Department S Reviews: 08: 'Black Out'

Production order: 09 | ITC code: 5115 | Airdate order: 09 | DVD order: 08

Those Responsible

Writer: Philip Broadley

Director: Ray Austin

Where & When

London, England: May 26th

The Inexplicable Mystery

An acclaimed chef, Robin Skelton, goes out to enjoy a night at the opera. But when he next wakes up, he's in the Mexican desert three days later, with no memory of how he got there!

"It's..."

The Mystery Explained

Skelton was kidnapped - by mistake, as he bore an unfortunate physical resemblance to the real target, a rocket scientist named Peter Sinclair - and taken to the Bahamas. To throw the authorities off their scent after realising their error, the kidnappers drugged him to wipe his memory and dumped him in Mexico. They later succeed in getting their man, brainwashing Sinclair into creating a control system that can be used to interfere with American space rockets as they launch, causing them to explode.

Review

The 'spy-fi' craze of the 1960s didn't start with the James Bond movies, both Danger Man and The Avengers preceding them, but the film of Dr No took things to a new level of glamorous globetrotting espionage adventure and inspired countless imitators. The writer of 'Black Out', Philip Broadley, must have been a fan, because the episode is more than simply inspired by Dr No: it is Dr No! A villain is paid by a foreign power to sabotage American space launches using jamming equipment located on a Caribbean island - sound familiar? Only as this is television rather than a movie, the villain doesn't operate out of a high-tech base with a nuclear reactor, but, er, his attic.

Worst of all, he'd just sat on a live snapping turtle.

It's an atypical Department S script for Broadley, far more fantastical than any of his other offerings (adding brainwashing and mind-control drugs to the rocket-toppling sci-fi), and as such is rather fun to watch. It does suffer from contrivances to keep the story moving, though; the case of mistaken identity that kicks off the whole affair is the first heavy-duty stretch of credibility (two men who look so similar they could be twins happen to be attending the same opera performance on the very night one is targeted by kidnappers), and it's compounded by the kidnappers being nice enough to take their unintended prisoner to a restaurant for a memorable dinner of turtle in the shell rather than just making him sandwiches - or simply starving him! This is the clue that leads our heroes to the Bahamas rather than Mexico, since according to Jason it's the only place in the entire world that serves it, and while checking out the restaurants of Nassau, Jason happens not only to be there at the exact time all the villains are having dinner, but the young lady he immediately chats up is on their payroll. Fancy!

Cultural Sensitivity Coordinator: Richard Hammond.

Like Broadley's 'The Trojan Tanker', it's an episode that's not only undemanding to watch, but actively wants you not to think about it too hard and instead look at sunny beaches and women in bikinis. Even Seretse has a "Wait, what?" moment as Stewart comes up with the best excuse ever to justify sending himself, Annabelle and Jason to the Bahamas for a week - the lead they're following is so slim, it'll need all three of them to check it out properly. Seretse does then immediately cave in and give Stewart everything he wants, though, which could be taken as his being the worst boss ever - or the best.

Drinking on duty isn't a disciplinary offence in Department S: it's a requirement.

There is yet more unashamed flirting between Stewart and Annabelle in this story, as he walks into her hotel room while she's getting dressed to no more response than very mild annoyance, and then they pass the time coming up with a list of possible exotic honeymoon destinations. Perhaps Broadley himself was a 'shipper! A relationship we spend rather more time on, however, is the unpleasant love triangle between villains Lang, Wolf and Brigette, where the latter two are cheerfully getting it on behind their boss's back. Following the arguments and affairs of the bad guys is a feature common to a lot of Broadley's scripts, as if they're somehow more interesting than the efforts of our heroes to find them. (Hint: they aren't.)

Booze. Cigarette. Medallion. Clothing open to the navel. Woman in bikini.
The Jason King lifestyle summed up in a single photo.

It's not often that the direction of Department S (or ITC shows in general, for that matter) is anything more than professionally workmanlike, but Ray Austin here adds a nice little touch as the camera moves in on Stewart cocking his gun in preparation for action, followed by a match-cut to Wolf doing the same with his own weapon.

"I think we're about to fall into an oil painting."

It's unfortunately countered by carelessness elsewhere as Austin ignores the vanishing points and horizon line on a painted backdrop. The end result is that Annabelle's hotel room looks to be about to slide down a hill into the sea!

Welcome to sunny Dorse- no, I mean the Bahamas, THE BAHAMAS!

On a sidenote, when I first watched this episode I thought I recognised the coastline in the background, and when I saw 'The Treasure Of The Costa Del Sol' (which was filmed back-to-back with this episode, doubtless for cost-effective location shooting) I knew I was right. It's neither the Bahamas nor Spain - it's Bournemouth! And I know that, because I live there. The beach scenes were filmed at Studland, looking back east at the coast of Poole Bay. It's like being in Hollywood!

Fancy Quotes

Jason: Did you read my book, People In Glass Houses Should Not?

Stewart: No, I didn't. [Jason gives him a look] Well, there was a long waiting list at the library.

[Stewart walks into Annabelle's hotel room as she's dressing]

Annabelle: You might wait for me to let you in.

Stewart: Standing on ceremony today, are we?

Annabelle: Today and every day.

Stewart: Well, we might as well behave like tourists.

Jason: The only thing to do with an impulse, is to give in to it.

[Jason bursts in on the villains and rather uncharacteristically shoots up their equipment, saving the rocket]

Jason: Mark Caine couldn't have made a better entrance if I'd stayed up all night working on it.

Cheers!

• Jason has a whisky at the office as he listens to the recording of Skelton's hypnosis session.

• He walks into Annabelle's room (without knocking), turning down Stewart's offered cocktail as he already has a glass in hand.

• Our man orders a Kir Royale as he arrives at a restaurant in search of turtle in the shell.

• There's a half-finished glass of whisky by Jason's bed when Stewart phones him at the hotel.

• Jason pours himself a glass of sea-cooled wine on the beach with Billie, taking a slug (purely to determine the temperature, of course) before offering her a taste.

• After Billie accidentally becomes the victim of a bullet meant for Jason, the scribe consoles himself with another glass of whisky.