"It's really up to you. You are her only link with the past."
Written by David Tomblin
Directed by Cyril Frankel
Filming Schedule: Friday, 21st August – Thursday, 3rd September 1970
Original UK Airdate: Thursday, 15th March 1973 (ATV)
Tech; Straker's Car, UFO
Cast; Straker, Foster, Lake, Jackson
Additional cast; Catherine Frazer Tessa Wyatt Tim Redman Christian Roberts Bomb Disposal Expert Christopher Robbie SHADO Operative Anouska Hempel Van Driver John Garrie
My overall rating; 10/10
A tone of more location filming featured all at Heatherden Hall and Gardens, Pinewood Studios, Pinewood Road, Iver Heath (Buckinghamshire), Studio Lot, Pinewood Studios, Pinewood Road, Iver Heath, Billet Lane and Hollybush Lane, Iver Heath, Langley Park, Billet Lane, Iver Heath, The Coach House, Dromenagh Farm, Seven Hills Road, Iver Heath, Wexham Park Hospital, Wexham Road, Stoke Green, Slough, (Berkshire), Canal Bridge 189, Benbow Waye, Cowley, (Greater London), Grand Union Canal Path, London Zoo, Regent's Park, (London NW1), Tower Bridge (London EC3), Piccadilly Circus (London NW1) and Covent Garden Market and Station, (London).
Tessa Wyatt has a huge acting career including Pride and Prejudice, Z Cars, The Wednesday Play, The Black Tulip, The Doctors, Armchair Theatre, Return Of The Saint, Robin's Nest, Eastenders and Doctors. Christian Roberts has a smaller acting career appearing in Theatre 625, The Avengers, The Adventurers, The Last Valley, Chlochermerie, Blake's 7, Secret Army, The Bill and The Persuaders!. Christopher Robbie has appeared in The Avengers, Paul Temple, The Expert, The Brothers, Taggart, The Commander, Holby City and the Doctor Who serials The Mind Robber (1968 as the Karkus) and Revenge Of The Cybermen (1975 as the Cyber Leader). John Garrie has a large acting career too with The Old Man, The Villains, Crossroads, The Saint, The Baron, Danger Man, Adam Adamant Lives!, Wuthering Heights (TV), The Avengers, Armchair Theatre, Z Cars, Paul Temple and The Fortunes Of Nigel. Anouska Hempel first entered TV with Department S, followed by James Bond's On Her Majesty's Secret Service, The Adventures Of Don Quick, The Persuaders, The Adventurer, Zodiac, The Doll, Space: 1999 (The Metamorph, as Annette Fraser), Return Of The Saint and Tales Of The Crypt.
What a finale! Although, in those days, ITC shows were made to be shown in almost any order. But in the production order, this was the last episode to be made and completed. Again, so much I just love about this episode, if not all of it start to finish. Barry Gray's soundtrack is once again incredible, some of my favourite soundtracks for the series, and a track reused from Joe 90's King For A Day right before Straker hits Catherine as well as this episode featuring other music from earlier episodes such as Exposed when the van driver chases after Catherine. A very different episode, very, very different episode to anything before or since of Anderson's work. The storyline is so intelligent. The writing exceeds way beyond those expectations of CaptainThunderWho's insane standards of perfection. Thrill after thrill after thrill.
Horrified, intrigued, excited, and one of the most adult episodes of the series - the drug relation obviously resulting in the episode being delayed (like The Responsibility Seat) to only be shown in a late-night slot shown two years after the show had completed it's first ITV run. The message of the episode is clear - don't do drugs kids, otherwise, the aliens will get you. Catherine was hysterically laughing as her lover boy threw himself off the top of that building as the aliens must have been looking at her why the human is laughing at one of its kind killing itself, and later scared after she recovers from the drug and sees her lover boy dead! No wonder it wasn't shown at first in the 1970s nor on the BBC2 repeats, and is now rated as a 12! As stated in the opening, I look at The Long Sleep here at the end and back to Identified, and find it intriguing how far the show has progressed, and what could have been for another series.
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UFO: The Vault
Non-FictionGerry Anderson's UFO was the first big budget British live-action television series of a secret government organisation named SHADO (Supreme Headqauters Alien Defence Organisation) combat a dying alien race who have come to Earth in order to survive...
