Sunday, March 6, 2011

Upcoming Spy-Related DVDs: Patrick Macnee in Love Story: Volume One

This post isn't about the sweet love story that is older than the sea that Shirley Bassey sings about.  Not that Love Story.  Love Story was also the name of a TBC anthology series that aired in the UK from 1963 to 1974 and starred, in any given episode (er, "play"), the illustrious likes of Patrick Macnee, Gerald Harper (Adam Adamant Lives!) and Alexis Kanner (The Prisoner). Writers included The Avengers' Brian Clemens, as well as, oddly, Roman Polanski, and Peter Collinson (The Italian Job) was among the directors.  And in October, Network will release Love Story: Volume One on DVD in Britain.  The Region 2 PAL 2-disc set will include a selection of eight episodes from between '63 and '73, and will retail for £19.99, though it can currently be pre-ordered on Amazon.co.uk for just £14.99.  According to the IMDb, Macnee appeared in three episodes between 1963 and '64, though I don't believe any of them were written by Clemens.  There's no word yet on which ones will be included in this set, but (as the cover indicates) it definitely contains at least one featuring our man Steed!

I'm duty-bound to report on (and inevitably acquire and watch!) any DVD with Patrick Macnee, but this will not be the best non-Avengers Macnee vehicle available from Network.  That honor belongs to the extremely entertaining Mister Jerico, my review of which can be found here.