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Danger UXB is a 1979 British television series developed by John Hawkesworth and starring Anthony Andrews as Lieutenant Brian Ash, an officer in the Royal Engineers. The programme is titled and partly based on the memoirs of Major A. B. Hartley, M.B.E, RE, Unexploded Bomb - The Story of Bomb Disposal, with episodes written by Hawkesworth and four screenwriters. The series chronicles the exploits of the fictional 97 Tunnelling Company which, as a result of thousands of unexploded bombs in London during the Blitz, has become a bomb disposal unit. As with all his fellow officers, Ash must for the most part learn the techniques and procedures of disarming and destroying the UXBs through experience, repeatedly confronted with more cunning and deadlier technological advances in aerial bomb fusing. The storylines were primarily military, with a romantic thread between Ash and an inventor's married daughter, and other human interest vignettes.
Episodes
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- E1 Dead Man's ShoesNext upJan 8, 1979 · 50 min
Synopsis
September 1940: Brian Ash, a direct entry officer of the Royal Engineers after ten weeks of basic training at the Hampshire Depot, joins 97 Tunnelling Company. Without benefit of training as a bomb disposal officer, he is immediately put in charge of a section whose previous officer was killed by a bomb. The unexploded bombs they deal with have been armed by electrical fuses that activate after being dropped, but sometimes fail to go off on impact. If they fail to explode on impact, they can detonate when vibrations caused by movement or contact close the circuit. Under the tutelage of Sergeant James, he defuses a relatively straightforward type 15 fused bomb, but is dismayed to learn that the Germans have deployed an even deadlier fuse, the type 17, that is rigged with a clockwork long-delay detonator activated by the bomb's impact.
Guest stars: Jeremy Sinden (Lieutenant Ivor Rodgers), Fred Bryant (ARP Warden), Eric Francis (Bombed Out Man), Mollie Maureen (Woman), Robert Longden (Sapper Copping), Peter Cartwright (Major Luckhurst), Kenneth Farrington (Captain Francis), Osmund Bullock (Lieutenant Pringle)
- E2 Unsung HeroesJan 15, 1979 · 50 min
Synopsis
Ash is reprimanded, first by Francis for a newspaper story about the section that the 2IC believes injures the dignity of the service, then by Luckhurst for his reckless behaviour when defuzing a low-priority bomb. Ash becomes acquainted with new officer Ken Machin, who is assigned to his tutelage and billeted with him. Ash and Machin find they are to be sent on a hastily developed new disposal course.
Guest stars: Gordon Kane (Sapper Mulley), Moyra Fraser (Aunt Do Do), Steven Grives (Lieutenant Machin), Jean Campbell-Dallas (Elsie), Phyllis MacMahon (Cis), John Rolfe (Fire Officer), Christopher Burgess (Photographer), Dafydd Havard (Communist Speaker)
- E3 Just Like a WomanJan 22, 1979 · 50 min
Synopsis
On their course, Ash and Machin learn that the boffins have developed a powerful electromagnetic 'clockstopper' to counter the type 17's fuse. Ash gives in to Machin's pleadings, allowing him to finish disarming the type 17 discovered in a residential garden while Ash deals with a Category A bomb near a telephone exchange. In Ash's absence, the type 17 explodes, killing Machin, despite the clockstopper. Ash later finds the Category A bomb has ruptured without exploding, and has an intact type 17 fuse, which is also rigged with an anti-handling device called the Zeus 40 that detonates if there is an attempt to extract the fuse.
Guest stars: Steven Grives (Ken Machin), Alfie Bass (Reg Preston), Louisa Rix (Angie), Marilyn Galsworthy (Priscilla), Patsy Smart (Molly Preston), Gretchen Franklin (Mrs. Flack), Matthew Ryan (Matthew), Michael Salmon (Terry)
- E4 Cast Iron KillerJan 29, 1979 · 50 min
Synopsis
Ash is ordered to take a defused bomb direct to a scientist working on ways to get around the booby-trap timer.
Guest stars: Robert Longden (Sapper Copping), John Graham (Professor Hutton), Liz Bagley (Grace), Mary Healey (Dorothy), Charles Lamb (Gardener), Jeremy Sinden (Lieutenant Rodgers), Peter Cartwright (Major Luckhurst), Kenneth Cranham (Sapper Salt)
- E5 The Silver LiningFeb 5, 1979 · 50 min
Synopsis
A bomb under a nightclub provides 347 Section with an opportunity for a little recreation. Ash admits that he is smitten with Susan.
Guest stars: Geraldine Gardner (Micky), Christopher Good (Captain West), John Rapley (Silversmith), Mike Lewin (Police Sergeant), Brian Haines (Surveyor's Assistant), Adrienne Conway (Singer), Jeremy Sinden (Lieutenant Rodgers), Peter Cartwright (Major Luckhurst)
- E6 The Quiet WeekendFeb 12, 1979 · 50 min
Synopsis
Ash and Susan go off for a quiet weekend away but Ash is recalled to deal with an unexploded bomb and Susan returns home to find her husband waiting for her.
Guest stars: David Wood (Lieutenant Symes), Jeremy Sinden (Lieutenant Rodgers), Benjamin Whitrow (Major Pullar), Sandy Ratcliff (Rosalyn), Deirdre Costello (Gladys), David Buck (Stephen), Kathleen Harrison (Mrs. Dollery), Pamela Abbott (W.V.S. Lady)
- E7 Digging OutFeb 19, 1979 · 50 min
Synopsis
Ash works on a bomb outside a destroyed office building while the men of 347 Section try to rescue a woman trapped inside and with another bomb right beside her.
Guest stars: Maggie Ollerenshaw (Betty Salt), Peter Cartwright (Major Luckhurst), Kenneth Farrington (Captain Francis), Kenneth Owens (Company Sergeant Major), Cheryl Hall (Jean), Norman Mitchell (ARP Warden), Patrick Jordan (Policeman), Kenneth Cranham (L / Corporal Salt)
- E8 Bad CompanyFeb 26, 1979 · 50 min
Synopsis
Newly-promoted Major Francis takes command of the unit and proceeds to enforce new disciplines, but his chief target seems to be Ash and his men.
Guest stars: Kenneth Farrington (Major Francis), Osmund Bullock (Lieutenant Pringle), David Shaughnessy (2nd Lieutenant Carter Brown), Nick Brimble (2nd Lieutenant Gresham), Kenneth Cranham (Sapper Salt), James Woolley (Captain Conroy), Norman Chappell (Corporal Mould), Barrie Cookson (Brigadier Lawrence)
- E9 Seventeen Seconds to GloryMar 5, 1979 · 50 min
Synopsis
347 Section cooperates with the Royal Navy to deal with a bomb that has a 17-second fuse. Ash decides to ask Susan to marry him.
Guest stars: Nick Tate (Lt. Chris Craik), Peter Cellier (Flt. Lt. Fenwick), Martin Neil (Private Brinckley), Charles Pemberton (Police Sergeant), Brian Poyser (RASC Corporal), Stephen Hatton (Naval Rating), Kenneth Cranham (L / Corporal Salt), Iain Cuthbertson (Doctor Gillespie)
- E10 Butterfly WinterMar 12, 1979 · 50 min
Synopsis
The Germans have been dropping a new butterfly bomb that are proving difficult to defuse. 347 Section is one of a number of units called to a small English village to deal with them.
Guest stars: Kenneth Cranham (L / Corporal Salt), Martin Neil (L / Corporal Brinckley), Jason Fathers (Ronnie Busby), Patricia Garwood (Mrs. Busby), Tony Steedman (Reverend Matlock), Jonty Miller (Sam Smythe), Blake Butler (ARP Warden), Clifford Earl (Desk Sergeant)
- E11 Dead LetterMar 19, 1979 · 50 min
Synopsis
Ash is assigned to Cambridge to help Dr. Gillespie with the new Y fuse, and meets Susan again.
Guest stars: Tim Pigott-Smith (Harry Winthrop), Deborah Grant (Elspeth), Patrick Malahide (Flt. Lt. Kelly), Royston Tickner (Lieutenant Leckie), Christopher Good (Major), Charles Rogers (Captain), Ian Collier (Sergeant), Osmund Bullock (Captain Pringle)
- E12 The PierMar 26, 1979 · 50 min
Synopsis
The Company packs up and moves to the coast where they are to clear the beaches of dozens of British mines laid in preparation for a German invasion.
Guest stars: Osmund Bullock (Captain Pringle), Martin Neil (2nd Lieutenant Brinckley), Royston Tickner (Captain Leckie), David Shaughnessy (Lieutenant Carter Brown), Bryan Burdon (Sapper Binns), Nick Brimble (Lieutenant Gresham), Cyril Cross (Mr. Munton), Ellis Dale (Surgeon)
- E13 With Love From AdolfApr 2, 1979 · 50 min
Synopsis
Ash convalesces after a near-fatal accident while defusing a mine. With his mobility severely impaired, he is to be reassigned to light duties away from the bomb disposal unit.
Guest stars: Deborah Watling (Norma), Iain Cuthbertson (Doctor Gillespie), Judy Geeson (Susan), Jeremy Sinden (Ivor Rodgers), Moyra Fraser (Aunt Do-Do), David Shaughnessy (Lieutenant Carter-Brown), Marjie Lawrence (Mrs. Baker), Ken Kitson (Corporal Horrocks)
Cast & crew
Created by John Hawkesworth
Anthony Andrews
Maurice Roëves
George Innes
Robert Pugh
