New Directions
Then as now the normal practice with filmed series was to
have several directors employed by the production so that whilst one was working on the post-production phase of an episode,
another would be on the studio floor upervising the shooting of the next one, whilst a third would be in pre-production
on the following story. While a series such as The Saint had been able to employ a large number of
jobbing directors, the complex needs and distinctive 'house style' of Space: 1999 meant
that it was more efficient to have a small number of directors employed by the production for the length of the shooting schedule.
With the British film industry in apparently terminal decline any number of experienced feature film
directors would have been available. Instead the policy was continued from the second production block of UFO
of hiring directors familiar with the rigours and time constraints of filmed series television. Lee H. Katzin was already
on board and slated to direct further episodes after Breakaway and the plan was to have two others who were familiar
with British crews and working methods.
The Old Pro
Charles Crichton was a hugley experienced
feature film director who had increasingly branched out into television work since the early sixties. He started out
in the industry in the mid-thirties as a film editor for the Anglo-Hungarian movie mogul Alexander Korda, working on productions
such as Sanders of the River, Things to Come and Elephant Boy. He
took to directing in the mid 1940s and achieved prominence with Ealing films, for which he helmed comedies such as The
Lavender Hill Mob (1951) and The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953).
Crichton was happy to turn his hand to any genre. His wide experience stood him in good stead
when he began taking on television work as the British film industry began to contract. Between big screen assignments
such as The Third Secret (1964) and He Who Rides a Tiger (1965) he directed episodes of
the ITC shows Man of the World and Danger Man. He eventually abandoned movies altogether
for television, directing episodes of Man in a Suitcase, The Avengers,
Strange Report, Shirley's World, Here Come the Double Deckers!
and The Adventures of Black Beauty. At this point he began working for Gerry Anderson's Group Three
Productions directing five episodes of The Protectors, impressing the production team such that he was engaged
as one of the main directors of Space: 1999.
He retained a reputation for professionalism and reliability, working post - Space: 1999
on filmed series such as Return of the Saint and Dick Turpin, and was
increasingly employed as a director of industrial training films for John Cleese's company Video Arts. The relationship
with Cleese was to bring Crichton one more hit feature film, when the pair co-directed A Fish Called Wanda
in 1988.
The Action Man
Ray Austin took anything but the standard industry route
into directing, with an early career including a stint as Cary Grant's chauffeur and a background in martial arts. He
became a stunt man, initially with Cary Grant on Hitchcock's 1959 classic North by Northwest
which led to an acting career, generally as a villainous henchman who could handle a fight scene. Austin became a stunt
arranger, most famously for The Avengers on which the extensive fight scenes made him, for a while,
probably the most famous stuntman in the business. His interest in action scenes led to him branching out into second
unit directing for the ITC series The Champions. After getting his start as a director
on the final season of The Avengers, Austin became an immediate success in his new role working extensively
on ITC's filmed series, employed on multiple episodes of The Saint, Department S, Randall
and Hopkirk (Deceased) and Shirley's World. Ray Austin relocated to America in the late 1970s, where he became
a hugely in-demand TV director, retiring in 1999 after returning to Britain to helm episodes of the ill-fated C15:
The New Professionals.
