There is no shortage of information on the web about Callan, which starred Edward Woodward and ran from the late 1960s to the early '70s on Independent Television. If you have not visited them already, the following sites are worth checking out:

• Kaleidoscope's 'Callan Resources';


• It's So Last Century Callan Pages;


• the BBC's oddly named 'h2g2'; and


• an amateur effort 'The Section' dedicated to the 'black and white' Callan series

My contribution to the cannon consists, largely, of scans from my scrapbooks, compiled at the time, and this episode listing.

The excellent Action TV magazine took an in depth look at the series in a feature called "The Blunt Instrument" in its Autumn 2001 issue No 5 (now sadly out of print, although copies do come up from time to time on e-Bay.)

Given they no longer have copies for sale I hope they won't mind me including a scan of the feature here - if nothing else it serves to demonstrate the quality of the magazine. Click the cover alongside.

In 1967 the TV Times Christmas Extra Magazine featured a Callan short story "Merry Christmas from the Section" - written by Callan's creator James Mitchell.

I also have copies of Callan short stories, written by James Mitchell and published in the Sunday Express in 1973, at the height of the show's popularity.
xxx File on a Deadly Deadshot
xxx File on an Angry Artist
xxx File on a Reckless Rider and
xxx File on a Weeping Widow
I have scanned them and they are in a PDF file.
Despite the ravages of time on newsprint they are clear enough still to read. Access by clicking the line drawing alongside.

CALLAN NOVELS

James Mitchell also wrote five Callan novels, published in so many different editions over the years you could be forgiven for thinking there was an entire library of them.

Three of the Callan books have been reissued by Ostara publishing as part of their "Top Notch Thriller" line and simultaneously released electronically for the Kindle. Website visitor Mike Ripley, who writes the column "Getting Away with Murder" in the "SHOTS" Crime and Thriller eZine, has been collaborating on the Callan project with James Mitchell's son Peter. They have also put together a book "Callan Uncovered" a compilation of the Callan short stories (over 20 of them) and an unfilmed script.

JOHN CRAIG NOVELS
Before Callan, James Mitchell also wrote as James Munro

• The Man Who Sold Death (1964)
• Die Rich, Die Happy (1965)
• The Money That Money Can't Buy (1967)
• The Innocent Bystanders (1969)

The adventures of Private Detective Frank Marker ran for ten years between 1965 and 1975. They would never set the world alight, but they were invariably solid, entertaining little yarns, intelligently scripted and well played.

You can read more about the series at

• Television Heaven's 'Public Eye' review page;



• Cult TV's excellent 'Public Eye - 1969 series' episode guide; and



• the 'Frank Marker' page on the Thrilling Detective's Web site.

My tribute to the Public Eye series are these scans from contemporary 'TV Stars Annuals'.