The Adventures of William Tell
The Adventures of William Tell was another of ITV's
all-action productions which, although aimed primarily at young
audiences, built up an adult following too.
It starred Conrad Phillips in the title role with Jennifer
Jayne as Mrs Tell and Willoughby Goddard as the evil Landburgher
Gessler. Surely named after an alpine restaurant, the Landburgher
spent all 39 episodes eating. He only came up for breath when
interrupted by his adversary, whereupon he would splutter through
his drumstick at his brainless guards: "Get Tell".
One episode featured Michael Caine as a prisoner, complete with
ball and chain. Any hopes the future film star had of an exotic
location were dashed when he found that his scenes were to be shot
at a quarry near Watford.
Not that the locations were that grand anyway - all the
mountain scenes were filmed in Snowdonia.
With these limitations, it is not entirely surprising to
discover that the famous splitting of the apple on the head of
William Tell's son Walter was achieved by trick photography.
Conrad Phillips - who once played Tell from a wheelchair after
breaking his ankle in a fall - revealed: "We used a very fine
taut wire through the apple and lined it up with the shot of the
bolt speeding towards him. If we had tried it for real, I think we
would have got through a lot of boys . . . "
EPISODES
The Emperor's Hat | The Hostages | The Secret Death | The Gauntlet
of Sir Gerhardt | The Prisoner | Voice in the Night | The
Assassins | The Baroness | The Elixir | The Suspect | The Cuckoo |
The Bear | The Magic Powder | The Golden Wheel | The Bride | Boy
Slaves | The Young Widow | Landslide | The Trap | The Shrew |
Manhunt | The Killer | The Surgeon | The Ensign | The Unwelcome
Stranger | The Avenger | The Bandit | Gessler's Daughter | The
General's Daughter | The Raid | Castle of Fear | The Black
Brothers | The Lost Letter | The Secret Weapon | The Master Spy |
The Traitor | The Spider | The Mountain People | Undercover
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