Callan: This Man Alone.

Callan dots the covers of issues of TV Times.

Release Date: Feb. 1, 2016. Written by: Thomas Cock and Steve Rogers. Directed by: Thomas Cock. Executive Producer: Tim Beddows.


THE PLOT:

The (as of 2016) surviving writers, producers, actors, and directors recall the production of the television series Callan, from its inception as an Armchair Theatre play to its development as a series - and to its ascent as a surprise television hit!


THOUGHTS:

Callan: This Man Alone is, when you think about it, a very unlikely documentary. Though Callan was a hit in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and though it was (and remains) an excellent program, it just hasn't stuck in the popular culture hive mind. Many people would at least recognize and have some (probably false) preconceptions about, say, The Avengers or The Prisoner, but many of those same people would just return a blank look if fed the name Callan.

So here's what was produced: a 130 minute documentary, exhaustively covering the creation of a television show that's not remembered by much of the general public, and that is made up of a succession of talking heads, interspersed with a few stills and video clips. Stylistically, it's like watching a particularly long DVD featurette -  an extremely good one, but that is still about what both content and production evokes. For an independent feature, I would think that would be the definition of a "tough sell" to almost any production company.

Thankfully, Network did release it, making it the centerpiece of a DVD set that I'd label a must-buy for fans of Callan.

The late Edward Woodward's reflections are included,
thanks to audio interviews from the late 1980s.

Though it's interesting in itself, Callan: This Man Alone also stands as a well-timed piece of oral history. Co-writer/director Thomas Cock and executive producer Tim Beddows managed to put this together while there were still enough members of the series' production alive to make this feel like a fairly comprehensive chronicle. Given that several of the interview subjects (Jim Goddard, Robert Banks Stewart, Piers Haggard, and others) have since passed on, I can't help but feel that this was made at probably the latest possible point to capture points-of-view from all sides of the production.

The interview subjects include producers, writers, directors, and actors, along with audio recordings of those who had already passed. While every person provides material of interest, I found some of the strongest observations consistently came from three sources: Ray Jenkins, who scripted several of the series' best episodes (including the series-altering Let's Kill Everybody and If He Can, So Could I?); Reginald Collin, who produced three of the show's four series; and Peter Mitchell, son of Callan's late creator, James Mitchell.

One of the pleasures of this feature is how articulate and prepared every single person is. They all seem to have come fully ready to speak about their old work, with no one shrugging off that it was a long time ago and they just can't recall.  They all seem (justifiably) proud of what they achieved. Some of the more interesting comments come when those who remained active in television (including actor Patrick Mower) compare television production from the late 1960s and early 1970s to modern productions.

A succession of talking heads - all of whom seem fully
prepared and speak with intelligence about their work.

SUPPLEMENTAL FEATURES:

Network released This Man Alone with a wealth of extra features that make this set a must-buy for Callan fans.

Disc One contains the documentary and about 25 minutes of additional interview footage that, while interesting, was rightly deleted from the main feature. Disc Two contains cleaned-up prints of A Magnum for Schneider, the Armchair Theatre play that acted as the series' pilot, and The Good Ones Are All Dead, the first regular episode; the latter definitely benefits from the cleanup. Also included is the unedited studio recording of The Worst Soldier I Ever Saw, the "missing" episode that was reconstructed for DVD release from the raw footage.

A production still from the missing
episode, Goodness Burns Too Bright.

Disc Three contains the real prize: The .pdf archive. This is a veritable goldmine. It includes scripts of every episode. The missing episode scripts from this archive formed the basis of my reviews of those installments (well, save for a couple that were cleaned up and published in the Callan Uncovered volumes). These are must-reads. Not only can readers finally experience the missing episodes in printed form, but these scripts greatly improve the character of the third Hunter, who was particularly hard-hit by episode junkings.

There are multiple cases in which both a rehearsal and a camera script exist. This gives a nice glimpse at how scripts were adjusted after rehearsal. The Running Dog's camera script sees Callan using his "Mr. Tucker" alias, while the rehearsal script has him always referenced as "Callan," for instance, and also tightens some scenes. Even more notable is Once A Big Man, Always a Big Man, whose camera script boasts a significantly different (much improved) ending vs. the rehearsal script.

Also included in this .pdf archive are: the original (in my opinion, better) Callan/Hunter script pages from the Series One version of Nice People Die at Home; James Mitchell's original series format document; an internal ABC summary of the results of an audience survey gauging reactions to Series One; summaries of several episodes for overseas sales purposes; layouts for the structure of each season; and more.

In short, Callan fans will get their money's worth from this set even if they never watch the main feature!

A few of James Mitchell's Callan novels.

OVERALL:

Callan: This Man Alone is a very traditional "talking heads" documentary, but it has been carefully structured, with each snippet chosen for the final film advancing the overall story. This is clearly not a big budget production, but it's polished and well-presented, with narration by Peter Woodward (Edward Woodward's son) moving the film along from one segment to the next.

It does a good job of telling the story of Callan as both series and brief British cultural phenomenon. I personally found that story interesting - but then, I've just finished watching the series, which I found generally excellent, and that makes me the perfect audience for this. I suspect overall appeal will be to fans of Callan or enthusiasts of television history (British television history specifically).


Overall Rating - Documentary: 8/10.

Overall Rating - DVD set: 10/10.

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4-13. The Richmond File: A Man Like Me.

The walls are closing in on the elusive Richmond (T. P. McKenna).

Air Date: May 24, 1972. Written by: James Mitchell. Directed by: Reginald Collin. Produced by: Reginald Collin.


THE PLOT:

Time is running out for The Section to locate the KGB agent known as Richmond (T. P. McKenna). By this point, Richmond has taken care of his loose ends in the UK and is looking for a way back to the Soviet Union. Under increasing pressure, and fearful that Richmond will slip through their fingers again - this time permanently - Hunter reluctantly agrees to use a government computer to cross-check all information on the elusive agent.

Meanwhile, an offhand remark by Lonely sends Callan hunting for newsstands selling Russian newspapers and journals. This leads him to a name: Harris (Robin Ellis), who popped into a shop looking for a specific, obscure journal "for a friend." When Callan returns to Hunter, he learns that Harris was among nine potential Richmond contacts returned by the computer, along with one other name of partiuclar interest:

Callan himself!

Callan gets a breakthrough from an unexpected source...

CHARACTERS:

Callan: Suspicion was cast on Meres two episodes ago; now it's Callan's turn, after the computer returns his name. Most of the reasons are unspoken, but easy enough to guess: He was in a red file, he despises authority, and - the one reason that is voiced - he genuinely likes Richmond. Callan protests that you can't help who you like, which echoes Richmond's own words... but even though Hunter doesn't really suspect Callan any more than he previously did Meres, he remains unimpressed by that protest. He even reproaches Callan's soft-heartedness in a way that recalls the original Col. Hunter. This episode was clearly made as a finale, and Callan gets perfectly judged final exchanges with Richmond, Lonely, and Hunter - though I wish there was a similar final exchange with Meres as well.

Hunter: The extended hunt for Richmond has worn on him. The usually calm Hunter is now snappish and impatient, slamming file cabinet drawers and snapping at those around him. He hates using "American methods" such as a computer to do a job he prefers to do with agents, but he feels backed into a corner by the situation. He also gives what may be his first truly bad order of the series, refusing to just let Callan and Meres go into Ross's house to nab Richmond while he's still there. He's too wary of losing Richmond by spooking him - and comes very close to actually losing him as a result.

Meres: When he first stops by Ross's flat, he plays on his upper-class roots, putting on the persona of a vacuous Bertie Wooster clone while pretending to be putting together a class reunion. The grinning idiot act completely fools Ross. Later, he sees the man a second time... unfortunately for Ross. He still grins, but with gleeful malice as he pours a pitcher of water over his victim while promising an unpleasant time to come: "When I was at school... my school, not your school, I was an absolute stinker - and I haven't changed a bit!"

Lonely: Kills time reading through the personal ads in the newspaper. This is what gives Callan the idea that Richmond might be communicating through personal ads, which in turn leads him to Ross. Though the computer also returns Ross's name, Callan's investigation is important: Without it, Ross would likely have been casually cleared, Meres's initial visit having turned up nothing of interest. This makes Lonely instrumental in finding Richmond. He is also critical to the episode's climax, when he has to act in order to keep Richmond from escaping. For all of his surface cowardice and all the problems he has caused in the past, Callan still shows complete trust in him to do his part.

Richmond: Still more parallels are drawn between him and Callan. He handles Ross much in the way Callan has often handled Lonely, imposing his will through a series of barely veiled threats. He gets Ross first to put him up until his extraction, and later to run errands for him. He retains his fondness for Callan.  Even at the end, he passes up a chance to shoot his adversary, instead attempting to bargain by offering to go freelance as partners.  Callan turns the offer down, but he doesn't seem entirely untempted.

Meres, doing what he most enjoys: tormenting a prisoner.

THOUGHTS:

The Callan television series comes to an end with an episode that's rich in good character material, particularly for Callan and Richmond.

Richmond is the villain of both episode and arc, but he's a generally sympathetic one. As Hunter points out, the things he's done over the past three episodes were actions Callan himself would have taken under orders, even if he didn't like them; and the last episode showcased how little Richmond liked at least one of his orders.

Pacing has been a strong suit of Series Four, and that is true again here. The episode moves along quickly.  It also provides some highly entertaining moments, from Richmond's casual domination of Ross to Meres's two encounters with the unfortunate (though far from innocent) young man.

The last Act is very strong. Callan is left to face Richmond alone, with only Lonely to back him up.  His final instructions to Lonely before he goes in show none of his usual bluster, or threats, or even condescension.  When Lonely asks if he's scared, Callan freely admits that he's terrified.  The sequence that follows is tense and well-shot, making excellent use of lighting and shadow as the two men stalk each other. It also never loses sight of them as characters. This carries through to the tag, with the final scenes between Callan and Richmond, Callan and Lonely, and Callan and Hunter all perfectly judged.

A few minor debits keep me from ranking this among the series' very best. The rivalry/not-quite-friendship between Callan and Meres has been a touchstone of the series, and yet the two receive no real final scene. In fact, though he's received several entertaining scenes, Meres has been generally underused throughout the three-parter.

The idea of Callan falling under suspicion has potential, particularly in the series finale.  However, it comes far too soon after Call Me Enemy's attempt to do the same thing with Meres... and as with that episode, nothing is done with it.  In the end, the computer naming Callan only fuels a single fade-to-commercial. Finally, a nit-pick: Across all three episodes, we never learn Richmond's reason for coming to the UK.  Tying up loose ends with Flo was explicitly a secondary goal, but his primary objective is never disclosed or even hinted at.  I'll allow that his objective ultimately doesn't matter to his interactions with The Section.  Still, it feels like a dropped plot point, and that can't help but annoy.

Still, this remains a strong finale overall.  Most important is how well it showcases Callan's greatest strength: Character interactions that are interesting and entertaining, and that feel authentic. I would rate Callan overall as a genuinely great series, one that has aged startlingly well; and while this spells the end of the television series, I'm glad of the two movies that remain, which give me just a little more time with this world and (some of) these characters.


Overall Rating: 8/10.

Previous Episode: The Richmond File - Do You Recognise the Woman?
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