O.S.S. (TV series)

O.S.S. is a wartime television drama series that was co-produced by Buckeye Productions and ATV. It ran for 26 half-hour monochrome episodes during the 1957–1958 season and was distributed by ITC Entertainment and networked in the United States by ABC.

O.S.S.
Also known as	Office of Strategic Services
Genre	Drama
Written by	Paul Dudley
Directed by	Allan Davis Peter Maxwell Lawrence Huntington Pennington Richards Robert Siodmak
Starring	Ron Randell Max Faulkner Franklyn Fox Reginald Hearne Howard Lang
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	26 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Joseph Harris William Eliscu
Producer	Jules Buck
Production companies	Buckeye Productions ATV
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	14 September 1957 (1957-09-14) – 9 March 1958 (1958-03-09)

The series followed the adventures of Frank Hawthorne, an agent with the American Office of Strategic Services, who operated behind Nazi lines in occupied France.

Main cast

• Ron Randell as Captain Frank Hawthorn
• Lionel Murton as The Chief
• Robert Gallico as O'Brien

Guest stars included Lois Maxwell, Christopher Lee and Roger Delgado.

Production

The pilot was shot in November 1956.^[1] The budget was around $1,200,000.^[2]

The star was Australian actor Ron Randell.^[3]

In October 1957 Randell injured his hand filming one sequence and required stitches.^[4]

Episode list

This episode list is based on the airdate order on ABC, which appears to match the production order and the air-date order for the (unrelated) ABC Weekend TV in the UK.

1. "Operation Fracture"
2. "Operation Tulip"
3. "Operation Powder Puff"
4. "Operation Death Trap"
5. "Operation Orange Blossom"
6. "Operation Pay Day"
7. "Operation Foul Ball"
8. "Operation Blue Eyes"
9. "Operation Flint Axe"
10. "Operation Sweet Talk"
11. "Operation Big House"
12. "Operation Love Bird"
13. "Operation Pigeon Hole"
14. "Operation Yo-yo"
15. "Operation Yodel"
16. "Operation Sardine"
17. "Operation Firefly"
18. "Operation Eel"
19. "Operation Barbecue"
20. "Operation Blackbird"
21. "Operation Post Office"
22. "Operation Newsboy"
23. "Operation Chopping Block"
24. "Operation Dagger" "Operation Buried Alive"
25. "Operation Meatball"
26. "Operation Jingle Bells"

References

1. "Flamingo Series on OSS to Roll". Variety. November 1956.
2. "Variety (February 1957)". Variety. February 1957.
3. Vagg, Stephen (10 August 2019). "Unsung Aussie Actors – Ron Randell: A Top Twenty". Filmink.
4. "London". Variety. 16 October 1957. p. 86.

External links

• CTVA information
• O.S.S. at IMDb