Here's [Some] I Made Earlier...

Usually, to round off a blogging year, I do a post about my creative exploits in the past twelve months but, to be honest, I didn’t feel like doing one in 2020.  It was a bad year for all of us, though not without individual rays of sunshine and as a writer, I found it stifled me for a while.  The various lockdowns also meant all Cons and gatherings I would normally attend didn’t happen and I really did miss them and my writing family (we Zoomed but it wasn't the same).

The Early Works...

So instead, I thought I’d look back at some of my earliest creative endeavours (I was homaging Steve Austin and Star Wars back when I was 8 and 9) and here are the first four ‘novels’ I wrote (though I doubt they'd even class as novellas now).  My Dad, star that he is, dutifully read them all and gave me feedback - I’m sure he was over the moon when I started writing horror, a genre he doesn’t get on with, so he could stop being my first reader.  With their inspirations barely hidden, some wonderful cover designs (I loved Letraset!) and all bound with string, I present the ‘Early Novels of Mark West’.
 
Shark! (1981)
An odd combination of Jaws (naturally) and comics stories from the likes of Bullet, Crunch and Action, this features Mark West, a government salvage expert with a shark phobia whose latest job is, naturally enough, in shark infested waters.
 
Hadley Hall Comprehensive (1982)
A huge fan of the Robert Leeson Grange Hill novelisations, I decided to write my own, putting me and my friends into a series of adventures that were very much based in Rothwell and at Montsaye, the comprehensive I was attending at the time.  The cover is taken from a photo-story I did in 1981 (and wrote about here), featuring my Dad, me and my friend Geoff.
 
The Space Mercenary (1983)
It’s my take on Star Wars.

Glamourpuss (1984)
A tale of bounty hunters (lifted from The Mantracker in Crunch comic and The Fall Guy himself) tracking down a famous model, this was directly inspired by the first The A-Team novelisation by Charles Heath, which I loved (and still do).
 
The Three Intrepids were written in homage to The Three Investigators, a series of books I love and continue to re-read (and have written about extensively on the blog).  Eight books make up the series, written from 1983 to 1985.

* * *

In the year itself, I had one story published, a reprint of What We Do Sometimes, Without Thinking, which appeared in STORIES OF HOPE AND WONDER, a NewCon Press anthology Ian Whates put together to raise funds for NHS frontline staff (and which has contributed over £2k so far).  I wrote about it here and you can buy the e-anthology here.

 
I spent the year working on my third thriller novel, after starting it in December 2019.  A “simple story” with two timelines, it turned out to be a real saviour for me, a world to escape into (after a brief 5 week period where I found it difficult to write at all) and something to creatively look forward to.  Unfortunately, the timing meant a lot of over-writing and repetition so I ended up producing a 209k word first draft!  Thankfully, I’m almost finished the second draft now and it’s down to a much more manageable and realistic 110k words.

So an odd year then but, whatever 2021 decides to throw at us, I hope you and yours stay safe and healthy.

Nostalgic For My Childhood - Christmas Annuals (part 2)

"Christmas is coming!"

Me & Tracy, Christmas 1976 - I am clearly chuffed to have the Action Man game AND Evel Knieval, while TJ is pleased to have her Sindy horse (or could it really be Black Beauty?)

As I wrote about last year (you can read it here), one of the Christmas highlights when I was a kid (beyond the catalogues I wrote about in 2016) was seeing which annual I got that particular year.  For those who don't remember them, these were (and still are) large size hardback books, designed for children and based on existing properties, including comics, popular TV shows, the occasional film as well as sport and pop round-ups.

The ones based on comics featured the same cast as the weekly editions, while the TV and film ones had comic strips, the occasional short story, fact files and interviews and - brilliantly - in the case of The Fall Guy, behind the scenes information on stunts and how they were filmed.

Annuals are generally published towards the end of the year, cover-dated as the following year to ensure shops don't take them off the shelves immediately after the new year (though, by then, unsold copies are often heavily reduced).  Still as popular now - you tend to see fewer relating to ongoing comics (perhaps because kids today don't have the range of comics we had) - the only difference seems to be that they're much skinnier (and that's not just me being all nostalgically misty about it - my ones from the late 70s and early 80s are substantially chunkier than the ones I’ve bought for Dude over the past few years).

Here, then, is another selection of old favourites, ones I received and ones I remember my sister Tracy having.  I hope some of them inspire a warm, nostalgic trip down memory lane for you...

1975

Blue Peter annuals were a bit of a tradition, though this is the only one I remember ever owning.  Book One was published in 1965 and the series finished, in 2011, with Book Forty (they skipped a few random years).

1976

 Everybody..."Rupert, Rupert the bear..."

1976

I loved comics that played spooky for laughs and this cover has everything - the headless ghost scaring the poor bloke out of not only his shoes but his wig, while a dog on the doorstep kills itself with laugher.  Fantastic!

1977

As a huge fan of horses (she later worked with them and rode competitively), Black Beauty was one of Tracy's favourite TV shows and hearing that stirring music now makes me smile wistfully.

1977

 More monster related fun!

1978

I remember my friend Claire having this and it not making much sense to me - where were the comics?  Ah, the mystery of girls...

1978

Ah, my hero and a Christmas staple for me though this edition (I felt) suffered with poor artwork.  It does, however, feature an article on hijackers (more a sign of the times, I feel, than an interest for most kids).

1979

One of my all-time favourite comics (and it's still going), though surely they could have found space for Roger The Dodger on the cover?

1979

Blake's 7, a wonderfully cheap (lots of action in quarries) but fantastically imaginative  BBC show.  I haven't seen it in years (and I'm not sure I'd want to revisit it) though I remember enjoying it a lot.  I once bumped, by accident, into Gareth Thomas in a post office in Aberystwyth - I couldn't think of what to say to Blake so my Dad apologised and led me out.

1979

As happened quite often during my childhood, a favoured comic was absorbed into another, better selling title and most of the strips I liked faded over time.  Not in this case, it seems, as Kid Kong (from Monster Fun) takes centre stage here (Buster himself is to Kong's left with the green hat on).

1979

My favourite funny comic from my childhood - I still proudly own my 'Friend Of Cheeky' badge!

1979

 The Junior TV Times, this was a big favourite of mine (as I wrote about here).

1980

The year 2000 seemed so far away then - next year, we'll be as far away from it as we were when this annual came out!

1980

 Jinty does well, not spraying the icing everywhere when the kitten bursts the balloon, doesn't she?

1980

Tracy loved Thelwell and his wonderful artwork of small children (often girls) on little rounded ponies.

1981

 Targeted at girls, beloved by them and boys alike!

1982

1982

1983

One of my favourite TV shows (I've written about it before, as a retrospective here and as part of my recuperation from my heart attack here) and this is a terrific annual - great artwork, good features and a spooky short story.

1984

Another of Tracy's favourites, I love the artwork of this cover.


Happy Christmas!


scans from my collection, aside from the girls titles (thanks to comicvine for those)

You can read more of my nostalgia posts here

Nostalgic For My Childhood - Christmas Annuals

"Christmas is coming!"

Me & Tracy, Christmas 1977 - look at how chuffed I am, I've got the new Look-In annual AND the Starsky & Hutch Gran Torino!

One of the highlights of Christmas when I was a kid (beyond the catalogues I wrote about last year) was seeing which annual I got that particular year.  To those who don’t know (it might be a peculiarly British thing, I’m not sure the same format is available in the US), Christmas annuals were (and remain) large size hardback books, designed for children and based on existing properties.  Back when I was a kid, this included a variety of comics, popular TV shows of the time (I wonder how many kids fell over themselves for The Sweeney and Kojak annuals?), the occasional film as well as sport and pop round-ups.

The ones based on comics featured the same cast as the weekly editions, mostly in new adventures, while the TV and film ones had comic strips, the occasional short story, fact files and interviews and - brilliantly - in the case of The Fall Guy, behind the scenes information on stunts and how they were filmed.

Annuals are generally published towards the end of the year, cover-dated as the following year (so that Look-In annual above is classed as the 1978 one), to ensure shops don't take them off the shelves immediately after the new year (though, by then, unsold copies are often heavily reduced).  Still as popular now - you tend to see fewer relating to ongoing comics (perhaps because kids today don't have the range of comics we had) - the only difference seems to be that they're much skinnier (and that's not just me being all nostalgically misty about it - my ones from the late 70s and early 80s are substantially chunkier than the ones I’ve bought for Dude over the past few years).  I haven’t bought one for myself in years (the only ones that vaguely interest me relate to Star Wars and none of them have snagged my interest when I’ve glanced at them in shops) but I have enjoyed the odd read of his (Pokemon was a favourite for a long time, now supplanted by Match Of The Day).  I did, however, buy the compilation one of Look-In magazine that was put out a few years back but the interest there was in the re-printing of old comic strips and articles.

Here, then, are a selection of old favourites, ones that I received and ones I remember my sister Tracy having.  I hope some of them inspire a warm, nostalgic trip down memory lane for you...

1975
This is the first annual I remember, though I'd have been 5 during Christmas 1974 when it was originally published, so my memory must come from re-reads, I imagine.

1976
I was a huge fan of the TV series but the highlight of this annual, for me, was the 4 page article about John Chambers' make-up and showing how Roddy McDowall was transformed into Galen (probably the first behind-the-scenes thing I ever read).

1976
To be honest, I can't remember anything about this show and I wish I could.  The annual has several pages of magic tricks, clearly designed (and carefully explained) for kids, which I recall 'entertaining' family with at several Christmas get-togethers...

1977
My childhood hero, in book format

1978
I was a big fan of Look-In magazines (The Junior TV Times), as I wrote about here.

1978
I loved The Beano.  The Bash Street Kids (the cover stars here) got their own annual starting in 1980 and running through to 2010.

1978
Tracy was a huge fan of horses (she later worked with them and rode competitively) and Black Beauty was one of her favourites

1979
For 9 year old me, Return Of The Saint was one of the coolest things on TV - that car, the job and that fantastic opening theme tune.  I knew of the Roger Moore version, but that seemed very static compared to this.  The annual is a bit disappointing though, to be honest, filled with not-very-good-at-all artwork.

1979
I started watching the TV show because of Farrah Fawcett (wife of Lee) Majors and it was good fun.  I always liked Kate Jackson best though.

1979
The "seven-penny nightmare" comic writ large.  I have nothing but fond (and gore-streaked) memories of this!

1979
Wonderfully spooky - marketed towards girls, though boys comics also had spooky stories in them, I liked this

1980
The weekly funny comic that supplanted The Beano for me.

1980
Me and my friends loved this show but, bearing in mind how much our parents did too, I wonder now just how much of it went sailing over our heads...

1980
I love the fact that the songsheet the girl on the left is holding is the same picture, except she's getting splatted by a snowball

1981
A popular US TV show that I only barely remember now but Tracy, who loved monkeys, really enjoyed it and I used to watch it with her.

1981
Although I'd started reading 2000AD when it was first launched in 1977, I graduated to Starlord which began in 1978 (both were published by IPC).  Costing slightly more (though the better selling of the two titles), it had higher production costs and rather than split the market, it was absorbed into 2000AD in 1978 (though annuals continued until 1981, cover-dated as 1982).  This often happened during my childhood, favoured comics being gobbled up by bigger name titles, with all of my favourite strips gradually being phased out.

1981
More ponies!

1981
Top Of The Pops!  Debbie Harry!

1981
The Professionals (which began in 1977) was clearly aimed at an adult audience but much-loved by kids like me (I wrote more about them here), who enjoyed the running, shooting and vehicular mayhem - hence the annual.

1982
Tucker!  And the gorgeous Cathy Hargreaves (bottom left) played by Lyndy Brill

1982
One of my favourite TV shows (which I've written about before - as a retrospective here and as part of my recuperation from my heart attack here) - Lee Majors, Heather Thomas, behind-the-scenes stuff and lots of stunts!  The annual is good fun too, with some interesting articles and a spooky short story.

scans from my collection, aside from Charlie's Angels, Misty, Tammy and Judy (thanks to comicvine for those)

You can read more of my nostalgia posts here

My Fall Guy summer...

A year ago today, I went into hospital having suffered a heart attack.  It was a shocking experience, a real slap in the face from my mortality that made me look hard at - and change - a lot of things in my life.

left - me on a bike ride (picture by Dude) - 3/8/14
right - me & Dude, at Welland Park, playing football - 2/8/15

I wanted to mark today but wasn't sure how and then found this little essay I wrote in September last year but never got round to publishing on the blog.  As it was written 'in the thick of things', it has an immediacy I couldn't recapture now, so here it is...

* * *

As we glide smoothly into Autumn (my favourite season of the year) and the nights draw in and the mornings darken, it seems - as it often does - as though summer was gone in a blink.  It was, I think.

I had such plans for this summer.  There was a novel I was going to write - I thought it was a fantastic idea, I worked hard on the pitch and critiqued the three chapters with my pre-reader band and my chums at the Northampton SF Writers group, there were adventures to be had with Dude, day-trips to exciting places and our Wales holiday.

The first adventure wasn’t the success I’d been hoping for, as Dude & I went to London for the Film & Comic Con event at Earls Court in July.  The venue was terrible, the staffing levels were appalling and we left mid-afternoon, thoroughly disappointed.  “Why don’t we go into the City?” I asked and Dude agreed and it saved the day from disaster, as we had a lovely afternoon wandering around the capital, visiting our favourite shops, eating a lovely meal on Shaftesbury Avenue and then leaning contentedly on each other in the train home as we read our books.

In early July, the publisher I’d approached with my “Fantastic Novel” pitch turned it down - he was very complimentary about the writing and structure but didn’t feel it was different enough for his list.  As nice as he was, as nice as the compliments were, I was gutted.  I didn’t write anything for a week, a fortnight.  I then had three people contact me wanting short stories, I spoke with Ian Whates from my writing group and Sue Moorcroft, my critiquing partner and writing friend and I started to pick myself back up.

All through this time, events in the world (especially the Gaza situation) were darkening my days and in a bid to stave off a black dog episode, I was browsing through ebay and found the first series of “The Fall Guy” for sale.  I decided to buy it, reasoning that I could binge-watch it (on my own, I presumed) and forget things for a while.

On Sunday 3rd August, I had several attacks of acid reflux - that awful burning in the chest sensation - which had me eating Gaviscon like they were Smarties.  When Dude & I went out for a walk, then a bike ride and my elbows ached, I assumed I’d somehow caught them somewhere.

On Monday, I had more of the acid reflux attacks, so much so that I couldn’t get myself comfortable.  “I feel like I’m dying,” I groaned to Alison.  Thankfully, she’s a lot smarter than me and packed me off to the KeyDoc where I was seen by an apparently very inexperienced doctor (who stank of BO) who carried out an ECG on me that didn’t work and sent me to the hospital for a bloodtest with no accompanying paperwork.

I made my way to Kettering General Hospital at 8pm, my Dad kept me company and at 2am I was admitted to the Coronary Care Unit.  Sometime during the day - or maybe on the Sunday - I had suffered a heart attack (“it happens a lot,” the nurse told me cheerfully, “people think they’re having acid attacks and it’s not, it’s little heart attacks!”).  Following a sleepless night, I was second into surgery and after an angiogram to see what was going on had a stent fitted.  The doctor later showed me a video of the operation and, when I was trying to describe it later, I likened it to a SatNav image.  I’ll try it again…

Imagine the M1 cutting down the middle of the screen.  That’s an artery, the dark colour of it the life blood that’s pumping around my body and keeping everything going.  Coming off it is a thinner line, a country lane that doesn’t look wide enough to carry much heavy traffic.  The wire appears, the balloon is inflated, the stent is positioned and suddenly I’m looking at two M1’s.  “Oh,” I said, “I see.”

I spent the rest of the day in hospital, recovering and was sent home that night.  Alison & Dude were thrilled to see me and my Mum gave me a big hug.  Even Dad, who’s not overly prone to displays of affection, hugged me.  They went home, my family went to bed, I sat up and pondered how life was going to change now, how life would have to change now.  And I picked up the box set of “The Fall Guy”, put in a disk and watched it.

I watched more episodes as the week wore on, as people treated me with kid gloves and made sure everything was all right and every time I tried to do something, I was gently pushed back to my seat to take it easy.  I started to call my heart attack an episode, to try and play it down.  I was knackered, I was tired, but I was also very lucky and I wanted to get back on my feet.  As for the attack itself, the doctors reckoned that although my weight was a factor, the contributing causes were my smoking (I gave up when Alison discovered she was pregnant, ten years ago) and family history (my Grampy had several attacks, the last of which unfortunately killed him).

My holiday fortnight came and that first week - which we usually spend heading off on day trips - fizzled to nothing, our only outing being a train trip to Leicester Dude & I went on.  The second week, our time away in Wales, was wonderful but a lot more sedate than normal and I couldn’t chase around in the castle ruins like I’d have done before.

What a great excuse for a picture of The Fall Guy team!
(Douglas Bar, Lee Majors, Heather Thomas)

As the days went by I could feel myself starting to get stronger.  I’d already started losing the weight (some weeks before I saw a picture Alison took of me & Dude on the patio and I was so disgusted at the Jabba The Hutt I’d become, I decided to do something about it - cutting down on crap, more bike riding and loads of walks had lost me 17lbs before the episode), I don’t drink or smoke, but I did have to start eating more fruit & veg and I felt like I could do it.  Dude & I took to going out for a walk - of at least 2 miles a session - at least five times a week, if not six or seven.  And when we came back, after his shower, he & I would sit in a chair - him on my lap - and watch “The Fall Guy”.  He loved it (I didn’t think he would, its pace is much slower than the kids TV he now watches), it was our time and I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think he did too.  When we’d finished the first box set, he immediately wanted to watch the next so I ordered it (in case you’re wondering, series 3 to 5 haven’t been released on DVD due to ‘lack of demand’ - it would appear that Dude is the only 9 year old fan of the show).

As the weeks went by and I got better, my desire to write came back and I finished off the story I’d written in first draft before my episode.  The process was fairly smooth, I read it aloud to Alison and it worked for us both and I sent it to the editor who liked it a lot.  I worked on a second story, using images I’d picked up in Wales and the editor liked that one too.  I have another story to write, which is rolling around in my head at the moment but I’m confident about it.  With my other writing, I really want to get back to the novel, to build on the pitch and go off-tangent to it at the same time, as characters and situations suggest themselves to me.

The hospital team made an appointment for me to go in to have a second angiogram, to make sure everything was okay with the first procedure and to see if another thin artery they’d seen before was standing up to the strain.  The appointment was made for Monday 8th September so I got to enjoy the FantasyCon weekend in full before it and I’m so pleased I did.  The Con was great and it was wonderful to see so many old friends, to catch up and laugh and hug and lovely, too, to realise just how much I meant to them.  To those of you reading this who came up to me that weekend and hugged me or held my arm and looked me in the eyes and said “it’s so good to see you”, it meant so very much to me, it really did.

We were almost done with the second series of “The Fall Guy” before FantasyCon so Dude & I agreed to leave a couple of episodes over until I’d been back into the hospital.  I went in on the Monday afternoon for the angiogram and it was awful - they simulated another heart attack and for a terrible handful of minutes, it felt like someone was wringing my chest bones.  Everything was clear though and I was home by 8.30pm without a need for the second stent.  I’m due to start the Cardiac Rehabilitation Programme on the 29th and, hopefully, they’ll give me the nod to get back on my bike (Dude & I have so missed our adventures).

I feel better in myself, my strength is returning, my fitness is increasing all the time and the weight is still coming off, which is reassuring - I’ve not gone back to the takeaways or loads of sweets and it’s not been the struggle I thought it would.  But then, I look at my family and friends, I look at Alison & Dude and see them looking at me and realise that’s why.

I want to remember 2014 as my “Fall Guy” summer and I hope that Dude does too (he doesn’t talk much about the episode but I can sometimes see it playing away behind his eyes) because that 30 year old TV show managed to sand off a lot of the sharp edges caused by a couple of months of horror, pain and sobering reality and I’ll always be grateful for that.


The update:
- The Cardiac Rehabilitation Programme was a huge success for me (thanks so much to Iona and her team), they gave me a real burst of confidence to get out and get exercising (and not worry that I was going to kill myself)

- The Cardiac team at KGH were so impressed with my progress, my twelve-month assessment was brought forward and I was released from their care after six months

- Dude still worries about the whole thing (though it's lessening with time).  For months, he didn't like me going out on my own ("If I'm not there, who'll help you?") and he & I have had several long and indepth chats about it - he can see that I'm thinner, that I'm looking after myself and getting fitter, but the doubt is still sometimes in his eyes.  The British Heart Foundation produce a brilliant pamphlet called "My Dad's Heart Attack" which we read together and I think it helped, as the story in that is identical to his experience with me.

- I never did write that novel, though I've now sold a novella based on half of the pitch so that's a plus

- Dude still talks about The Fall Guy and when he leaps around, I sometimes call him Colt-junior, which makes him smile.  I wrote a blog post about the show, which seemed to go down well

- I've already blogged about my quest to lose weight and I'm pleased to say that yesterday's weigh-in saw me down to 13st 7.5lbs (a total loss of 69.25lbs and just 0.75lbs off 5st), so I'm obviously going in the right direction

- I am fitter than I have been in years, so much so that a few weeks back I played for a Dads Eleven at Dude's football team and didn't disgrace myself at all

- I'm still here, I'm enjoying my life, I'm surrounded by wonderful family and friends and I'm writing again.  What more could I want?

My Creative Year 2014

Making a tradition of something I started last year, here’s a look back at 2014 from a creative standpoint (and yes, it might be a bit self-indulgent but this is, after all, my blog…)

During 2014 I wrote 5 short stories, a novel pitch, a load of book reviews, created some book covers and trailers (via Rude Dude Films) and wrote a dozen or more essays/articles for this blog.  I also suffered a heart attack, which put paid to my creativity through the summer (we now refer to it in our house as being my “Fall Guy Summer”, since Dude & I worked our way through the first two series of that early 80s TV show whilst I recuperated).

I had 2 short stories published:
* The Ilizarov Apparatus in Voices From A Coma #1, edited by Shaun Hamilton from Imaginalis Publishing
* Rhytiphobia in Phobophobias, edited by Dean M. Drinkel, from Western Legends Publishing

My novella Drive was published in print and digital editions by Pendragon Press and is available from Amazon.  Thankfully, it was very well received (including an excellent review in Black Static).

The Bureau Of Lost Children, which appeared in last year’s ill at ease 2, received an Honorable mention from Ellen Datlow.

My novel pitch for “The Witch House” was rejected and I was gutted.  However, I’m pleased to say that I’m back working on it now.

* * *
James Everington included "The City In The Rain" and "A Quiet Weekend Away" (both from my collection Strange Tales) in his Favourite Short Stories of 2014 round-up.

Kit Power, in his "What Kind Of A Year Has It Been?" round-up, awarded "Drive" an honorable mention in the Novella Of The Year category (which was won by Stephen Volk's masterpiece "Whitstable", itself my top read in 2012).  He said "Recommended as a one sit read, this one grabs you by the scruff and drags you though the intense narrative at a breathless pace."

Jim Mcleod at The Ginger Nuts Of Horror included "Drive" in his annual "Best Horror Of 2014" post, saying "While this is strictly not horror, Drive...is still a brilliant tense and fast paced story of urban horror."

Matthew Fryer at Welcome To The Hellforge included "Drive" as one of his three top novellas 'that linger...' and says "A true edge-of-your-seat cinematic experience that doesn’t let you pause for breath."

Anthony Watson, in his annual "Dark Musings" round-up included "Drive" in his novellas category with "a tense, white-knuckle chase through darkened streets that will keep you gripped to the last page."

Peter Tennant, at Black Static, included "Drive" in his annual "Best In Class - 2014" round-up

* * *
I attended two great Cons this year, the first was Edge-Lit 3 in July, held at The Quad in Derby (full report here) and FantasyCon in September, held at The Royal York Hotel (full report here).  In addition, I was also involved in the Fox Spirit Writers Evening in November, held at Leicester Central Library (full report here).

top - at FantasyCon with Steven Chapman, Phil Sloman, Jim Mcleod, me, Sue Moorcroft, Neil Williams and Chris Teague
bottom - The Edge-Lit gang, aka The Derby Dhansak Daredevils with James Everington, Richard Farren Barber, Ross Warren, Chris Teague, John Travis, me, Paul M. Feeney and Steve Harris

* * *
Creatively speaking, 2014 hasn’t been bad at all, from the wonderful acclaim that Drive has attracted, the great projects and collaborators I’ve been involved with and the terrific Cons I’ve attended, though it was all tempered somewhat by my cardiac episode and the novel rejection.  Thankfully, 2015 is shaping up quite nicely with four short stories due for publication (as I write this) along with The Lost Film novellas (with Stephen Bacon) finally seeing the light of day and, as I mentioned before, I’m back working on the novel.

So all in all, a pretty good year and I’m feeling optimistic about 2015.  Thank you for your support in 2014, especially to those who bought, read and liked my work - I really do appreciate it.

Nostalgic for my childhood - The Fall Guy

Last year, I started a thread called “Nostalgic for my childhood” (you can find the others using this link), covering books and films and various things that I remember fondly  It’s a thread I'm planning to continue anyway, but this edition sort of came out of the blue.

Those who follow me on Facebook will know I had a heart attack last week which meant I had to take it easy for while.  It just so happens that the week before that, I bought the season one box-set of “The Fall Guy”, having found it on ebay (I can’t remember now why I’d been looking).  Back in the day I loved that show and - trying to keep away from the news - I binge-watched it over the week.  Dude joined me for a lot of them and we finished the whole 22 episode run on Sunday and he wanted to go straight back into it, whilst I decided this was a prime candidate for my “Nostalgic for my childhood” thread.

“The Fall Guy” was a Glen A. Larson production (the early episodes have bronchial voice-over man saying that over the final production credit) that ran for five series (I’m English, it should be series and not seasons) from November 4th 1981 until May 2nd 1986 for a total of 112 episodes.  The genesis of it, according to Larson, came from his friend David Somerville (they used to be in bands together) who wrote “The Ballad Of The Unknown Stuntman” for a documentary in 1979.  Larson and Somerville pitched the series by playing the song and saying the hero was stuntman and bounty-hunter, which got them a greenlight.  Larson met Lee Majors in an airport (the two knew each other as Larson executive produced the early series of “The Six Million Dollar Man”) and signed him up without the star having seen so much as a script.  Majors went on to co-produce the show (“he ran the set well,” Larson said in interview, “everyone got on, it was relaxed and the work got done”), sing the theme song (which was adapted to include more current names), do a lot of stuntwork himself and lead a series that, he hoped, would clear Steve Austin from peoples minds.

For my part, I was a massive fan of “The Six Million Dollar Man” and Lee Majors was one of my favourite actors at the time, so he was completely my draw for “The Fall Guy”, as I’m sure he was for many other people.

The pilot episode was written by Larson and directed by Russ Mayberry and the remainder of the series was mostly written by David Brafff and Nick Thiel who, for the 1981/82 first season, also acted as script editors (they were replaced from the second series on).  Alongside the theme (credited to Somerville, Larson and Gail Jenson), US series stalwart Stu Philips provided the soundtrack.

The first series cast - from left, Heather Thomas, Lee Majors, Douglas Bar, Jo Ann Pflug

Heather Thomas makes her entrance

“The Fall Guy” was about a Hollywood stunt man, Colt Seavers (played by Majors) who moonlighted as a bounty hunter, mainly picking up bail jumpers who’d skipped on Samantha “Big Jack” Jack (played by Jo Ann Pflug in the first series - Markie Post as Terri replaced her from series two and although Samantha is mentioned, she’s never seen again), using his physical skills and knowledge of stunts to catch fugitives and criminals.  In the pilot episode, we’re introduced straight away to Colt’s young cousin Howie Munsen (played by Douglas Barr), who wants to be both a stuntman and Colt’s manager (Seavers often refers to him as “kid”) and is portrayed as a kind of educated goof at first (though his character matures across the first series).  We are also introduced to Jody Banks (Heather Thomas), a young stuntwoman Colt has taken under his wing and even though she’s often seen in the thick of film action, she doesn’t have a lot to do otherwise (in the first series at least) other than provide sex appeal.  She does have a moment, coming through some batwing doors, that not only became her credit clip in subsequent series but was also a defining moment for this 12-year-old boy watching.

series 2-5 cast, with Markie Post replacing Jo Ann Pflug

The first series opened each episode with an introduction from Lee Majors (as Seavers) explaining about stuntmen and that he couldn’t make a full-time living from it so also worked as a bounty hunter.  This sequence ran over stock footage of various stunts, from the 20s to the then-present day (the voice-over was dropped after the first series) and would usually segue into Colt filming a stunt, before getting caught up in a case with Big Jack that was always more complicated than it first appeared.  The stock footage was taken from real Twentieth Century Fox films (they distributed the TV show and their clearly-identified backlot was often seen in the episodes), including “The Poseidon Adventure”, “Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry”, “Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid” and “Silver Streak”.  One clip, from the film “Sky Riders”, ironically enough showed James Coburn performing his own stunt, clinging to a helicopter skid as it flew high over a gorge.  The series also used stock footage from feature films to pad out/boost the budget in episodes.  Whilst this practise got more extreme the further into the run you went, it did also change the tone of some episodes.  In “The Snow Job”, for instance, avalanche footage from the 1978 film “Avalanche” was used, including some shots where the snow destroys a hotel that hadn’t been seen before.

As was usual in the 80s for series of this type, the car was an important part of the show (think Magnum and his Ferrari 308, BA Baracus and his van, Knight Rider and his Pontiac Trans Am) and The Fall Guy was no exception.  He drove a 1982 GMC K-2500 Wideside pick-up truck (interspersed, on occasion, with a 1980 K-25 Wideside) that looked fantastic, with a brown and tan two-tone paintjob and an eagle logo on the bonnet for the “Fall Guy Stuntman Association”.  The truck was often involved in high speed chases and huge jumps and these took their toll on the actual vehicles (one clip in the opening credits shows the axle clearly braking).  When the production had destroyed several trucks, GMC built a custom version with the engine moved back under the seats (“to properly balance it,” Lee Majors said in an interview), a reinforced frame, heavy duty axles and various other refinements.  After this, the number of trucks that had to be scrapped was greatly reduced.

The truck, in the first series, about to snap its axles...

The series was known for its frequent cameos by Hollywood celebrities (especially in the first series), with actors as themselves - everyone from Tom Selleck to Linda Evans - chatting with Colt Seavers.  In the pilot, James Coburn (a friend in real life of Majors) makes an appearance early on and there’s a touching scene near the end with Farrah Fawcett (who had separated from Majors by this time - in the late 70s, they were the ‘golden media couple’ and apparently remained friends until her death.  She appeared against her managers wishes to show the public they were divorcing on good terms).

The theme song became a minor hit in the early 80s (the singer is credited as Colt Seavers in a handful of the first series credits) and was very popular in Germany (though as Majors said in an interview, “everyone is popular over there”) and includes a nice touch in the lyrics with the line “I’ve been seen with Farrah”.

As I said, I was a big fan of the series - I had the annuals, a t-shirt and desperately wanted the truck - but I don’t remember watching it through to 1986 and, in fact, before we got hold of the DVD boxset, I only had sketchy memories at best.  The first and second series are available on DVD though the others haven’t been released “due to lack of demand”, which seems a real shame.

As I write this, Dude & I have watched all of the first series and six episodes of the second (which is a lot more humorous, in tone, with some great one-liners from Majors).  The first thing I noticed, binge-watching, is a key Larson trait, wherein quite a few shots are recycled over the year (generally of the truck driving about).  Locations are also re-used frequently, which can be quite entertaining and some actors also appear more than once and as a different character altogether.  Distinctive looking character actor Dennis Fimple, for instance, plays deputy sheriff Renfo in “The Pilot” and is also one of the Rio Brothers - Bobby - in “The Japanese Connection”.  Chuck Hicks, a big character actor regularly cast at the time as a heavy, was a recurring thug who our heroes usually encountered just in time for a brawl whilst Terry Kiser (who was Bernie in the “Weekend At…” films) was a director in “The Pilot” and a thug in “The Rich Get Richer”.  As a recurring character, Judith Chapman played Kay Faulkner, an insurance investigator, who tangled with Colt in “The Rich Get Richer”, “Goin’ For It!” and “Three For The Road” - all of them in the first season plus “Death Boat” in the second.  The series also featured some genre stars and they got plenty of good screentime, from Sid Haig to Martine Beswick, Chris Stone to Don Stroud.  An amusing, continuing joke is that the goodies listen to country music, whilst the baddies always listen to classical.

The cast have all said in interviews over the years that they not only got on well making the series but also still keep in touch.
Lee Majors, who was born in 1939, still acts occasionally, though he remains best known for his portrayal as Steve Austin (“The Six Million Dollar Man”) and Colt Seavers.
Douglas Barr was born in 1949, left acting in 1994 and now works as a writer and director and is also co-founder of Hollywood and Vine Cellars, a small, high-end Napa Valley winery.
Heather Thomas was born in 1957 and after a much-publicised battle with drug addiction left acting in 1998.  She is now a screenwriter, author and political activist.

I loved “The Fall Guy” the first time around and whilst it isn’t a classic piece of television (I’m a fan, not a fool), it is good fun and I enjoyed re-watching and re-discovering it with Dude.  Roll on series 2!

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And now, I leave you with the series 2 opening credits complete with Lee Majors singing, the truck breaking its axle, James Coburn on a helicopter and Heather Thomas giving her character a great entrance.