Madam Sin (1972)

Having just watched Madam Sin for the first time, all the way through, I have to say that I really liked.  It does sort of fizzle out at the end in ways that I can't quite put my finger on but could be either a lack of money, a lack of care or just a quick fix to give it any kind of end once they realised it wasn't going to get picked up as the pilot of a new series.

The opening is strong though, the music and cinematography striking and with sonic guns, dastardly nuns and the casual charm that is Denholm Elliot, I was instantly hooked

In its set up it's a little bit; The Prisoner, a bit; Man in a Suitcase and maybe even a little bit The Avenger. None of which are bad things, especial at the start of the 70s

What I find most interesting about the movie though is that if, as had originally been intended, it had have become a TV series, exactly who's series would it have been?  Madam Sin the Moriarty style villainess as played by Bette Davis, Retired CIA agent Anthony Lawrence as played by Robert Wagner or even the presumed dead CIA agent and love interest Barbera as played by Catherine Schell.  Or all three of them?

Without giving away the movie's surprise ending, which may not have been true to the original pilot script, quite where episode 2, 3, 4 and so on would have taken us is anyone's guess but its fun to imagine what might have been.

Steve

From Sin to Who - Recycling the Future

How did this:

Madam Sin (1972) ITC

End up here:

Doctor Who Invasion of the Dinosaurs (1974) BBC

Well lets go for a bit of a ramble and speculate...

ITC (Incorporated Television Company) or ITC Entertainment as it was known in America was a British television production and distribution company best remembered for a string of cult TV shows made during the 60s and 70s.

Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), The Champions, The Prisoner, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Stingray, Joe 90, Man in a Suitcase, Department S, The Persuaders!, Jason King and The Protectors, to name but a few of the ones we may look at here one day.

In addition to television programming, ITC also produced several feature films, including; Capricorn One, The Eagle Has Landed, The Boys from Brazil and Madam Sin.

The latter; Madam Sin, had started life as a pilot for a potential TV series but had failed to excite the American network schedulers and so, following its initial broadcast in 1972 on ABC, it saw distribution to the rest of the world in the aforementioned guise of a movie.

And, having recently viewed the cinema trailer, I can now identify it as one of those half remembered movies I started watching on my portable TV late one night in the early 80's (?) without ever knowing its name.  I think I fell asleep without seeing it to conclusion but I do intend to rectify that quite soon because it looks like fun.

Its perhaps also worth mentioning at this point that ITC was founded by television mogul Lew Grade who, with fingers in many other TV pies of the day, was also co-owner of Century 21 Productions, alongside founder and creator Gerry Anderson.

Now when the Century 21 partnership ended in 1970, many of its costumes, sets, and props from its various TV productions were sold off to hire companies, with quite a few of the smaller pieces going to the special effects boys from the BBC who, rumour has it, filled up a van with goodies for 70 quid.

So my guess is that the sonic gun from Madam Sin was mixed in with the Century 21 stuff as part of the clearance and as such destined to be recycled as a dinosaur stun gun in Doctor Who.

There are a few other bits and bobs from the back of the van that are worth looking at in the future but this seemed as good a place as any to start, if only because its that little bit more obscure than the sonic screw driver and various spaceships... and a bit of speculation usually brings the experts out into the open and starts discussion.

In the mean time it is a hansom prop and it wouldn't surprise me at all if it had featured in further roles as well as these.

Steve