Re: Professionals, Cons and Absent Minded Actors

Yo guys -

List Papa said:
<< This is why you can never really 100% trust what you hear at
conventions or read in interviews. Quite often the actors/producers
really don't remember, so they make mistakes, and then the fans run
off believing that they've learned something exciting & new! >>

Which isn't surprising - 30 years on, minor parts, even in successful
series, must be difficult to bring accurately to mind 'on the spot'. I was
also at this con and I do remember there was some confusion on the stage
exactly as Marc describes.

Amelia wrote:
<< I was reading an old Fab issue, and it was mentioned that at one point
"Mindbender" wasn't shown because one of the cast wasn't happy with the
performance or something? < snip > Could one person in a cast actually
stop an episode from being shown, when that would stop everyone else from
getting residuals? Or did UFO cast and crew get residuals? >>

I too read something about this in a back issue, I think. Can't remember it
exactly. I would not have thought an actor could prevent a show being
screened for the *first* time on that basis. Maybe they can veto repeat
showings once a certain number of years have passed since first broadcast?
As the Professionals seems (at least temporarily!) to be on topic: I did
read some years ago that repeats of the original Professionals series were
blocked because one of the actors didn't want the show repeated.

Allegedly - and I have no idea whether this is true, so probably shouldn't
be perpetuating scurrilous gossip... though naturally, I will - it was
Martin Shaw. He felt his career had moved on and he didn't want the series
and his role resurrected. Still allegedly, this caused some bad feeling with
others of the regular cast... some of whom would have quite liked the repeat
payments to supplement their pensions.

A Professionals expert (Lisa?) may be able to comment more accurately. If
it's still considered on topic. :-D

Carly


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"carly ward" wrote:

> Allegedly - and I have no idea whether this is true, so probably
> shouldn't be perpetuating scurrilous gossip... though naturally, I
> will - it was Martin Shaw. He felt his career had moved on and he
> didn't want the series and his role resurrected. Still allegedly,
> this caused some bad feeling with others of the regular cast...
> some of whom would have quite liked the repeat payments to
> supplement their pensions.
>

This is essentially true I believe although I had heard that it
was more to do with Martin Shaw being unhappy with the repeat
fees. But perhaps that was just an excuse - I can understand him
wanting to leave it behind, as the Professionals dated quite
quickly in the more 'politically correct' late '80s and '90s, and
was even the subject of a TV comedy spoof which poked ridicule at
it (The Bulls******s, featuring Dopey and Foyle)

As a consequence the Professionals was not shown on UK TV for
many years, though in the last couple of years most episodes have
been shown dozens of times on Granada Plus, a UK cable, satellite
and terrestrial channel.

I wonder how much Ed Bishop, George Sewell and the rest of the
cast get for repeat showings of UFO? Or what (if anything)
they'll make from the DVD release? We're definitely on topic.

Actually was George Sewell in any of the Professionals episodes?
I seem to remember that he was .. or am I thinking of the Sweeney
episode that he did? He popped up quite frequently in British TV
productions around that time, so it would almost be surprising if
he wasn't.

James

James Gibbon <james.gibbon@v...> wrote:

> Actually was George Sewell in any of the Professionals episodes?

Nope, no George Sewell. Just Ed Bishop, Michael Billington, and
Gabrielle Drake of the major players in UFO.

- Lisa

Didn't he appear in a Sweeney ep?

Colin
--------------------------------------------
Nothing is fool-proof to a talented fool.
--------------------------------------------

-----Original Message-----
From: williams_lisac [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2002 3:02 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [SHADO] Re: Professionals, Cons and Absent Minded Actors

James Gibbon <james.gibbon@v...> wrote:

> Actually was George Sewell in any of the Professionals episodes?

Nope, no George Sewell. Just Ed Bishop, Michael Billington, and
Gabrielle Drake of the major players in UFO.

- Lisa

> James Gibbon <james.gibbon@v...> wrote:
>
> > Actually was George Sewell in any of the Professionals episodes?
>
> Nope, no George Sewell. Just Ed Bishop, Michael Billington, and
> Gabrielle Drake of the major players in UFO.
>
> - Lisa
Colin Fletcher wrote:

> Didn't he appear in a Sweeney ep?


I caught George in an ep of Doctor Who the other night. It was Sylvester
McCoy's Doctor and George was not such a tuff guy - he got killed by the
Daleks.

-- Y

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Yuchtar wrote:

>
> I caught George in an ep of Doctor Who the other night. It was
> Sylvester McCoy's Doctor and George was not such a tuff guy - he
> got killed by the Daleks.
>

Yes, that particular Dr Who adventure is out on DVD now (if
anyone's interested) - Remembrance Of The Daleks. Made in 1988 I
think. George plays a Dalek collaborator. They pay him off in
their usual courteous manner ..

But - ANYONE can get killed by the Daleks. They are the easily
the tuffest aliens in the Universe (and the most ruthless as
well). I reckon they could take on the Aliens from 'UFO', the
Aliens from 'Alien' and the aliens from 'Predator' all at the
same time.

"Colin Fletcher" wrote:
> Didn't he appear in a Sweeney ep?
>

He (George Sewell) did! As a criminal (naturally). Apart from
two prominent roles as a detective (The Detectives, a Jasper
Carrott comedy vehicle, and Special Branch - in which I seem to
remember he was replaced eventually by Patrick Mower, the villian
in the UFO ep The Square Triangle) - George has mostly played dodgy
characters on the wrong side of the law.

Chatting on the Randall and Hopkirk list prompted me to think about Z
Cars - he was in that, along with some other interesting names I didn't
realize were in it such as Leonard Rossiter and Frank Windsor.

Did the Reginald Perrin series make it to the US?

Sorry if this is getting to far OT - I am on a number of old British TV
lists and they blur at times

-----Original Message-----
From: Yuchtar [mailto:[hidden email]]


> Didn't he appear in a Sweeney ep?


I caught George in an ep of Doctor Who the other night. It was Sylvester
McCoy's Doctor and George was not such a tuff guy - he got killed by the
Daleks.

-- Y

At 01:39 AM 1/26/02 -0500, you wrote:
>Did the Reginald Perrin series make it to the US?

Yes. I remember watching "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin" on my local
PBS station -- WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts -- and just completely
_getting_ the surrealism of the tale of a man who could not escape his
destiny, no matter how extreme his attempts.

It was also remade in the US as a dreadful series called "Reggie" with
Richard Mulligan,which was a thorough-going embarrassment, and canceled
almost immediately.

Jonathan Andrew Sheen

http://www.leviathanstudios.com
Leviathan of the GEI (Detached.)
[hidden email]

"What'dya expect? I'm a New Yorker!"
-Anonymous New York Firefighter, 9/12/01

I noticed a reference to a US made knock-off after I posted. Been having
fun with the cj-ism's.

Colin
"I didn't get where I am today by having green frogs thrust down my
crotch."

-----Original Message-----
From: Jonathan Andrew Sheen [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2002 2:14 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: RE: [SHADO] George Sewell

At 01:39 AM 1/26/02 -0500, you wrote:
>Did the Reginald Perrin series make it to the US?

Yes. I remember watching "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin" on my
local
PBS station -- WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts -- and just completely
_getting_ the surrealism of the tale of a man who could not escape his
destiny, no matter how extreme his attempts.

It was also remade in the US as a dreadful series called "Reggie" with
Richard Mulligan,which was a thorough-going embarrassment, and canceled
almost immediately.

Jonathan Andrew Sheen

Colin wrote:

<<Z Cars - (George Sewell) was in that, along with...
Leonard Rossiter>>

George also appeared in an episode of the sitcom
'Rising Damp', which starred Rossiter - playing a
(phoney) policeman.

George must surely be the best-known of the regular
'UFO' cast to the UK TV-watching public, simply
because of the number of TV programmes he has appeared
in. (Not to mention films - playing a gangster in the
grittily nasty Michael Caine film 'Get Carter' shortly
after doing 'UFO', for example).

Someone mentioned him being in 'The Sweeney'(starring
John Thaw, later to play Inspector Morse, and Dennis
Waterman), which I don't remember... but he played an
artist in an episode of 'Minder' -
painting/illustrating the walls of a sleazy strip
club; a job Alec Freeman might not have been too
unhappy with :^ - which starred Waterman and George
Cole (who played Roper in the 'UFO' episode 'Flight
Path')... UK TV acting is a small world...

The sketch in which he plays 'Inspector Cottam' in the
Jasper Carrott show 'The Detectives', lampooning the
Cockney argot used in TV police shows like 'The
Sweeney', is a classic.

<<Sorry if this is getting to far OT>>

Well, part of the remit of the group (if memory
serves) is discussion of the work of 'UFO' actors,
before and/or after the series, so not too far OT,
hopefully...

Andy

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Mr Sewell played Vic Tolman in the Sweeney episode 'Bate'

The IMDB have a good list of the programmes and films he's been in:
http://us.imdb.com/Name?Sewell,+George

He'll be 78 this year.

>From: Andy Lovie <[hidden email]>

>George also appeared in an episode of the sitcom
>'Rising Damp', which starred Rossiter - playing a
>(phoney) policeman.

I think in the Sweeney ep he was a master crook type and was
"performing" with several women knowing the cops had in under
surveillance. Could be wrong, been so long since I saw it.

I got to get some US viewable copies of Professionals, Sweeney and
Minder.

Inspector Morse is on A&E quite a bit here in the US. Dennis Waterman
showed up also on A&E recently (here in the US anyway) on that Pascoe
and Dee - (however you spell it) show.

Jasper Carrott - hmmmm, now the Z Cars theme going round and round in my
head has been replaced by Funky Moped.

Colin
"I didn't get where I am today by everything smelling of a Bolivian
unicyclist's jockstrap!"

-----Original Message-----
From: Andy Lovie [mailto:[hidden email]]
George also appeared in an episode of the sitcom
'Rising Damp', which starred Rossiter - playing a
(phoney) policeman.

George must surely be the best-known of the regular
'UFO' cast to the UK TV-watching public, simply
because of the number of TV programmes he has appeared
in. (Not to mention films - playing a gangster in the
grittily nasty Michael Caine film 'Get Carter' shortly
after doing 'UFO', for example).

Someone mentioned him being in 'The Sweeney'(starring
John Thaw, later to play Inspector Morse, and Dennis
Waterman), which I don't remember... but he played an
artist in an episode of 'Minder' -
painting/illustrating the walls of a sleazy strip
club; a job Alec Freeman might not have been too
unhappy with :^ - which starred Waterman and George
Cole (who played Roper in the 'UFO' episode 'Flight
Path')... UK TV acting is a small world...

The sketch in which he plays 'Inspector Cottam' in the
Jasper Carrott show 'The Detectives', lampooning the
Cockney argot used in TV police shows like 'The
Sweeney', is a classic.

Aah, George Sewell in DR. WHO, I remember :-)
He hasn't changed much since the UFO days (and these are nearly 20
years!). Hmm... Sewell is on-topic, I think. And there are some
people on this group who don't know what Sewell looked like in 1988
for sure, hmmm... Yep! Yuchy, James, I will put four pics from DW-
ROTD to the files section; I think I can answer for this :-)

Christian (puting)

Aah, George Sewell in DR. WHO, I remember :-)
He hasn't changed much since the UFO days (and these are nearly 20
years!). Hmm... Sewell is on-topic, I think. And there are some
people on this group who don't know what Sewell looked like in 1988
for sure, hmmm... Yep! Yuchy, James, I will put four pics from DW-
ROTD to the files section; I think I can answer for this :-)

Christian (puting)