Peter-Spotting
      Card #38

 
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1968

VIRGIN OF THE SECRET SERVICE:
DARK DEEDS ON THE NORTH WEST
FRONTIER

ATV / 50 min episode
directed by Paul Bernard
starring Clinton Greyn, Veronica Strong,
John Carter, Noel Coleman, Alexander Doré
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This spiffing red-coated romp stars
Clinton Greyn as Captain Robert Virgin,
an officer and gentleman spy for the
newly-formed British Secret Service.
Virgin traverses the Empire, defending
King and Country with brains, brawn,
a stiff upper lip and abundant charm.

Peter was credited as the Fight Arranger
for all thirteen episodes of this action-
packed ATV series and his contract
states these were to be recorded
between 30th November 1967 and
8th June 1968.

Peter also appeared on screen in
a number of different roles throughout
the series.

This particular episode is the
very first, episode one. It premiered
on ITV on 28th March 1968.

Captain Virgin is sent to rescue a
respected professor from the hands
of a fearsome Russian Princess.
She's being manipulated by Virgin's
arch nemeis Von Brauner (Alexander
Doré)... and Peter's close at hand,
playing one of her hired assassins!
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Peter is identified in the credits as
portraying the 2nd HAZARNAO.

"Who is the imbecile who fails
  to observe the proprieties?"

He's one of the black-robed chaps
dragging Professor Green
(Bernard Hepton) into the court
of Princess Katerina (Patience
Collier), at the 9m20s mark.
Peter's partner in crime is played
by stunt man Ray Ford.

"A rare species of lepidopteris
  is at large!"

Peter and Ray tussle with the
mad professor as he swings his
butterfly net everywhichway.
And as the royal exaltations
peak, our duo are despatched
to recover some precious
beads...

We join our dastardly duo again
at the 21mins mark. They're hiding
in a big old laundry basket that's
been delivered to the HQ of the
7th Punjab Cavalry.

When all is clear, our duo emerge
and attack the Professor's Daughter
(Margo Andrew) in her bed.

But, never fear, Captain Virgin is
at hand. He tackles the filthy duo
head-on, using nowt but a chair to
fend off their knives... they continue
to feud... then he leaps for the
ceiling fan and kicks them out
of the room - hurrah!

Our duo take flight, only to find
Miss Cortez (Veronica Strong)
in their path.

"Thank you, gentleman,
  shall we have one more?"

The canny gal blinds them with the
flash of her camera as they flee!

But there's still time for another
attack, because, if we jump
forward to 29m25s, we'll see that
our duo have returned. They're
now disguised as British soldiers,
and they're in the thick of the action
that kicks off half-a-minute later,
in the cookhouse.

Peter's picked the wrong guy to
fight, however, because Captain
Virgin whacks him with a rolling
pin and sends him flying into a
rack of utensils...

Peter recovers and throws a knife,
but Virgin dodges the blade.
He grabs a hot pan off the stove
and tips it over our man. Then
he extracts that assassin's knife
and - yeek! - Peter gets it in the
chest!

Ray Ford's Hazarnao is the luckier
one. He gets to flee as our heroes
celebrate!

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See also: