Virgin of the Secret Service

Ted Willis, best remembered as the creator of Dixon of Dock Green, was also the guiding hand behind the far more eccentric Virgin of the Secret Service, a thirteen-part adventure serial broadcast in the spring and early summer of 1968. Set not in the contemporary Cold War but in the Edwardian twilight of 1907, the series followed Captain Robert Virgin of the Royal Dragoons, an officer–gentleman operating for a British Secret Service that officially preferred to pretend it did not exist.

Welsh-born Clinton Greyn, a RADA-trained actor and contemporary of Diana Rigg and Albert Finney, brought considerable charm and authority to the role of Virgin, Britain’s most discreet defender of a fading empire. Greyn was supported by a lively ensemble: Noel Coleman as the stiff-backed Colonel Shaw-Camberley, John Cater as Fred Doublett, Virgin’s resourceful batman with a talent for locks and escapology, and Veronica Strong as the emancipated and independent Mrs Virginia Cortez. Cortez, a fashionable London photographer whose studio attracted diplomats, statesmen and royalty, was more than a romantic interest; her profession conveniently allowed secrets to be overheard and plots advanced.

Opposing Virgin was one of British television’s more enjoyably theatrical villains, the German master spy Karl von Brauner, played with icy menace by Alexander Dore. His methods were ruthless, his ingenuity tireless, and his lack of gentlemanly restraint a deliberate contrast to Virgin’s code of honour. He was ably assisted by the unhinged Klaus Striebeck, portrayed by Peter Swannick in one of his final roles, lending an unsettling edge to the show’s gallery of antagonists.

Although filmed entirely at ATV’s studios, the series made a determined effort to feel international. Storylines whisked Virgin across the globe to India, Arabia, Brazil, Texas, St Petersburg and even Croatia, conjured through sets and scripts designed to emulate the glamour then associated with the James Bond films. At the same time, the tone was knowingly playful: a comic-strip pastiche that blended spy thrills with period melodrama, evoking Adam Adamant and The Avengers as much as Ian Fleming. Balloon journeys to the North-West Frontier, lone crossings of desert sands and elaborate webs of European intrigue were all embraced with a wink rather than solemnity.

The production was further enlivened by an impressive roster of guest stars, including Desmond Llewellyn, Gabrielle Drake, Jennie Linden, Roger Delgado, Rodney Bewes, Georgina Hale, Cyril Luckham, John Challis and Patience Collier, each adding texture to Willis’s episodic tales of imperial derring-do.

Sadly, Virgin of the Secret Service was undermined not by lack of ambition but by chaotic scheduling. Without a unified network slot, ITV regions scattered the series across different days and times, with London viewers subjected to especially erratic treatment. By the latter half of the run, episodes could appear anywhere from early evening to a near-midnight graveyard slot, making it almost impossible for a loyal audience to form.

Today the series is rarely mentioned, often relegated to the category of intriguing misfires. Yet its blend of spoof, adventure and period style, coupled with Greyn’s engaging central performance, suggests it deserves more than footnote status. With all episodes surviving and, at the time of writing (Jan 2026), available on YouTube, Virgin of the Secret Service remains a candidate for rediscovery—a curious, good-humoured relic of 1960s television trying something boldly out of time.