Michael Billington and Department S

Hi,

I just discovered that Michael Billington was initially chosen to play the character "Stewart Sullivan" in the ITC series, Department S.

However, it was decided that as the show HAD to go well in the USA, one of the three leading actors had best be an American, so Joel Fabiani was chosen in his place.

Hope this is of interest,

Regards, Griff

Interesting post Griff !! It has also been said that Mike was up for a role in the "Department S" spin-off series "Jason King", playing King's assistant (a part which never made it into the actual series). Come to think of it, Mike would certainly have been able to give series star Peter Wyngarde a run for his money in the chest-hair stakes

Regards,

Dan


From: griffwason
Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 10:43 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [SHADO] Michael Billington and Department S



Hi,

I just discovered that Michael Billington was initially chosen to play the character "Stewart Sullivan" in the ITC series, Department S.

However, it was decided that as the show HAD to go well in the USA, one of the three leading actors had best be an American, so Joel Fabiani was chosen in his place.

Hope this is of interest,

Regards, Griff





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- In [hidden email], "griffwason" <griff@...> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I just discovered that Michael Billington was initially chosen to play the character "Stewart Sullivan" in the ITC series, Department S.
<snip>
> Regards, Griff

Wow, that is interesting Griff. I was a big fan of "Dept S" but I never knew that. I liked J. Fabiani in the part and it has been a long time since I've seen an episode so I cannot say if I think M.Billington would have been good in the part.

I used to love the theme song. If I recall correctly there was a scene witha plane taking off right? If not, forgive me...it has been a LONG time.
Lorraine

Hi,

Yes, I just purchased the entire Department S series (1 and 2) on DVD in a special edition 8 DVD set pack from Amazon (£33). The last DVD has a one hour interview with many of the people that made Dept S happen. It was during the pre-production section that this was mentioned.

Interestingly, it also has an interview with Cyril Frankel (who also directed "The sound of silence" and "Timelash")

I believe Department S was one of the TV series being filmed at Elstree at about the same time as UFO, and the production also had to be moved to Pinewood for its second series.

Many of the 'stock' ITC actors appeared in both UFO and Department S and many other ITC series.

Anyway, glad this was of interest :)

Griff

--- In [hidden email], "montgolfier100" <airtime25@...> wrote:
Wow, that is interesting Griff. I was a big fan of "Dept S" but I never knew that. I liked J. Fabiani in the part and it has been a long time since I've seen an episode so I cannot say if I think M.Billington would have been good in the part.
>
> I used to love the theme song. If I recall correctly there was a scene with a plane taking off right? If not, forgive me...it has been a LONG time.
> Lorraine
>

"griffwason" wrote:

> I believe Department S was one of the TV series being filmed at Elstree at about the same time as UFO, and the production also had to be moved to Pinewood for its second series.

----------------------------------------

I think there is some confusion here.

The studio which closed during the shooting of UFO was, at the time, calledMGM Borehamwood. That was a studio which wasn't often used for ITC series (The Prisoner and some episodes of Danger Man are the only other ones whichspring to mind off-hand. I don't believe that any other ITC series were shooting at the time it closed.

MGM-Borehamwood should not be confused with the studio which, for a time afterwards was called MGM-EMI Elstree Studios and was previously ABPC Studios. It was at this studio where Department S was shot, for it's whole 28 episodes. This was also the studio which housed The Baron, The Saint, Randall and Hopkirk, Jason King, The Champions etc as well as the non-ITC The Avengers. This studio built a block of three stages especially suitable for shooting these filmed series and these are the only stages from this period still in use at the current Elstree Film Studios.

The above studios are also not to be confused with the current BBC studios in Borehamwood which at the time of UFO were owned by ITV (but although formerly a film studio, it was then used only for video shooting) and where the exterior and foyer of Neptune House was a location for UFO.

All the above studios had several names over the decades, and there were several other studios in the area with multiple names, so the whole thing is a minefield and mistakes in all sorts of sources are common.

Regards
John

Hi John,

That's great info. Thanks for the clarification :)

Regards, Griff

--- In [hidden email], jks@... wrote:
The studio which closed during the shooting of UFO was, at the time, calledMGM Borehamwood. That was a studio which wasn't often used for ITC series (The Prisoner and some episodes of Danger Man are the only other ones whichspring to mind off-hand. I don't believe that any other ITC series were shooting at the time it closed.
>
MGM-Borehamwood should not be confused with the studio which, for a time afterwards was called MGM-EMI Elstree Studios and was previously ABPC Studios. It was at this studio where Department S was shot, for it's whole 28 episodes. This was also the studio which housed The Baron, The Saint, Randall and Hopkirk, Jason King, The Champions etc as well as the non-ITC The Avengers. This studio built a block of three stages especially suitable for shooting these filmed series and these are the only stages from this period still in use at the current Elstree Film Studios.
>
The above studios are also not to be confused with the current BBC studios in Borehamwood which at the time of UFO were owned by ITV (but although formerly a film studio, it was then used only for video shooting) and where the exterior and foyer of Neptune House was a location for UFO.
>
> All the above studios had several names over the decades, and there were several other studios in the area with multiple names, so the whole thing is a minefield and mistakes in all sorts of sources are common.
>
> Regards
> John

Hi John,

BTW, do you know any information about the actual/real reason/s that "MGM Borehamwood" was closed down by Kirk Kerkorian.

I have heard many explanations (wild and wacky to plain old economics) overthe years, and always wondered what the real truth was. You certainly sound as if you might know.

Thanks again,

Griff

----------------------------------------
 
I think there is some confusion here.
 
The studio which closed during the shooting of UFO was, at the time, calledMGM Borehamwood. That was a studio which wasn't often used for ITC series (The Prisoner and some episodes of Danger Man are the only other ones whichspring to mind off-hand. I don't believe that any other ITC series were shooting at the time it closed.
 
MGM-Borehamwood should not be confused with the studio which, for a time afterwards was called MGM-EMI Elstree Studios and was previously ABPC Studios. It was at this studio where Department S was shot, for it's whole 28 episodes. This was also the studio which housed The Baron, The Saint, Randall and Hopkirk, Jason King, The Champions etc as well as the non-ITC The Avengers. This studio built a block of three stages especially suitable for shooting these filmed series and these are the only stages from this period still in use at the current Elstree Film Studios.
 
The above studios are also not to be confused with the current BBC studios in Borehamwood which at the time of UFO were owned by ITV (but although formerly a film studio, it was then used only for video shooting) and where the exterior and foyer of Neptune House was a location for UFO.
 
All the above studios had several names over the decades, and there were several other studios in the area with multiple names, so the whole thing is a minefield and mistakes in all sorts of sources are common.
 
Regards
John

"griffwason" wrote:
>
> Hi John,
> BTW, do you know any information about the actual/real reason/s that "MGMBorehamwood" was closed down by Kirk Kerkorian.

----------------------

I wouldn't claim to be any sort of expert, but Occam's Razor suggests straightforward economics and asset stripping.

At the time, most of the major Hollywood studios were struggling financially, as they had been since they had been forced by an anti-trust suit to sell their cinemas etc and become less vertically integrated. Additionally, asmore films were being shot on location their physical studios were often seen as an unnecessary drain.

Even for companies and owners dedicated to the film business it was a very difficult time. It was also a time ripe for asset strippers as film studioscover large areas of land and, when the film industry is depressed, can bebought for far less than the developed value of the land. Shepperton Studios also suffered from this, losing much of its backlot in the 1970s.

Kerkorian seems to have bought MGM largely for its real estate and glamorous name - which he attached to hotels and casinos. After selling MGM Britishand drastically cutting MGMs film production he sold off much of its Hollywood backlot and sold off the contents of its props store. He would later describe MGM as mainly a hotels company.

As part of the closure process at MGM British, MGM moved into the Thorn-EMIStudios across the road to form MGM-EMI Studios (now Elstree Film Studios). This was a cost cutting exercise for both companies.

Bryan Forbes, Head of Production for the new combined studio had pushed forretaining the MGM studios rather than the EMI studios as the former were newer, in better condition, and not as hemmed in by development, but he was overruled. He may have been right in the long run as half of the former MGM-EMI studio site was later sold to Tesco by Brent-Walker when they owned the studio.
(Incidentally, and allegedly, in return for planning permission, the local council received an assurance that extra stages were to be built on the remaining site to keep the studio viable - those with knowledge of Tesco and/or Brent-Walker will be able to guess whether or not that happened.)

Regards
John

I said it was complicated....
I made a couple of errors in my previous post. The combined studio was called EMI-MGM - not the other way round - and at the time of the MGM closure it was called simply EMI studios - Thorn-EMI came later. Apologies, I shouldn't try to write such comments when I'm tired.

Regards
John