Illya Kuryakin Is No More

[Slim]

David McCallum has died at the age of 90. I loved The Man From Uncle as a kid; it's a bit of a shock to find out that he'd just turned 90 quite honestly.

He seemed to disappear for a long time after that, only to return in Colditz. In reality only a few years later, seemed longer to me at that age.

I never liked Sapphire and Steel.

[pxr5]

Until the news today I hadn't realised he'd been working on NCIS. Sad news indeed and I have fond memories of both The Man from UNCLE and Sapphire and Steel, though I had no idea what was going on in the latter. RIP.

[The Picnic Wasp]

More sad news about an early years icon. I'm not sure if I ever had any of the toys though. I had a pal with the same name (not Illya) who I unfortunately lost touch with. He was (hopefully still is) a cracking wee guy and liked Rush, so maybe he'll read this and get in touch. RIP Mr McCallum.

[R6GYY]

I'm pretty sure that I had a Man From U.N.C.L.E. badge. Something like this . . .

[R6GYY]

Those were heady days for TV for young people.

I remember being gripped by The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and perhaps even more so by The Champions.

Sian and I were discussing the 2 principals (from UNCLE) a few week's (or months?) back, having made the error of starting to watch the recent film version and switching off about 1/2 hour in.

R.I.P. Mr. McCallum.

[Fishy]

I loved Colditz

[Slim]

I'm pretty sure that I had a Man From U.N.C.L.E. badge. Something like this . . .

That actually brought a tear to my eye, seriously. I haven't seen mine since about 1973.

[Slim]

I'm really going off on a tangent now but that pic in the first post reminded me that kids' shows really glorified the use of guns in the '60s and '70s. Admittedly UNCLE wasn't exactly a kids' show but it was watched and loved by millions of children. I had a toy Napoleon Solo pistol myself. In the very first scene of the first show, you see him calmly shooting someone.

But even TV shows overtly intended for kids like Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet featured guns quite prominently. The International Rescue boys all carried a pistol, and had the occasional shootout. The opening credits of Captain Scarlet have him shooting someone. Even Joe 90, who was supposed to be nine years old, had his own handy firearm.

[The Picnic Wasp]

I think the violence in today's computer games has done far more to desensitise young people's attitude to killing than our fairly tame TV shows ever did. Remember the A Team? The 60s and 70s entertainment in particular was really based on fantasy and imagination.

[David L]

I think the violence in today's computer games has done far more to desensitise young people's attitude to killing than our fairly tame TV shows ever did. Remember the A Team? The 60s and 70s entertainment in particular was really based on fantasy and imagination.

Not just computer games, pre-watershed TV has become far more violent too

[Slim]

That's an interesting thought. I think telly can be more graphically violent now but there was an everyday, casual violence on the telly all the time when I was a kid. Cowboys shooting Indians or each other and war films especially.