h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Mary, have you ever seen a show called "Secret Agent Man"? It was made from 1999-2000, and was an obvious attempt to do a modern take on the Man from U.N.C.L.E.!

The humor is the same, many of the plotlines seem disturbingly familiar, and every episode I expect to see a geriatric Solo or Kuryakin wandering about in the background... (Yes, even older than they were in "The 25 Years On Affair" )

The stars have all moved on to more successful series (for example, the "Mr Waverly" equivalent was paid by Paul Guilfoyle, who has gone on to play Detective Brass in "CSI") so it doesn't look like there'll be any more episodes, but it's worth searching out what there is... At the moment it appears sporadically on ITV2 sometime between midnight and 2am. Recommended.

Dear Peet, thanks! I didn't know the secret agent man was on ITV2 at all, and itv digital got into some sticky financial and fiduciary fudgecake of an affair (i ran out of alliterative ideas) immediately before the original man from uncle was on granada plus! oh the irony! i saw most episodes in the late eighties as but an impressonable sproglet. i am happy to say though id heard of the "25 years on affair", i never sullied my happy little timewarp where illya kuryakin is still running about in black saying witty asides by watching it. theres a very groovy website www.colba.net~illya with lots of uncle stuff on it. ta very much for the info, love the user name, but dont know how to bend as many smileys as u clearly do to your will, so have some as a thank u!
M, the G From UNCLE

The 25 Year On Affair is a hoot! Solo and Kuryakin have both retired to follow their dreams - Solo is a high-stakes poker player, and Kuryakin runs an upmarket dress shop...

When Solo's U.N.C.L.E. pen bleeps for the first time in over 10 years he has to excuse himself from a poker game with the line "Excuse me gentlemen, I have to change the batteries in my pacemaker."

They're called in from retirement when an ageing villain threatens the world, and insists the ransom money is delivered by his old adversary, Solo. Sadly, although Leo G. Carroll was booked to play Mr. Waverly, he died two weeks before filming, and Patrick MacNee ("Steed" from the Avengers) was drafted in to play the new head of U.N.C.L.E.

Peet,
The 25 years on affair suddenly sounds quite intriguing! I wonder who decided to choose them those careers. I can see Solo as a maverick poker player but Kuryakin more as a reclusive nobel prize winning something or other...? ah memories memories! they used as i recall to have one of the gerry andersons series, thunderbirds or stingray on first, followed by The Man From U.N.C.L.E. did you ever see the spin off series, The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. with April something or other? I never saw it but have, as you see, nicked the moniker! could you answer me this, why was Illya number 2 and Solo 11, yet Illya always billed as the sidekick? or was Solo one-one, as it were? hmm. these are not the kind of questions people can answer unless their phone also lights up with "Open Channel D"... and one final and more worrying poser, you aren't my brother Andrew, by any chance? Just a thought. Very similar je ne sais quoi.

The character of the Girl from U.N.C.L.E. was called April Dancer, and she was played by a young Stephanie Powers. (of "Hart to Hart fame!)

Ilya wasn't the sidekick, he was the technical support... He did that for many agents, not just Solo.

I have a strong suspicion that I'm not your brother Andrew, in as much as Peet is my real name...

All right, he was the "technical support", but that just doesnt sound as glamourous does it now? his is essentially a role marginalised by solo (i think wrongly, you may have guessed!)and basically, my point is 2 is a higher number than eleven! its definitely not a clever point. its possibly not a terribly interesting point. it is clearly not a well thought out point. but a point, you must concede, it none the less is, even if it up there with "celery is not beetroot".

And the idea that you are my brother Andrew is not that silly, i mean, my real name is not "The Girl From UNCLE", thats obviously just my business name. and besides "i have a strong suspicion i am nto your brother"... thats just the kind of thing he would say! in fact i think he has before now.

im not coming off eloquent, am i? apologies.

i cant find "seret agent man" listed on itv2. waa!

yours truly

M t g f uncle

I can't find it either; the series must have finished its run.

This will give you an idea of what it was all about:

http://www.sonypictures.com/tv/shows/secretagent/

(A couple of "login" prompts pop up - just cancel them...)

dear peet
sorry for lack of response been away for a bit, lundun and caerdydd! thanks for the link, it looked quite good alas! "too secret for the secret service,too intelligent for the cia"! love it! i take it davis was illya type guy? why the girl? hope all well with u, hows the pedantry coming along?
yrs v tly
M t g f uncle

The girl was equivalent to The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., of course!

In these days of political correctness she is constantly competing with Monk (the Solo equivalent) for the best assignments...

i thought she might be, but didnt want to condemn the show as the kind of sloppy mish mosh of one or more programmes. besides, too obvious! i see, she is a pc girl and this is a pc world. fair enough. the world really needs more send-me-no-flowers-pull-out-no-chairs fem types. they make me look much better! im guessing the monk/girl relationship is fraught with professional jelously and less than professional tensions. oh dear.

One running gag is that whenever Monk needs to be called in for an assignment when he's out on a date (his favourite recreational passtime, apparently) she's the one sent to bring him in, usually by sabotaging the date in a particularly creative way just before the opening credits.

now is it just me, or is the name "monk" an ironic moniker?
he doesn't sound fiercely monastic...

by which logic, "Solo" also in the irony column.

How do you feel about becoming a frog?

Ribbit.