The Zoo Gang [1974]

The lowdown: 'The Zoo Gang' was yet another of the action/adventure shows from ITC Entertainment. Despite the
presence of John Mills as one of its stars, just six episodes were made, and it was broadcast on ITV1 from 5 April to
10 May 1974. The series features the peacetime exploits of four former members of the French Resistance, known
during the war as the Zoo Gang, as they had used animals as therr code-names. Mills played an Englishman named
Thomas Devon, and was known as the Elephant due to his exceptional memory; Barry Morse was Alec Marlowe (the
Tiger); Brian Keith was an American named Steven Halliday (the Fox); and Lilli Palmer played Manouche Roget (the
Leopard). They are reunited 30 years after the war, when Devon sees a German war criminal named Boucher in Nice,
where he runs a jewellery shop and Manouche Roget owns a cafe. Boucher was responsible for the death of Roget's
husband Claude, who had been the fifth member of the Zoo Gang. Roget and Devon summon their old friends to Nice
in order to bring Boucher to justice. The foursome then decide to work together and raise money to build a hospital in
memory of Claude, by scamming criminals out of their ill-gotten gains. They are sometimes assisted by Roget's police
officer son, Georges Roget, who of course knows all about the supposedly top-secret Zoo Gang.

The episode: 'The Lion Hunt' was the fourth episode, and was broadcast on 26 April 1974. It features Roger Delgado
as Pedro Ortega, a Latin American revolutionary known as "El Leon", who is trying to overthrow the corrupt government
of his country. Pedro slips into France in a very unconvincing disguise (bad wig and dark glasses), and is arrested by a
rather suspicious Georges. This causes embarassment for the French Government, as Pedro is something of a hero,
and rather than cause an international incident, the Chief Administrator co-opts Georges to enlist the Zoo Gang to break
him out of prison. However, the Chief Administrator has done a deal with Pedro's enemies to hand him over to them, in
return for a share of the million francs that Pedro has stashed away in a Swiss bank account. The Zoo Gang duly get him
out of prison, only to have him abducted by armed men. They retrieve Pedro from his enemies (with Roget posing as his
wife), and the Chief Administrator is forced to resign after being exposed as corrupt.

Who connections: Apart from Roger Delgado, it features Jacqueline Pearce (The Two Doctors), Bernard Kay (Tyler in
Dalek Invasion of Earth and Saladin in The Crusades), Philip Madoc (The War Lord in The War Games and Solon in The
Brain of Morbius) and Peter Cushing. Given that Patrick Troughton was a regular in ITC shows, it is highly likely that he
would have appeared in this show if it had lasted more than six episodes.

Trivia: 'The Zoo Gang' is now best known for the theme song, which was composed by Paul and Linda McCartney. On
a sad note, Pedro Ortega was also Roger Delgado's last acting role.

Video clips: Pedro is arrested 9.2mb Pedro and his "wife" 6.0mb

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