James Maxwell in the TV Times 9th September 1965 (p11) re. "Traitor at the Gate", an episode of Suspense Hour & 29th September 1966 (p17) re. his appearance in "Cream off the Top" an episode of Blackmail.
TVT 1965: The conflict in Traitor at the Gate, Sunday's Suspense Hour, is like an iceberg—eight-ninths under the surface, and all the more treacherous because of it. Author Jacques Gillies gives very little away, beyond rousing our curiosity—and suspicions—about the £25 in notes received in a registered letter from an advertising agency by Pinky Mills (Lana Morris). Has it any more significance than that? Robert Mills (James Maxwell), Pinky's husband in a faltering marriage, is a scientist at the Ministry of Defence. Is he as out of his depth as the author would have us believe? And Colonel Allison (Clifford Evans) who sends Sergeant Drummond (Barry Warren) of Field Security to bring Mills to his office—is his interest in Mills really "just a routine matter"? Whether or not Mills is as feckless as he seems to be, James Maxwell is familiar with the type—he has played a number of similar roles before. "They're not much use at looking after themselves but mean well. The trouble is that in playing someone like Mills I grow more and more like the character—incompetent. I drop my glasses, forget what I'm saying, where I am, or should be, and at what time. It's very inconvenient," he said. Which could be the understatement of the year! As Pinky, Lana Morris is one of the neurotic, twitchy ladies she plays so well. Happily she has recovered from the blood poisoning that forced her to withdraw from a play recently. Clifford Evans had to forego part of his holiday for his part in this play. When he has any spare time he devotes it to a cause very near his heart - a fund for a National Theatre for Wales. With a donation from another Welshman of the theatre, Richard Burton, the appeal is getting off to a healthy start. And it is not being officially launched until March 1, 1966, St. David's Day!
TVT 1966:
A change of casting, too, for James Maxwell, starring with June Thorburn and Michael Lees in the Blackmail play The Cream Off the Top. "I've played so many absent-minded people who drop and lose things continually I get a bit like it myself," he told me. "It's nice to be so sharp and with-it in this play—it might even make me a better organiser." The "sharp and with-it" Logan (James Maxwell) comes to his one-time boss Gerald Barker (Michael Lees), now director of a firm of house agents, for a job. They have once been good friends - still have the makings of friendship. Why, then, is Barker so clearly put out by Logan's arrival? And why, when he does give Logan a job, is Barker put out by Logan visiting his home in his absence and meeting his wife, Ann Barker (June Thorburn)?
