Special Squad
Guest appearances by PCBH actors
There doesn't seem to be much information on the Internet about "Special
Squad". The series was made in 1984, which was towards the end of the run
of Prisoner, and so dozens of actors who played middle ranking characters
who had made their last appearance in Prisoner by this date turn up again
in Special Squad. There are even three or four major characters to be spotted.
It was apparently shown on some ITV channels in the UK in the 1980s,
but it could also be seen during late 1999 in a dubbed version on the German
TV channel Kabel 1, which is available in the UK on the Astra satellite.
German TV stations don't usually show full credits, so any identifications
not from the Kabel 1 website are not
confirmed. I have no information how many episodes there were altogether,
or how long it had been on Kabel 1 before I noticed it.
Many thanks to Martin ("March") for all the screen shots: the poor quality
of some of them is entirely the fault of the dodgy satellite reception
on the original tape.
 |
One of the three main characters ("Smith") was played by Anthony
Hawkins, alongside John Diedrich ("Davis") and Alan Cassel ("Anderson"). |
There seemed usually to be at least couple of ex-PCBH actors
to spot in each episode - and even the background music obviously comes
from the same stock library recordings that were used in Prisoner.
Below are the details of the 16 episodes I managed to see - follow the
links for more details and screen shots - see if you can spot the PCBH
escapees.
Unknown title Kabel 1 - 12.10.99
Plot: Ex rugby star involved in crime?
Possible appearance from Steve Bastoni
[no screen captures from this episode]
Unknown title Kabel 1 - 19.10.99
German title: "Die Jugendsunde" [Sins of youth]
Kabel 1 - 26.10.99
German title: "Falsche Fahrten" [Wrong turns] Kabel 1 - 02.11.99
Plot: Gang of bank robbers tracked as they plan another job.
Guest appearances:
Steve Bisley (who was never in PCBH, but is fairly well known)
And another bloke with a beard who looks familiar (and not just because
he looks like Jeremy Beadle), but no-one recognisable to me from Prisoner
so no screen captures.
This episode includes a scene inside a men's prison - shades of "Punishment"?
German title: "Kostikovs Geheimnis" [Kostikov's
secret] Kabel 1 - 16.11.99
German title: "Albys Rache" [Alby's revenge] Kabel
1 - 23.11.99
German title: "Die Spur des Falschers" [Tracks
of the forger] Kabel 1 - 30.11.99
Unknown title Kabel 1 - 02.11.99
German title: "Bis der Tod uns scheidet" [Till
death us do part] Kabel 1 - 07.12.1999
German title: "Der silberne Wächter" [The
Silver Sentinel] Kabel 1 - 08.12.1999 23:14
German title: "Haleys Millionen" [Haley's millions]
Kabel 1 - 14.12.1999 00:17
German title: "Die Rockerbraut" [Biker's bride]
Kabel 1 - 15.12.1999 23:09
German title: "Der Kletterspezialist" [The climbing
expert] Kabel 1 - 21.12.1999 00:20
German title: "Straßenkinder" [Street children]
- 22.12.1999 23:09
German title: "Der Söldner" [The mercenary] - 28.12.1999 00:13
Plot: When a woman is stabbed right in front of Davis, he goes in search
of the perpetrator. In the process he encounters Ashton, a mercenary and
hitman, with whom Davis has scores to settle. Ashton openly brags about
murdering the woman and declares war on Davis, thinking that a mere policeman
could never be a match for a jungle fighter. Davis takes up the challenge,
and tries to teach Ashton respect for the police.
Credits (from Kabel 1 website)
John Ewart - Mungo Lennox
Tim Hughes - Ashton
Eva Sitta - Carmen
Gus Mercurio - Halliwell
Paul Karo - Schafer
[no screen captures from this episode]
German title: "Rückkehr eines Alptraums"
[Return of a nightmare] - 30.12.1999 01:59
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Updated 13 March 2000
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