Department S: Binging a Vintage British Import

There's a company in Australia called Imprint that has been putting out some impressive blu-ray releases of classic television shows. I’ve already picked up the first two seasons of Bewitched (the series has never looked better) and I'll soon be ordering the Gidget series with Sally Field.

One of their recent promotional emails announced the release of a British show called Department S, which aired 28 episodes between 1969 and 1970. I had never heard of it but it sounded promising, and thankfully it’s been uploaded in remarkably high resolution on YouTube. I became a fan after watching just two episodes and have since enjoyed several more.

This is a difficult series to describe, which is one of the reasons I enjoy it. We are told that Department S is an elite investigative division based in England. When an international case is too baffling for the experts at Interpol – and presumably when Steed and Mrs. Peel are otherwise engaged – it is turned over to the three specialists that comprise Department S.

Jason King (Peter Wyngarde) is a novelist in the Ian Fleming mode. He’s the visionary – like Sherlock Holmes he can examine a crime scene. spot the clues that others have missed and envision a sequence of events of what may have happened. He envisions himself like Mark Cain, the super-spy hero in his books, and routinely adapts Department S cases into Cain’s adventures. But when fists start flying King is usually on the losing end – he is frequently found unconscious by his partners.

Annabelle Hurst (Rosemary Nicols) is the analyst. While she also works undercover in the field, her specialty is using computers to compile data. Stewart Sullivan (Joel Fabiani) is a former FBI agent and the lone American on the team. Sir Curtis Seretse (Dennis Alaba Peters) is the veteran diplomat who runs the department.

Each episode opens with a strange occurrence – sometimes it’s not even clear if a crime has been committed, but the circumstances are so bizarre that answers are elusive. In “One of Our Aircraft is Empty” a plane lands with no passengers or crew aboard. In “The Man in the Elegant Room,” an enclosure that resembles a luxurious residence is built inside an abandoned warehouse, a lavish prison for a crazed young man and a murdered woman. In “The Pied Piper of Hambledown,” the residents of an entire village disappear overnight, leaving one confused girl behind.

The set-ups reminded me of Banacek. While they weren’t locked-room mysteries, they presented a sequence of events so intriguing that you had to stay tuned to figure out what happened, and why.

Clever stories, exotic settings, appealing characters – what’s not to like?

Peter Wyngarde I knew from his dashing portrayal of the head of the Hellfire Club in the classic Avengers episode “A Touch of Brimstone.” He still has that suave, sophisticated quality here, even in later episodes when his sideburns and mustache threaten to engulf his visage. After Department S, he continued playing the same character in the Jason King spinoff, which lasted 26 episodes.

Joel Fabiani had a busy career after this series, appearing in both daytime dramas and in guest roles on prime time shows. Sadly, he never found another signature role that fit him as well as the tuxedos he wore in his Bond-like adventures here. As for Rosemary Nicols, based on the nature of some of her clothing-optional appearances you might think she was just on the team to spike viewership among the lads and the dads. But Annabelle’s contributions to solving cases are the equal of her partners, whom she rescues from dangerous situations on more than one occasion.

That said, it must be acknowledged that Department S was unabashedly salacious, at least in the casting department. Every guest female role was played by a stunningly beautiful actress. British TV fans will certainly recognize names like Fiona Lewis, Sue Lloyd, and Kate O’Mara. One episode was partially set in a hospital and all the nurses looked like they just stepped out of British Vogue. And the series rarely missed an opportunity to show off Nicols’ (admittedly splendid) legs.

I love British TV from this era. It sometimes takes me twice as long to get through an episode as I can’t help hitting the pause button to take a closer look at the cityscapes and the sleek lines on those vintage Rolls Royces and Bentleys, the interiors of the country estates, the red telephone boxes and the Carnaby Street fashions (so many ascots!). For a moment it makes me want to go back to London, until I remember that in today’s UK you can go to jail for a social media post. There will always be an England, but hopefully they’ll get back to being a better one soon.

If any of this has piqued your interest enough to check out Department S, I recommend a visit to YouTube and starting with these three episodes.

“Who Plays the Dummy?”
A motorcycle cop pursues a speeding car on a rural road in Spain. The high-speed chase ends when the car veers off the road and crashes. When the officer approaches the vehicle, he is shocked to find a well-dressed mannequin behind the wheel. Jason puts the team on the right track to a solution by identifying the maker of the necktie on the dummy.

“Six Days”
A plane lands at Heathrow six days after its scheduled arrival, with its crew and passengers none the wiser. How could everyone on board be unaware of the delay – and where has the plane been all this time? The series’ first episode serves as an ideal introduction to our trio of investigators.

“A Small War of Nerves”
From what I’ve read about the series, many fans consider this to be its finest hour. Anthony Hopkins plays a chemical weapons developer who doses himself with a potentially lethal substance, then goes missing with enough poison to kill one million people.