Freewheelers

Did You Know?

• The children's magazine Look-in featured a weekly cartoon strip of Freewheelers.
• Two novelisations by Look-in editor Alan Fennell, The Sign of the Beaver (1971) and The Spy Game (1972), were published in paperback.
• A book about the series, Calling White Knight – The definitive book about Freewheelers by Mark Harris, was published in December 2019.

Background and production

The programme's fast-paced action and outdoor locations proved highly successful, attracting a large home audience and overseas sales. From the fourth series, episodes were in colour, and location filming expanded beyond southern England to Spain, Mallorca, Amsterdam, Sweden, and the Ardèche. High-tech gadgets were a regular feature, often involving peaceful machines seized by villains for criminal purposes, or scientists kidnapped to build devices for weather control, mind control, or melting metal at a distance. Laurie Johnson composed the incidental and closing music, while the theme tune "Teenage Carnival" was by Keith Mansfield. Von Gelb's appearances were accompanied by passages from Wagner's Ring Cycle. Waterborne sequences were recorded using Southern Television's marine outside broadcast unit, Southerner, which also served as von Gelb's ship.

Cast and characters

Ronald Leigh-Hunt played Colonel Buchan, the British secret service agent, appearing in series 1–4 and series 6; he was unavailable for series 5 due to filming Le Mans, and his absence was explained by an overseas mission. The teenage cast, often called "the kids," changed over the years. The original line-up included Tom Owen, Mary Maude, and Gregory Phillips. Chris Chittell appeared in series 2 and 3, Adrian Wright played Mike Hobbs in series 4–7, and Carole Mowlam played Fiona in series 3–4.

Wendy Padbury, a former Doctor Who companion, joined in series 5 as art student Sue Craig; her youthful looks allowed her to play a younger character, though by the final series careful camera angles hid her advancing pregnancy. Padbury was the only regular actor in the eighth series, a single 13-part serial, alongside Martin Neil as her boyfriend Dave. Caroline Ellis replaced Padbury in series 7, playing Jill Rowles. The main villain was initially Karl von Gelb, a former SS officer played by Geoffrey Toone; references to his Nazi past were dropped in series 3 to aid West German sales.

From series 4, the role was taken by other criminal masterminds, including Jerome Willis as Professor Nero and Kevin Stoney as Commander Caine. Memorable henchmen included Ryan (Richard Shaw) and Burke (Michael Ripper).

Home release and repeats

Southern wiped the first five series, but telerecordings of series 1 and a single series 2 episode remain; the last three series survive in multiple formats. Series 6 came out on Region 2 DVD in April 2009. Surviving episodes were repeated on Film 24 in 2010 and on Talking Pictures TV in 2017 and 2019. Series 6 and 7 were added to the TPTV Encore streaming service in December 2021.