When I was a teenager, i would excitedly await each episode each week on British TV. Part of the delight about it was the ingenuity of the way that he would take down the criminals that he was challenging, rather than the standard punch up and corner the baddie in the control room that is common in the genre (cf James Bond). Indeed, Jack Cole wold usually find a way to ensure that the villains would turn on each other or defeat themselves.
For a TV series that lasted only 9 episodes, it certainly went out on a high note with Blackjack, regarded by many as the best episode. After Union funds have been embezzled to finance a mob-run Casino, the Feds have the problem that by the time they audit the books, the Casino will have been able to repay the money. Cole's solution? Stop the Casino repaying the money by bankrupting it on its own Blackjack table. His plan is so ingenious that it is said to have scared various real life Casinos in Las Vegas who realised that it might actually be possible.
As a period piece, it is also glorious to watch.
The one sad fact about the show though is that it is utterly unobtainable now. If only they would bring it out again as some sort of cult classic.
