal on a commentary for the New Avengers he was offered to do an episode of Mission Impossible, but was too busy.

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