Out

[Arthur Pringle]

He was certainly very busy, he has 152 acting credits on his imdb page, that is a hell of a lot by anyone's standards. He wrote for many of the top comedians & had his own tv shows. Judging by his comment in the article he was an unlikely ladies man too, maybe that explains the medallion, you don't see people wearing them anymore do you? Like cravats & silk scarves you'd get laughed at today sporting one.
An awful lot of familiar 70's tv faces were involved in Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop I notice. I watched 'Feet Of Clay' a couple of days ago & though Junkin only makes a cameo as a cabbie he certainly makes an impression. Not sure he was quite right as Veneker, it was quite common to have comic actors cast against type as heavies. Junkin's real life womanising might partly explain why he was chosen to play Veneker as he's portrayed as being a bit of a chaser of skirt.

[Dirty Epic]

Personally thought John Junkin was perfect as 'Big Ralph' in fact pretty much all of the cast were spot on.

[Arthur Pringle]

I think I've just got a problem seeing comedians or performers known for comedy in straight roles, Alfred Marks is another. Tom Bell underplays it well & I like the rage filled moments when he's face to face with Bryce & McGrath or that posh guy he visits. I think Bell is less credible in scenes where he has to be physical such as when he overpowers Machen & his friend. Compare him to Derrick O'Connor who, whilst not being well built, has a powerful physical presence, the bit where he jumps over the wall & knocks a few bricks flying looks convincing, Bell strikes me as more delicate, a little like John Thaw who doesn't move quite right when he's fighting compared to Waterman.

[Stan]

Aug 17, 2016 10:07:17 GMT Dirty Epic said:

Nice one Arthur and I re-watched Out last week and still a very, very good piece of television after my 110th viewing.

Kind of noticed a few of the locations which may be worth checking out. I think Frank’s house is/was (?) on Elm Park/off Calverdale Road in Tulse Hill. Calverdale Road is clearly seen in the episode ‘The Moment He Opened His Envelope’. The Mann Egerton car dealers/Tony McGrath’s flat is 120 Wimbledon Hill Road in Wimbledon Village and has been re-developed in the last few years. However the office opposite where Ross’s photographer friend Steve is taking pictures from is still there/the Wimbledon Village Natwest bank. Chris Cottle’s flat/John Pavey’s flat seems to be the same building and might be nearby to Hillcrest Road in Purley (Croydon) as Pavey hijacks the Cortina/VHK470S in Hillcrest Road after losing his police pursuers in a chase through nearby Roundshaw Open Space. The ‘shop’ McGrath and Pavey use and where they encounter and Ross is on Streatham High Road – mentioned on the commentary. The Rimmer/Bryce meet in the final episode was Chelsea Docks and now seems to be roughly Thames Avenue in the Chelsea Harbour development. The Rank Hovis Mill opposite in Battersea is seen too and Lots Road also features a little bit later when Bryce falls into Ross’s trap of telephoning Hallam about McGrath. Electric Avenue and Brixton Market I think also feature in a few scenes too. There's probably loads more locations but these seem to be the only definitive ones I can ID at the moment.

I hope to check these locations at some point soon – can’t right now and need to sus’ out a few of these area’s out too but interesting Euston stayed faithful to Trevor Preston’s South London settings here rather than the more Hammersmith-centric locations used in The Sweeney. I still think some form of follow up series featuring Ross/McGrath could've been a possibility but I suppose the suspense of not knowing what happens to Ross, McGrath and others after the final episode is interesting too and doesn't give it a cosy ending many other series tend to have.

Have say I agree with DE.
Locations typify the era more than most series - would be excellent to visit at some stage.
Many on this forum appreciate Trevor Preston's work from The Sweeney.
Out enables his writing to be shown in a much deeper and varied form.

My grandfather used to teach the Flying Squad how to drive in the 50s.
He really enjoyed this series (and The Sweeney)  - felt they fairly accurately reflected the grittiness of police work.
To put in a wider context at the time other TV series just a few years previously included Dixon of Dock Green, Softly, Softly and Z-Cars.
Cheers,

Stan

[Brown Cortina]

This sounds like a great series. Never heard of it before and while I was looking through this thread I kept thinking, I know that bloke in the Granada from somewhere. It's dawned on me he was in Prime Suspect, He played Bill Otley.


I'm going to buy the DVD now.

[Del Boy]

Nov 15, 2016 18:10:13 GMT Brown Cortina said:

This sounds like a great series. Never heard of it before and while I was looking through this thread I kept thinking, I know that bloke in the Granada from somewhere. It's dawned on me he was in Prime Suspect, He played Bill Otley.


I'm going to buy the DVD now.

Thats the good thing about this place it makes others aware of old tv and film you might be interested in. 
Here's one that came to light earlier in the year and is well worth purchasing. It cost less than a fiver Law & Order 

[Brown Cortina]

Bought that one then and Thanks Del I've just bought Law and Order too. Both from Amazon.


I can see this site is going to get expensive DVD wise

[Del Boy]

You won't be sorry. Law&Order was the best 3.97 or so i ever spent 
When you've seen them come back onto the threads to tell us how you got on 

[Brown Cortina]

I paid £4.66 for Law and order and £9.88 for Out. Maybe paid a bit over the top for Out but as long as I get it.

[Arthur Pringle]

Some 'Out' publicity stills-






In episode 5 of Out there are 2 photos seen of a young Frank Ross, one of them is a still from a tv play he was in called 'The Minder', which was an episode of an ITV thriller anthology series from 1972 called 'The Frighteners'. I think only 2 episodes of The Frighteners exist ( both of which can be seen on dailymotion ), judging by the stills of 'The Minder' it looks like a crime drama with Bell as the possible 'minder' of the title. I can't find any writing/directing credits for it but Mike Hodges, director of 'Get Carter' & Trevor Preston collaborator, wrote & directed 2 or more episodes of The Frighteners so it could've been him.

Looking at the rexfeatures stills I discovered something very intriguing concerning a role Tom Bell had in an episode of 'The Protectors' but I'll save this revelation for The Sweeney episodes thread!

Below is one of the episodes mentioned of The Frighteners, 'The Manipulators' written & directed by Mike Hodges & featuring Bryan Marshall from 'Out', thought it would be of interest.
Btw, the dailymotion video was uploaded by a woman called Pamela Power, she had a brief career as an actress appearing in the sitcom 'Bread' as a DHSS clerk for 37 episodes, other than 1 other credit this is the only tv acting she did according to imdb. I know this because she used to have a youtube channel with the same id 'Pamilow' ( she's a big fan of Barry Manilow apparently ).