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Department S (TV series)

Department S
Full screen Red letter S with the word Department in the centre
Created by Dennis Spooner
Monty Berman
Developed by Dennis Spooner
Starring Peter Wyngarde
Joel Fabiani
Rosemary Nicols
Dennis Alaba Peters
Theme music composer Edwin Astley
Composer(s) Edwin Astley
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 1
No. of episodes 28 (list of episodes)
Production
Producer(s) Monty Berman
Cinematography

Frank Watts

Brian Elvin
Running time 49 mins
Production company(s) ITC production
Distributor ITV Studios
Release
Original network ATV
Picture format 35 mm film 4:3 Colour
Audio format Mono
Original release 9 March 1969 (1969-03-09) – 4 March 1970 (1970-03-04)
Chronology
Followed by Jason King

Frank Watts

Department S is a United Kingdom spy-fi adventure series produced by ITC Entertainment. It consists of 28 episodes which originally aired in 1969 and 1970. It starred Peter Wyngarde as author Jason King (later featured in spin-off series Jason King), Joel Fabiani as Stewart Sullivan, and Rosemary Nicols as computer expert Annabelle Hurst. These three were agents for a fictional special department (the "S" of the title) of Interpol. The head of Department S was Sir Curtis Seretse (Dennis Alaba Peters).

"When a case proves too baffling for the minds of Interpol, they turn to the talents of Department S." – from the ITC trailer for the series.

The series was created by Dennis Spooner and Monty Berman, although neither man wrote any of the episodes. Episodes were instead written by ITC regulars such as Terry Nation and Philip Broadley. Many of the directors on the show had also worked on other ITC shows such as The Saint, Danger Man and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).

The series was filmed on 35mm and designed, like all ITC's film productions, to fit the United States commercial format. Unusually, however, the episode title, writer and director credits appear on screen before the opening title sequence, though after the theme tune has started. With a few exceptions, the principal cast is always studio-bound. Some exteriors are represented by studio buildings, while the rest are mainly shown in second-unit footage using doubles where necessary. Exotic locations are usually established by the use of . To further cut costs, the series was produced back-to-back with Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).

Department S is a division of Interpol headed by international bureaucrat Sir Curtis Seretse (Peters). Its headquarters is in Paris (Interpol's headquarters has been located in Lyon since 1989) and the members inspect international cases other crime agencies cannot solve.


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