Re: Sandbaggers

snopes (snopes@snopes.com)
Mon, 2 Feb 1998 10:12:33 -0800 (PST)

On Mon, 2 Feb 1998, Jason Potapoff wrote:

> This is just a guess as I have no real idea nor heard anything
> "official". But I would gather that the actor who played the first C left
> beause of health problems.

Could be, although I must admit I can't think of another case where an
actor left a series due to health problems, but stayed around to shoot
episodes explaining that his character was leaving due to health
problems!

I half wonder whether the replacements for the original "C" and
Burnside's secretary were planned to set up the final few episodes.
It's hard to imagine Peel talking the first "C" into relieving Burnside
as DOps and sending him to Madrid station, and the relationship between
Sandbagger #1 and the second secretary makes the final episode all that
more poignant/tragic.

I noticed that the last few episodes also seemed to be highly
politicized: they dealt with specific causes (human rights in the
USSR, the SALT talks) rather than generic espionage activities, as
if someone involved with the show had an agenda to push. Maybe
they were just background for plots, but the episodes seemed to be
quite a contrast to the rest of the series.

When Sandbaggers was originally broadcast, was it done all at once,
or did they produce several episodes a year for a few years?

- David

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