I was reminded of this tv series recently when watching one of Tony Newley's old films on Talking Pictures. In 1960, at the age of 9 I was a fan of Newley as a singer. At that stage I wasn't even aware of his acting career. So, when he appeared in Gurney Slade, I assumed it was something new for him. Which it was; but not in the way I thought.
My interest in most media was a bit alternative e.g. The Goons etc. which my parents couldn't quite understand, but were quite happy for me to indulge in. Thus, for me Gurney Slade was a joy. So far out. I hadn't a clue what was going on. Each episode seemed to consist of a vague situation or challenge arising from chance encounters and which needed to be resolved. But in between there were a series of weird, puzzling and quite barmy occurrences. Note, I didn't say surreal since I hadn't heard the word at the time. Way ahead of its time, I suppose I caught up with its premise by the time Monty Python appeared. In the meantime I contented myself intriguing my schoolmates by relating the episodes and walking around whistling the quirky, jazzy theme tune!
