The Fugitive: Classic TV drama. (The Fugitive in general)

Member Name: DUKE41

Product:	The Fugitive in general
Date:	04/09/08 (38 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brilliantly nostalgic TV.

Disadvantages: None that I can think of.

The Fugitive was an American TV series that originally aired in the United States between 1963 and 1967. It ran for four seasons and 120 episodes were made. The first three seasons were made in black and white and the final one in colour. The final episode was the highest rated TV series in the United States at the time with 30 million viewers (a 72% audience share.) The Fugitive held this record until 1980 when Dallas got 33.3 million for the "Who Done It?" episode in which it was revealed who shot J.R.Ewing.


I first discovered The Fugitive just after I got married in 1993. It was repeated on BBC2 during Sunday lunchtimes. It hasn't been aired since which is disappointing but you can buy it on dvd which I will come to later.


The Fugitive the title refers to is Doctor Richard Kimble (played by David Janssen), a pediatrician who is on the run from the police after being falsely accused of murdering his wife Helen Kimble. Kimble sees a one-armed man fleeing the crime scene and travels from town to town trying to find him and prove his innocence. He also helps a lot of people in need. At the start of each episode Kimble is shown escaping from a Death-Row bound train.
Lieutenant Philip Gerard (played by Barry Morse) is determined to recapture Kimble and there are lots of episodes where Gerard almost catches Kimble but is given the slip at the last minute. Kimble even saves his life on a couple of occasions. However it's clearly evident that Gerard doubts Kimble's guilt and is only doing his job.


I thought the concept for The Fugitive was a very clever one. An innocent man on the run for a crime he did not commit, brilliant. Actually it reminds me of a 1956 film called The Wrong Man starring Henry Fonda as a musician who is wrongly accused of armed robbery.

David Janssen I believe was brilliant portraying Doctor Kimble and Barry Morse was equally impressive as Gerard.


I tried in vain to find The Fugitive on dvd. After searching on ebay and Amazon.co.uk it appeared that it was only available on Region 1 format (Canada and the USA). However it was finally released on the Region 2 format in the UK and I purchased it with the help of my dooyoo miles!


The Fugitive was remade for US television in 2000. Tim Daly starred as Dr. Kimble and Mykelti Williamson as Lt. Gerard. However it was short-lived, only one season of 22 episodes was made.


In 1993 The Fugitive was made into a movie starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones. There were a couple of alterations to the story in the movie. Kimble was a heart surgeon based in Chicago instead of a pediatrician from the fictional town of Stafford and Tommy Lee Jones' character was called Samuel Gerard instead of Philip. He was also a U.S. Marshal instead of a police lieutenant.


There was a sequel made in 1998 called U.S. Marshals in which Gerard and his team were also on the trail of an escaped fugitive. It also starred Wesley Snipes and Robert Downey Jr.

Summary: The Fugitive was groundbreaking television drama that has been copied regularly ever since.