Magnum Mania!

In 1982 Sam Waterston starred in a CBS show called Q.E.D. His character, Quentin E. Deverill was an American scientist living in Edwardian England who came up with all kinds of futuristic inventions. He battled a German named Kilkus played by Julian Glover (from Indy...Last Crusade and the Star Wars movies).



The show had a jaunty theme tune that I've never forgotten. Anyone else (fondly) remember this show? There were only six episodes produced (by John Hawkesworth, who later did the legendary Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series for Granada TV). I thought the series aired on Tuesday nights on CBS.

Q.E.D. 'Infernal Device'- "Anarchists discover that Professor Deverill has invented a new remote control device, and blackmail him into helping them use it to detonate a bomb at an international conference." Aired April 6, 1982.

Sounds quite similar to the plot of Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows.

I'd love to see Q.E.D. on DVD.

FANTASTIC! I knew nothing about this show, but I found the six episodes on Youtube and I'm hooked to give it a try after only the intro and first scene. Thanks for posting this. I kinda wonder how many tv shows might have tried to ride the coat-tails of the Indiana Jones craze by pitching shows set with some kind of "high adventure" flare. Does that make sense? I just love this kind of stuff. Thanks for posting Little Garwood!

BWheelz54 wrote:FANTASTIC! I knew nothing about this show, but I found the six episodes on Youtube and I'm hooked to give it a try after only the intro and first scene. Thanks for posting this. I kinda wonder how many tv shows might have tried to ride the coat-tails of the Indiana Jones craze by pitching shows set with some kind of "high adventure" flare. Does that make sense? I just love this kind of stuff. Thanks for posting Little Garwood!

Glad you like it!

I'm not surprised that no one here has heard of Q.E.D., since it seems to have been a mid season replacement that only ran for six episodes in early 1982. I don't know if it was made with the intention of capturing that Indiana Jones spirit, though. It would have been filmed in 1981 whereas other childhood favorites of mine like Tales of the Gold Monkey and Bring 'em Back Alive aired during the 1982-83 season, long after Indy hit theaters. I'm probably the only person who immediately thinks of Bring 'em Back Alive whenever Bruce "Frank Buck" Boxleitner appears in a TV series!

I have a few more Q.E.D. cast photos I'll post later...

Clearly no one else remembers this series but me. It's one of my more lucid nostalgic hallucinations...

As threatened, more photos from Q.E.D..

Here's a "glamour shot" of our Edwardian-era hero:.



Sam Waterston, seen with co-star George Innes:



With cardigans (shawl and otherwise) once again popular, it's easy to predict that Q.E.D. will dazzle an entirely new generation of tired-of-today's-pop-culture kids looking for something old and fresh.