Spyder's Web was a British crime drama television series produced by ATV for ITV and broadcast in 1972.[2] It starred Anthony Ainley as Clive Hawksworth and Patricia Cutts as Charlotte "Lottie" Dean as two secret agents working for the mysterious Spyder organisation in the interests of the British government.
| Spyder's Web | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Starring | Patricia Cutts Anthony Ainley Veronica Carlson Roger Lloyd-Pack Peter Sallis[1] |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 50 minutes |
| Production company | ATV |
| Original release | |
| Network | ITV |
| Release | 21 January – 14 April 1972 |
Overview
editIn common with many other such series of the time, Spyder's Web adopted an ironic approach to its subject matter. The Spyder organisation used as its cover a down-at-heel film company, Arachnid Films, and only Dean and Hawksworth were in on the secret; the company's other employees, Wallis Ackroyd and Albert Mason, believed the cover to be genuine. Indeed, Dean claimed to have won awards for her documentaries. Hawksworth, the "action man", was a knowing caricature of the steely-eyed, jutting-jawed heroes of former times, and was alleged to have been "steeped in Bulldog Drummond from an early age". (His response: "We were just good friends.") Five of the thirteen episodes were written by Roy Clarke, who created and wrote Last of the Summer Wine. The programme ran for just one series.
Home media
editThe series was released on DVD by Network in 2011. Eleven of the episodes do not survive in colour:[3] only episodes seven and nine of the release were presented as colour episodes.
Cast
edit- Patricia Cutts as Lottie Dean
- Veronica Carlson as Wallis Ackroyd
- Anthony Ainley as Clive Hawksworth
- Roger Lloyd-Pack as Albert Mason
- Peter Sallis as Grovnik
Episodes
edit| # | Title | Writer | Director | First broadcast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Spyder Secures a Main Strand" | Roy Clarke | Dennis Vance | 21 January 1972 |
| 2 | "The Executioners" | Alfred Shaughnessy | James Gatward | 28 January 1972 |
| 3 | "Romance on Wheels" | Roy Clarke | James Gatward | 4 February 1972 |
| 4 | "The Hafiz Affair" | Roy Clarke | Dorothy Denham | 11 February 1972 |
| 5 | "Life at a Price" | Frank Driscoll | Dennis Vance | 18 February 1972 |
| 6 | "Emergency Exit" | David Ellis | David Wickes | 25 February 1972 |
| 7 | "Red Admiral" | Alan Hackney | John Cooper | 3 March 1972 |
| 8 | "Lies and Dolls" | Alfred Shaughnessy | Dennis Vance | 10 March 1972 |
| 9 | "Things That Go Bang in the Night" | Marc Brandel | Ian Fordyce | 17 March 1972 |
| 10 | "An Almost Modern Man" | Roy Clarke | Dennis Vance | 24 March 1972 |
| 11 | "Nobody's Strawberry Fool" | Robert Holmes | John Cooper | 31 March 1972 |
| 12 | "The Prevalence of Skeletons" | Marc Brandel | Ian Fordyce | 7 April 1972 |
| 13 | "Rev Counter" | Roy Clarke | Dorothy Denham | 14 April 1972 |
References
edit- ^ "Spyder's Web (1972)".
- ^ Tise Vahimagi, British Film Institute, ed. (1994). British television: an illustrated guide. Oxford University Press. p. 208. ISBN 978-0-19-818336-5.
- ^ "Spyder's Web". TV Brain. Archived from the original on 21 January 2022. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
External links
edit
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