Peter Wyngarde signing

[MikeR]

Have you heard his interview on the extras he did with Jazz? It is an hour of him talking about the episode Epic, but he diverts quite a bit.

Margo

Yes I have, he wanted to rewrite portions of Epic. Years ago when I interviewed Cyril Frankel, he told me that Peter offered lots of outlandish ideas when they were working on Department S, but most of them were unusable.

yes I recall reading that in your book. I was always sorry they did not follow his ideas. ANy idea why? Perhaps was it impractical?

Margo

On the whole from what I've seen producers do not allow actors to begin running things or contribute/interfere with the schedule. Changes can mean increasing the budget. When I spoke with Brian Clemens in the past, his opinion was that actors should stick to acting and leave the ideas to the producers and writers. As you say, Clemens and Albert Fennell probably thought that allowing Peter to rewrite the script would be very impractical.

[MikeR]

Yeah, he's wonderful on the Epic commentary where he talks about the idea they were going to make a film of it(?!).

He's a fascinating man.

The extras on Department S I think are very enlightening, Frankel treats him with good humour and he's how he had to be on set as he was only one who could really control Peter.

Darren

Frankel told me that the reason he had less to do with Randall and Hopkirk was because he was busy on Department S making sure Peter did not run riot. At one point Peter thought it would be a good idea if he had a a large bird of prey on his arm throughout an episode, for no apparent reason other than he thought it would look good. Frankel explained to him that the idea was a non-starter.

Originally, Dennis Spooner created Jason King with actor Guy Doleman in mind. However, Cyril Frankel saw Peter Wyngarde in an Italian restaurant in London and later suggested him to Spooner and producer Monty Berman. Wyngarde was cast and it was his idea that the character should have long hair and a zapata mustache and Peter insisted that the character should drive his car, a maroon S2 Bentley. So Wyngarde did get some input into his Department S character.

[anti-clockwise]

Margo

Yes I have, he wanted to rewrite portions of Epic. Years ago when I interviewed Cyril Frankel, he told me that Peter offered lots of outlandish ideas when they were working on Department S, but most of them were unusable.

yes I recall reading that in your book. I was always sorry they did not follow his ideas. ANy idea why? Perhaps was it impractical?

Margo

On the whole from what I've seen producers do not allow actors to begin running things or contribute/interfere with the schedule. Changes can mean increasing the budget. When I spoke with Brian Clemens in the past, his opinion was that actors should stick to acting and leave the ideas to the producers and writers. As you say, Clemens and Albert Fennell probably thought that allowing Peter to rewrite the script would be very impractical.

Especially Peter. Can you imagine how long the episode would have been if he had been involved? I think the one exception to the rule would be Jeremy Burnham. Not sure how he got Brian Clemens to give him a chance??, but he successfully left acting for writing on the show. (Although point well taken that he did this after acting on the show.) Are there other actors that successfully left acting for writing?

[darren]

Yeah, he's wonderful on the Epic commentary where he talks about the idea they were going to make a film of it(?!).

He's a fascinating man.

The extras on Department S I think are very enlightening, Frankel treats him with good humour and he's how he had to be on set as he was only one who could really control Peter.

Darren

Frankel told me that the reason he had less to do with Randall and Hopkirk was because he was busy on Department S making sure Peter did not run riot. At one point Peter thought it would be a good idea if he had a a large bird of prey on his arm throughout an episode, for no apparent reason other than he thought it would look good. Frankel explained to him that the idea was a non-starter.

Originally, Dennis Spooner created Jason King with actor Guy Doleman in mind. However, Cyril Frankel saw Peter Wyngarde in an Italian restaurant in London and later suggested him to Spooner and producer Monty Berman. Wyngarde was cast and it was his idea that the character should have long hair and a zapata mustache and Peter insisted that the character should drive his car, a maroon S2 Bentley. So Wyngarde did get some input into his Department S character.

Guy Doleman. Interesting. It would be a different show but I could see that working. He has that laid back, droll kind of Wyngarde quality.

[Dan]

[quote="Can you think of any other actors that could pull off the 11 characters in Epic? When I first saw it, I never realized that the same actor did all 11 parts. Now that's good acting![/quote]

I didn't either and it also took me a while to figure out that the same actor also played Cartney in A Touch of Brimstone.

[MikeR]

yes I recall reading that in your book. I was always sorry they did not follow his ideas. ANy idea why? Perhaps was it impractical?

Margo

On the whole from what I've seen producers do not allow actors to begin running things or contribute/interfere with the schedule. Changes can mean increasing the budget. When I spoke with Brian Clemens in the past, his opinion was that actors should stick to acting and leave the ideas to the producers and writers. As you say, Clemens and Albert Fennell probably thought that allowing Peter to rewrite the script would be very impractical.

Especially Peter. Can you imagine how long the episode would have been if he had been involved? I think the one exception to the rule would be Jeremy Burnham. Not sure how he got Brian Clemens to give him a chance??, but he successfully left acting for writing on the show. (Although point well taken that he did this after acting on the show.) Are there other actors that successfully left acting for writing?

Margo

The only other person I think of who was an actor before becoming a writer and then a producer is Derrick Sherwin, who wrote for Z Cars, Crossroads, Doctor Who and Paul Temple. Later, he concentrated on producing for TV.

[MikeR]

Did anyone go along to the Peter Wyngarde signing?

[bunny]

I did. It was great meeting him again, I saw him at Westminster Memorabilia last year and he was very busy, this was more quiet and much more relaxed. Edina Ronay also attended and she was very friendly, she was sat, talking to Peter, for a while, because they had appeared together in Department S and also a play at the theatre.
Saw someone dressed up in a Prisoner Jacket and also someone dressed up as Jason King, complete with handle bar moustache!

[darren]

Is he well?

[bunny]

Yes he seemed to be in good spirits, was very smartly dressed and looked well for someone of 87.
He signed from 11 until 2 and seemed very relaxed, probably because the event was a lot quieter, from when I last met him. Because of this, he seemed to spend a lot if time, talking to the fans, which was nice.