The Champions is a British espionage thriller, science fiction and occult detective fiction adventure television series. It was produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment production company and consists of 30 episodes broadcast in the UK on ITV during 1968–1969. The series was broadcast in Canada on CTV and the US on NBC, starting in summer 1968.
Plot Agents Craig Stirling, Sharron Macready and Richard Barrett work for a United Nations law enforcement organisation called 'Nemesis', based in Geneva. Barrett is a codebreaker, Stirling a pilot and Macready a recently widowed scientist and doctor.
In the pilot episode, the team is escaping by air from a spying mission in China. Their stolen plane, damaged by gunfire during the getaway, crashes in the Himalayas. They are rescued by the residents of Shangri-La, an advanced civilisation living secretly in the mountains of Tibet, who save their lives, granting them enhanced abilities, including extrasensory powers to communicate with one another over distances (telepathy) and to foresee events (precognition), enhanced versions of the ordinary five senses, and intellectual and physical abilities reaching the fullest extent of human capabilities.
Many stories feature unusual villains, such as fascist regimes from unspecified South American countries, Nazis (a common theme of ITC 1960s and 1970s TV, in part owing to both the writers and the domestic audience having been of the war generation) or the Chinese. The villains' schemes often threaten world peace; Nemesis' brief is international, so the agents deal with threats transcending national interests. The main characters have to learn the use of their new powers as they go along, keeping what they discover secret from friend and foe alike. Each episode begins with a close-up shot of a map, showing the region in which the story is to take place, followed by a teaser sometimes prefaced by stock footage; this is followed by the title sequence. Immediately following that is a post-title vignette, in which one or more of the Champions demonstrates exceptional mental or physical abilities, often astonishing or humiliating others. In one example, Stirling participates in a sharpshooting contest. In another, Macready's car is blocked in, two laughing passing drunks try to lift it out but she goes round to the other side and pulls it out of the parking space one-handed. Paradoxically, the narration during these often-public demonstrations usually mentions the need to keep the powers a secret. The narration involved in these particular scenes is spoken by American-born actor David Bauer, who also appeared as a foreign-accented villain in the episode "The Experiment".
The only other series regular is the Champions' boss, Tremayne. He does not know that his agents have special abilities, although he does ask innocent questions about just how on their missions they managed to carry out certain tasks about which their reports were vague.
Cast
Main cast Stuart Damon as Craig Stirling Alexandra Bastedo as Sharron Macready William Gaunt as Richard Barrett Anthony Nicholls as W.L. Tremayne.
Guests George Murcell as El Gaudillo Eric Pohlmann as Barka Joseph Fürst as Chislenkan David Lodge as Filmer Ric Young as Burmese Police Captain Michael Mellinger as Embassy Official Edward Brayshaw as Del Marco Peter Wyngarde as Dr. John Hallam Reg Lye as Curtis.
Production The Champions was created by Dennis Spooner and its episodes were written by individuals who had worked on other British spy series, including The Avengers and Danger Man. An unfilmed script originally intended for Danger Man was used for one episode.
The series was produced by Monty Berman, who had co-produced The Saint, Gideon's Way and numerous B movies of the 1950s. Berman used many of the same writers, directors and crew on other ITC series, including Department S, Jason King, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and The Adventurer.
Owing to budget constraints, many sets were reused: three episodes were set on a submarine and three in the Arctic. Stock footage was often used. As with other ITC productions, much of the exterior action took place in and around the studio lot – in the case of The Champions, around Associated British Studios in Elstree, England. For at least one episode, "Desert Journey", foreign filming did take place, but with a second unit, and extras standing in for the main cast.
The theme music of the series was written by Tony Hatch, with Albert Elms and Edwin Astley supplying incidental music.
Episodes NoTitleWriterDirectorUK airdate1""The three Nemesis agents recover from a plane crash in the Tibetan mountains to find their injuries healed. In the course of the episode, they learn they have had new abilities bestowed on them by their rescuers, people from an ancient civilisation, and have to evade capture from the Chinese military.With Felix Aylmer, Burt Kwouk, Joseph Fürst2""The agents investigate a plot to steal the gold reserves of a bank in the City of London.With Peter Wyngarde, Aubrey Morris, Basil Dignam, James Culliford, Steve Plytas, David Prowse3"Reply Box No. 666"The agents are sent to the Caribbean to investigate a newspaper advert asking for "a parrot that speaks Greek", which Tremayne has worked out is a signal for participants in an undercover operation.With Anton Rodgers, George Murcell, George Roubicek, Imogen Hassall, Niké Arrighi4""Sharron is sent undercover to a training establishment in which a scientist is using new techniques to produce agents who have the same level of abilities as the Champions. Nemesis is interested in the organisation because one of its graduates has tried to break into a military establishment and steal secrets.With David Bauer, Nicholas Courtney, Philip Bond, Russell Waters, Madalena Nicol, Allan Cuthbertson, Caroline Blakiston, David Swift (Uncredited).5"Happening"Sharron, Craig and Tremayne are in Australia observing a nuclear test. Meanwhile, Richard is trapped at ground zero with amnesia, trying to stop the men who are attempting to sabotage the test.With Jack MacGowran, Michael Gough, Grant Taylor, Bill Cummings6"Operation Deep Freeze"Craig and Richard are sent to Antarctica to investigate an unexplained nuclear explosion, and discover that an unnamed South American country is using the territory to develop its own nuclear weapon.With Patrick Wymark, Robert Urquhart, Peter Arne, Walter Gotell, George Pastell, Martin Boddey, Alan White, Derek Sydney, Dallas Cavell, Michael Godfrey7""The trio are sent to investigate the possibility that caches of guns have been left in Austria by the SS, and end up discovering a secret Nazi hideout in the local iron mines, complete with surviving Nazis who think the Second World War is still going on.With Clifford Evans, Donald Houston, Bernard Kay, Stephen Yardley, John Tate, Frederick Schiller8"To Trap a Rat"Using Sharron as a decoy, the agents investigate a drug-running racket in London.With Guy Rolfe, Edina Ronay, Michael Standing, Toke Townley, Kate O'Mara, John Lee, Michael Guest9""This was one of the more comedic episodes. The trio are detailed to guard the former dictator of a small South American country, La Revada, who is living in exile in the South of France. This is because some of his political opponents are planning to assassinate him, which would destabilise the political situation in the region. El Caudillo (as the former dictator insists on being called) turns out to be a vainglorious, not-very-intelligent womaniser who likes to prove that he is superior to everyone around him.With George Murcell, Patrick Magee, Steven Berkoff10""The Champions investigate a mysterious 'ghost plane' which is both faster than anything else in the air and of unknown origin.With Andrew Keir, Dennis Chinnery, Tony Steedman, John Bryans, Hilary Tindall, Derek Murcott, Paul Grist11""The Champions are sent to investigate a tropical island where visitors have a history of disappearing. Coming on shore in two parties, they discover and thwart an international conspiracy to threaten world peace.With Vladek Sheybal, Alan Gifford, Ben Carruthers, Andy Ho12""An unknown organisation is assassinating international leaders. Richard, posing as a convicted traitor, is sent to infiltrate the organisation and try to bring it down from within.With Donald Pickering, Julian Glover, Gerald Harper, Barry Stanton13"Twelve Hours"The Champions are assigned to escort an Eastern European head of state, Drobnic, on his visit to Britain. During a dive in a Scottish loch, their submarine is sabotaged and Drobnic is injured. Richard and Sharron are forced to face down a mutiny within the crew, who want to surface and save their lives; the submarine cannot be allowed to surface if Drobnic is to survive the surgery, which Sharron has performed.With Mike Pratt, Peter Howell, John Turner, John Stone, Viola Keats, Henry Gilbert, Rio Fanning, Edward Cast14""After a nuclear submarine is stolen by ex-Nazis who are determined to use it to continue the war, the Champions are tasked with hunting it down.With Joseph Fürst, John Woodvine, Patricia English, Reginald Marsh, Gábor Baraker15""After burglars break into Nemesis headquarters to access information on Richard, Craig is assigned to monitor him. Richard, however, allows himself to be abducted, leaving a message for his colleague. He finds himself imprisoned in a luxurious room (the "gilded cage" of the title), where his captor (John Carson) threatens him that, unless Richard can decipher a code, a young woman, Samantha (Jennie Linden), will be killed.With John Carson, Jennie Linden, Tony Caunter, Clinton Greyn, Vernon Dobtcheff16"Shadow of the Panther"Whilst on holiday in Haiti, Sharron investigates a plot to brainwash important figures in the worlds of politics, science and business, apparently orchestrated by a local sorcerer, Damballa. Richard and Craig become involved later, only to discover that Sharron has apparently been discovered by the plotters and brainwashed herself.With Zia Mohyeddin, Donald Sutherland, Tony Wall, Hedger Wallace, Christopher Carlos, Tania, Kenneth Gardnier17""The trio are sent to investigate when several Interpol agents commit motiveless suicide. They discover that an Italian-American gangster forms the only connection between the agents, and set up a sting in which Craig threatens him, so as to discover his methodology.With Edward Brayshaw, John Bailey, Jeanne Roland, Michael Graham, Michael Slater, Olive McFarland, Jacques Cey, Madge Brindley18""Craig is captured after a mission in Hong Kong and held in a cell where he is subject to interrogation by various cruel means. The unnamed interrogator (Colin Blakely) wants information about Craig's last mission. Despite nearing breaking point, Craig escapes the room, only to find he is at Nemesis headquarters; the interrogator is a member of Nemesis internal security, charged with finding out how Craig completed his last mission (his report had been less than clear at certain points, which were where his powers had come into play). Tremayne halts the investigation over the interrogator's protests, but the episode ends with Craig expressing bitterness towards his colleagues for their failure to intervene. All of the three are unhappy with Tremayne as well, owing to his part in the interrogation.With Colin Blakely