City Beneath The Sea is another British children's program from ABC TV and it's followed by it's sequel Secret Beneath The Sea. That's not the ABC from here in the US, it's a different company. John Lucarotti wrote the screenplays for both series which are packed together in a 2 disc set from Network. Guy Verner and Kim Mills share the directing.
Gerald Flood plays science magazine editor Mark Bannerman, Stewart Guidotti plays Peter Blake, his assistant. They attend a science conference where a professor is kidnapped by a man Bannerman later identifies as a WW2 U-Boat Commander. The Commander's U-Boat is seen off the coast of Dover and the Navy investigates as US and the Russians say it's not theirs. Bannerman and Blake are invited to go on the chase in an atomic powered sub. They are kidnapped by the Commander and manage to hide on the sub when the others are sent off in a small boat. They try to send messages to the British Navy.
Bannerman and Blake are caught and taken to the undersea city of crazy scientist Professor Ludwig Ziebrecken. He's played by Aubrey Morris who you might have seen everywhere in his 67 year career. Ziebrecken comes across nicer earlier in the production with his making a better world blather. He's soon revealed to have a plan for world domination and he's not opposed to killing people to get his goal. Eventually Bannerman and Blake stop his plan and Ziebrecken is killed.
Secret Beneath The Sea takes place a short time after the first series. This one is written by John again and only Kim Mills is directing. Bannerman and Blake are heading for the undersea city in a sub when their old pal the ex-U-Boat Commander drops off a piece of metal with some formulas on paper. Someone's after the metal, it has superior heat resistance and a big metal dealer wants to cash in on the new alloy by hogging the market for himself. Like the mad scientist of the first serial, this POS is willing to have people killed to get his way. Bannerman and Blake will have to put a stop to that.
All in all about average for this sort of show. Like the Pathfinders In Space series this one has fairly decent sets for TV of the time. The underwater effects for people are about the worst of it, some of the models and miniatures are OK. There's an easy to follow story and some good characters. Less annoying kids than the Pathfinders In Space series. Glad to have seen the shows.
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