Captain Scarlet/Joe 90/The Protectors - 29th September 2022

50 Years Of The Protectors

And finally, the 29th September marks the 50th Anniversary of one of Anderson's less famous programmes. Although The Protectors itself can hardly be said to be an entirely forgotten series relatively few people realise that was in fact a Gerry Anderson production, being produced in the gap between UFO and Space:1999 from 1971-73. It is neither the Captain's, Mayhem's, nor Xena's favourite Anderson program, but is an interesting oddity in the Anderson canon, being a program that Anderson did not create the original concept for, nor is it steeped in sci-fi, futuristic settings. Shot on 16mm film across the world, the series feels a lot more like any other ITC action series of the 1970s. Across two seasons and fifty-two episodes the Protectors, an international detective agency with agents in every major city on Earth, tackled all manner of crimes across England and Europe. I think this video and following text provided by the Gerry Anderson website should help those who perhaps haven't heard of this series before;

The reason the show's Anderson heritage may have escaped many fans could be partly due to the fact that the series was not based on a concept he created, but rather one that he was presented with by Lew Grade and essentially told to get on with. Gathering together as many of his familiar team as possible he set to work fleshing out Grade's one-line concept; 'there is a small group of private detectives who are able to work more efficiently because they are operating outside of the law', and the result was ironically one of the most successful series he would ever produce.

Despite this however, the series, as already stated, tends to be more often thought of as 'just another' in the long line of filmed action series produced by ITC through the 1960s and early 1970s – and it's easy to see why. Being a contemporary thriller series The Protectors lacks any of the fantastic vehicles, secret bases or impressive gadgets almost all of Anderson's other work is known for, and while this may be a contributing factor in the show's lack of appeal to Anderson fans that doesn't mean that there isn't a good series here worthy of attention – one that perhaps has more in common with his other works than it would first appear.

Longevity alone is no guarantee of quality, yet The Protectors is easily one of the best ITC action shows of the early 1970s. The Persuaders! remains hugely entertaining but the rest are a mixed bag; The Zoo Gang was decent but ended as soon as it started, Jason King is based around a character who doesn't want to do anything and so doesn't, and The Adventurer was dead on arrival and only went downhill from there. During a period when the regular ITC team were struggling to produce decent (or even watchable) shows Gerry was handed a blank-slate of a concept and brought the same perfectionism to it as he did to all his other shows. The result was a slick, energetic and confident series that hit the ground running; at times in the wrong direction, but always with a dynamism and scope that its contemporaries sometimes lacked – or took for granted.

This next section was written by CaptainThunderWho for the Bring The Magic Home: The Story Of ITC Carlton Home Video Entertainment (2021). The following discusses the Carlton Video release of the series in 2002-2003 on DVD.

The two seasons of The Protectors were released with big gaps between them. The first season was released on 24th June 2002, and the second on 12th May 2003. They were available in complete box sets or as individual sets - at £15.99 each. The sound was presented in mono, and the series was rated as a PG. Designed in basic covers of colours changing per volume at the top (with the logo) and bottom of the front with a picture in the centre, and the details of episodes at the back. The fronts featured "Produced by Gerry Anderson" followed by a list of the cast. The back featured this, "Gerry Anderson's first and only contemporary thriller series is the ultimate in jet-setting, high-kicking adventure! Harry Rule (Robert Vaughn) is an American lone wolf in London. Contessa di Contini (Nyree Dawn Porter) is a beautiful British aristo abroad. Paul Buchet (Tony Anholt) is a suave Parisian specialising in gadgetry. Together they are The Protectors - three intrepid international private detectives. Faced with intriguing crimes and dangerous adversaries, our heroes juggle sleuth, adventure and romance in fast-paced and unmissable adventures shot in some of the most exciting cities in the world". If only it was that good...

The menus are also very basic, with a background of colour and menus that are very simple and straightforward to navigate. But here are the episodes per disc and their extras; both series 1 and 2 discs featured on disc 1 episodes 1-8, disc 2 episodes 9-16, and disc 3 episodes 17-26. Extras include stills galleries and a bio of Robert Vaughn (apparently there were also videos but I have found little evidence of them). To be honest, there is little else I can really say about the series because that was it for the Carlton era in terms of The Protectors. It has far more in common with the other crime drama ITC series in terms of its style of release than a Gerry Anderson release.