Callan

David Callan is the top agent/assassin for the Security Service (British counterintelligence), but he is an embittered man who performs his duties "for Queen and country" under duress. This bleak, "Spy who Came in from the Cold"-style espionage drama concentrates on the seamy underside of covert operations: assassinations, blackmail and dirty dealing.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery

Cast:Edward Woodward , Russell Hunter , Lisa Langdon , Anthony Valentine , William Squire , Patrick Mower , Geoffrey Chater , Ronald Radd , Derek Bond , Clifford Rose , Paul Williamson , Michael Goodliffe , T.P. McKenna , Harry Towb , John Wentworth , Sarah Lawson , Peter Blythe , Frank Coda

1Season 1

S1.E1 ∙ The Good Ones Are All Dead

Sat, Jul 8, 1967

Both a retread of the Armchair Theatre play 'A Magnum for Schneider' and a direct follow-on, the very first episode of the series proper replays Callan's recall from forced retirement, but this time to keep an eye on former SS officer Strauss (Powys Thomas), who is posing as a Greek Cypriot businessman named Stavros. Having secured a position as his bookkeeper, Callan is ordered to keep Strauss alive until he is handed over to the Israelis, and find conclusive evidence of the man's true identity.

2Season 1

S1.E2 ∙ Goodbye, Nobby Clarke

Sat, Jul 15, 1967

Callan finds himself up against him former mentor. Nobby Clarke, now turned vicious mercenary. 'You shouldn't have come hear, Callan. I was always too good for you. I taught you, remember'

3Season 1

S1.E3 ∙ The Death of Robert E. Lee

Sat, Jul 22, 1967

Facing up to Hunter is one thing - Callan's used to that. But facing up to Hunter and oriental Robert E. Lee, is too much for one agent to handle. Or is it?

4Season 1

S1.E4 ∙ Goodness Burns Too Bright

Sat, Jul 29, 1967

Injured when out in the field, Callan must undergo a complete medical check-up. Bur what happens if someone wants you 'out of the way' for a few days - and is prepared to go to any lengths to achieve that aim?

5Season 1

S1.E5 ∙ But He's a Lord, Mr Callan

Sat, Aug 5, 1967

Ordered to dispose of a member of the aristocracy, Callan, working outside the protection of the agency ('should anything go wrong, we don't know you') finds his mission hampered by Lonely's reluctance to help him.

6Season 1

S1.E6 ∙ You Should Have Got Here Sooner

Sat, Aug 12, 1967

When Lonely is beaten up after robbing a supposedly empty flat, Callan investigates on his behalf and discovers a link to a man named Pollock (Jon Laurimore), an enemy operative with whom he has had past dealings and who is currently under the Section's protection. After spotting Toby Meres leaving a safe house in which Pollock's girlfriend is holed up, Callan bluffs his way in and gets the operation details from her, then drops in to Section HQ to warn Hunter to keep his boys away from Lonely. Unfortunately for just about everyone, Meres has already paid him a visit.

1Season 2

S2.E1 ∙ Red Knight, White Knight

Wed, Jan 8, 1969

Callan is brought officially back into the Section by a new Hunter, who accompanies him and Meres to the airport collect Russian defector Bunin when he arrives on British soil. Callan doesn't believe a man like Bunin would ever defect and suspects he has actually been dispatched to investigate and even kill the new Hunter. Once under Section protection, Bunin claims he is actually here to pave the way for the defection of top government official Ivan Mereski, a potential prize catch who will only defect to the Section's top man in Russia.

2Season 2

S2.E2 ∙ The Most Promising Girl of Her Year

Wed, Jan 15, 1969

Callan is ordered to investigate Joan Mather, a government laboratory scientist who has expressed concerns that her work might be used for biological warfare.

3Season 2

S2.E3 ∙ You're Under Starter's Orders

Wed, Jan 22, 1969

When Callan is accused of taking files from Head Office and planning to flee the country. Hunter suspects that his number one agent has 'gone over'. Callan, however, is playing a very dangerous game - one that could cost him his life.

4Season 2

S2.E4 ∙ The Little Bits and Pieces of Love

Wed, Jan 29, 1969

Callan is manipulated by Hunter #2 into shadowing and befriending Polish émigré Sophia Rule in order to lure her former husband Brezhevski, previously thought dead and now a figure of some influence in the East, over to their side.

5Season 2

S2.E5 ∙ Let's Kill Everybody

Wed, Feb 5, 1969

The Section is put on high alert when it is discovered that it has been targeted by an unknown party and that everyone from Hunter down is at risk of assassination.

6Season 2

S2.E6 ∙ Heir Apparent

Wed, Feb 12, 1969

Callan and Meres are dispatched to collect the section's new Hunter East Germany, where he has been working undercover.

7Season 2

S2.E7 ∙ Land of Light and Peace

Wed, Feb 19, 1969

Callan must dabble in the occult to find the truth behind a seemingly innocent spiritualist organisation 'The League of Light'. Is it a bona fide society, or do its unearthly manifestations hide more sinister activities.

8Season 2

S2.E8 ∙ Blackmailers Should Be Discouraged

Wed, Feb 26, 1969

Callan looks into the past of a Canadian Atomic Corporation official when a letter comes in stating is background should be checked.

9Season 2

S2.E9 ∙ Death of a Friend

Wed, Mar 5, 1969

When a French counter-intelligence agent Jean Coquet, a man with whom Callan was once close friends, dies in an engineered road accident, Callan is ordered to look after his widow Francine, who is kidnapped while under his protection.

10Season 2

S2.E10 ∙ Jack-on-Top

Wed, Mar 12, 1969

When the KGB - Russian Secret Service - network in London is detected, the authorities move in for the kill. The head Russian slips through the net, and Callan is ordered to capture him.

11Season 2

S2.E11 ∙ Once a Big Man, Always a Big Man

Wed, Mar 19, 1969

Hunter sends Callan to retrieve a vital document which has been found in a safe of a ship during the war. But other people are interested in the discovery - people who are prepared to kill to obtain its secrets.

12Season 2

S2.E12 ∙ The Running Dog

Wed, Mar 26, 1969

Add a plot

13Season 2

S2.E13 ∙ The Worst Soldier I Ever Saw

Wed, Apr 2, 1969

Callan secures work with his former commanding officer in order to investigate his involvement with a rich but politically unstable region of the Middle East.

14Season 2

S2.E14 ∙ Nice People Die at Home

Wed, Apr 9, 1969

Actor Ronald Radd returns as the first Hunter of the Section, blood-thirsty Col. Leslie. Callan is then sent to nail two minor Russian agents working from a pet shop.

15Season 2

S2.E15 ∙ Death of a Hunter

Wed, Apr 16, 1969

Captured by the KGB, Callan is drugged, brainwashed and released - with instructions to kill Hunter. He obeys - but who actually dies? Hunter? Meres? Or Callan? Who get shot in the process?

1Season 3

S3.E1 ∙ Where Else Could I Go?

Wed, Apr 8, 1970

Recovering after months in hospital, Callan finds he may well get sacked unless he can pass several tests. Lonely is arrested and faces a long prison term unless Callan can hire a highly successful, and expensive lawyer for him.

2Season 3

S3.E2 ∙ Summoned to Appear

Wed, Apr 15, 1970

When Callan and Cross's tail on a Polish operative goes horribly wrong and an innocent bystander dies, Callan must testify at the inquest. His dilemma: perjure himself or implicate his fellow agent and expose the section.

3Season 3

S3.E3 ∙ The Same Trick Twice

Wed, Apr 22, 1970

Surtees, a British agent recently returned in a prisoner exchange, threatens to publish an explosive tell-all account of his activities, complete with scandalous details. Suspecting that the KGB has turned Surtees, Hunter orders Callan to stop him.

4Season 3

S3.E4 ∙ A Village Called 'G'

Wed, May 13, 1970

The entire section goes on red alert when Liz, Hunter's ever-punctual secretary, fails to show up for work. Trying to trace her, Callan begins to suspect that Liz's disappearance involves not an enemy from the present, but a ghost from her past.

5Season 3

S3.E5 ∙ Suddenly-At Home

Wed, May 20, 1970

Lady Janet Lewis--the beautiful widow of an ex-foreign secretary--accepts a TV producer's lucrative offer for an interview about her husband. Suspicious of the producer's intentions, Hunter assigns Callan to stop her, but the assignment gets personal.

6Season 3

S3.E6 ∙ Act of Kindness

Wed, May 27, 1970

When Heathcote Land receives incriminating photos of his company's sales manager in bed with a mistress, Callan tries to persuade him not to expose the man. But Land knows too well how such games are played.

7Season 3

S3.E7 ∙ God Help Your Friends

Wed, Jun 3, 1970

Callan must break up the engagement between a lovely NATO interpreter with a grade-A security clearance and a man suspected of serving as a KGB informant. Does the woman's fiance really love her? Or does he love Moscow more?

8Season 3

S3.E8 ∙ Breakout

Wed, Jun 10, 1970

By surrendering to the police, wily KGB operative Nikolai Lubin seeks safety in a British prison, out of reach of Hunter and the section's interrogators. Hunter, however, has other plans--engineering Lubin's "escape" under the guise of a KGB operation.

9Season 3

S3.E9 ∙ Amos Green Must Live

Wed, Jun 24, 1970

Amos Green is a politician with the combustible view that "coloured immigration is dangerous to Britain and must stop".

1Season 4

S4.E1 ∙ That'll Be the Day

Wed, Mar 1, 1972

With Callan captured, imprisoned, and interrogated by the Soviets, his superiors stage his funeral. But Callan's pal and sometime employee, Lonely, sees through the charade and makes a nuisance of himself, much to the section's chagrin.

2Season 4

S4.E2 ∙ Call Me Sir!

Wed, Mar 8, 1972

Upon Callan's return, dire circumstances force him to accept a new position within the section--one that affords an entirely different perspective on his work, particularly regarding his relationship with Lonely.

3Season 4

S4.E3 ∙ First Refusal

Wed, Mar 15, 1972

When a third-party broker offers to sell the names of British agents in Eastern Europe for Â£100,000, Callan suspects a leak in London and races to find it before the broker's proposal expires.

4Season 4

S4.E4 ∙ Rules of the Game

Wed, Mar 22, 1972

After Moscow expels a British cultural attache, Callan assigns Cross to harass a Russian embassy employee and force the man's withdrawal. This tit-for-tat arrangement turns complicated, though, when the Russian's family gets involved.

5Season 4

S4.E5 ∙ If He Can, So Could I

Wed, Mar 29, 1972

Cross's behavior on his previous assignment calls into question his fitness for service. Nevertheless, Callan assigns his former rival the perilous task of protecting a dissident Russian poet.

6Season 4

S4.E6 ∙ None of Your Business

Wed, Apr 5, 1972

Relieved of his duties, Callan intends to go on holiday. However, his superiors have relieved him of his passport as well--forcing him to acquire a new one by any means necessary.

7Season 4

S4.E7 ∙ Charlie Says It's Goodbye

Wed, Apr 12, 1972

Assigned to shadow an upper-crust economist expected to defect to Poland, Callan becomes involved with a beautiful widow who has good reason to despise intelligence agents.

8Season 4

S4.E8 ∙ I Never Wanted the Job

Wed, Apr 19, 1972

After witnessing a gangster's execution, Lonely runs afoul of the killers and the police, jeopardizing both his cover and Callan's life.

9Season 4

S4.E9 ∙ The Carrier

Wed, Apr 26, 1972

Callan and Lonely burgle a scientist's home to photograph top-secret documents. But Lonely's sticky fingers endanger the entire operation.

10Season 4

S4.E10 ∙ The Contract

Wed, May 3, 1972

Callan tries to intercept an assassin hired to murder a visiting dignitary but winds up assuming the killer's identity. Will he find himself forced to fulfill the contract, too?

11Season 4

S4.E11 ∙ The Richmond File: Call Me Enemy

Wed, May 10, 1972

Alone at a remote safe house, Callan debriefs a high-ranking prospective defector--a man known as Richmond, who promises to reveal a traitor within the section.

12Season 4

S4.E12 ∙ The Richmond File: Do You Recognise the Woman?

Wed, May 17, 1972

Attempting to stay one step ahead of Richmond, Callan visits an old nemesis in prison: Flo Mayhew, the woman who set a trap for him using Lonely as bait. Now, however, he intends to turn the tables.

13Season 4

S4.E13 ∙ The Richmond File: A Man Like Me

Wed, May 24, 1972

Still on the loose, Richmond activates a sleeper agent and seeks refuge in the man's home. Meanwhile, Hunter has marshaled all of the section's resources to find the Russian and flush him out.