Posted by jks on
URL: https://www.shado-forum.com/Alec-Freman-tp1507190p1507225.html

I don't find it at all unlikely that even the lead actors on UFO were on
contracts which simply covered the period of time the series was expecting
to shoot. If so, when MGM British Studios closed and there was an enforced
gap in shooting, their contracts may well have run out.

British television contracts have always been different to those of US
series.
In the US it is common for lead actors to be on a contract which lasts
several years with the option to renew being entirely favourable to the
production company. This is largely because US series are only profitable
after a very large number of episodes are made and the producers cannot
afford for the actors to simply decide to leave a successful series before
the break-even point.

In the UK, series have traditionally had much shorter runs and even Lew
Grade, who had a very different outlook to other UK moguls, in that he made
the ITC series with international sales very much in mind, would not
necessarily have expected any series to exceed the initial 20-odd episodes.
Most didn't, The Saint and The Avengers being exceptions rather than the
rule.

As has been pointed out, most of the actors in UFO were fairly busy jobbing
actors, often appearing in other TV series or films and as likely to be
touring the regions in an Agatha Christie play by the time the second block
of shooting could be mounted as they were to be available. George Sewell was
appearing as a regular character in the Paul Temple series around that time.

For most of them, UFO would have been just a few days or weeks work, even if
it was spread over a number of months. Few of the actors would have had more
than a day or twos work on any given episode and would not have appeared in
some episodes at all. They may not have even been given a whole script -
just the pages for the scenes they were in. It's not surprising that, about
36 years later, their memories of UFO are blurred.

If their participation in the Pinewood shooting was obviously not going to
be possible then the actor may not even have been approached or their agent
might not have informed them if they were. Of course, there may have been
the odd actor who wasn't re-employed for reasons other than availability but
there is not necessarily anything sinister in anyone's non-reappearance or
their forgetting the circumstances.

Regards
John