WILDE ALLIANCE. Yorkshire TV, ITV1, UK; 13 x 60m episodes, 17 January 1978 to 11 April 1978. John Stride (Rupert Wilde), Julia Foster (Amy Wilde). Producer: Ian Mackintosh.

THE WILDE ALLIANCE

   Tise Vahimagi happened to mention this series in a post he did on this blog almost three years ago, one in which he was discussing the various TV series that crime fiction writer Ian Mackintosh was involved in, one way or another.

   At the time I’d never heard of Wilde Alliance (and in fact back then I was more or less a complete novice when it came to old British TV series), and his description of the show was definitely tantalizing:

   Said he: “… [a] comedy-thriller featuring the amateur sleuthing adventures of a thriller novelist and his busybody wife (the latter in the Pamela North, Jennifer Hart vein).” Tantalizing, I said, because, I thought, what are the chances that anyone would dig this probably all-but-forgotten series out of whatever archive it might be in, if it existed at all.

   So what a fluke of luck it was to discover that, at the same time I purchased my first multi-region DVD player, that the series did exist, all 13 episodes, and that in fact it had just come out on DVD. It was promptly in my Amazon-UK shopping cart and speeding across the Atlantic on its way to me.

      As Tise said, Rupert Wilde is a thriller mystery writer. As played by John Stride, he’s a chunky fellow, with grayish white hair that’s just a little too long to be called kempt, but was probably in fashion then, back in the late 70s. His wife Amy is pert, saucy and slight and a perfect helpmate, very much her own woman, but cheerfully praising, pleasing and prodding Rupert on.

   They’re a happily married couple and normal in all regards except for their penchant to get mixed up in small scrapes and escapades, some of which involve crimes and some don’t. They aren’t as rich as the Harts (Hart to Hart), since Rupert is always pressed on deadlines for his next book in order to pay the bills, but they certainly are far from poor.

   Of the five episodes I’ve watched so far, I’ve enjoyed the fifth the most: “The Private Army of Colonel Stone,” in which the son of one of Rupert’s honorary aunts has mysterious died in Africa while on a diamond-hunting expedition. No body has been found, but the three men who’d been with him have taken over the isolated cottage that the dead man had used to finance his share of the venture. Plenty of twists and turns in the plot before it’s done.

THE WILDE ALLIANCE

   Other episodes, so far:

    (1) “A Question of Research.” Rupert gets into trouble with the authorities when the research he’s doing into his plot ideas get uncomfortably close to reality.

    (2) “Flower Power.” Amy Wilde comes up with a scheme to stop a dam from being constructed that will flood a beautiful valley.

    (3) “Too Much Too Often.” A weekend in the country with a unhappy couple ends in disaster — a raging river and a drink too many?

    (4) “Things That Go Bump.” A house that Rupert’s agent has purchased seems to have both a curse and a ghost that comes with it.

   Very minor plot material, when it comes down to it, nor are either of the stars big names, then or now (I will gladly stand corrected on that), but the interplay between the two leading actors is as charming (if I may use such a word in describing a TV series purportedly a detective show) as that between Steed and Mrs. Peel in a series in which, however, the stories were larger than life.

   Not quite so with Wilde Alliance. Their adventures are ordinary, or almost so. (None of the above ever happened to Judy and I.)

[UPDATE.]  Later the same morning.   Scouting on the Internet for more information about the series, I found a webpage containing a lengthy overview of it. Quoting briefly, which I assume I may:

    “In its day, Wilde Alliance was one of the most watched programmes on British television. In their book Television’s Greatest Hits Paul Gambaccini and Rod Taylor list every episode (broadcast in a prime time slot between 9 and 10 pm) as being in the Top 20 programmes of the week. ‘Things That Go Bump’ was the most watched episode reaching Number 4 in the chart. It pulled an audience of 16.6 million viewers…”