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DESTINATION DOWNING STREET

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Full Name: Mike Anson
Nationality: British
Organization: British Intelligence
Occupation Agent

Creator: Henry Federer, St. John Curzon
Time Span: 1957 - 1957

ABOUT THE SERIES

Mike Anson is an agent for the British Prime Minister.

He leads a very small group which is tasked by that country leader to be the main force going up against a nefarious organization dedicated to conducting acts of aggression and sabotage on the United Kingdom. That group is named ARKAB - the meaning of which has escaped me - though it is sometimes referred to as the 'Big Enemy'. Exactly what ARKAB is or how it got organized is also a mystery although no one working for Anson has any doubts it draws its marching orders from someone important behind the Iron Curtain.

Anson is officially a Major in the Royal Marine Commandos though he is usually found in civilian attire, except for those times when he makes his occasional trips to confer with the PM - leading to the meaning of the collection of these adventures since to have these meetings his 'destination' would naturally be 'Downing Street'. On those occasions, he very much appears on every manner a dedicated, professional soldier. Interestingly, while we know that Anson makes these forays to the PM's residence, we never actually meet that leader nor see the two of them together.

That small retinue of coworkers consist of:

Jacques - a former French Resistance fighter now residing in England.
Sylva - a gorgeous operative originally from Czechoslovakia.
Colin - a British university professor.
Phoebe - an officer in the WAAF whose function appears to be logistics as well as officer manager.

The leader, Anson, is a good-looking man, obviously quite fit since he is a Marine officer, likely in his early 30s with regulation short black hair and a somber look that does, however, often look as though he secretly finds things a bit amusing.

TELEVISION


Number of Episodes:6
First Appearance:1957
Last Appearance:1957
Network:ITV

REGULAR CAST
John StoneMike Anson [ 1 ]
Donald MorleyJacques Delauny [ 1 ]
Sylva LangovaSylva [ 1 ]
Graham CrowdwnColin [ 1 ]
Diana LambertPhoebe [ 1 ]

This black&white live television drama consisted of 6 adventures parts of 30 minutes each.

Note: a couple of websites separate the first episode and label it as "Prologue" while a couple of others indicate the first episode had 5 parts while the others just 4 each. I went with the latter, but I could be wrong.


1 Prologue
Episode 1-1, first aired 03/25/1957
Director: Robert Tronson
Writers: Henry Federer, St. John Curzon

A single part adventure, told on Mar 25
An introductory episode letting the viewers meet Mike Anson and his team mates.

2 The Machiavelli Touch
Episode 1-2, first aired 04/01/1957
Director: Robert Tronson
Writers: St. John Curzon, Henry Federer

A 4-part adventure, told on Apr 01, Apr 08, Apr 15, and Apr 22.
Dealing with the theft of something called the Pterodactyl.

3 The Green Patch
Episode 1-2, first aired 04/29/1957
Director: Ronald Marriott
Writers: St. John Curzon, Henry Federer

A 4-part adventure, told on Apr 29, May 06, May 13, and May 20.
Mike Anson and his team are in Tanganyika investigating a helicopter crash. When someone talks too loudly in a bar in Dar-Es-Salaalm, the trouble goes international.

4 Mr. Crazy
Episode 1-3, first aired 04/01/1957
Director: Robert Tronson
Writers: St. John Curzon, Henry Federer

A 4-part adventure, told on May 27, Jun 03, Jun 10, and Jun 17.
Arkab is back at it, this time going after the eccentric American millionaire that the press loves to call Mr. Crazy.

5 Two Faces East
Episode 1-4, first aired 06/24/1957
Director: Jonathan Alwyn
Writers: St. John Curzon, Henry Federer

A 4-part adventure, told on Jun 24, Jul 01, Jul 08, and Jul 15.
It takes a while but eventually Mike Anson and his team come up with proof that Arkab has come up with a Face Factory where its agents are transformed into other people, including their fingerprints.

6 The Empty Man
Episode 1-5, first aired 07/22/1957
Director: Jonathan Alwyn
Writers: St. John Curzon, Henry Federer

A 4-part adventure, told on Jul 22, Jul 29, Aug 05, and Aug 12.
Haseem is the person known as the Empty Man, the one responsible for bringing down a new British airliner.

7 Danger's End
Episode 1-6, first aired 08/19/1957
Director: William Freshman
Writers: St. John Curzon, Henry Federer

A 4-part adventure, told on Aug 19, Aug 26, Sep 02, and Sep 09.
Mike Anson and team are in Turkey as they think they are nearing a deadly blow to Arkab, not knowing that it is Arkab who is setting them all up for death.

MY COMMENTS

I was five years old and living in another country on another continent when this series came out so I did not have any knowledge of it at the time - duh! I had no inkling about it when I started this site a couple of decades ago. I did not know about it until just recently when I was looking for something else entirely and came upon mention of this and went, "Huh?"

And even after the research and tiny bit of viewing I was able to do, I still do not know enough to give it a proper grade. The mediocre one I give it is really based solely on the fact that the network did not think enough of it to keep it going.

GRADE

My Grade: B

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