Description
The Protectors The Complete ABC Series
4-DVD Box Set
4 discs. All 14 episodes. Action Thriller. Black & White. Year: 1964
Running time over 12 hours.
Cast: Andrew Faulds, Michael Atkinson and Ann Morrish.
Guests: John McKelvey, Derek Fowlds, Jeremy Kemp, Brian Wilde, Elizabeth Shepherd, Faith Brook, Peter Barkworth, John Carson, Al Mulock, Esmond Knight, Norman Bird, Alan Wheatley, Edwin Richfield, George Pravda, Peter Bowles, Mike Pratt, Anthony Newlands, Gerald Harper, Christine Finn, Derren Nesbitt, Glynn Edwards, Edwin Richfield and Roger Delgado.
The Protectors were: Robert Shoesmith, Ian Souter; and their Girl Friday, Heather Keys. Their motto was: ‘We Sell Security’. Their object: to prevent crime. Operating from a smart Marylebone office, they formed a high-powered private investigation team called the SIS, (Specialists in Security), dedicated to fighting criminals and preventing crimes of all kinds in the twilight borderland between the underworld and the policeman’s beat.
Originally screened in 1964, this complete series has not been seen anywhere since its initial transmission.
The classic ABC adventure series starred RSC player Andrew Faulds as the fiercely moral Souter, a Black Watch officer turned private detective; Michael Atkinson as fellow troubleshooter Shoesmith, an ex-policeman with an unnervingly acute understanding of the mind and methods of the criminal and Ann Morrish as secretary and confidante Heather, a former auctioneers’ assistant with a sharp eye for art fakes and forgeries.
The series was inspired by the many security firms that were beginning to spring up in Britain in the early 60s. After placing advertisements in newspapers, asking prospective clients to call ‘Wellbeck 3269’ the SIS found themselves assigned to cases involving industrial espionage, insurance fraud, double-dealing in the art world, gambling, insurance swindling, trade union exploitation and espionage.
