The Protectors (1972-1974)

[maninasuitcase]

Filming commenced on Series 1 in Paris and the French Riviera in June 1971, followed by Barcelona and Rome.

Studio work started on these European shot episodes at EMI-MGM on Tuesday 6th July 1971.

'The First Circle' was filmed in October 1971.

Shooting in Malta was either late 1971 or early 1972.

So, it looks like France, Spain, Italy, UK and Malta as the production order for Series 1.

Series 2 started filming in August 1972. The Copenhagen, Madrid and Venice locations were shot first. Then it was the UK, Austria was filmed in November/December 1972.

[pr1]

I thought I saw the Production Order for this series posted somewhere on this site or is my faulty brain acting up?

[maninasuitcase]

Dec 3, 2016 23:46:44 GMT pr1 said:

I thought I saw the Production Order for this series posted somewhere on this site or is my faulty brain acting up?

 I wished you had. Precise production order is unknown at present.

[pr1]

Dec 4, 2016 10:35:23 GMT maninasuitcase said:

Dec 3, 2016 23:46:44 GMT pr1 said:

I thought I saw the Production Order for this series posted somewhere on this site or is my faulty brain acting up?

 I wished you had. Precise production order is unknown at present.

Thanks for clearing that up. I can't always trust my memory.

[jno]

So who is your favourite protector? Is this the Robert Vaughn show really?

[maninasuitcase]

Dec 4, 2016 18:39:27 GMT jno said:

So who is your favourite protector? Is this the Robert Vaughn show really?

 Absolutely. This was definitely the RV Show.

[dscarter1975]

Some UNCLE fans online have pointed out their own theory that maybe secretly Harry Rule was really Napoleon Solo under a false name. In their view, perhaps Solo had left his organization in 1968 and decided to become a private investigator, thus teaming up with an English lady and a Frenchman. If you think about it, this could have been the premise for a 5th UNCLE season without Illya.

[pr1]

If Solo and Rule are the same person that means Solo was married and a father while still with UNCLE. That would give Solo's skirt chasing a sleazy quality if he was married and had a young kid.

[dscarter1975]

I assume those UNCLE fans should have taken note of that.

[jno]

Does anyone have any info regarding the background of 'The Protectors' i.e. who exactly do they work for?

[pr1]

I seem to remember a reference to The Protectors being the name of the organization they work for. It may be in the same episode, they carry ID that identifies them as Protectors. I can not remember which episode. My guess is they have some connection to INTERPOL Perhaps they work for Department P.

[pr1]

Watched the two part story WAM tonight. The plot is ok but hampered by the thirty minute format. The first part is mainly the characters wondering around Salzburg. The second part dealing with a hostage situation atop a mountain is an improvementr but the story could have told better in one hour long episode. It was interesting to see Tony Anholt and Prentis Hancock together since both would be regulars on the Anderson's next series, SPACE: 1999.

[dscarter1975]

I've just ordered the series on DVD. Hopefully, I should be getting it some time next week.

[maninasuitcase]

A rough Production Order for Series 1:

1) Disappearing Trick
2) Your Witness
3) One and One Makes One
4) Brother Hood
5) The Quick Brown Fox
6) The Numbers Game
7) See No Evil
8) A Case for the Right
9) 2000 ft to Die
10) The Numbers Game
11) Triple Cross
12) A Kind of Wild Justice
13) Balance of Terror
14) King Con
15) The Big Hit
16) Thinkback
17) The First Circle
18) Chase
19) With a Little Help From My Friends
20) For the Rest of Your Natural
21) The Bodyguards
22) Talkdown
23) Vocal
24) It Could Be Practically Anywhere on the Island
25) It Was All Over in Leipzig
26) Ceremony for the Dead

[maninasuitcase]

Series 2

1) Bagman
2) Baubles Bangles and Beads
3) Route 27
4) The Bridge
5) Quin
6) Implicado
7) Fighting Fund
8) Lena
9) Goodbye George
10) Decoy
11) The Last Frontier
12) Border Line
13) WAM (Part 1)
14) WAM (Part 2)
15) Petard
16) Burning Bush
17) Dragon Chase
18) Zeke's Blues
19) A Pocketful of Posies
20) Shadbolt
21) Sugar and Spice
22) Blockbuster
23) Wheels
24) The Tiger and the Goat
25) The Insider
26) The Trial

Thanks to spacecadet for his valued input and detective work.

[pr1]

Thanks for the Production Orders MIAS.

[maninasuitcase]

Jan 8, 2017 15:38:59 GMT pr1 said:

Thanks for the Production Orders MIAS.

Only best guesses I am sorry to say. What I have done is match the location orders up with the episodes. It probably isn't too far wrong.

[dscarter1975]

I have been watching The Protectors lately and it's a fun action adventure series. Vaughn does at times seem a tad miserable but that's already been covered on this thread. He still makes a good team with the lovely, charming Porter and the dashing Anholt as Buchet who does at times sound more Mexican to me than French. There's lots of fistfights and shootouts as well as the odd chase scene and recently when I watched the ep Thinkback, I wondered if the Airwolf producers and writers had seen it before they did the series 1 episode Echoes From The Past as that has a similar plot (the hero is brainwashed into believing he was in a crash and fed other false information so that he is tricked into disclosing vital info).

[dscarter1975]

Look which Sweeney regular I spotted in an episode yesterday.

[Arch Stanton]

Aug 7, 2017 19:13:25 GMT dscarter1975 said:

Look which Sweeney regular I spotted in an episode yesterday.

Looks like Rosie O Donnell trying to come to terms with attempting to sit down whilst suffering from another bout of massive haemorrhoids!

[spacecadet]

Jan 8, 2017 18:22:43 GMT maninasuitcase said:

Jan 8, 2017 15:38:59 GMT pr1 said:

Thanks for the Production Orders MIAS.

Only best guesses I am sorry to say. What I have done is match the location orders up with the episodes. It probably isn't too far wrong.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that series 2 finished filming in March or April 73, So I think some of the UK based episodes like Shabolt would have been filmed after the Austrian episodes. I've rewatched the series recently and some of the UK episodes look like they were filmed in winter/early spring (eg Shabolt and Wheels).

[maninasuitcase]

I think you are right SC. I will amend my list.

[maninasuitcase]

Aug 8, 2017 5:15:24 GMT Arch Stanton said:

Aug 7, 2017 19:13:25 GMT dscarter1975 said:

Look which Sweeney regular I spotted in an episode yesterday.

Looks like Rosie O Donnell trying to come to terms with attempting to sit down whilst suffering from another bout of massive haemorrhoids!

That Dennis Waterman ain't half porked out. Looks more like Eamonn Holmes.

[jno]

And meanwhile back on topic...

[dscarter1975]

I watched two episodes after coming home from work today. The first one was Sugar And Spice in which our heroes have to mind a young girl and save her from kidnappers. A comical fight ensues that is like something out of season 3 of UNCLE and strangely enough, Harry talks quite a bit about Napoleon (but obviously not a certain Mr. Solo). The 2nd was about a religious cult, featuring the lovely Sinead Cusack and Ken Hutchison as the baddie.

[pr1]

Started watching the second half of Season Two tonight. First up was Zeke's Blues written by and guest starring Shane Rimmer. A London based episode that is only average and features far to much footage of cars being driven by the characters.
The plot is nothing remarkable with Rimmer as Zeke an old college buddy of Harry. Zeke is indebted to an unscrupulous individual. The story is predictable.

[dscarter1975]

Sept 10, 2017 0:33:41 GMT pr1 said:

Started watching the second half of Season Two tonight. First up was Zeke's Blues written by and guest starring Shane Rimmer. A London based episode that is only average and features far to much footage of cars being driven by the characters.
The plot is nothing remarkable with Rimmer as Zeke an old college buddy of Harry. Zeke is indebted to an unscrupulous individual. The story is predictable.

I think I saw parts of this episode when I was a kid in the '80s.  I can remember the downbeat ending.  What I actually love about this series is the cars.  Some very nice models.

[pr1]

Lena. Harry and the Contessa are in Venice protecting the title character, a journalist trying to expose a bad guy. This episode is ok but a lot of it is just footage to prove the cast and crew actually went to Venice. Among the guest cast is a fellow named John Thaw.

The Bridge. Another average episode involving the kidnapping of a wealthy man's daughter. To be fair there is a nice twist to the plot and it's fun to see Harry pose as a cynical mercenary.

[fordcapri]

All I can truly remember about The Protectors now - apart from thinking that the episodes were too short, especially for three characters - was the episode in which (I think) Harry gets kidnapped and it ends with someone getting blasted with a shotgun - and thrown across a room, hitting the wall and sliding down, leaving a red blood-smear behind them. Apart from the odd ep, I haven't seen it since the 1970s. Maybe I'll invest in a DVD set next year.

[fordcapri]

Apr 20, 2016 13:22:43 GMT maninasuitcase said:

In the opening title sequence we know that the helicopter sequence is taken from 'From Russia With Love' (1963) and the exploding bridge is from 'Campbell's Kingdom' (1957). Does anyone know where they lifted the car rolling over or the underwater swim?

As far as I know, it was a stunt that went wrong - i.e. the car was NOT meant to roll - from another ITC series.  They realised that it looked good and kept it for future use.  I'll have to guess that it was from something like 'Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)' or maybe a colour 'Saint'.  Something like that anyway.