Brian Clemens

Timeless A-Peel · Post by **Timeless A-Peel** » Tue May 21, 2013 9:54 pm

anti-clockwise wrote:"He takes his work home with him" was very fitting! That is really interesting that they filmed his home. Can't wait to see it on my DVD's when they arrive!

Presumably it was more convenient than getting the permission of someone else to shoot on their property. What I'm more concerned about is the use of Albert Fennell's car in The Eagle's Nest. By the time Gambit's through with it, it looks pretty trashed. I sincerely hope the damage was mocked up, because it looks pretty rough onscreen.

anti-clockwise · Post by **anti-clockwise** » Tue May 21, 2013 10:18 pm

I didn't know that. I started with "c" for clemens so haven't gotten around to the thread on Fennel. Wonder why he would even consider doing that for the show. What kind of car? I am assuming it is unusual and pricey. They must have really loved that show. Come to think of didn't I just read that Fennel put in something like 80000 GBP into the show to keep it going and i believe lost it?

Timeless A-Peel · Post by **Timeless A-Peel** » Wed May 22, 2013 1:57 am

anti-clockwise wrote:I didn't know that. I started with "c" for clemens so haven't gotten around to the thread on Fennel. Wonder why he would even consider doing that for the show. What kind of car? I am assuming it is unusual and pricey. They must have really loved that show. Come to think of didn't I just read that Fennel put in something like 80000 GBP into the show to keep it going and i believe lost it?

I'm not great with cars, but Piers' site informs me it was a Citroen DS21 Pallas. It's not particularly surprising they'd improvise if they didn't have a car at hand, but from the looks of things they must have replaced the windshield with a sugar glass one so they could smash it. The sacrifices one makes.

It's no secret that Clemens and Fennell put some of their own money into the show when the financing fell apart, and no, they never got it back. But then they weren't the only ones, sadly.

anti-clockwise · Post by **anti-clockwise** » Wed May 22, 2013 3:26 am

Wow! This is the financing for the original or TNA? that sucks!!
Where is there a venture capitalist when you need them!!

i have never heard of such a car. Amazing.

Is this normal or the usual behavior to lend out your home, your car your entire income for a tv show??

Timeless A-Peel · Post by **Timeless A-Peel** » Wed May 22, 2013 12:48 pm

anti-clockwise wrote:Wow! This is the financing for the original or TNA? that sucks!!
Where is there a venture capitalist when you need them!!

i have never heard of such a car. Amazing.
Is this normal or the usual behavior to lend out your home, your car your entire income for a tv show??

This was for TNA, which was an independent production and failed to get backing in Britain. It was funded by French money, which later fell through, followed by Canadian money, before sputtering out altogether for reasons that still aren't entirely clear. But it was a bit of a mess, no question of that. The original series wasn't plagued by the same problems, though it did become reliant on the American ABC network's buying the show in the last few years, meaning it couldn't carry on to the same standard once ABC chose not to renew it. But there wasn't the financial mess that plagued TNA.

I wouldn't say it was normal for production staff to lend out their homes to their shows, no, but I suppose if it was convenient they might do it, just to cut down on some aggrevation.

anti-clockwise · Post by **anti-clockwise** » Wed May 22, 2013 2:07 pm

Is that what brought down TNA the lack of finanacial backing? Was that the series that made Fennell and Clemens put in their own money?

Speed Six · Post by **Speed Six** » Wed May 22, 2013 2:38 pm

anti-clockwise wrote:Is that what brought down TNA the lack of finanacial backing? Was that the series that made Fennell and Clemens put in their own money?

Yes - lack of funding was a big problem for the show. It didn't have the same pre-sales to America that the earlier film series had.

The New Avengers producers also weren't alone in providing their own vehicles for use in their programmes. Gerry Anderson's live action shows also featured his and his associate producer's own cars.

Timeless A-Peel · Post by **Timeless A-Peel** » Wed May 22, 2013 3:50 pm

Speed Six wrote:
anti-clockwise wrote:Is that what brought down TNA the lack of finanacial backing? Was that the series that made Fennell and Clemens put in their own money?
Yes - lack of funding was a big problem for the show. It didn't have the same pre-sales to America that the earlier film series had.

The New Avengers producers also weren't alone in providing their own vehicles for use in their programmes. Gerry Anderson's live action shows also featured his and his associate producer's own cars.

I confess I don't know much about Gerry Anderson's series, but I'm not surprised. They could only recycle that shot of the white Jaguar falling over a cliff so many times, after all.

Frankymole · Post by **Frankymole** » Wed May 22, 2013 9:58 pm

I'm on my third or fourth Jason King episode (Toki, with Felicity Kendall) and they had the white Jag / cliff sequence! I told my fellow viewer what was going to happen as soon as they got the victim drunk and went outside to a... white Jag! No cliffs in sight, so they had to get the car to drive itself down a massive hill first to get to the cliff.

As for loaned cars, Roger Moore famously bought one of the Saint's Volvos for the start of filming, so that they could have enough for use in the show. Patrick McGoohan's limo (Bentley?) is driven by the "posh gent" who draws alongside the escapees in the final episode of "The Prisoner" (he later got given a Lotus/Caterham 7 as used by the Prisoner himself, but that was in the 1990s).

Timeless A-Peel · Post by **Timeless A-Peel** » Thu May 23, 2013 12:29 pm

Frankymole wrote:I'm on my third or fourth Jason King episode (Toki, with Felicity Kendall) and they had the white Jag / cliff sequence! I told my fellow viewer what was going to happen as soon as they got the victim drunk and went outside to a... white Jag! No cliffs in sight, so they had to get the car to drive itself down a massive hill first to get to the cliff.

As for loaned cars, Roger Moore famously bought one of the Saint's Volvos for the start of filming, so that they could have enough for use in the show. Patrick McGoohan's limo (Bentley?) is driven by the "posh gent" who draws alongside the escapees in the final episode of "The Prisoner" (he later got given a Lotus/Caterham 7 as used by the Prisoner himself, but that was in the 1990s).

I remember the first couple of times I saw it, I had this weird sense of deja vu, but didn't make the connection until someone mentioned it on here. By the time I got to Jason King, I knew the poor guy was doomed. Gambit should have counted himself lucky that his Jag was red.

I think I may have heard the Roger Moore one before, but not the Patrick McGoohan one--thanks, Franky!