Who Do You Think You Are? - Series 2

Review by David Woodward

There were 29 episodes of a TV series called Adam Adamant Lives! which originally screened in the UK over two seasons between June 1966 and March 1967.

Apparently, the series was also screened in Australia in 1967 and 1969 but it never made an impression here.

Adam Adamant Lives! appears to be more famous for its "lost" episodes (or, alternatively, the scarcity of available episodes) than it is as a TV series of any great importance.

This is due to the fact that, like with Doctor Who, the original tapes for more than a dozen episodes were recorded over by the BBC. So now there is an ongoing search to find any remaining rare home recordings.

The focus of the TV series was Adam Adamant, a dandy Edwardian swashbuckling adventurer who, in 1902, was captured and frozen in a block of ice by a dastardly villain. He was found in 1966 when a building was knocked down, and is revived. 

Adam was rescued by a young girl and had trouble dealing with the sights and sounds of the Swinging Sixties.

Sounds like a variation on a more recent theatrical film series?

You’re right - it is because the premise of the TV series is so tenuously close to the Austin Powers concept that this DVD boxset has now been released.

The 17 episodes of Adam Adamant Lives! that still exist are in black-and-white and are of variable quality.  Unfortunately, the pedigree of its production team (including Doctor Who’s Verity Lambert) and directors (including Gladiator’s Ridley Scott) were not enough to elevate the series over other contemporary shows such as The Avengers.

Having said that, the distributors of this DVD boxset have done an enviable job in compiling all the remaining material they could find to make a (surprisingly) entertaining and interesting package.

DVD Special Features

Most impressive is a 68-page glossy booklet that features pictures and a comprehensive essay on the background to the series and exhaustive descriptions and trivia about each of the episodes included on the DVDs.  This is worth the purchase price alone!

The major visual extra is a 52-minute documentary that reunites the stars (Gerald Harper and Juliet Harmer) and production team (Verity Lambert and Brian Clemens). 

It features footage from a 1987 fan convention and, more importantly, interview material recorded in March 2006.  They visit many of the on-location sites where the series was shot and are even reunited with the original Mini Cooper S car used in the series (this car is also the subject of a separate 7-minute mini-documentary of its own!).

There are commentary tracks on two episodes, audio extracts from one of the ‘lost’ episodes, some studio outtakes from two episodes and, finally, a 13-minute photo gallery from the series itself as well as the unbroadcast pilot episode.

Once again, there are an extensive number of PDFs (which this reviewer has an aversion to) which include scripts, newspaper articles and comics.

Overall, this DVD boxset has over 800 minutes of episodes and engrossing material for TV enthusiasts!

Conclusion: Episodes 65% Extras: 90%