I was a kid when Callan was on, and I absolutely loved it, along with my family. So Sad EW has passed on because he was a great, modest, and multi talented man.
I never understood the series as a youngster when it was on in the seventies (9pm Wednesdays), only when you're older then you'd get to know the characters. CALLAN is above BOND in terms of the down-to-earth, gritty, realistic portrayal of the hitman.
I loved it when I was 10 years old. It got harder to see when mum found out dad was letting us watch it when she wasn't around. Probably the show I've rewatched most (for decades)
This year (June 1st) Mr Woodward would’ve marked his 90th. Yes I was familiar with him as Callan but it was his role as Robert McCall in the original tv version of THE EQUALIZER that his talent caught my undivided attention. Like Callan, McCall was a killer but only more affluent, elegant and urbane. Edward Woodard was a national treasure and after 10 years since his passing, he’s still greatly missed.
Great actor, and a lovely humble man,..The Wicker man was a wonderful film,. But its as Callan where he was at his finest,..he was brilliant in this, and he always acted the part with a warmth and an honesty.But I loved most of his work, and he was that versatile an actor, he shone in every role he took......Definitely one of the best.
Poor old Lonely, he would say "Yes Mr Callan...No Mr Callan" He was a really smelly little man. Edward Woodward was excellent. He was a cold character, but totally engaging. I really enjoyed the series. Shame he passed away when he did.... I felt he had a good few years left in him to entertain us. Thank you for putting this on RU-vid.
In my opinion Callan is the greatest television show ever made. The writing allowed for peering into the dark layers of the human soul, but brought to life brilliantly by the ensemble of the four main characters. Each portrayed brilliantly. The importance of the actors for these particular roles is demonstrated by the pilot where Meres is played by Peter Bowles. Bowles is perfect for other roles, well suited to Rumpole, for example, but his replacement with Anthony Valentine was a stroke of genius. Valentine had the perfect balance of sadistic toadiness and thuggery that was the canvas that allowed Callan and Hunter to shine. And of course Russell Hunter’s Lonely is such a remarkable injection of a Dicken’s style of character into a post-war nightmare that on the face of it was too ridiculous to work, yet these actors together brought him to life in a way that enriches the experience of Callan in a way that no other character type could ever do. And Woodward as Callan. It is only the very greatest of actors who can carry such a flawed character on a continual knife edge between despicable brutality and loveable humanity. I was there to see the episodes when they were freshly made, and now, all these years later, my respect for what they achieved has only grown. Good to see Woodward also gives the role the same kind of respect. My hat’s off to you, sir.
the genius in callan for those who remember the 60s is in the low key nature of the work! boysie oakes took the genre down the road but failed due to making the coward hero bond in lifestyle! nearest to callan though definately not a copy was the ipcress file and sequels! not in the cases but in the drab mediocrity of british civil service jobs in those days in any dept! callan who was a killing machine in malaya a trained locksmith in civvy st robs a safe and goes to jail.in jail he beats up severely the firm running the nick much to the chagrin of the screws who then attempt to beat him to death! lonely nurses him back to life.callan is an orphan parents killed in croydon by v2 rocket! [where edward was brought up!} he is recruited unwillingly by the dept. they have no official existence! to remove by any means enemies of the state! lonely assumes for most of it that they are the biggest bunch of crooks in london.he like all burglars of his time is terrified of guns! he is more terrified of mr callan whom he has seen work! no fancy cars computor screens or deals with higher powers callan and co are on their own and utterly deniable! in bond the lunatic red grant was recruited by the kgb for similar reasons! they are fighting a very secret war against russia and co which emphasised in every episode normal members of the public get involved and often die! callan was a magnificent creation forced into work he ethically hates but also paradoxically enjoys [as hunters exploit this side of him] yet the action never gets bondish! the shootouts and violence are always terse and lethal as in real life no glamour! loved this show thanks for the post!
I think Patrick Mower was good too, and Peter Egan who took the role in the film thoroughly enjoyed his villainy. Anthony Valentine (who was perfect as Raffles BTW) was the most restrained out of these three. .
I am 58 years old and discovered Callan thanks to youtube ! . What a master piece ! Never seen any episod on french TV. ... It s sensible, smart, accurate and classy... and the stories and characters between History and everlasting Humanity. World class !!
We’re the same age, Pascal. I was a little young for the original series but - as an exercise for nostalgia for my 1970s London childhood - watching Callan is my balm. I’m happy that you enjoyed it! 👍🏼
Mr.W.turned out to be one of my very favorite actors.He shone in every role he played.I first saw him in "The Equalizer," loved him immediately. Next was "Breaker Morant." Another brilliant undertaking.Last is this,Callen.Such well-written humanistic roles for a band of superb actors. Edward Woodward was a supremely talented actor,who mastered every role he undertook.He is missed.
Callan great movie , wish they had done a second. .Breaker Morant great. Wickerman is classic. Could never really get used to him in The Equaliser . Still, bucks must have been good.
Such an incredible show. Just finished watching the last episode. The grittiness of it and the rounding out of all the characters was great. Always loved Callans conflicted nature. Bullying Lonely one minute, then ready to risk everything to save his friend when he was in trouble. Patrick Mower and Anthony Valentine were great foils for David Callan. William Squires was my favourite 'Hunter' too. Great, great show.
loved hearing this interview. I remember seeing this when i was a kid (70 now) It was the time of the cold war and would havw loved to see him in that sort of thing. great days
A nice video, thanks for sharing. Edward was a wonderful actor. I saw him once on stage in the early 1980's at Bromley theatre in Sherlock Holmes. He was playing the part of Dr Watson.
Fascinating to hear EW talk about this role. Like most one here I first knew him as Robert McCall. His comments on football show how times have changed; football bowing to TV may have been a novelty then whereas today, it's commonplace.
For my generation edward is the equalizer and what a great TV series and character for its time I remember my father settling down after his days work with a cuppa and Callan on TV, what a lovely gentleman and talent Mr woodward was , may you rest well and thanks for the memories. Kindest regards and best wishes to his wife and family
in james mitchells callan novel and in the movie there is a marvelous toughness to callan.told to berate lonely for leading the greek to his door callan says you got careless old son! lonely replies i was scared ,that arthur would scare anybody! didnt scare me i killed him! did you shoot him mr callan ?no i hit him! and whats more he died of it! lonely thought.arthur was like 7 feet tall and an ex wrestler! he was the toughest man lonely had ever seen! callan had hit him and hed died! no one was like mr callan! the beauty of it was that callan was so real.lived in a slum in the early episodes had bad feet. edward said in one episode he has a bad cold! when did you see bond with a cold yet we all get them! he actually used the cold in an episode of the equalizer .the scriptwriters went mad when i suggested giving mccall a cold! after they realised it was the best script of the season! the other thing about callan is that it was never slick! the gunfights and violence seemed very real and unrehearsed.things went drastically wrong on jobs or never had happy endings.brilliant show.
Mr Woodward was a superb actor. Although Callan, being my favourite role, I saw him play Cyrano de Bergerac at the Cambridge Theatre in 1970, excellent! He also had a pretty reasonable singing voice, he sang This Man Alone to the theme music of Callan (look it up) 🙂
Love the scene between Charlie and Meres after having bugged Callan's flat. Meres: He emptied the bath and filled it again. Hunter: Perhaps he was doing his laundry. Meres: in the bath? Hunter: we weren't all born in the bastions of privilege, Toby.
..And in my opinion, the unsung heroes are the music players in the movie Callan. I mean, how often you hear a harmonica playing the lead in a band, and so convincingly☺
Greatly enjoyed this interview. Listening to Edward Woodward reveals what a humble, genuine, and sincere man he was. What a great friend someone like him would be. Have to add something extra for those of you who do not know this: Edward Woodward had a great singing voice. You can do a search for 'The Edward Woodward Album--1972 (RU-vid)'. You will be very pleasantly surprised.
Thank you for uploading this. Good to see Mr Woodward on a personal level Too bad he's so poorly recognized here in America. To me he'll always be just as good as Roger Moore, John Cleese, or any other acclaimed British actor Only two comments so far- - see what I mean?
Not so Edward is well known here and enjoyed greatly ... Most of our early exprinces with Woodward we know him as the enforcer but..when you see his role from the enforcer to Callan it all clicks and they in which it was filmed and produced was a heart stopping thrill in its stark you might or might not walk away style ..that was pure gold it's a time capsule cold war slap n the face reminder of what was at stake and even now...I wouldn't say poorly known well known but limited exposure since much of material and broadcast material isn't available to us! But we do know and love his acting sincerely!
Seems no one has picked up the cockney reference; I enjoyed that! But who cares if people of USA recognize his (or anyone else's) great acting? People elsewhere in the world don't have a USA centric view of everything. Don't misunderstand, USA has the most money, and most military power, and has an effect in every realm. But the exported culture is very narrow and shallow. And these days, very destructive of the world Callan was fighting for. Albeit in a flawed way.
One of my parents' favourite TV series, and what survives is a favourite of mine on RU-vid. Clearly Woodward was a much more stable character than the role he played. 🐎
I’ve only seen one episode of Callan (so far; I intend to see more). If I were to compare Callan to James Bond, it would be the Bond of the novels. In the books, because you can read Bond’s internal monologue, you learn how conflicted he is about his role as a killer. Similarly, although Callan was also a “cold-blooded killer”, he didn’t enjoy it, or didn’t want to enjoy it, introducing the element of moral ambiguity that was missing in the Bond films.
Callan - It was the G.O.A.T. This show needs to be done again, even though no one could ever replace Ed. Either a movie with Jason Staham as "Callan" or a TV show/series with Richard Madden (Rob Stark - GoT). Sean Bean or Charles Dance as Hunter. Either way, someone has to re-do this show. I know people will say we have M.I., 007 and Jason Bourne, but they're all stereotypical "Spy" shows with the same boring plot, time after time, movie after movie, with only the SpecialFX and CGI to drag it across the box office line. Only Eddie could pull off the dark and damaged personality..... but unshakable morals and compassion, of Callan. And then the regret and shame he displayed when he "broke his own rules" to get the job done. It pisses me off that so many, many years later, NO ONE has been able to recreate a show as good as this one. - Here's a bit of trivia for you; The Range Rover driven by Callan in "A Magnum For Schneider", was last registered in 1983, was "written off" in a crash and sold as scrap and spare parts 6 months later.
Just watched the 1977 series 1990 with Woodward as lead. I recommend it to all Callan fans. As a kid it was the music and graphics from the introduction. The only other person who could have played the role was Richard Burton in his 'the spy who came in from the cold' role.
I loved it when Dr Snell in the film had either given that bloke in hospital, electric shock therapy or drugs and it was really well played, he just looked out of his mind..
I am not a, "foaming at the mouth" advocate of independence for Scotland, but at 3:08 there is the reference to, "England", and not the United Kingdom or even Britain. This is a generic attitude of how English people perceive the UK. We are some distant relative of no consequence, as are the Welsh and the people of Northern Ireland. There was, even then, a film industry in Scotland, as evinced by the existence of, "The Wicker Man", in which Woodward was the star. I have no antipathy to him as a person, but rather like his character and admire his work. It may seem like a trivial and, "off topic" point I am making, but it is on the back off endless examples of the same, including historical live commentaries of Olympic Games successes, where English members of the Great Britain team are praised for winning a medal for England, but Scottish members of the same team are applauded for winning a medal for Great Britain.
I watched Callan from day one after the pilot A Magnum for Schnider, but Woodward is mistaken on many scores here, Callan was seen as a bully, and the public liked Lonely more than him (I can understand Woodward not seeing and understanding that, who would tell him !) he has an over-inflated opinion of himself as Callan, No football matches (the midweek match, it was called) were ever cancelled because Callan went out on Wednesday nights, by now 1968+ the average teenager didn't even know who Sir Lawrence Olivier was, Woodward was like all TV people, has was living in a bubble, yes he was good, but everyone in the show was good, every character for was great, lonely, valentine, Mower, Lisa Langdon, Clifford, Bond, Rose, these were all huge TV stars in the 1960s, Mower was more well known than Woodawrd at this time, he had stared in several TV shows, the script was the best TV had seen, I could have played Callan and people would have tuned in, l0l Woodward seems to ignore the fact that he wasn't the show, he was part of it and by 1969 he was too old and the series had lost its mass appeal, series one was by far the best of the four series, by the time of the fourth series it had become a bit of a joke, the scriptwriters had changed, location were being used more than the studio so it lost its intense feeling and colour didn't do it any favours, call me wrong but you know I'm right, all right,
I love this background piece ,but at 190.00$ for the boxed set on amazon , which I can,t afford , I hoped I could get more whole shows because I saw them all when they were new! disappointed.
All Callan series episodes seemed to revolve around his conscience getting in the way of killing and the necessity of it. I got tired of spies with a conscience and killers with morals and scruples. It damaged the purity and commitment of the profession.
