The Rat Catchers is a 1960s British television drama series made by Rediffusion and broadcast on ITV. The series was not networked, playing on different days of the week in London from other regions. It is about a top secret British Intelligence Unit. It receives orders from the Prime Minister and, without questioning, proceeds to battle enemy spies, saboteurs, and others to protect the security of Great Britain and the Western Alliance.
Contents
Format
The Rat Catchers is an organisation based at Whitehall in Central London but officially didn't exist, being denied at the highest level as they worked with the greatest secrecy.
The focus is on three major characters:
Peregrine Pascale Smith (portrayed by Gerald Flood) is an Oxford University-educated managing director with 12 years' experience under his belt.
Brigadier H. St. J. Davidson (portrayed by Philip Stone) is the emotionless analytical brains behind the group.
Richard William Hurst (portrayed by Glyn Owen), formerly a superintendent at Scotland Yard.
The show begins with the arrival of Richard Hurst, the new recruit to the team, an ex-policeman who was said to have gone by the book whilst in the force. However, the secrecy in the organisation's setup finds Hurst somewhat out of step with the other two, including not really knowing which of the other two really has the authority. Officially, Hurst is an employee of Smith's company: Transworld Electronics, leading to some confusion; in episode 3, he is not sure whether Smith or the Brigadier is his boss. This antagonistic approach leads him to feel left out, a situation not helped by Brigadier Davidson insistence that Hurst knows only the bare minimum about the organisation and is keen to keep it that way.
The Brigadier's catch phrase is "Say so, if you understand me." which he repeats each time he sent Smith and Hurst on a mission to ensure his orders are carried out to the letter. This was mimicked on the single version recording of the theme tune which opens with the mimicked "Say Yes, if you understand me".
The show aired in two series comprising 25 x 60-minute episodes. Stories continued over multiple episodes in two or three parts, with cliff-hanger endings.
Production
Made by – Rediffusion TV Network Production (part of the UK's then ITV network)
Producer – Cyril Coke
Director – James Ormerod
Theme music – Johnny Pearson (composer and arranger)
Series one
Broadcast 31 January 1966 to 25 April 1966, on Mondays on Rediffusion, London between 8 pm and 9 pm. Other ITV regions showed it on the following Wednesday.
1. Ticket to Madrid
Written by Raymond Bowers
Ex-policeman Richard Hurst arrives and is sent on a mission. In Madrid, he and the beautiful Miss Larks (Jan Waters) come up against the cold horror of the world of espionage and deception. Also stars Norman Scace and Jeffrey Gardiner. This is one of only two surviving complete episodes.
2. The Captain Morales Story
Written by Raymond Bowers
In Madrid, Hurst comes face to face with the violence of his new job. Also stars Edward de Souza, James Kerry and Peter Dennis.
3. The Unwitting Courier
Written by Raymond Bowers
A beautiful FBI agent causes the Brigadier trouble sending a secret document to his Madrid contact. She is after the Alpha Crowd who the Brigadier sees as neither friend nor foe. He sets Hurst to following an American couple played by: Jeanne Moody and David Bauer. Also stars James Kerry as Alpha, Victor Platt and Tsai Chin. This is one of only two surviving complete episodes.
4. Madrid Delivery
Written by Raymond Bowers
With the vital information passed on, Hurst is ready to go home but finds himself in trouble and needing the Brigadier's help. Also stars: Tom Gill, Patricia English, Alex Scott and Victor Pemberton.
5. The Missing Agent
Series two
Broadcast 8 December 1966 to 9 March 1967, on Thursdays between 9.40 pm and 10.40 pm in some ITV regions, Rediffusion, London showed it on the next day, Fridays, at 8pm
14. Rendezvous Vienna
Written by Jeremy Paul
Also stars Geoffrey Palmer, Keith Ashley, Maurice Brownin, Carl Rigg and Peter Thomas
15. Showdown Vienna
Written by Jeremy Paul
Hurst and Smith are on a find and destroy mission but run up against the dangerous Leopold Donner (Frank Gatliff). Also stars Lucy Fleming and Vernon Dobtcheff.
16. Mission to Madeira
Written by Victor Canning
Working undercover, Hurst infiltrates the dangerous Midas Consortium but can he trust the lovely Lea (Hannah Gordon)? Also stars Richard Warner, John Abineri, John Brandon and John Slavid.
17. Death in Madeira
Written by Victor Canning
Hurst seems to have fallen for Lea and wants to resign but the Brigadier has other plans with unpleasant results. Also stars Frederick Treves, John Abineri, Susan Engel and Conrad Monk.
18. Midnight Over Madeira
Written by Victor Canning
Hurst and the Brigadier clash as The Midas Consortium plan the death of a man, which will send the world's stock markets crashing and make them a huge fortune. Also stars Kevin Stoney, Jerry Stovin, Susan Engel and John Abineri.
Proposed DVD release
NetworkDVD, as they were called at the time, announced "The Rat Catchers" as the subject of a forthcoming release feature, including a clip from the recovered series 1 episode "The Unwitting Courier", along with notification that more information would follow in due course. However, after a few weeks this page disappeared from their website and all linked mention of any potential DVD release was scrubbed from the website a few weeks afterwards.
Surviving episodes
It is believed that the only copies of episodes which have survived are 'Ticket to Madrid' and 'The Unwitting Courier'. The latter was spotted on a torrent site and apparently originated from a VHS copy of a 16mm film print obtained at a film convention.
In addition to the above, the action sequences from episode 23 (series 2) "The Heel of Achilles" survive as poor quality film copies.
Theme tune
Performed by pianist Johnny Pearson, the full-length recording of "The Rat Catchers theme" tune was released on [Columbia] DB 8751 ([EMI]). It failed to make the charts. The recording opens with the line "Say Yes, if you understand me" (mimicking Brigadier Davidson's catch-phrase line, "Say so, if you understand me"), before launching onto a full piano and strings-led theme.
Books
Two books were released to accompany the series during the time it was broadcast; 'All in a Day's Work' and 'The End of the Fourth Reich' both bylined "David Ray." As no other books of the era with this byline exist, and the styles of the two books are markedly different, Ray seems to be a house pseudonym assigned to the series, to be used by multiple authors.