Jason King (TV series)
| Jason King | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Action adventure |
| Created by |
Dennis Spooner Monty Berman |
| Starring | Peter Wyngarde |
| Theme music composer | Laurie Johnson |
| Composer(s) | Laurie Johnson |
| Country of origin | UK |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Monty Berman |
| Running time | 50 min. |
| Distributor | ITC Entertainment |
| Release | |
| Picture format | 16 mm 4:3 Colour |
| Audio format | Mono |
| Original release | 15 September 1971 – 28 April 1972 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Department S |
Jason King is a British television series screened in the United Kingdom during 1971 and 1972 which was produced by ITC Entertainment. Each episode was one hour in duration (including commercial breaks), and the series had a single season of 26 episodes. As well as its native UK, the series was shown internationally. The series has been released on DVD in Australia, the United States and Germany as well as its native UK.
The series featured the further adventures of the title character who had first appeared in Department S (1969). In that series he was a dilettante dandy and author of a series of adventure novels, working as part of a team of investigators. In Jason King he had left that service to concentrate on writing the adventures of Mark Caine, who closely resembled Jason King in looks, manner, style, and personality. None of the other regular characters from Department S appeared in this series.
In the course of visiting international locations as part of his research, or through being summoned by people needing assistance, King would be frequently embroiled in adventure stories featuring glamorous women, exotic locations (for the era), menacing villains, political turmoil, or espionage intrigue.
The first episode depicted King's retelling of a Mark Caine novel to a television executive, alternating between King's interpretation of events, and the television executive's version. King's version showed style and class, while the executive's version featured added suspense, more cliches, and had the women in more revealing costumes. In the footage representing both men's vision of the novel adapted for the screen, Mark Caine was portrayed by Wyngarde.
The titles of the Mark Caine books consisted of 4 short words, in the manner of some of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels. The Mark Caine title mentioned most often in the series was Index Finger Left Hand; another one was To China Yours Sincerely (parodying Fleming's From Russia With Love).
Subsequent episodes featured Wyngarde playing King trying to write his novels and being hassled by his publisher Nicola Harvester about deadlines. King, however, was usually distracted by beautiful women and his real-life adventures and was sometimes tricked by Ryland of the British Government into assisting the Government in international political matters: all of which later found their way into the adventures of the fictional Mark Caine.
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Wikipedia