Firechasers, The (ITV 1977, Keith Barron, Chad Everett)

In TV movie The Firechasers, Quentin Barnaby (Q to his friends) is an insurance investigating a series of fires targeting Warehouses in the city. He team up with (female) reporter Toby Collins and her photographer Jim Maxwell to to try and find out who is behind the attacks.

The casting was quite high profile, complete with American guest stars Chad Everett and Anjanette Comer. There were also brief appearances from TV legends Rupert Davies (who played Maigret for many years) and Joseph Brady (who played Jock Weir in the Z Cars).

The final climatic blaze is well done too, with a large department store in danger. Not quite The Towering Inferno standard of course.

The idea for the movie had been around for several years, in 1968 ITC and ATV put together an idea for an unmade pilot called Fire-Ten, this featured the same lead character and was also written by Philip Levene. Although broadcast for the first time in the UK in 1977 Firechasers was made several years earlier in 1970. It was released briefly to cinemas in 1971 (as the bottom half of a double bill) and also aired on CBS in the US in late 1971.

production details
UK / ITV – ITC / 1×85 minutes / Broadcast Sunday 6 March 1977 at 8.50pm

Writer: Philip Levene / Producer: Julian Wintle / Director: Sidney Hayers

cast
Chad Everett as Quentin Barnaby
Anjanette Comer as Toby Collins
Keith Barron as Jim Maxwell
Joanne Dainton as Valerie Chrane
Rupert Davies as John Prentice
Roy Kinnear as Roscoe
Robert Flemyng as Carlton
John Loder as Routledge
James Hayter as Inspector Herman
Allan Cuthbertson as Jarvis
Joseph Brady as Nightwatchman
Marianne Stone as Neurotic Woman