Spyder's Web

Spyder's Web
StarringPatricia Cutts
Anthony Ainley
Veronica Carlson
Roger Lloyd-Pack
Peter Sallis[1]
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes13
Production
Running time50 minutes
Production companyATV
Original release
NetworkITV
Release21 January (1972-01-21) –
14 April 1972 (1972-04-14)

Spyder's Web was a British crime drama television series produced by ATV for ITV and broadcast in 1972.[2] It starred Anthony Ainley as Clive Hawksworth and Patricia Cutts as Charlotte "Lottie" Dean as two secret agents working for the mysterious Spyder organisation in the interests of the British government.

Overview

In common with many other such series of the time, Spyder's Web adopted an ironic approach to its subject matter. The Spyder organisation used as its cover a down-at-heel film company, Arachnid Films, and only Dean and Hawksworth were in on the secret; the company's other employees, Wallis Ackroyd and Albert Mason, believed the cover to be genuine. Indeed, Dean claimed to have won awards for her documentaries. Hawksworth, the "action man", was a knowing caricature of the steely-eyed, jutting-jawed heroes of former times, and was alleged to have been "steeped in Bulldog Drummond from an early age". (His response: "We were just good friends.") Five of the thirteen episodes were written by Roy Clarke, who created and wrote Last of the Summer Wine. The programme ran for just one series.

Home media

The series was released on DVD by Network in 2011. Eleven of the episodes do not survive in colour:[3] only episodes seven and nine of the release were presented as colour episodes.

Cast

Episodes

# Title Writer Director First broadcast
1 "Spyder Secures a Main Strand" Roy Clarke Dennis Vance 21 January 1972
2 "The Executioners" Alfred Shaughnessy James Gatward 28 January 1972
3 "Romance on Wheels" Roy Clarke James Gatward 4 February 1972
4 "The Hafiz Affair" Roy Clarke Dorothy Denham 11 February 1972
5 "Life at a Price" Frank Driscoll Dennis Vance 18 February 1972
6 "Emergency Exit" David Ellis David Wickes 25 February 1972
7 "Red Admiral" Alan Hackney John Cooper 3 March 1972
8 "Lies and Dolls" Alfred Shaughnessy Dennis Vance 10 March 1972
9 "Things That Go Bang in the Night" Marc Brandel Ian Fordyce 17 March 1972
10 "An Almost Modern Man" Roy Clarke Dennis Vance 24 March 1972
11 "Nobody's Strawberry Fool" Robert Holmes John Cooper 31 March 1972
12 "The Prevalence of Skeletons" Marc Brandel Ian Fordyce 7 April 1972
13 "Rev Counter" Roy Clarke Dorothy Denham 14 April 1972

References

  1. ^ "Spyder's Web (1972)".
  2. ^ Tise Vahimagi, British Film Institute, ed. (1994). British television: an illustrated guide. Oxford University Press. p. 208. ISBN 978-0-19-818336-5.
  3. ^ "Spyder's Web". TV Brain. Archived from the original on 21 January 2022. Retrieved 21 January 2022.


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