The Protectors: TV Action, 1973

By the end of 1972, it was becoming apparent that the publication which had started as Countdown - the Space Age comic was moving further and further away from this claim. Unlike the 1960s, where one Gerry Anderson series had followed another on an almost annual basis, UFO was to be the last space adventure orientated production for a few years. With thriller and action series becoming increasingly vogue on television, Anderson's next production - which he admits being thrust upon him by Lew Grade - would have to follow suit, and The Protectors was born.

In order to stay afloat, and with repeats of Anderson's earlier series like Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the recent UFO becoming increasingly sparce, Countdown had shifted from Countdown For TV Action (issue 46) to TV Action & Countdown (issue 59). While UFO continued to have a high profile throughout, the other Anderson series slowly dwindled away to be replaced by more popular television strips such as The Persuaders (which started the trend in issue 35), Hawaii Five-Oh and Mission:Impossible. After a hundred issues, the Countdown part of the title was dropped altogether to become just TV Action.

The new comic bore little resemblance to its predecessor, being more akin to Polystyle's sibling publication TV Comic. Spiralling economic costs and power strikes at the time affected every industry, and this consequently meant cost-cutting. By now, the comic was already printed in litho offset, rather than the more lavish photogravure of TV21 or the original Countdown, and on cheaper paper.

Perhaps the only familiar thing was the rotation of strips, a feature of the comic since its inception, which meant they alternated between complete stories, weekly serials and being rested for an issue or two. The complete stories, or 'big stories' as they were sometimes called, were usually heralded by a colour cover, and after a colour photo centrespread introduction in issue 100, this was how The Protectors started...

The Protectors exist to protect those in peril, its members are the super agents of the world's best detective agencies, who now work for a private organisation which is unrestricted by legal red tape. Money is no object for The Protectors, whose methods are as unconventional as they are hazardous...

The Protectors strip guide

Boxful Of Trouble
Issue 101, week ending 20 January 1973
Writer: Unknown.
Artist: Frank Langford (7 pages, b/w).
Two men arrive at the Grandchester Hotel in London to collect a large box from Mr Collodi but when there is no reply from his room the manager allows them in. The departure is watched, and the crate is delivered to Harry Rule's office. Inside, Rule finds Bartolommeo Collodi himself, a fugitive from the Camorra or the 'Black Hand', an Italian criminal society. Collodi'sbrother Carlo was chief of the Camorra, and wrote a full confession before he died that could lead to their downfall. If he can reach italy alive, he will hand them over to the police. But the meeting is being watched and an anti-tank shell tears the office apart. Paul Buchet arrives from Paris to be told by Suki that both Harry and Collodi died. Arrangements are made for Collidi's body to be taken to Italy by Caroline and Chino, and Paul takes Harry's body back to America. Caroline's hearse is ambushed by Camorra henchman Gianni, only to find a very live Harry Rule in the coffin. Gianni and his men are overpowered and left with Chino while Harry and Caroline contact Paul, now on the Queen Elizabeth II, with Collodi - also alive and smuggled in the other coffin. Camorra men posing as police overpower Paul and steal the coffin but Collodi is no longer inside. At Novamonte in Italy, all are reunited at Carlo's grave, where the confession is hidden. But Collodi actually wants to take control of the society with the information, and is fooled by a fake package handed over by Harry and taken to the police.

Notes:
• While the strip is called 'Boxful Of Trouble', the cover title is given as 'A Boxfull Of Trouble'.
• This is the only Protectors strip to feature all three, as well as Suki and Chino.
• Camorra is actually Italian for 'racket', and the term for members 'camorrista' means 'racketeer'.
• The colour cover would appear to be by Gerry Haylock, following the painted style of his earlier covers for Doctor Who.

Issue 102 & Issue 103: No The Protectors strip

Boy Wonder
Part 1: Issue 104, week ending 10 February 1973
Writer: Unknown. Artist: Enrique Romero (uncredited). 2 pages, colour.

Harry Rule has been hired to protect young pop singer Wee Davey but when he calls on Caroline for assistance, a woman enters the building at the same time and gases her. She then gets into the room where Harry and Davey are and gases them too. Abducting the singer, the woman pulls away a mask to reveal... a man!

Part 2: Issue 105, week ending 17 February 1973
While his accomplice, Craig, takes Davey, the man - now dressed in a suit - wakes Harry and Caroline, asking where the singer is? Caroline recognises him as Brook, Davey's publicity manager, and tells him to invent a cover story while they attempt to find him. But unknown to them, this is supposedly a publicity stunt that Brook and Davey have planned. But Craig is a real conman and has duped Brook, who has gambling debts, and now wants one hundred thousand pounds for Davey's return. With a personal appearance planned for that afternoon, Brook has to try his skills as a make-up artist to get Caroline to pass as Davey...

Part 3: Issue 106, week ending 24 February 1973
Brook's skills show themselves, and Harry decides the ruse is good enough to throw Craig off his stride. Arranging a television interview, and with Davey realising the trick and playing along, Craig is fooled into thinking he has kidnapped a lookalike stand-in instead. Harry tells the worried conman that if he lets 'Davey' go free, he won't tell the police. But Craig wants revenge and will shoot anyone who approaches to collect him...

Part 4: Issue 107, week ending 03 March 1973
Harry and Caroline, still in her 'Davey' get-up, arrive at the deserted farmhouse where Craig is holding the real singer. Davey manages to slip his gag free and warn Harry just in time. Caroline shows herself and approaches, only to be abducted by Craig who still believes her to be the real Davey. Playing along, Caroline is taken back to the Palace Hotel by Craig, only to be greeted by a crowd of Davey fans...

Part 5: Issue 108, week ending 10 March 1973
Craig takes Caroline back up to the penthouse and jams the lift. Inside, Brook is surprised by their return but realises what has happened and maintains Caroline's deception. Craig tells Brook to get the ransom and sends him down the stairs, where he meets Harry and the real Davey. Brook explains what has happened, leaving Harry only one alternative - to attempt to get to the penthouse by use of a crane. Bribing the driver, Harry is winched up to smash through a skylight and disarm Craig. The case solved, Davey asks Caroline if she would consider a permanent position as stand-in - so he can get some privacy!

Notes:
• The last three installments give the credited artist as Jose Ortiz, though anyone familiar with his work on The Protectors and Alias Smith And Jones strips for TV Action would realise this is incorrect.
• The most likely candidate, going by the distinct style, is Enrique Badia Romero, who had illustrated strips in some of the Lady Penelope annuals, and worked on the first Freewheelers strip in Look-In. He is better known for his work on the Axa and Modesty Blaise newspaper strips.
• The introduction in issue 100 suggests this was intended to be the first Protectors strip.


Busman's Holiday
Issue 109, week ending 17 March 1973
Writer: Unknown.
Artist: Frank Langford (7 pages, b/w).
Relaxing in a new restaurant, Harry is slipped a drug in his drink which fakes a heart attack. Recovering in a clinic, Harry is propositioned for a job which entails him working alone. On the pretense of taking a break, Harry boards a seemingly ordinary passenger jet but which is in reality the flying home of eccentric millionaire Hammond Larson. Hammond bought his grand-daughter Greta a film company to make her a big name actress but she has joined revolutionaries in the north African state of Syrenen. Unfortunately, royalists have captured her and intend to execute her. Given a local guide called Yussef, Harry fights off rebels and rides by camel to reach the capital city Brahema, where ruler Abrahem ben Sadin has Greta prisoner. Posing as a press agency rep and claiming he needs photographic evidence of Greta's capture, Harry manages to slip the girl a message. The following morning, Harry is asked to act as a propagandist for the execution, and is able to rescue Greta with an explosive concealed in his camera. Greta is a reluctant rescuee but is grateful to be reunited with her grandfather. Harry's explosion acts as a catalyst, causing an uprising which Yussef joins. Back home, Caroline is impressed with Harry's tan.
Notes:
• The colour cover would again appear to be by Gerry Haylock.



Issue 110 to Issue 112: No The Protectors strip

A Piece Of The Moon
Part 1: Issue 113, week ending 14 April 1973
Writer: Unknown.
Artist: Rab Hamilton (2 pages, colour).
In a Swiss bank vault, Harry has been shown a piece of moonrock that, being harder than diamond, could revolutionise science. But the next day someone knocks out Paul Buchet, and poses as him to arrange the theft of the rock by a 'Mr. Scorpio'. Recovering, Paul chases the imposter but loses him. Suspicious there may have been inside help, Harry is outwitted by Scorpio as the rock is taken in a different deposit box. Bank clerk Lacroise is tricked into believing he is under suspicion and when he contacts his 'boss', an order is given for him to be eliminated. Watching Lacroise, Paul is shocked when the clerk is shot as he leaves the bank...

Part 2: Issue 114, week ending 21 April 1973
Lacroise is still alive and manages to tell Harry and Paul about Scorpio and his home on Atrones before dying. The assassin nearly shoots Harry before Paul is able to capture him. The three Protectors travel to the island of Atrones, off the south west coast of Greece, where Harry and Paul evade boat patrols by using scuba gear to get ashore. But Scorpio has cameras everywhere, and before too long Harry is captured...



Part 3: Issue 115, week ending 28 April 1973
Harry tries to bluff his way by claiming he is a reporter trying to get a story but Scorpio already knows who he is and has him locked up. Meanwhile Paul has reached the villa and broken in but he too is captured, just as Harry tricks his guard and escapes. Rescuing Paul, the two men confront Scorpio...

Part 4: Issue 116, week ending 05 May 1973
Harry takes the moonrock but Scorpio has pressed a hidden alarm . Harry and Paul jump out of the window into the harbour and steal a boat. Scorpio in his launch soon gains on them but with their fuel nearly out Harry takes a gamble and aims the boat back at their pursuers. As Harry and Paul jump clear, the boats collide and explode. They are picked up by Caroline and the three find Scorpio in the water, ready to be brought to justice.

Notes:
• None


The Dodo Is Dead
Issue 117, week ending 12 May 1973
Writer: Unknown.
Artist: Leslie Branton. 7 pages, b/w.
In the Scottish highlands, Harry and Caroline have been assigned to guard a nest of the rare Lesser Auk bird, thought to have been extinct for over a century. The bird or its eggs would be worth thousands to a fanatical collector, like Sir Henry who has the finest collection of stuffed birds in the world. He and his aide Simms are watching Harry and Caroline, who have camped close to the tree where the Auk is nested, and that night they set fire to the bracken to try and get rid of the two protectors. Harry drives himself and Caroline through the ring of fire in their Range Rover, both jumping free as the tank explodes. Sir Henry and Simms escape, but Harry and Caroline are now stranded without radio or transport. Simms hires a local gang to try and scare them off, which results in Harry being knocked out and Caroline forced to flee. As Sir Henry climbs the tree to get to the Auk nest, Caroline finds a herd of stag deer, and stampedes them back at the gang. Returning, she overpowers Simms, who has Harry prisoner, but Sir Henry threatens to destroy the bird and eggs if he cannot have them. The returning father Auk protects its mate and young, and a startled Sir Henry falls out of the tree, to be caught by Harry and Caroline.
Notes:
• The cover illustration by Gordon King, who also painted the covers for issues 116 (Alias Smith & Jones), 124 (The Persuaders) and 125 (Cannon). Recalling his work, Gordon King comments, 'These jobs were very much art director orientated, and bread and butter for an illustrator in those days. My illustrations were based on a fairly free Conti pencil drawing with acrylic wash and a more painterly technique in parts. I freely mixed both gouache and acrylics together.'

Issue 118 & Issue 119: No The Protectors strip

The Combat Man
Part 1: Issue 120, week ending 02 June 1973
Writer: Unknown.
Artist: Leslie Branton (2 pages, b/w).
The Protectors have been hired to protect a valuable exhibition of art at the Liencester Gallery. Having privately set up a security operation, Harry and Caroline travel to Wandsworth Prison where ex-Sergeant Peter Crump is being released after a sentence for taking bribes, on the possibility of offering him a job. While pleased to see Harry and Caroline, Crump already has other arrangements, and a lift to the estate of millionaire Raymond Dunkley. Dunkley shows him his group of chosen men in training but they prove no match for the judo expert Crump, who says they will have to do far better if they are to kill the Protectors...

Part 2: Issue 121, week ending 09 June 1973
Crump organises a dummy training run to crash one of the Protectors' cars in order to put one of them out of action. After finalising security arrangements at the gallery, Paul leaves Harry and Caroline to be jumped by a couple of Crump's men, and knocked unconscious. But one of them thinks they should kill him now, and finish the job...

Part 3: Issue 122, week ending 16 June 1973
Crump arrives and stops them, saying it has to look like an accident or the incident will attract unwanted police attention. Taking Paul back to his hotel, they leave him in his room and set it on fire. Recovering, Paul's only hope is out the window but it is a hundred foot drop! On the balcony, Paul sees a fire engine approaching but the flames are getting closer! He leaps for a flag hanging from the side of the building, but it starts to tear under his weight...

Part 4: Issue 123, week ending 23 June 1973
As the flag finally gives, Paul is saved by a fireman on a ladder. On the ground, he relates what happened to Harry and Caroline. He is unable to identify the attackers but recognises the chop to the neck used on him - the same method taught to them by Peter Crump! Harry thinks there is a connection betwwen this and Crump's lift from prison, so Caroline sets off in her chauffeur driven Rolls. Her ever alert oriental driver Chino notes they are being followed, but before he can do anything, the car is rammed and overturned...

Part 5: Issue 124, week ending 30 June 1973
Caroline and Chino are taken to St. Bart's Hospital, and Harry is now certain someone is out to get them. Checking newspaper files on known art collectors, he recognises a photo of Dunkley as the man who gave Crump a lift from prison. Breaking into Dunkley's home, Harry fights off his men leaving a showdown between him and Peter Crump. Teacher and ex-student fight but Harry ultimately wins and Dunkley is arrested. At a health resort sometime later, the battered and wounded Protectors finalise their security arrangements, and ponder that the pupils had eventually got the better of their master.

Notes:
• Setting The Protectors up against one of their ex-teachers gives this story a superb edge, and makes this candidate for the best strip of the run.

Issue 125: No The Protectors strip

The Machine Maker
Issue 126, week ending 14 July 1973
Writer: Unknown.
Artist: Mario Capaldi (uncredited). 7 pages, b/w.
Harry and Caroline are relaxing at her villa in the Italian Alps when a strange device flies out of nowhere. The beautifully made wood and feather contraption holds a message on parchment 'Beseiged at Castelvinci in the name of science - help save my secret' and signed Leonardo. Harry thinks it is an elaborate joke but Caroline knows Castelvinci, an old ruin, is quite near and someone may need help. Using a runabout buggy, the two drive up the mountain, only to be shot at. Harry and Caroline continue on foot but the open ground to the ruin would make them easy targets. Their movements are being watched from the castle, and a bolt of blazing scrub fired from the tower reveals bandits in hiding. Harry and Caroline break cover and reach the castle - only to be met by an aged man who appears to be Leonardo da Vinci himself! 'Leonardo' is fighting 'Malatesta' and his men, in reality bandits after an ancient lost notebook which belonged to the real Leonardo, and is worth millions. Caroline also finds 'Leonardo's passport, revealing him as Leonard Vincey, who believed he was a descendant and came to Italy years ago. Vincey has become so obsessed that he believes he is da Vinci, but the bandits have broken in, and the only means escape is his flying machine. The short erratic flight scares off the bandits, and ends at back at Caroline's villa. A museum will look after the lost notebook, but Harry hopes they can find Leonard's real relatives - before he invents something else like an atom bomb!


Notes:
• The colour cover would again appear to be by Gerry Haylock.
• Mario Capaldi was apparently called upon to draw this strip and the consequent Houdini Whodunnit! at short notice when another artist was unavailable. These would be his only work for TV Action.

Issue 127 & 128: No The Protectors strip

Houdini Whodunnit!
Part 1: Issue 129, week ending 04 August 1973
Writer: Unknown. Artist: Mario Capaldi. 2 pages, colour.
Suki is typing reports in Harry Rule's London office when she is disturbed by a tap on the door, and a cloud of smoke reveals 'Magus the Magnificent, Master Magician', who wishes to hire their services. 50 years ago, the Great Houdini was the only performer to escape from the 'Chinese Water Torture Chamber' but he took the secret of how with him to the grave - until now. Magus wants Harry Rule to protect him until his performance that night, as he has been threatened by a rival performer called Mystic Chang. Despite believing this may all just be part of a publicity stunt, Harry and Suki escort Magus to the empty and locked Gaiety Theatre, where he will reveal some of his secrets. But Chang has arrived, and uses a flock of his trained birds to distract the doorman and gain entry...

Part 2: Issue 130, week ending 11 August 1973
Magus shows Harry and Suki Chang's 'message' - a parrot in a cage delivered that morning which warns 'Beware, Magus - Houdini's secrets are not for you!' Rule wants to find Chang first but Suki is curious about how Magus makes people disappear on stage and volunteers for a demonstration. Harry is aware of the trapdoor method, but when Suki falls onto a mattress in the cellar, Chang is waiting for her! Another trained bird delivers a ransom note to Magus and Harry. Magus takes Harry to Chang's flat in the East End, where they find Chang is waiting for them, with Suki hung upside-down in a glass booth, about to undergo the Chinese Water Torture Chamber trick herself...

Part 3: Issue 131, week ending 18 August 1973
Chang demands the secret from Magus, with Suki only having perhaps sixty seconds to live. Harry pulls out a gun to blast the glass but Magus warns him the water pressure could explode the chamber like a bomb! With no choice, Magus explains that Houdini used a special double chamber with mirrors, but Suki will drown before he can convince Chang. When Harry pleads that Chang can't murder Suki, the mystic seemingly relents and tosses him the key - but a special whistle brings one of his trained hawks to snatch it back! Magus has a counter-trick and releases a rabbit, which the hawk flies after, dropping the key. As Harry effects a rescue, Magus stops Chang. But the Suki in the chamber is just a clever dummy, and Chang uses his whistle for one last trick...

Part 4: Issue 132, week ending 25 August 1973

The real Suki is held in a large hanging cage with eagles trained to attack at Chang's signal. With no choice once again, this time Magus writes out the secret - Chang exchanging the key to the cage for Harry's gun. Harry, Suki and Magus make their exit, as Chang discovers the secret was written in vanishing ink. The eagles are released in pursuit, with Harry, Suki and Magus heading for the docks and diving for cover in the river. The eagles return to Chang, and the mystic harnesses himself to the birds and they carry him over the river - but too low, as a boat knocks him into the water, only to be caught by Harry.
Notes:
• An interesting final story, with only Harry and Suki appearing from the main cast.
• Issue 132, the last TV Action, ends on a Protectors note with an 'Actionpic' of Robert Vaughn and Tony Anholt from the series.

TV Action Holiday Special 1973

The Hunter
Writer: Unknown.
Artist: Martin Asbury (7 pages, duotone & b/w).
Harry and Paul overcome two armed guards and a secret police chief to free Frau Nadia Holstein, and bring her back from behind the Iron Curtain. Picking them up in a helicopter, the Contessa takes them back to her roman villan, where Nadia is reunited with her husband, Professor Franz Holstein, an electronics expert who has defected. Some months later, a lone man also escapes over the border, and makes his way to the Contessa's villa, where he requests asylum. He claims to be Rubowski, Holstein's one-time assistant, but Harry is suspicious and sets up a public rendezvous at a pavement cafe in Vienna. But it is Holstein who reacts, almost throttling th man, who pulls a gun and takes the Professor and Contessa hostage. Wounding Paul and Chino, he makes the Contessa drive her Rolls as a getaway vehicle. As Harry 'borrows' a police bike and pursues, Rubowski is revealed as Zutler, the ex-head of secret police, disgraced since Frau Holstein's escape. As the police pursue both, Harry makes a desperate bid to stop the car, hurling it over a hill into its path. His escape blocked, Zutler is overpowered by Harry and handed over to the Italian police.

Notes:
• None

Over the next 32 issues, The Protectors would feature in four complete b/w stories and four serials - three of which were in colour. Like its appearances in the comic, the scripts and art were somewhat variable. Frank Langford, better known for his sterling work on the Lady Penelope strip, turned in some remarkable work and likenesses on his two complete stories. The first colour story, probably by Romero, is in a distinct style that makes identification of the main character a little difficult, as does Rab Hamilton's offering. Leslie Branton's two stories are enlivened by better stories but he could not really be called an adventure artist and his style was a little mundane. It is not until the final two stories, drawn by Mario Capaldi, that we get some better likenesses of the main characters again.

The stories are equally variable, with the serials coming off worst, and vary from the unbelieveable - we are to accept the Contessa can pass for a late teens pop idol in Boy Wonder - to the badly paced in A Piece Of The Moon, which suffers from slightly incomprehensive plotting. And the other end of the scale, the tightly scripted complete stories are best represented by the twists and turns of Boxful of Trouble and Busman's Holiday - possibly the closest to the feel of the television series. The best, though, may be The Combat Man, which offers the gritty scenario of being up against the ex-policeman. now turned con. who trained them. It also reminds us the Protectors are human, and all three end up injured and nursing their wounds at the end.

While The Protectors had a reasonable presence in TV Action, it was nowhere near as comprehensive as the earlier UFO coverage. Occasionally, the odd question would be raised on the letters page, and a photo would appear. But whereas other series, even the American ones such as Hawaii Five-O and Mission:Impossible, would occasionally get a profile of one of the stars, The Protectors had none, bar a colour photo back page on the final issue.

In the spring, the third and final Holiday Special associated with the comic was released, with another complete tale drawn by TV Action regular Martin Asbury, who had been drawing the Cannon strip, based on the US television series starring William Conrad. Another double page colour spread presented a nice selection of photos (see above) of the main cast Robert Vaughn, Nyree Dawn Porter and Tony Anholt, along with Yasuko Nagasami as Suki, and another spread was used for a Protectors game.

By the summer, it was obvious that the comic was on its last legs, with some regular artists being replaced. The trade press announced the 'merger' of TV Action into TV Comic in July, citing rising costs, and issue 132 was to be the last. The younger readership, and change in interests, meant that most of the adventure strips did not continue in TV Comic, with only Doctor Who, Droopy, Dad's Army and Cannon moving over. Artists John M. Burns, Martin Asbury and Leslie Branton went on to work for the junior TVTimes magazine Look-In, which the latter issues of TV Action had tried to emulate with the inclusion of posters of popular music and television stars.

That autumn, shortly after the comic's demise, the last two annuals appeared. The first was the 80 page TV Action Annual 1974, offering only a four page text story for The Protectors, illustrated with photos. The main reason for this slim offering was probably The Protectors being given their own annual - the last of four titles publishers Polystyle had released each year, the others being UFO (1970), Thunderbirds (1971) and The Persuaders (1972). The slim 60 page hardback had more of the same style of story and art as the strips seen in the regular comic, with one page features and photos on the main stars.

The Protectors and TV Action annuals would also end an unbroken perenennial run of Anderson based annuals, after fourteen years and over thirty titles based on series and related comics. With no other comic competition in the older children's age range, the readership - like the artists - moved over to Look-In, now in its third year, to enjoy new science fiction like The Tomorrow People and The Six Million Dollar Man. And, in another couple of years, a strip based on a new Gerry Anderson series...

The Gerry Anderson Complete Comic History would like to thank:
Vanda Capaldi
Geoff Brown
Gordon King
and Colin Lane
- for their help with this feature.

Version 1.1 - 01.09.05


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