This series, which only consisted of only 30 episodes in all, was shown over two years 1956 and 1957. It starred William Russell as Sir Lancelot and apparently went well in the USA so that the last 14  episodes were made in Colour.  This would have been on film of course as  Colour Television Cameras were not around at that time. Mind you most of these series were made on film at the time.

 Above William Russell as Sir Lancelot – although he didn’t have the pipe in the show !!

Above William Russell as Sir Lancelot.

The producers went to a lot of trouble with the sets and costumes and they look splendid given the very limited television budgets. William Russell makes a lively and very personable hero and handles the action scenes with dash and enthusiasm.

After The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (1956), he received a  marvellous offer from the BBC to star in ‘Nicholas Nickleby’ in a great twenty-week series. Then again with the BBC and Charles Dickens. he was David Copperfield, which went out live at Lime Grove, followed by Doctor Who (1963).

He had appeared as St Ives in another BBC serial over 6 parts prior to this.  The list goes on and on although I see he was in The Great Escape in 1963 although I do not remember him at all in that  – although I do know the film well, of course, as we all do I expect.

In St Ives his co-actors were Noelle Middleton and Francis Matthews.  The most notable aspect of the production is that, unlike many BBC series of the era, the St Ives episodes from 1955  still exist.