The Jig is Up Trivia Quiz

Answer: New York City

The series was based on a series of novels (originating as a short story in 'The New Yorker' magazine) which were turned into a radio show before being adapted for television. Jerry North (Richard Denning) was formerly a naval officer and a private detective, before becoming a publisher; his wife Pamela (Barbara Britton) was the one who actually seemed to stumble across the murders into which she dragged her husband. He preferred a traditional, logical approach; she worked on intuition, and (irritatingly) usually got to the solution before him.

The show ran for one season (1952-3) on CBS, and half a season (Jan-May 1954) on NBC. The second season concentrated more on the actual mystery, making it less of a situation comedy and allowing Pamela to be less ditzy than the first.

Answer: The Thin Man

MGM's first foray into a television series was based on Hammett's 1933 classic, and aired 72 half-hour episodes over two seasons on NBC. The novel created the characters of Nick and Nora Charles, a married couple who solve mysteries while exchanging clever lines. Hammett wrote some of the scripts for the movies that followed and expanded on the characters between 1934 and 1947. They then became the central characters of a radio show (1941-1950) before arriving on television in 1957. While Hammett is associated with noir genre work, these characters introduce an element of playfulness that makes the series as much a comedy of manners as a mystery.

Nick retired from his work as a private detective when he married Nora, a wealthy heiress (who is reputed to have been based on Hammett's longtime partner Lillian Hellman), and reluctantly got involved each week. The original 'thin man' was the victim in the book, but since the title was attached to many more cases over time, it came to be associated with Nick - especially since William Powell was decidedly svelte. The television show also transferred the setting from San Francisco to New York (with the married sleuths living in Greenwich Village), and set it in the 1950s, with the Beat Generation rather than the Big Band era providing the social setting.

Answer: John Steed

The first series had as its central character David Keel (played by Ian Hendry), who encounters the mysterious John Steed (Patrick Macnee) who was also in pursuit of those responsible for the death of Keel's fiancée. As the series progressed, Steed became more central, and from the start of the second series Peel had disappeared, replaced by a series of glamorous but deadly female assistants in the murky world of espionage. They included Cathy Gale (Honor Blackman) for two seasons, Emma Peel (Diana Rigg) for two seasons, and Tara King (Linda Thorson) for the final season.

While the female agents were witty, stylish (the outfits for all characters came from the house of Pierre Cardin) and sophisticated, Steed started as a more rough-and-tumble detective type in the first season before becoming a suave spy, with a three-piece suit, a bowler hat and an umbrella that concealed a hidden sword that he rarely used, but always carried. And everyone was n expert in unarmed combat in a pinch.

Answer: Roger Moore

While all four of these gentlemen were, at one time or another, James Bond on film, it was Roger Moore who first became familiar as Simon Templar, a character created by Leslie Charteris in the 1920s. Moore was familiar with the books, and had actually tried to get the production rights himself, so he was keen to accept the part.

Simon Templar (in case you haven't seen the show, or don't have an immediate expectation from the actor) was the kind of character you can envisage being played by Cary Grant - suave, confident, happy to skirt legalities in a good cause, and with a sense of humor. He tried to help people who had been victimised in some way, and let down by those who were officially supposed to assist or protect them. The plots started out as basically whodunnit mysteries, but later seasons gained a fantastic touch and involved a higher level of intrigue from espionage elements (similar to the evolution at roughly the same time of 'The Avengers', almost certainly no coincidence).

Answer: John Drake

The series originally aired in the UK as 'Danger Man', from 1960 until 1962, before a revival in 1964 also aired in the US, but with a different name and a different theme song by Johnny Rivers. The show's end came when Patrick McGoohan resigned to work on another show (for which he was producer as well as star), 'The Prisoner'. The central character of that show, Number Six, is thought by many to be intended as the same character as Drake, although he is nameless.

In the first series, John Drake seemed to be Irish-American and worked for NATO. For the later series, he was more clearly British (with an Irish heritage) and working for M9, a fictional branch of the British secret service. He was a bit of a lone wolf, not a team player who mindlessly obeyed orders. No partners, no romantic affiliations, minimal violence, just resourcefulness and intelligence used to deal with various threats to global security.

Answer: False

The series which featured these three was another (not quite as campy) spy spoof, 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' Robert Vaughn and David McCallum portrayed Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin, agents for the secret (aren't they all?) international counterespionage and law-enforcement agency known as U.N.C.L.E. (United Network Command for Law and Enforcement); Leo G. Carroll was their immediate superior, Alexander Waverly. Solo was American, Kuryakin Russian, and Waverly British. Initially, Napoleon Solo was the main character, but Illya Kuryakin's role was increased to parity as his popularity with audiences became apparent. Their overarching mission was to prevent world domination from the evil agency known as Thrush - a name for which no meaning was ever assigned.

'Get Smart' was more of a situation comedy that used espionage rather than suburbia as its setting, parodying the range of espionage shows that took themselves seriously. Don Adam played the totally incompetent Maxwell Smart, supported by (and eventually married to) Barbara Feldon's Agent 99, whose actual name was never revealed. Edward Platt was their continually harassed Chief.

Answer: Bill Cosby

All four of these men made names for themselves in the realm of standup comedy, and had some success on television and in film, but it was Bill Cosby who became the first African American actor to be the lead in a network television show when he took on the role of Alexander Scott. In the days before professional tennis was a high-profile career, travelling the world to play tennis in a different place each week, and mix with the higher levels of society that supported the tennis bum lifestyle was a convenient cover for spies. At least, that was the show's premise. Kelly Robinson (Culp) was the competitive tennis player, Scotty was his trainer.

For the most part, the espionage activities they were asked to undertake were relatively plausible in the context of world events at the time. The success of the show was due in large part to the chemistry between the two leads, with the focus as much on their interaction with each other as on their actual assignment. The stories often considered the uglier aspects of espionage, with Kelly and Scotty reflecting on the morality of their jobs as well as engaging in lighthearted exchanges.

Answer: The Baron

The series was based on John Creasey's series of novels, but the show made some significant changes to the character of John Mannering, known as The Baron. In the books, he was a reformed British jewel thief nicknamed The Baron for his ability to mingle with the aristocracy in the pursuit of their gems, who uses his criminal ties to assist with his investigations. In the television series he became a law-abiding American whose nickname came from the family ranch in Texas. He also lost the wife that he married early in the book series, and became an eligible bachelor with a flashy car.

Mannering is an antiques dealer whose assistance is occasionally sought by a fictional group called British Diplomatic Intelligence. In one episode, he refers to himself as "a charter member of the jet set", as he hobnobs with them ostensibly to assist them in acquiring and/or disposing of antiques, including locating those that have been stolen, and also to engage in a bit of espionage.

The show only lasted one series (but the highly engaging books are still available). Steve Forrest is probably better known for the police procedural series 'S.W.A.T.' which aired from 1975 to 1976. Born William Forrest Andrews, he was also the younger brother of actor Dana Andrews.

Answer: The Champions

So what was so special bout them? It might give you a clue to tell you that the show is described as being in the genre of espionage thriller, science fiction and occult detective fiction adventure. The three agents work for a fictional UN law enforcement agency, known as Nemesis, which is based in Geneva. In the pilot episode they crash land in the Himalayas while escaping from China following a spy mission, and are rescued by the people of Shangri-La, based on the hidden Tibetan valley described in James Hilton's 'Lost Horizon'. These people not only save their lives, they grant our three heroes a range of add-ons that include the ability to communicate with each other telepathically, precognitive awareness of future events, highly enhanced versions of the 'standard' five senses, and almost superhuman intellects. Needless to say, this is very helpful for spies!

The three agents only learn the extent of their new powers as they go - when they find themselves in a situation where something will come in useful, they discover that they can use it - although their skills need some fine tuning along the way. Because they work for a UN agency, they are sent to exotic locations around the globe, facing threats to world peace that include evil scientists, would-be dictators in unspecified South American or Asian countries, and Nazis on the run - which was still a viable source of baddies twenty years after the end of World War II.

Answer: The Persuaders!

This was the last of the large number of espionage-action-detective series developed for British television in the 1960s. It was based on an idea used in one of the final episodes of 'The Saint', in which Roger Moore's character teams up with a Texas oilman. The inclusion of an American as half the team was a calculated ploy to get distribution in the US.

The title characters are two wealthy jetsetters who are forced to join together to work on cases that the police and/or court system cannot resolve; this is a punishment meted out after they met in a bar on the Côte d'Azur where they took an immediate dislike to each other. Lord Brett Rupert George Robert Andrew Sinclair (Roger Moore) is a polished aristocrat, ex-Army and a former racing car driver, as well as a frivolous playboy. Danny Wilde (Tony Curtis) is usually called Daniel by his partner. He grew up in the slums of New York before making his fortune in oil - a fortune which he subsequently lost and recouped multiple times on Wall Street, and with which he has nothing much to do other than travel the world.

Although the two leads initially dislike each other, they are successful in that first case, and start to develop a grudging acknowledgment of each other's contributions to their joint ventures. Only one series was made, as Roger Moore moved on to filming James Bond, which he did for seven films.