Introduction

Danger UXB is a 1979 British ITV television series set during the Second World War.

It was developed by John Hawkesworth and starred Anthony Andrews as Lieutenant Brian Ash, an officer in the Royal Engineers (RE).

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Outline

The series chronicles the exploits of the fictional 97 Tunnelling Company,[n 1] which has been made a bomb disposal unit, and specifically 347 Section of the company, to deal with the thousands of unexploded bombs (“UXBs”) in London during the Blitz.

As with all his fellow officers, Ash must for the most part learn the techniques and procedures of disarming and destroying the UXBs through experience, repeatedly confronted with more cunning and deadlier technological advances in aerial bomb fuzing.

The series primarily features military storylines, though among them is a romantic thread featuring an inventor’s married daughter, Susan Mount (Judy Geeson), with whom Ash falls in love, and other human interest vignettes.

Cast

• 347 Section, 97 Company:
  • Anthony Andrews as Lieutenant Brian Ash, section bomb disposal officer.
  • Maurice Roëves as Sergeant James, section sergeant.
  • Ken Kitson as Corporal Samuel Horrocks, a large but timid section NCO.
  • Kenneth Cranham as Lance Corporal Jack Salt, a married man anxious about the safety of his wife and children.
  • George Innes as Sapper Jim Wilkins, section driver, a conniving petty thief and scrounger who avoids work as much as he can.
  • Gordon Kane as Sapper Gordon Mulley, also Ash’s batman. He falls in love with the landlady’s daughter.
  • Robert Pugh as Sapper ‘Tiny’ Powell, a coarse and often bullying Welshman who plays the piano.
  • Robert Longden as Sapper Copping, a religious and comtemplative young man.
  • David Auker as Sapper Baines.
  • Martin Neil as Private John Brinckley, a replacement from the Non-Combatant Corps later commissioned into the Royal Engineers as a bomb disposal officer.
  • John Bowler as Sapper Scott, a replacement.
  • Bryan Burdon as Sapper Binns, a replacement who in peacetime was a stage actor and comedian.

• 97 Company, Royal Engineers:
  • Peter Cartwright as Major Luckhurst, officer commanding.
  • Ken Farrington as Captain ‘Fannie’ Francis, second-in-command (2IC) and later officer commanding.
  • Royston Tickner as Lieutenant (later Captain) Hamish Leckie, company adjutant and Scottish veteran of the First World War.
  • Jeremy Sinden as Lieutenant (later Major) Ivor Rodgers, Ash’s good friend, later 2IC and officer commanding.
  • Steven Grives as Lieutenant Ken Machin, a replacement bomb disposal officer.
  • Osmund Bullock as Lieutenant (later Captain) Alan Pringle, section officer and later 2IC.
  • David Shaughnessy as 2nd Lieutenant Tim Carter-Brown, section officer.
  • Nick Brimble as Lieutenant Gresham, section officer and junior officer in the company.
  • Norman Chappell as Corporal Mould, mess corporal, who is constantly teased by Ivor Rodgers.

• Others:
  • Iain Cuthbertson as Doctor Gillespie, a boffin specialising in defeating German bomb fuses.
  • Judy Geeson as Susan Mount, Gillespie’s married daughter.
  • David Buck as Stephen Mount, Susan’s codebreaker husband.
  • Moyra Fraser as Aunt Do-Do, Brian’s surrogate mother.
  • Marjie Lawrence as Mrs Baker, landlady of Brian’s billet.
  • Deborah Watling as Norma, Mrs Baker’s daughter and Sapper Mulley’s paramour.
  • David Wood as Lieutenant Roger Symes, 81 Company RE section officer.
  • Christopher Good as Captain West, RE.
  • Nick Tate as Lieutenant Chris Craik, Royal Navy, a bomb disposal officer specialising in naval mines.
  • Tim Pigott-Smith as Harry Winthrop, Dr Gillespie’s associate at Cambridge.
  • Deborah Grant as Elspeth, Brian’s paramour while stationed at Cambridge.
  • Geraldine Gardner as Mickey, a cabaret dancer who is attracted to Lance Corporal Salt.

Trivia

• The programme was partly based on Unexploded Bomb – The Story of Bomb Disposal, the memoirs of Major A. B. Hartley, MBE, RE; its episodes were written by Hawkesworth and four screenwriters.
  • Hartley’s book, a non-fiction memoir of technical information and anecdotes, provided some of the major story developments.
  • Danger UXB, a novel based on the series and written by Michael Booker, was published by Pan Books in 1978, and an annual was published by World Distributors in 1980.
• The series was filmed in 1978 in and around the Clapham, Streatham and Tooting areas of south London.
• Lieutenant Colonel E. E. Gooch, RE (AER) (Retired) was the technical adviser.
• Many of the bomb-disposal scenes were filmed in what appeared to be deep, freshly dug holes lined with wooden shoring (the way real bomb disposal often happened).
  • In fact, these scenes were shot using two different physical sets intercut: a short above-ground wooden fence that appeared to be the top of the shaft down to the bomb (but was not in fact excavated); and a 30-foot above-ground hollow wooden tower with a muddy area inside at the bottom (often shot from above, looking down).
  • A side of the bottom was also removable to facilitate “bottom-of-shaft” close-ups.

Danger UXB Series

• Episode 01: Dead Man’s Shoes.
• Episode 02: Unsung Heroes.
• Episode 03: Just Like a Woman.
• Episode 04: Cast Iron Killer.
• Episode 05: The Silver Lining.
• Episode 06: The Quiet Weekend.
• Episode 07: Digging Out.
• Episode 08: Bad Company.
• Episode 09: Seventeen Seconds to Glory.
  Episode 10: Butterfly Winter.
• Episode 11: Dead Letter.
• Episode 12: The Pier.
• Episode 13: With Love From Adolf.

Production & Filming Details

• Creator(s): John Hawkesworth and John Whitney.
• Director(s): Ferdinand Fairfax, Roy Ward Baker, Douglas Camfield, Henry Herbert, Simon Langton, and Jeremy Summers.
• Producer(s): John Hawkesworth, Christopher Neame, and Johnny Goodman.
• Writer(s): A.B. Hartley, John Hawkesworth, John Whitney, Jeremy Paul, Don Shaw, Kenneth Clark, and Paul Wheeler.
• Music: Simon Park.
• Cinematography: Norman Langley, Tony Mander, Peter Jessop, and Ian Wilson.
• Editor(s): John Trumper and Ralph Sheldon.
• Production: Euston Films and Thames Television.
• Distributor(s): Masterpiece Theatre and PBS.
• Release Date: 08 January 1979 to 02 April 1979.
• Running Time: 49-51 minutes.
• Country: UK.
• Language: English.