Q.E.D., oh how I loved thee. We were together for only six weeks in 1982, and though you broke my heart, I have never forgotten you.

In this column, it is my great pleasure to introduce to you, my dear readers, one of the gems of early-’80s television, Q.E.D. To begin with, and to avoid any confusion, I must state that I am not referring to the science documentary series by the same name that was broadcast on the BBC from 1982 to 1999. I never saw that series, and only recently learned of its existence. The Q.E.D. that this column is concerned with is an Anglo-American adventure series that first aired on CBS  in 1982. Consisting of only six episodes, it is set in England in 1912, and details the adventures of American scientist and adventurer Quentin E. Deverill (whose initials form the title of the series).

Q.E.D. was created by John Hawkesworth and Robert Schlitt. Schlitt has written for such American television series as Hawaii Five-O, Matlock and Jake and the Fatman, and Hawkesworth, who died in 2003, was an English television producer and writer who co-created Upstairs, Downstairs and produced and adapted for television the first (and best) of the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes episodes. I don’t know how they came-up with the idea for Q.E.D., but I can imagine them sitting around and brainstorming a list of favorite elements of Victorian and Edwardian fiction that they wanted to include in the series. A brilliant but evil nemesis? Check. Agents of the Kaiser? Check. Infernal Devices? Check. A haunted English manor house? Check. Spiritualists?Anarchists? Opium dens? Check, check and check!

The Professor about to blow-up Phipps in an experiment.

The show stars Sam Waterston (probably best-known for his role as prosecutor Jack McCoy in Law and Order) as Professor Deverill. In the first episode, Target London (written by Schlitt, and probably the best of the series), we first see the good Professor giving a lecture to his Harvard colleagues on his latest idea, a means of broadcasting a series of pictures over the airwaves to a receiver, which then displays them as a moving image (yes, television was apparently invented in 1912 by Professor Deverill). His colleagues, however , think the idea preposterous, and he is laughed out of Harvard. He decides to flee America for England, where he intends to carry-on his research in private. Upon his arrival in England, he makes the acquaintance of a Cockney cab driver by the name of Phipps (brilliantly played by veteran actor George Innes, whose career has been so prolific he has 130 entries in his I.M.D.B. filmography). Phipps refuses to take the Professor out of the city, so the Professor buys the cab and hires Phipps as his lab assistant/cook/driver/gentleman’s gentleman. Although it is never explained, the Professor apparently has bucket-loads of money, as not only does he buy Phipps’ cab, he also lives in a big manor house out in the country. There he sets-up a laboratory and begins inventing all kinds of whacky things, with Phipps usually serving as his test subject.

Phipps has no idea he's about to get blown-up.

Following the debunking of a seance, which lands the Professor in the dock at the Old Bailey, he meets an American reporter by the name of Charlie Andrews (played by A.C. Weary, who seems to have made a career of guest-starring on American television shows). Charlie is a Harvard graduate, and remembers the Professor for his eccentricities. The Professor, for his part, remembers Charlie from the Yale football game, in which Charlie fumbled in his own end-zone and lost the game. Soon the Professor and Charlie make the acquaintance of Betsy Stephens (played by Sarah Berger), whose brother disappeared from his yacht while sailing off the Frisian Islands. Her brother also happens to be an expert on rocket engines. A coincidence? I think not! Schlitt obviously drew his inspiration for the episode from Erskine Childers’ 1903 novel The Riddle of the Sands, and viewers familiar with that novel will see many similarities as the Professor, Phipps, Charlie and Betsy set sail for the islands. There they encounter Moriarty-like criminal mastermind and international saboteur Stefan Kilkiss (played by well-known British actor Julian Glover). As the Professor says, “Kilkiss spells bad news in any language.” The bad news worsens as the Professor and crew learn that Kilkiss is working as an agent of the Kaiser, preparing a peremptory attack on London. Adventure ensues as the Professor attempts to foil Kilkiss’ plans.

Kilkiss watches in disbelief as his plans go awry.

Betsy was obviously intended to be a recurring character, as at the end of the first episode she appoints herself the Professor’s secretary. The character is never seen again, however, and no mention is ever made of her departure. I can only assume that the actress playing Betsy had a scheduling conflict or simply didn’t want to continue in the part. For the remaining episodes, the character of Jenny Martin serves as the Professor’s secretary (played by the beautiful Caroline Langrishe, whom Anglophiles will most likely recognize from her role as Charlotte Cavendish in Lovejoy).

Jenny, wearing a hideous robe, about to see a ghost.

The second episode, The Great Race, finds the Professor and Phipps competing in a race against cars sponsored by, amongst others, Henry Ford. The Japanese government enters a car in the race, and in order to ensure a win they hire none other than Kilkiss.   The third episode, Infernal Device, has the Professor combatting anarchists intent on blowing-up an international conference being held at the Greenwich Observatory. The fourth episode, 4:10 to Zurich, again pits the Professor against Kilkiss, as they race across Europe in an attempt to be the first to get to a scientist who has just invented a new kind of deadly gas. Alas, this is the last episode to feature Kilkiss. The fifth episode, To Catch a Ghost, has the Professor investigating a haunting in an English country house, and the sixth and last episode, The Limehouse Connection, has the Professor investigating the deaths of Chinese dock workers.

Title screen for British television

There is almost no information about the series on the Internet, and I have no idea why only six episodes were created. I can only guess that Q.E.D. would have been made into a regular series if the viewership ratings had been better. To the best of my knowledge, CBS only broadcast the series once. At some point it was broadcast in England, and the name of the series was changed to Mastermind to avoid confusion with the long-running science documentary show. In the late ’80s or early-’90s the series appeared on American television for the second and last time, on cable network Showtime.

I still have fond memories of sitting in my parents’ family room in 1982, watching Q.E.D. on their big Sylvania console television with the colonial-style wooden cabinet.  Even as a Star Wars-obsessed junior high school student, I fell in love with the series. The production values are absolutely first-rate, as good as those of  Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes or David Suchet’s Poirot. The cast is largely made-up of veteran British actors (many of whom played villains in the Indiana Jones movies–Julian Glover, Ronald Lacey, Paul Freeman), and while the storylines aren’t exactly original, the adventures of Professor Deverill and companions are great fun. These are old-fashioned, Boys’ Own Adventure-style stories, and refreshingly there is a complete absence of gratuitous sex and violence. They truly don’t make them like this anymore.

After going-on at length about how good Q.E.D. is, I now must regretfully inform you that I know of no way to easily obtain the series. The first three episodes were released on VHS, so it would be possible to track-down used copies on eBay, or perhaps through Amazon, but the last three episodes were never released. Needless to say, the series has never been released on DVD. Oddly, a video of the opening sequence was recently removed from YouTube for copyright violation. My hope is that if someone is that concerned about protecting the copyright then maybe that same someone is preparing a DVD release of the series. I would love to be able to replace my disintegrating VHS copy-of-a-copy.

I have yet to decide what series to feature in my next column, and I would love to hear any suggestions you might have. If there’s a British series that you feel should be dusted-off and introduced to a new generation of viewers, let me know in the comments section below. See you in a fortnight!

Author Info -  David is an Assistant District Attorney and former police officer living in Lawrence, Kansas, home of the University of Kansas. He wishes he could wear a barrister's wig and gown to court. Read more from this author

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