Van der Valk: The Adventurer (ITV 18 Oct 1972, with Paul Eddington)

In The Adventurer, the final episode of the first season, a Lebanese man, Peter Jamal, is killed in a car accident. He is carrying a gun and a press cutting about sculptor Wolf Gebhardt. Another man, Mahmud Fazan, who was in the car with him, has gone missing.

Gebhardt claims to know nothing about either man or why they should be interested in but Van der Valk is convinced that the men have arrived in Amsterdam to kill Gebhardt.

Van der Valk seems to instinctly know that Gebhardt is hiding something and also instinctively gets a bad feeling about the man. Mertens is tasked by Van der Valk to follow Gebhardt and ends up getting shot when he approaches Fazan.

A strong end to the season, having mentioned in passing that he was in the Africa Corps during WWII you think that maybe he was SS or something but it turns out that Gebhardt actually isn’t German at all.

classic quote
“I watch life, it passes me by, but rarely am I involved in it.”

production details
UK / ITV – Thames / 1×50 minute episode / Broadcast Wednesday 18 October 1972 at 9.00pm

Writer: Michael Chapman / Production Design: Bernard Spencer / Director: Peter Duguid

Series: Van der Valk Season 1 Episode 6

cast
Barry Foster as Van der Valk
Michael Latimer as Kroon
Susan Travers as Arlette
Alan Haines as Mertens
Dave Carter as Stribos
Paul Eddington as Wolf Gebhardt
Roger Bisley as Mahmud Fazan
Harold Goldblatt as Paul Moen
Christian Thorogood as Patrolman
Helena McCarthy as Clerk
Christopher Matthews as Receptionist
Norman Scace as Officer of Justice
William Ellis as Vittorio Farrugia