Last updated : 1st August 2016
Episode 'A Man Called Quinn' | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Story Synopsis | An ex-Secret Service agent, now a mental hospital patient after years of torture by the KGB, inexplicably flees his asylum and begins a lethal revenge campaign against his former comrades. | Writer | Tony Barwick | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Guest Stars | Stephen Berkoff, Del Henney | Director | Horace Ové | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Production Order & Filming Dates |
Block 5, Episode 2
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Original UK Transmission | Season 5, Episode 10 30th January 1983 |
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Dave's Comment |
Story
Action Pace Humour Violence Although one of the better plotlines from the later years with some well-conceived scenes, laudable direction and top-notch one-liners, the episode as a whole doesn't seem to work as effectively as one would expect. The ease with which Cowley manages to "turn" Quinn is the main culprit, I think. However there is a liberal dose of great humour - see Dialogue section below. The poorer scenes include Linal Haft's hilarious attempts at boxing manoeuvres and the old chestnut of a truck emerging from a sidestreet to block a pursuing car. Cowley has yet another nameless "girlfriend" ferrying him around! Thirty quid a week to stay in a crummy bedsit in 1981??!! Many of the incidental music themes are recycled from previous episodes. The music editing itself is generally uninspired, too, negating a required sense of vitality or "urgency" from many scenes. Perhaps Laurie Johnson wasn't available to create sufficient new themes for this episode? Although the safehouse scenes are excellent, they actually serve no purpose in furthering the story, as no attempt is made to capture Quinn immediately following the rocket attack. Besides, how does Quinn know where Cowley is hiding? The finale is a good old shoot-out (one which would have greatly benefited 'Servant of Two Masters') with an excellent stunt involving a villain being plastered across the Capri's windscreen. And there is some great photography when the lads are chasing the deranged Quinn on his "final mission". Overall, however, the episode's whole is less than the sum of its (many great) parts. |
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Dialogue |
Motorcycle cop to speeding Bodie: "Good morning, Flash Gordon! I made it 65 - but I'm not vindictive, so I'm going to call it... 65!" Bodie to Doyle: "I suppose we could always say we're on our way to a fire, couldn't we?" Doyle: "What do you mean 'we', mate? I'm just a passenger!" Bodie: "Oh, thanks!" Cop: "Driving license?" Bodie takes out his warrant card. Cop: "What's this?" Bodie: "Well you can read, can't you? CI5." Cop, nodding resignedly: "Thunder and Lightning Brigade! Are you on official business?" Doyle, deliberately giving the impression he's lying: "Of course we are!" Bodie puts pedal to metal. Bodie: "What's Quinn's connection with CI5, sir?" Cowley, impatiently storming off: "The connection is very simple: I want him found!" Bodie to Doyle: "What's he been eating? Razor blades?" Doyle: "Yeah - all the better to bite your head off with, my dear!" Doyle, showing photo of Quinn: "Is this one of your guests?" Landlady: "Second landing, room facing." Bodie appears with a gun. Landlady: "Bloody 'ell!" Doyle: "Alright, just relax, go to your room and stay there." Bodie, nonchalantly, to retreating landlady: "Put the kettle on, love!" Bodie, having just saved Cowley's life: "Finish your cup of tea, sir?" Cowley, usual lack of gratitude: "No - some idiot put sugar in it!" |
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Bloopers |
When Quinn lobs the grenade at the pursuing Bodie and Doyle, you can see it bounce along the ground after it has exploded! (Thanks to Rainer Schmidt) |
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Sidenotes | Tony Barwick's 1973 script 'First Circle' for Gerry Anderson's The Protectors bears remarkable similarities to this episode (thanks to Bob Rocca) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Deja Vu |
Amazing to think that even as recently as 1981, Steven Berkoff (Krasnov) was still little-known, having spent much of the previous two decades languishing in bit-parts. Cult TV fans might have spotted him in the wonderful Avengers story 'The Gravediggers' (he's the heavy in the wheelchair) and three episodes of Gerry Anderson's UFO as a SHADO pilot. Almost immediately after his Professionals episode, however, his career took off. Action/adventure film fans will remember him in Octopussy, Beverley Hills Cop and Rambo: First Blood Part II. His propensity for psychopaths continued when he played Hitler in the big-budget Robert Mitchum mini-series War and Remembrance. Bernard Archard (Granger) popped up in all sorts of cult and classic films and TV shows of the 60s and 70s such as Village of the Damned, Danger Man, The Avengers, Doctor Who, Callan, Polanski's Macbeth (with M Shaw Esq), Day of the Jackal and Sky. |
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Locations |
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