berkoff television, radio, audio, music

The Champions 1968

Berkoff plays a cheap hood in The Iron Man, directed by John Moxey in 1967.

The story is about an attempted assassination, by Berkoff and his henchmen, of a dictator called The Iron Man. But it turns out The Iron Man is not the real power.

A very tedious episode. It was difficult to see why the assassins needed such elaborate preparation, rather than just shoot the dictator on his many tiresome journeys.

Dixon of Dock Green 1967

A role in the popular television series about Sergeant Dixon, the likeable local British bobby, which lasted for over twenty years. Berkoff appears in the episode The Climber. Sadly, copies of The Climber and other episodes were destroyed.

Script by N.J. Crisp and directed by Douglas Argent.

Softly Softly

The BBC1 cop series. This was a spin-off from the series Z-Cars, concentrating on the detectives. Berkoff plays PC Archer is in the episode The Informant Part 1 Rough Justice (episode 2.1) which no longer exists.

An Enemy of the State 1965

A six part miniseries on BBC2. A businessman goes to Moscow and gets caught up in a spying plot. Berkoff plays the defence council. Directed by James Cellan Jones and written by Ken Hughes.

The Pistol 1965

James Jones' novel adapted for BBCs Wednesday Play by Troy Kennedy Martin and Roger Smith. Berkoff plays Pfc Gutkowski. The director was James Ferman. The play takes place in Hawaii just before the attack on Pearl Harbour. It was filmed at Fairlight Glen, Hastings and shooting took five days and nights. Berkoff's acting was obviously good as the Radio Times describes it as "an all-American cast".

Steven Berkoff Pistol
The Radio Times, 10 June 1965 (the play was broadcast on 16 June)

The Pistol

Berkoff says (Free Association) "...I again played a small, worthless role and was so fed up with all the climbing up and down hills and digging ditches that I felt sure was more the work of extras that I complained, along with everyone else. I was promptly put in the BBC´s black book and didn't work with them for years afterwards".

Sir Jocelyn, the Minister Would Like a Word... 1965

Part of the BBC's Wednesday Play series. This episode is a comedy set in a university. Berkoff plays a councillor. Directed by Stuart Burge and written by Simon Raven. Info by kind permission from www.action-tv.org.uk/wed_play/wed_arrived.htm

Hamlet 1963

Berkoff plays Lucianus in a television Hamlet, one of the BBC´s Wednesday Plays, with Christopher Plummer as Hamlet, Robert Shaw as Claudius, Michael Caine as Horatio and Donald Sutherland as Fortinbras. Berkoff says (Free Association) "it was one of the most exciting things I ever saw rehearsed. Plummer's energy and voice were astounding to watch and hear; he seemed to leap over everyone in huge bounds of vitality." The director was Philip Saville who more than 30 years later would direct Berkoff in Hans Christian Andersen.

(photo from Free Association)

Murder in the Cathedral 1963

A bit part in the T.S. Eliot play filmed for television.

Corrigan Blake 1963

A part as a barman in the Love Bird episode of Corrigan Blake, a BBC series about a womaniser starring John Turner and Paul Daneman. The director was James MacTaggart. The series ran for six episodes.

The Saint 1962

Another bit part, this time in Roger Moore's Saint series, in The Man Who Gambled with Life. The director is Freddie Francis, with script by Harry W. Junkin. Berkoff also had a minor role in Roger Moore's Saint film for cinema, with the same script writer. Alone in the countryside, the Saint is approached by a girl wearing identical clothes to his.

Roger Moore The Saint

She gives him a white mouse and talks about death. Later when she reappears, it turns out not to be her but her sister. Both sisters are daughters of a millionaire, with heart problems, looking for volunteers to test a process to bring people back to life. The Saint is the prime candidate.

The Saint Steven Berkoff

Berkoff, with his worst fake moustache and Star Trek jersey, is leader of the henchmen. He has to put up with lines like "your psycho-analytical profile showed an immense bias towards the bizarre".

The Avengers 1961

Berkoff has a small part in The Gravediggers, an episode of The Avengers with Patrick Macnee and Emma Peel. Directed in 1965 by Quentin Lawrence. Steed and Emma investigate blackouts in British radar installations. It turns out to be a plan to bury jamming devices in graveyards around the country.

Berkoff plays the usual henchman. He appears in a wheelchair, but the broken leg is a disguise and he pulls a gun on Steed. Not a good idea and Steed has no problems disarming him.

The best scene is a journey on a reconstructed train, where the train is stationary and the scenery is pulled past the window.

Crime and Punishment 1959

Berkoff says (Free Association) "I found myself playing small costume parts in Crime and Punishment and Murder in the Cathedral, eking out a living, reporting to the labour exchange. Denis Sanders directs this television production from 1959.