INCORPORATED TELEVISION COMPANY

The Incorporated Television Company was born following an initially failed bid for one of the first ITV franchises. In 1954, Lew and Leslie Grade went into partnership with Prince Littler and Val Parnell of the Moss Empires group to set up the Incorporated Television Programme Company (ITP). Having been turned down for a franchise, the company became a supplier of programmes instead, capitalised to the tune of £500,000. Its first project, The Adventures of Robin Hood (ITV, 1955-59), was a considerable gamble, as the 39 half-hour episodes were budgeted at £10,000 each, tying up most of its annual budget in a single project. Fortunately it was a huge success, effectively setting the template for most of its subsequent output.

Belatedly, Grade and his partners joined the Associated Broadcasting Distribution Company consortium to run the weekday Midlands and weekend London franchise, their combined company eventually named Associated TeleVision (ATV). ITC, as it was soon known, became a wholly-owned subsidiary of ATV in 1957, providing filmed drama (and occasionally comedies) for the ITV network.

ITC under the leadership of Lew Grade specialised in generating action and adventure series aimed at the broadest possible international audience, which made the programmes often very successful but also open to the criticism that they were too bland and formulaic, didn't take risks and, in their adoption of a determinedly transatlantic style, lacked any real national identity. Clearly aspiring to the high production values and polished surface sheen of American productions, ITC shows were often set in exotic locations (though rarely straying from the backlot) and were glossily shot on 35mm film, not on 16mm as was then, and indeed is still, the norm in the UK. Even the lead actor was frequently either American or someone acceptable to the US networks, where the programmes were frequently pre-sold.

ITC usually stuck closely with one genre and format at a time, and so followed the success of Robin Hood with many other historical swashbucklers, including The Count of Monte Cristo (1956), The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (1956-57) and The Buccaneers (1956-57), the last starring Robert Shaw, mostly shot at the small Nettlefold Studios at Walton-on-Thames. By the time it made their last excursion in the genre, Sir Francis Drake (1961-62), ITC was operating from the much larger ABPC studios at Elstree, having successfully turned to such contemporary crime dramas as Danger Man (1959-60), starring Patrick McGoohan as NATO agent John Drake.

With Ghost Squad (1961), ITC switched to hour-long series and had its biggest hit with The Saint (1962-68), made by the producing team of Monty Berman and Robert S. Baker. This paved the way for the return of a sixty-minute version of Danger Man (1964-67), as well as two shows derived from the novels of John Creasey: the unusually gritty Gideon's Way (1965-66) and The Baron (1966-67), the UK's first hour-long drama series made in colour. At its height, ITC (which also distributed in-house ATV productions internationally) had offices all over the globe, some of which even produced local efforts such as New York Confidential (USA, 1959), Whiplash (Australia, 1960) and The Forest Rangers (Canada, 1964-67).

Up to this point most ITC live-action series tended to focus on one (usually male) central character, a formula which reached its zenith in the hard-boiled Man in a Suitcase (1967-68) and which was stunningly deconstructed in McGoohan's The Prisoner (1967-68). When Berman and Baker parted company, Berman joined with writer Dennis Spooner to launch a new format, featuring three main protagonists, two men and a woman, one of which would almost invariably be an American. The first such series was The Champions (1968), quickly followed by Strange Report (1968), Department S (1969-70) and finally The Protectors (1972-74), made by Gerry Anderson.

Anderson's company was bought by ITC after Supercar (1961), leading to Stingray (1964) - the UK's first half-hour series to be shot entirely in colour - and, most successfully, Thunderbirds (1965-66). Anderson moved into live action with the science fiction extravaganza U.F.O. (1970), which, with an overall budget of £2.5 million, was ITC's most expensive television series to date.

ITC shifted increasingly towards feature film production in the 1970s, as its trademark light-weight escapist fare seemed out of tune internationally following such expensive star-driven flops as The Persuaders (1971-72), with Roger Moore and Tony Curtis, and the Shirley Maclaine vehicle, Shirley's World (1971). It found much greater success with such one-off miniseries as Moses the Lawgiver (1976/77) and Jesus of Nazareth (1977).

The company's cinema venture started very well with Return of the Pink Panther (d. Blake Edwards, 1975), while The Eagle Has Landed (d. John Sturges, 1976) and especially The Muppet Movie (d. James Frawley, 1979), based on ATV's popular series The Muppet Show (1976-81), were also highly profitable. Most of ITC's other theatrical releases, however, were expensive box office failures, even such star-packed efforts as Voyage of the Damned (d. Stuart Rosenberg, 1976), Michael Winner's misguided remake of The Big Sleep (1978) and the risible Escape to Athena (d. George P. Cosmatos, 1979) in which Roger Moore was miscast as a German Nazi officer. The notorious Raise the Titanic (US, d. Jerry Jameson, 1981) was a financial catastrophe of such magnitude that Grade reputedly quipped that "it would have been cheaper to lower the Atlantic".

After a somewhat lacklustre attempt to recapture old glories with The Return of the Saint (1978-79) and the cult classic Sapphire and Steel (1979-82), ITC wound down its British TV production arm. By then ATV had been restructured as Central Independent Television with its expansionist tendencies curtailed, while it and ITC's parent company, ACC (Associated Communications Company), was embroiled in a protracted series of takeover bids and boardroom reshuffles. In 1982 Lew Grade himself was forced to leave the company, which continued to operate in the US for several years. Having been absorbed by PolyGram, in 1995 ITC's huge library was sold to Carlton.

Some of the most popular series included:

The Baron. 30 x 60-minute series.

The Buccaneers. 39 x 30-minute series.

The Champions (shown on NBC in the USA). 30 x 60-minute series.

Danger Man (Secret Agent in the USA, shown on CBS). 39 x 30-minute series, 47 x 60-minute series.

The Forest Rangers (made in Canada). 104 x 30-minute series.

Fury (made in the USA and shown on NBC there). 114 x 30-minute series.

Hammer House of Horror. 13 x 60-minute series.

Man in a Suitcase. 30 x 60-minute series.

The Persuaders (shown on ABC in the USA). 24 x 60-minute series.

The Prisoner (shown on CBS in the USA). 17 x 60-minute series.

The Protectors. 52 x 30-minute series.

Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased). 26 x 60-minute series.

Return of The Saint (shown on CBS in the USA). 24 x 60-minute series.

The Adventures of Robin Hood (shown on CBS in the USA). 143 x 30-minute series.

The Saint (shown on NBC in the USA). 114 x 60-minute series.

The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (shown on NBC in the USA). 30 x 30-minute series.

Space 1999. 48 x 60-minute series.

Thriller. 43 x 75-minute films.

William Tell. 39 x 30-minute series.

Thunderbirds. 32 x 30-minute series.

Source: Screenonline

ITC TELEVISION THEMES

From the Golden Age of Television we have a collection of themes from the incredible output of ITC (Incorporated Television Company). The company was run by the golden touch of impresario Lew Grade, a studio executive in the mold of the old movie moguls. ITC was the international arm of Lew's ATV company which held the TV franchise in both the London and Midland's area. Without him Television in the 60's and 70's would have been a very different beast, he brought us big-budget action/sci-fi/adventure series' to rival anything being produced in America. He was also responsible for selling many of these shows to US networks, something never dreamed of previously. Although the output of ATV/ITC was quite varied, here we concentrate on the spy/action-adventure genre as this is where they excelled and the music was also first class. Classic tunes written by the best in the business including Tony Hatch, Ron Grainer and Edwin Astley. They don't write 'em like this anymore!

THE BEST OF ITC TELEVISION THEMES

THE PERSUADERS !

As you can see from the cover, this LP contains music not only from The Persuaders but also 11 other Film & TV themes by the incredible John Barry.

JOHN BARRY : THEMES FROM THE PERSUADERS PLUS:

CBS RECORDS

S 64816

STEREO

1972

Edwin Astley (1922-1998)

Composer:
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s Ted Astley (b. Edwin Thomas Astley, Warrington, Cheshire, 1922. d. Goring, Oxfordshire, 1998) was perhaps the most prolific and inventive composer of British television action-adventure theme music. He was also a highly accomplished musician, songwriter and arranger of popular music, as well as composer of more formal works (an original operatic piece for Hammer's 1962 remake The Phantom of the Opera, compositions for son et lumiere performances at Hampton Court Palace and the Cairo pyramids).

He joined the Royal Army Service Corps band as a boy, playing clarinet and saxophone, and by the age of 18 was arranging both military and dance band music. After the war, he joined the Percy Pease dance band and later formed his own band, the Ted Astley Orchestra. The band appeared mainly in the north of England and was often heard broadcasting from the BBC's Manchester studios.

Following the closure of northern venues in the late 1940s, he decided to move to London and found work at music publishers Francis, Day and Hunter as an arranger for such popular singers of the period as Vera Lynn and Anne Shelton.

Astley's first film work, in 1953, was for the Danziger brothers (Edward J. and Harry Lee), a couple of British-based American producers of second features and low-cost television series: Gilbert Harding Speaking of Murder (1953), Star of My Night (1954), A Tale of Three Women (1954), all directed by Danzigers' regular Paul Dickson. He also worked on the Danzigers' suspense anthology series The Vise (which was shown via various ITV companies from 1955).
His other television work around this time included Fabian of the Yard (BBC, 1954-56) and the Boris Karloff mystery series Colonel March of Scotland Yard (ITV, tx. from 1955), the latter for producer Hannah Weinstein - an association that led to Astley being asked to write the music for Weinstein's The Adventures of Robin Hood (ITV, 1955-59) series.

Astley's popular Robin Hood theme, heralded by his famous nine-note trumpet fanfare, helped launch his career as a composer for television. For the early series he wrote original music for every episode, recording three episodes per four-hour session at Beaconsfield Studios. The conventional practice for television during this time was that only the first dozen or so episodes of a series had original music specially written in order to build up a library of incidental music for re-use in later episodes.

Running for 143 episodes and performing well in America, the Robin Hood series was also a highly lucrative assignment for Astley. It was American composer Carl Sigman, however, who wrote the familiar 'Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen...' title song; fellow composer Albert Elms provided the greater part of the episodic underscore.

The swashbuckling exploits of The Buccaneers (ITV, 1956-57), opening with a rousing shanty over the main titles, and The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (ITV, 1956-57), employing a suitably noble signature, followed; both series produced by Weinstein's Sapphire Films. During this mid 1950s period Astley also provided the music for Adventures of the Big Man (BBC, 1956), The Invisible Man (ITV, 1958-59), the latter uncredited, Ivanhoe (ITV, 1958) and International Detective (ITV, 1959-61).

In 1959, Astley was approached to score the Canadian police drama series R.C.M.P. (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) (1959-60), a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/BBC co-production, but was prevented from taking up the assignment by restrictions imposed by the British Musicians' Union. He did, however, supply the music for another overseas production, the Australian-filmed action series Whiplash (ITV, 1960-61).

He also worked on features, shorts and travelogues between TV recordings, including the Hammer Films productions A Clean Sweep (d. Maclean Rogers, 1958), Visa to Canton (d. Michael Carreras, 1960) and The Phantom of the Opera (d. Terence Fisher, 1962).

Producer Ralph Smart brought in Astley as musical director for the espionage series Danger Man (ITV, 1960-62; 1964-66). First produced in 1960 as a half-hour series, starring Patrick McGoohan as a NATO trouble-shooter, Astley composed the early series' title and incidental music as fast moving big brass productions emphasising a strong jazz saxophone. When the series returned in 1964 in an hour format Astley's main title theme (called 'High Wire') used a jazz harpsichord over the fast paced brass orchestra.

Astley was the first composer for British television with a familiarity with jazz and other contemporary idioms.

When the hour-long series of Danger Man was acquired by CBS (the first British spy series to be purchased by an American network), the title was changed to Secret Agent and Astley's main title composition was replaced by a new theme commissioned by the network. This new theme opened with an electric guitar riff and featured a pop-hit song ('Secret Agent Man') sung by American youth market favourite Johnny Rivers.

However, the most recognisable British TV theme of the era was Astley's simple seven-note phrase over the introduction to The Saint (ITV, 1962-69), signalled on screen at the start of the opening credits with an animated halo appearing above series' star Roger Moore's head. Based on the series of popular adventure novels written by Leslie Charteris (who was actually credited with the opening bars of the theme later in the series), The Saint was one of the most successful action-adventure series of the 1960s, both in Britain and the USA. Astley recorded several sessions for the early series that were then re-used for the remainder of the series.

Both Danger Man and The Saint were ATV/ITC productions, the successful Sir Lew Grade combine that was responsible for several popular mid-Atlantic filmed series of the 1960s. Astley's arresting use of jazz colours and rhythms during this period included works for the ATV/ITC series Gideon's Way (ITV, 1965-66), The Baron (ITV, 1966-67), The Champions (ITV, 1968-69), Department S (ITV, 1969-70) and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (ITV, 1969-71).

In 1969, he was called upon to compose the music for Sir Kenneth Clark's 13-part historical documentary series Civilisation (BBC) and provided an appropriately majestic and evocative composition featuring heavy organ music.

In the late 1970s, he moved from London to Oxfordshire to enjoy early retirement. He continued his involvement in music, however, converting a garage into a recording studio and acquiring a number of state-of-the-art synthesisers, building up a successful music library.

Remaining ever-active, he orchestrated several pieces of music for his son-in-law, The Who's Pete Townshend (married to his daughter Karen). Astley went on to become one of the first to orchestrate symphonic pop for large orchestras. In 1997, he was delighted to see The Saint theme enter the music charts (at number 5) by the electronic band Orbital.

SECRET AGENT MEETS THE SAINT

An album of music from Secret Agent (Danger Man) and The Saint, both scored by Edwin Astley. This is the original sixties release but if you have downloaded the previous two posts from these series' then it's the same content.

EDWIN ASTLEY : SECRET AGENT MEETS THE SAINT

RCA VICTOR

LSP -3467

STEREO

1965

THE PERSUADERS

This is one I've had on my hard drive for a long time, all credit to the person who took the time to rip it. I've added a basic cover to this as it didn't have one. These are recordings taken directly from the television soundtrack and have some background noise and effects, but they are very good quality and it shouldn't spoil your enjoyment of a great album. The music here was composed by Ken Thorne with the main theme by John Barry.

THE PERSUADERS : TELEVISION SOUNDTRACK : JOHN BARRY & KEN THORNE

TAKEN FROM THE TV TRACKS

BOOTLEG

MONO/STEREO

1971

DANGER MAN

Another ITC success story Danger Man, again with fantastic incidental music by Edwin Astley.

This series along with The Saint & The Avengers were the first series that really "took off" in America. Up until this time American television had really been a closed door to non-American productions. But old Lew Grade did the impossible and sole snow to the eskimos, of course they had to mess with it and re-named the series "Secret Agent" and added a theme song, replacing Astley's instrumental tune. From what I can gather the series was very influential, especially the theme, which can be heard on many artists theme collections. This one bears the US title as it's the American release. CD rip @320

EDWIN ASTLEY & HIS ORCHESTRA : DANGER MAN / SECRET AGENT MAN

RCA RECORDS

LSP 3630

STEREO

1966

THE SAINT

The first of two sixties television soundtracks now from the TV writer of the era, Edwin Astley.

He composed some of the best remembered themes for the fantastic series' from the ATV studios (released through their ITC arm) under the great Sir Lew Grade, a legend in British TV.

Without Lew, British television in the sixties would have been a dull experience.

The music here is pure class and stands on its own as an enjoyable listen, ranging from Jazz to Lounge with a little Latin thrown in. CD rip @320

EDWIN ASTLEY & HIS ORCHESTRA : THE SAINT

RCA RECORDS

LSP -3631

STEREO

1965