The Adventures of William Tell
Encyclopedia
The Adventures of William Tell is a British swashbuckler
adventure series, first broadcast on the ITV network in 1958, and produced by ITC Entertainment
.
, who wrote a number of stories for the series and who also produced The Adventures of Sir Lancelot
. The show was made at the National Studios in Elstree.
The outdoor scenes were filmed around the mountains and lakes of Snowdonia in the UK. The film base and make up were at a small farm in Cwm-Y-Glo in Snowdonia. This is directly beside Lln Padarn, a lake which can be seen in many of the location shots (as can cars driving on the A4086 road on the opposite side of the lake!). The crew used to walk up the mountain from their base as there was no vehicular access, and brought much needed work for at least three yearly shoots to a tiny corner of North Wales before tourism took off.
Daily rushes were viewed at the only cinema in the area, that at Llanberris which was taken over from 08.00 until noon every morning for the duration of the shoot. It is interesting to note that the film was transported to Soho in London for developing and the rushes returned to Llanberris by 08.30 the next morning. Such was the excellence of rail transport even in 1957!
Although all three series had location scenes, the third was far more studio based and what location scenes there were mostly taken from unused and reused stock shots from the first and second series. A smaller crew went to Wales for this series and more money was saved by shooting "mute", i.e. without synchronised sound. In the days of strict union rules when demarcation was strictly enforced, this saved several technicians wages.
Though in some ways the same as The Adventures of Robin Hood
, a brave bowman fighting against a tyrant, this was a much harder show with crossbow bolts often killing people and Tell fighting hard hand-to-hand battles, which often resulted in the death of the bad guy. Unlike the foppish Sheriff of Nottingham, Gessler was portrayed as a pig of a man, unshaven, often eating or drinking without any hint of manners and throwing his metaphorical as well as literal weight around. Goddard proved to be very active, despite his size. The series was repeated well into the 1960s.
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, with music based on the William Tell Overture
by Rossini. For the show, the song lyrics were by Harold Purcell and were sung by David Whitfield
.
Because this portion of Rossini's overture was the theme of The Lone Ranger
in the United States, a different portion of the overture, with lyrics added, became the theme song there, titled: The Freedom Song - "Marching Behind William Tell" by Geoffrey Parsons. This is on The Network DVD episode Castle of Fear.
Incidental music was by Albert Elms
and Sydney John Kay
Come away to the land he loved so well;
What a day, what a day when the apple fell,
For Tell and Switzerland
2. Come away with Tell to the mountainside
Looking down to the pass where the tyrants ride.
Set a bolt to your bow and down they go,
For Tell and Switzerland
3. We are simple peasant folk
We will not fell a foreign yoke
Our freedom song will echo on
We’ll fight for what is right.
4. Hurry on, hurry on, there’s a dungeon cell;
Hurry on, hurry on, there’s a noose as well;
What we must face from the jaws of hell
For Tell and Switzerland.
5. We lived our lives, we loved our friends,
We never wanted more.
We had the skill to plough and till,
But not the art of war
But now the tyrant from the plains
Steals up to take our lands.
Instead of spade we wield the blade
Our life is in our hands.
6. Follow on, follow on, with the leaders feel
With a thrust of a pike and a clash of steel
Follow on with the fight till the tyrants reel
For Tell and Switzerland.
7. Give ‘em one for the day they bared the grain,
Give ‘em two for the night that Fritz was slain,
Give ‘em three, give ‘em four and hooray for more,
For Tell and Switzerland.
8. The shepherd’s crook, the reaping hook
Has taken on a warlike look.
With blades we’ve beaten from the plough
We reap a harvest now.
9. Come away, come away with William Tell,
Come away to the land he loved so well
Fit a bolt to your bow, and away we go
For Te-e-e-ell, and Switzerland.
Verses 1, 2, 4 with the opening titles, 6, 7, 8, 9 with the closing credits.
regions varied date and order.
Conrad Phillips later went on to play William Tell's sidekick, Stefan, in the series Crossbow
which ran from August 1987 till February 1989. William Tell was played by Will Lyman
. The series ran for 72 thirty-minute colour episodes over three seasons, 24 each, with the third season unaired in America. Other members of the cast were Jeremy Clyde as Hermann Gessler, Valentine Pelka as Roland, Melinda Mullins as Blade and David Barry Gray as son, Matthew Tell. Four episodes were issued on VHS, retitled "The Legend of William Tell". Gessler was referred to as 'Governor' throughout, perhaps on the premise that the children watching at the time were less likely to have read the book, and thought that a 'Landburgher' was something one bought at McDonalds.
There was a third series of William Tell, produced in New Zealand
and called The Legend of William Tell
, which only lasted one season of 16 episodes of sixty minutes from August till December 1998. Cast were Kieren Hutchison
as William Tell, Andrew Binns
as Xax, Nathaniel Lees
as Leon, Katrina Browne as Aruna, Ray Henwood as Kreel, Sharon Tyrell as Kalem, Beth Allen
as Princess Varga and Drew Neemia
as Drogo.
in 1958-1959. The Adventures of William Tell was the first of two syndicated television programs about the Swiss folk hero William Tell; the second was 1991's The Legend of William Tell.
Swashbuckler
Swashbuckler or swasher is a term that emerged in the 16th century and has been used for rough, noisy and boastful swordsmen ever since. A possible explanation for this term is that it derives from a fighting style using a side-sword with a buckler in the off-hand, which was applied with much...
adventure series, first broadcast on the ITV network in 1958, and produced by ITC Entertainment
ITC Entertainment
The Incorporated Television Company was a British television company largely involved in production and distribution. It was founded by Lew Grade.-History:...
.
Production notes
The series was produced by Ralph SmartRalph Smart
Ralph Smart was a film and television producer, director, and writer, born in England to Australian parents in 1908. He found work in Britain with Anthony Asquith and later alongside the film director Michael Powell, whom he assisted with "Quota quickies": low-budget B-pictures to fill production...
, who wrote a number of stories for the series and who also produced The Adventures of Sir Lancelot
The Adventures of Sir Lancelot
The Adventures of Sir Lancelot is a British television series first broadcast in 1956, produced by Sapphire Films for ITC Entertainment and screened on the ITV network...
. The show was made at the National Studios in Elstree.
The outdoor scenes were filmed around the mountains and lakes of Snowdonia in the UK. The film base and make up were at a small farm in Cwm-Y-Glo in Snowdonia. This is directly beside Lln Padarn, a lake which can be seen in many of the location shots (as can cars driving on the A4086 road on the opposite side of the lake!). The crew used to walk up the mountain from their base as there was no vehicular access, and brought much needed work for at least three yearly shoots to a tiny corner of North Wales before tourism took off.
Daily rushes were viewed at the only cinema in the area, that at Llanberris which was taken over from 08.00 until noon every morning for the duration of the shoot. It is interesting to note that the film was transported to Soho in London for developing and the rushes returned to Llanberris by 08.30 the next morning. Such was the excellence of rail transport even in 1957!
Although all three series had location scenes, the third was far more studio based and what location scenes there were mostly taken from unused and reused stock shots from the first and second series. A smaller crew went to Wales for this series and more money was saved by shooting "mute", i.e. without synchronised sound. In the days of strict union rules when demarcation was strictly enforced, this saved several technicians wages.
Though in some ways the same as The Adventures of Robin Hood
The Adventures of Robin Hood (TV series)
The Adventures of Robin Hood is a popular British television series comprising 143 half-hour, black and white episodes. It starred Richard Greene as the outlaw Robin Hood and Alan Wheatley as his nemesis, the Sheriff of Nottingham. The show aired weekly between 1955 and 1959 on ITV in London in the...
, a brave bowman fighting against a tyrant, this was a much harder show with crossbow bolts often killing people and Tell fighting hard hand-to-hand battles, which often resulted in the death of the bad guy. Unlike the foppish Sheriff of Nottingham, Gessler was portrayed as a pig of a man, unshaven, often eating or drinking without any hint of manners and throwing his metaphorical as well as literal weight around. Goddard proved to be very active, despite his size. The series was repeated well into the 1960s.
Cast and characters
- Conrad PhillipsConrad PhillipsConrad Phillips is a British film and television actor, born in London. His real name is Conrad Philip Havord.He is best known for portraying William Tell in the popular ITV television series The Adventures of William Tell which ran for 39 episodes from 1958 to 1959. Philips also played Stefan,...
as William TellWilliam TellWilliam Tell is a folk hero of Switzerland. His legend is recorded in a late 15th century Swiss chronicle.... - Jennifer JayneJennifer JayneJennifer Jayne was an English film and television actress.Her name at birth was Jennifer Jones, which she altered in order to avoid confusion with Jennifer Jones, the Hollywood actress...
as Hedda Tell (wife) - Richard Rogers as Walter Tell (son)
- Willoughby GoddardWilloughby GoddardWilloughby Wittenham Rees Goddard was a British actor whose trademark rotund figure was well known on television and in films for over 40 years.Goddard was born in Bicester, Oxfordshire. He played Mr...
as Landburgher GesslerAlbrecht GesslerAlbrecht Gessler was a probably legendary Habsburg bailiff at Altdorf, whose brutal rule led to the William Tell rebellion and the eventual independence of the Swiss Confederacy.... - Nigel GreenNigel GreenNigel Green was a South African-born English character actor. Because of his strapping build and commanding demeanour he would often be found playing military types and men of action in such classic sixties films as Jason and the Argonauts, Zulu, Tobruk and The Ipcress File.-Early life and...
as The Bear - Jack LambertJack Lambert (British actor)Jack Lambert was a British film and television actor.-Selected filmography:* Red Ensign * The Ghost Goes West * Premiere * Nine Men * Floodtide * The Lost Hours...
as Judge Furst (Hedda's father)
Notable actors appearing
B- Derek BondDerek BondDerek William Douglas Bond MC was a British actor.-Life and career:Derek Bond was born 26 January 1920 in Glasgow, Scotland. He attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Hampstead, London. He saw active service with the Grenadier Guards in North Africa during the Second World War, for which he...
- James BoothJames BoothJames Booth was an English film, stage and television actor and screenwriter. Though handsome enough to play leading roles, and versatile enough to play a wide variety of character parts, Booth naturally projected a shifty, wolfish, or unpredictable quality that led inevitably to villainous roles...
- Wilfred Bramble
- Alfred BurkeAlfred BurkeAlfred Burke was a British actor, best known for his portrayal of Frank Marker in the drama series Public Eye, which ran on television for ten years.-Early life:...
C
- Michael CaineMichael CaineSir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
- John CarsonJohn Carson (actor)John Carson is a British actor noted for his appearances in film and television.Making his film debut in 1947, he carved out a career appearing in low budget British movies such as Seven Keys ; Smokescreen ; and Master Spy...
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D
- Roger DelgadoRoger DelgadoRoger Caesar Marius Bernard de Delgado Torres Castillo Roberto was an English actor, best known for his role as the first Master in Doctor Who....
H
- Frazer HinesFrazer HinesFrazer Hines is an English actor best known for his roles as Jamie McCrimmon in Doctor Who and Joe Sugden in Emmerdale. Hines was born in Horsforth, a civil parish of Leeds.-Acting career:...
J
- Sid JamesSid JamesSid James was an English-based South African actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films. He was known for his trademark "dirty laugh" and lascivious persona...
- Edward JuddEdward JuddEdward Judd was a British actor.Born in Shanghai, China, he and his English father and Russian mother fled when the Japanese attacked China five years later....
L
- Delphi LawrenceDelphi LawrenceDelphi Lawrence was an English actress.She was educated in Slough at Halidon House School and lived in Colnbrook. Of Hungarian ancestry, Lawrence trained as a concert pianist before becoming an actress. She made her first film in 1952 and over the next decade established a following in British films...
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- Ronald Leigh-HuntRonald Leigh-HuntRonald Leigh-Hunt was a British film and television actor.His father was a stockbroker and he attended the Italia Conti Academy. He began acting whilst serving in the army...
- John Le MesurierJohn Le MesurierJohn Le Mesurier was a BAFTA Award-winning English actor. He is most famous for his role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the popular 1970s BBC comedy Dad's Army.-Career:...
- Charles Lloyd PackCharles Lloyd PackCharles Lloyd-Pack was a British film, television and stage actor.He was born in London, England. He was seen in several horror movies produced by the Hammer Studios including Dracula, The Man Who Could Cheat Death, The Revenge of Frankenstein and The Reptile and Quatermass 2, the film version of...
- William LucasWilliam Lucas (British actor)William Lucas is a British film and television actor. His first acting role was in the film Portrait of Alison , and later appeared in many Hammer Film Productions such as Shadow of the Cat. He is probably best known for his role in The Adventures of Black Beauty as Dr...
M
- Ferdy MayneFerdy Mayne-Early life:He was born Ferdinand Philip Mayer-Horckel, in Mainz, Germany. His German father was the Judge of Mayence, and his half-English mother gave singing lessons. Because his family was Jewish, he was sent to England to protect him from the Nazis, and he stayed with his aunt, the photographer...
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N
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O
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P
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R
- Edwin RichfieldEdwin RichfieldEdwin Richfield was an English actor.His film credits include: X the Unknown, Quatermass 2, The Camp on Blood Island, The Face of Fu Manchu and Quatermass and the Pit....
- Michael RipperMichael RipperMichael Ripper was an English character actor born in Portsmouth.He began his film career in quota quickies in the 1930s and until the late 1950s was virtually unknown; he was seldom credited. He played one of the two murderers in Richard III. Ripper became a mainstay in Hammer Film Productions...
S
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T
- Frank ThorntonFrank ThorntonFrank Thornton is an English actor who is best known for playing Captain Peacock in Are You Being Served? and its sequel Grace & Favour and as Truly in Last of the Summer Wine.-Early life:...
- Patrick TroughtonPatrick TroughtonPatrick George Troughton was an English actor most widely known for his roles in fantasy, science fiction and horror films, particularly in his role as the second incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which he played from 1966 to 1969,...
V
- Richard VernonRichard VernonRichard Vernon was a British actor. He appeared in many feature films and television programmes, often in aristocratic or supercilious roles...
W
- Deborah WatlingDeborah WatlingDeborah Watling is a British actress best known for her role as Victoria Waterfield, a companion of the Second Doctor in the BBC television series Doctor Who....
- Jack WatlingJack WatlingJack Watling was a British actor.-Early life:Watling trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts as a child and made his stage debut in Where the Rainbow Ends at the Holborn Empire in 1936...
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Music
The series featured a long-remembered theme songTheme music
Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
, with music based on the William Tell Overture
William Tell Overture
The William Tell Overture is the instrumental introduction to the opera Guillaume Tell by Gioachino Rossini. William Tell premiered in 1829 and was the last of Rossini's 39 operas, after which he went into semi-retirement, although he continued to compose cantatas, sacred music and secular vocal...
by Rossini. For the show, the song lyrics were by Harold Purcell and were sung by David Whitfield
David Whitfield
David Whitfield was a popular British male tenor vocalist. This operatic-style tenor had a formidable and predominantly female fan base in the 1950s.-Life and career:...
.
Because this portion of Rossini's overture was the theme of The Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked Texas Ranger who, with his Native American companion Tonto, fights injustice in the American Old West. The character has become an enduring icon of American culture....
in the United States, a different portion of the overture, with lyrics added, became the theme song there, titled: The Freedom Song - "Marching Behind William Tell" by Geoffrey Parsons. This is on The Network DVD episode Castle of Fear.
Incidental music was by Albert Elms
Albert Elms
Albert Elms was a British composer and arranger who worked mainly on television and film.Elms is best known for providing incidental music to ITC series such as Man in a Suitcase, The Champions and Ivanhoe...
and Sydney John Kay
Sydney John Kay
Kurt Kaiser , better known as Sydney John Kay, was a German-born composer, musician and theatre entrepreneur.-Germany:...
Lyrics
1. Come away, come away with William Tell,Come away to the land he loved so well;
What a day, what a day when the apple fell,
For Tell and Switzerland
2. Come away with Tell to the mountainside
Looking down to the pass where the tyrants ride.
Set a bolt to your bow and down they go,
For Tell and Switzerland
3. We are simple peasant folk
We will not fell a foreign yoke
Our freedom song will echo on
We’ll fight for what is right.
4. Hurry on, hurry on, there’s a dungeon cell;
Hurry on, hurry on, there’s a noose as well;
What we must face from the jaws of hell
For Tell and Switzerland.
5. We lived our lives, we loved our friends,
We never wanted more.
We had the skill to plough and till,
But not the art of war
But now the tyrant from the plains
Steals up to take our lands.
Instead of spade we wield the blade
Our life is in our hands.
6. Follow on, follow on, with the leaders feel
With a thrust of a pike and a clash of steel
Follow on with the fight till the tyrants reel
For Tell and Switzerland.
7. Give ‘em one for the day they bared the grain,
Give ‘em two for the night that Fritz was slain,
Give ‘em three, give ‘em four and hooray for more,
For Tell and Switzerland.
8. The shepherd’s crook, the reaping hook
Has taken on a warlike look.
With blades we’ve beaten from the plough
We reap a harvest now.
9. Come away, come away with William Tell,
Come away to the land he loved so well
Fit a bolt to your bow, and away we go
For Te-e-e-ell, and Switzerland.
Verses 1, 2, 4 with the opening titles, 6, 7, 8, 9 with the closing credits.
Episode list
Airdate is for ATV Midlands ITVITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
regions varied date and order.
| Episode # | Prod # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original airdate |
|---|
Conrad Phillips later went on to play William Tell's sidekick, Stefan, in the series Crossbow
Crossbow (TV series)
Crossbow is a 1987 action/adventure television series that aired on The Family Channel. The series was produced by Steven North and Richard Schlesinger for Robert Halmi Inc., in co-production with French television network FR3, and filmed entirely on location in France.-Synopsis:Crossbow follows...
which ran from August 1987 till February 1989. William Tell was played by Will Lyman
Will Lyman
William Lyman is an American voice-over artist and actor, perhaps best known for his polished, resonant voice that has narrated the PBS series Frontline since its second season in 1984. Lyman has made a successful career in television and theater...
. The series ran for 72 thirty-minute colour episodes over three seasons, 24 each, with the third season unaired in America. Other members of the cast were Jeremy Clyde as Hermann Gessler, Valentine Pelka as Roland, Melinda Mullins as Blade and David Barry Gray as son, Matthew Tell. Four episodes were issued on VHS, retitled "The Legend of William Tell". Gessler was referred to as 'Governor' throughout, perhaps on the premise that the children watching at the time were less likely to have read the book, and thought that a 'Landburgher' was something one bought at McDonalds.
There was a third series of William Tell, produced in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and called The Legend of William Tell
The Legend of William Tell
The Legend of William Tell is a 16-part television fantasy/drama series produced in 1998 by Cloud 9 Productions in New Zealand. The basic premise of the series — a crossbow-wielding rebel defies a corrupt governor — and the name of the title character were adopted from the traditional story, but...
, which only lasted one season of 16 episodes of sixty minutes from August till December 1998. Cast were Kieren Hutchison
Kieren Hutchison
Kieren Robert Hutchison is a New Zealand actor. He was born in Auckland, New Zealand.-Career:Hutchison is best known for playing the roles of Jonathon McKenna in the New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street, Andy Hargrove on One Tree Hill, Kerry Connelly on Wildfire and Jake Preston on Monarch Cove...
as William Tell, Andrew Binns
Andrew Robertt
Andrew Robertt is a New Zealand actor. He is well known for his role as Nurse Steve Mills in the long running New Zealand soap opera Shortland Street and the voice of Morticon in Power Rangers: Mystic Force...
as Xax, Nathaniel Lees
Nathaniel Lees
Nathaniel Lees is a New Zealand born actor and theatre director of Samoan descent. He is known for his role as Captain Mifune in The Matrix trilogy and his role as "Uglúk" in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. He has also had roles on the TV series Young Hercules, Hercules: The Legendary...
as Leon, Katrina Browne as Aruna, Ray Henwood as Kreel, Sharon Tyrell as Kalem, Beth Allen
Beth Allen
Elizabeth "Beth" Allen has been acting since an early age and has appeared in several small productions and commercials since 1993. Her first major role was in Cloud 9's The Legend of William Tell in 1998, in which she played Princess Vara...
as Princess Varga and Drew Neemia
Drew Neemia
Drew Neemia is a New Zealand television personality and singer.-Early career:Neemia has been involved in the New Zealand entertainment industry since the age of three, doing television advertisements which lead the way to various children’s television drama series.Most notably his first major...
as Drogo.
American airing
In the United States, the thirty-nine 30-minute long episodes aired on the syndicated NTA Film NetworkNTA Film Network
The NTA Film Network was an early American television network founded by Ely Landau in 1956. The network was not a full-time television network like CBS, NBC, or ABC. Rather, it operated on a part-time basis, broadcasting films and several first-run television programs from major Hollywood studios...
in 1958-1959. The Adventures of William Tell was the first of two syndicated television programs about the Swiss folk hero William Tell; the second was 1991's The Legend of William Tell.