#jacqui chan

[thisbluespirit]

Professor Lazard’s team, as seen in the newly rediscovered The Hidden Truth (Rediffusion, 1964).

[behindfairytales]

icons of Jacqueline Chan in Marco Polo (s2) as Saskana

more on the source link

[classicladiesofcolor]

Actress Jacqueline Chan walks past posters of the play '”The World of Suzie Wong” outside the Prince of Wales Theatre in London, 1961. She played the part of Gwennie Lee in both the play and the film.

[thisbluespirit]

The cast of The Hidden Truth (Rediffusion, 1964).

[thisbluespirit]

The Hidden Truth 1.10 “One for the Road” (17th September 1964).  Written by John Hawkesworth; dir. Lionel Harris.  Featuring Alexander Knox, James Maxwell, Zia Mohyeddin, Ruth Meyers & Jacqui Chan.  Guest starring Bryan Pringle, Megs Jenkins, Richard Vernon, Basil Henson, & Alister Williamson.

"Would you say this was an interesting and instructive case?  Oh, it’s maddening, it’s infuriating.  Oh, it’s just damned frustrating!”

Discovered in 2015 & shown at the BFI’s lost TV event, this was the only existing episode of the entire series for five years until Talking Pictures’s findings in autumn 2021.  This was shown alongside the other three, and is the only absolutely complete episode, as even “Cross-Examination” is minus the end credits.

Back in 1964, “One For the Road” got the now-regular sort of press coverage for the series in general, but one particular sequence used some novel  methods in filming and made the headlines - but since this episode exists, I’ll make a separate gifset for that scene!

[thisbluespirit]

The Hidden Truth: 1.12 “Missing, Believed Killed” (1st October 1964).  Written by John Hawkesworth; dir. Lionel Harris.  Featuring regulars Alexander Knox, Jacqui Chan & George Moon. Guest starring Colin Gordon, Geoffrey Keen, and Rosemary Martin.

A crashed plane - a wartime Blenheim bomber - is discovered in a remote part of Dorset.  Two skeletons are also found at the same site, and the RAF call in Professor Lazard (Alexander Knox) to try and solve a twenty year-old mystery.  “His conclusions could bring a major insurance fraud to light - and help the pilot's wife to find justice.”

Lazard also has to manage without the help of his usual efficient secretary, and deal with her temporary replacement, Jean (Rosemary Martin).

The episode also featured Colin Gordon as an Air Vice Marshall, and Geoffrey Keen as a former member of the RAF (named as Ellis by the Coventry Evening Telegraph, 1st Oct, and Lloyd by the IMBd), Bruce Carstairs as Group Captain Philip Lampeter, Lionel Stevens as an RAF Padre and Brian Rawlinson as a Flight Sergeant.

“Missing, Believed Killed” was the second of two episodes without James Maxwell’s Dr Fox - and, being also minus the two other junior doctors, lab assistant Tua-Ling helps the Professor in Jacqui Chan’s third and final appearance in the series.

The episode was written and directed by John Hawkesworth and Lionel Harris, who were similarly responsible for 1.10 “One For the Road.”  It was Lionel Harris’s last episode, after directing four episodes of the series, two of which are among the recovered material.  Almost all his previous work had been as director and producer on prestigious series like BBC Sunday Night Theatre, ITV Television Playhouse, ITV Play of the Week & The Wednesday Play.  (He had worked with at least one of the main cast before, having directed James Maxwell in a musical adaptation of The Comedy of Errors in 1956 and “The Jason Group” in 1961, both for ITV Play of the Week.)

Some clips/sequences of “Missing, Believed Killed” are supposed to  survive.

(Again, IMBd has date of broadcast a week ahead of what appears to be the actual date, but there’s no sign in any of the contemporary papers of any breaks or rescheduling.)

[thisbluespirit]

The Hidden Truth 1.8 Twelve Good Man (3rd September 1964).  Written by Eric Corner & Ross Salmon; dir. Don Gale.  Featuring regulars Alexander Knox, James Maxwell, Elizabeth Weaver, George Moon, Ruth Meyers & Jacqueline Chan.  Guest starring Tenniel Evans, Maureen Pryor, Terence Alexander & Frances Cuka.

The invalid wife (Anne Woodward) of an analytical chemist living in Cornwall is found dead, apparently poisoned.  The chemist, Collins (Tenniel Evans), is charged with murder [by Det. Inspector Thwaite (Barry Linehan) and Det. Sergeant Holland (Edward Cast)].  Dr Fox (James Maxwell) is asked to provide scientific evidence to prove Collins innocent.  Assisted by Tua Ling (Jacqui Chan), his findings make him the key witness in the case for the defence.  But “will the jury be swayed by emotion or by scientific fact?”

Terence Alexander reprised his role as Roger Blake QC, so Dr Fox had to face him again, after 1.3 “Cross Examination” where the QC gave Fox “the most unpleasant half hour [he] could remember” in the witness stand.   

Also featuring Frances Cuka as Rachel Pascoe and Maureen Pryor as Belle Atkinson, with Peter Bathurst as the judge.

The TV pages showed some interest in the unusual angle regarding the poisoning plus noting Terence Alexander’s return - and, of course, the first appearance of new regular character, lab assistant, Tua Ling, as played by Jacqui Chan.

The Mirror took up the story, as she’d previously dated Anthony Armstrong-Jones & was therefore News.  Tua Ling, the Mirror reporter claimed, “my Chinese secretary tells me means “dignified elegance.””  Producer Stella Richman intended to build up Chan’s role, and had booked her for two further episodes (one of which was 1.10 “One For the Road,” which, happily, exists).  (Chan’s brief affair with Armstrong-Jones means that she also appears, somewhat controversially, as a fictional character herself in S2 of The Crown, played by Alice Hewkin.) 

The episode was written by prize-winning playwright and marine biologist Eric Corner, who lived in Plymouth, and wrote as a hobby. He scripted the dialogue while his collaborator, broadcaster Ross Salmon, provided the storyline and characters.

[behindfairytales]

Jacqueline Chan in Marco Polo (s2) as Saskana

more on the source link