Greetings from the Midwest, where we are just now beginning to recover from the Great Snowpocalypse of 2009! Now, I love a white Christmas as much as the next fellow, but this was the first time in history that the Kansas City metro area was under a blizzard warning, and I awoke on Christmas morning to find a four-foot-deep drift of snow against the front door. I spent a good part of Christmas day shoveling what seemed like several tons of snow from the sidewalk and driveway, then had the privilege of doing it all over again on Boxing Day after another night of snow erased all evidence of my previous day’s labours. Prevented by the snow from traveling far from the Archive, I had no choice but to settle-in to my armchair with a nice cup of tea and re-watch this week’s featured series, Ace of Wands.
Reportedly one of author Neil Gaiman’s favorite television series as a child, Ace of Wands was a children’s show broadcast on ITV over three seasons, from 1970 to 1972. The title of the series was derived from the Tarot card of the same name, which represents (amongst other things) excitement, adventure and courage. The main character is a mysterious stage magician with supernatural powers known only as “Tarot” and played by then-unknown (and still largely unknown) actor Michael Mackenzie. Although professing to have given-up material possessions, Tarot lives on a yacht and favors flashy sports cars (in the third season alone, he drives an orange Porsche 914, a Mercedes convertible and an Alfa Romeo) and flashy clothes (think polyester leisure suits, pimp hats and turtleneck sweaters). Did I mention that, in addition to being one of London’s preeminent stage magicians, Tarot is a master of karate? Or that he keeps a pet owl named Ozymandias? I thought not. When he isn’t dazzling audiences with his stage act, Tarot investigates the strange and the unexplained.
Every investigator of the supernatural needs assistants, of course, and in the first two seasons Tarot is assisted by reformed convict Sam Maxstead (played by Tony Selby, who went on to portray intergalactic con-man Sabalom Glitz in several episodes of Doctor Who) and telepath Lillian “Lulli” Palmer (played by Judy Loe, mother of actress Kate Beckinsale). In the third season, Tarot is assisted by photographer Chas (played by Roy Holder) and his telepathic sister Mikki (played by Petra Markham). Chas and Mikki play essentially the same roles as Sam and Lulli, with Mikki and Lulli both sharing telepathic connections with Tarot, and Sam and Chas serving as “the muscle.”
Production values are typical of British television series of the early 1970s–fans of the Jon Pertwee episodes of Doctor Who will know what I’m talking about. The episodes were shot on video rather than film, which I’ve always found takes some getting used to, and in order to keep episode budgets to a minimum, a number of restrictions were imposed on the production team. For example, casts were limited to 10 characters per episode, including the main characters. Shooting was also restricted to London, although on at least one occasion the team was allowed to venture as far as a rock quarry (that old British television standby for alien planets and deserts so beloved of the makers of Doctor Who). The series did feature a very well-done psychedelic opening sequence (easily found on YouTube by searching for “Ace of Wands TV intro”), with a rather good theme song by Andy Brown of Status Quo that is guaranteed to get stuck in your head for days.
By this point, you may have come to the conclusion that Ace of Wands is a bit rubbish, but you would be mistaken in that conclusion. While it is true that some episodes look like they were shot on a budget of 10 pounds, and some of the visual effects may cause you to laugh out loud (like when it’s obvious that they stopped the camera and put something in Tarot’s hand to make it appear he conjured it out of thin air), what makes Ace of Wands worth watching is the quality of the writing. By far the best episodes (at least in the third season–more on that in just a moment) were written by P.J. Hammond, who, over the course of an extraordinarily prolific career, has written for such well-known British television series as Dixon of Dock Green, Z Cars, Emmerdale Farm, The Sweeney, The Bill and Midsomer Murders. He is probably best known as the creator of the science fiction series Sapphire & Steel. He also wrote what I think are two of the best episodes of Torchwood, season one’s Small Worlds and season two’s From Out of the Rain. At its best, Ace of Wands is a creepy and atmospheric television show, one that no doubt caused a considerable number of British children to suffer nightmares.
Long-time fans of Doctor Who know that many early episodes of the series were lost when the BBC cleaned house and wiped the video tapes of older television series. Unfortunately, the BBC was not the only British network wiping video, and the first two seasons of Ace of Wands are thought to be lost. The third season, though, survives, and has been released on DVD in the UK by Network DVD. There are six stories in the third season, with each story consisting of three to four 25-minute episodes.
The third season begins with The Meddlers, a three-part story by P.J. Hammond in which we are introduced to Mikki and brother Chas (who, I must say, is the original “Mr. Thick Thickity-Thickface from Thicktown, Thickania”–extra Brit TV geek points to anyone who can identify that quotation). Mickey and Chas live in a groovy converted warehouse in the heart of a street market. The market has seen better days, and a series of mishaps lead the street vendors to believe that the market is suffering from a 100-year-old curse. Could the trio of sinister buskers have anything to do with the strange happenings? Who is the mysterious man who gazes-down on the market from a nearby high-rise office tower? What is the fire-and-brimstone street preacher up to? And who has stolen Tarot’s orange Porsche? Have no doubt that by the end of episode three, Tarot has answered all of these questions and more. The Meddlers, while not Hammond’s best, serves as a good introduction to the character of Tarot and his new assistants. It’s also enjoyable for the views it affords of 1972 London, a surprisingly grey and grim place.
The next story, The Power of Atep, is, in my opinion, the weakest of season three. A four-parter written by Victor Pemberton (who wrote the Doctor Who stories Fury from the Deep and Doctor Who and the Pescatons), it takes us from Swinging London to the Valley of the Kings, which looks surprisingly like a British rock quarry. Atep’s mummy is stolen from the British Museum, and soon someone is using Atep’s powers to attack Tarot. As if that isn’t bad enough, someone masquerading as Tarot whacks Chas on the head with a bloody great book of Egyptian lore! Soon Tarot and companions are in Egypt/the rock quarry, riding donkeys (apparently the show couldn’t afford to hire camels) and getting to the bottom of the mystery. The best thing about The Power of Atep is that it apparently convinced the show’s producers that attempting to set the show outside of England was a very bad idea indeed. I must confess, though, that I did enjoy the magicians’ duel in episode four.
Peacock Pie, the third story, is probably the best of the season (and is, of course, written by P.J. Hammond). Mr. Peacock is an unassuming man who possesses the power to make people experience incredibly realistic illusions. The illusions are so realistic that people think they’re in places that they are actually not. Tarot’s interests are raised when an armored car crew delivers a shipment of money to an abandoned house, insisting afterward that they had actually delivered the money to a bank. Soon Tarot must pit his mental powers against those of Mr. Peacock.
The fourth story, Mama Doc, is the strangest of the season. Written by Maggie Allen, it’s equal in terms of creepiness to the episodes written by Hammond. Mama Doc runs a doll shop and specializes in fixing damaged dolls. When visitors to the doll shop start disappearing, Tarot and companions must investigate. I find this story particularly disturbing, and imagine it was responsible for causing more nightmares in children than any other third season story.
The fifth story, Sisters Deadly, is another weak effort by Victor Pemberton. Two elderly sisters ask Chas to take pictures at the eldest sister’s 100th birthday party. They knock him out, and while he’s unconscious they program him to carry-out missions for them. What are the sisters up to? Honestly, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Due to the awful makeup, I’m not giving anything away when I tell you that one of the sisters is actually a man in drag (easily spotted the first time the “sister” is shown), and I’m still not exactly sure what that was all about.
The season (and the series) ends with The Beautiful People by P.J. Hammond. Two beautiful sisters and their brother travel from town-to-town throwing “Peace and Love” fetes for the poor and elderly. The prizes at the fetes aren’t the usual stuffed animals and balloons, but are instead expensive appliances like mixers and vacuums. Why are these trippy hippies giving away such expensive kit? And why are only certain people allowed in to the fetes? The sisters and their brother make the mistake of refusing admission to Mikki, who automatically assumes that anyone who would refuse her admission is up to no good and so brings Tarot and Mr. Thickity-Thick (Chas) in to investigate. A pretty good story overall, although the ending raises more questions than it answers, leading me to believe that Hammond may have intended there to be a sequel.
In case you hadn’t already guessed, I like Ace of Wands a lot. It’s a show very much of its time period in terms of clothing and hair styles, and its special effects are poor by today’s standards, but like many older British children’s science fiction/fantasy shows the storylines are surprisingly intelligent and mature, and at times the show is genuinely creepy. If you can get past the dated look and don’t expect modern CG effects, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. And anyone wanting to read some stories about occult investigation in Swinging London should find a copy of Kim Newman’s excellent The Man from the Diogenes Club. Newman cites Ace of Wands as one of his inspirations.
Next time, I’ll feature one of the best espionage shows that no one has ever seen, The Sandbaggers. See you in a fortnight!
If you’re interested in checking out Ace of Wands yourself, you can import the DVD from Amazon here:
About David Melton
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Anglotopia was founded by Jonathan and Jackie Thomas for people who love Britain - whether it's British TV, Culture, History or Travel - we cover it all. Anglotopia was started to get us back to the UK for a trip and it did that in 2009. Now, the goal is for Anglotopia to make our dreams of traveling to the UK whenever we want a reality.
