Danger UXB is a 1979 British ITV television series set during the Second World War. It was developed by John Hawkesworth and starred Anthony Andrews as Lieutenant Brian Ash, an officer in the Royal Engineers. The series chronicles the exploits of the fictional 97 Tunnelling Company, which has been made a bomb disposal unit, and specifically 347 Section of the company, to deal with the thousands of unexploded bombs in London during the Blitz. As with all his fellow officers, Ash must for the most part learn the techniques and procedures of disarming and destroying the UXBs through experience, repeatedly confronted with more cunning and deadlier technological advances in aerial bomb fuzing. The series primarily features military storylines, though among them is a romantic thread featuring an inventor's married daughter, Susan Mount, with whom Ash falls in love, and other human interest vignettes. The programme was partly based on Unexploded Bomb - The Story of Bomb Disposal, the memoirs of Major A. B. Hartley, MBE, RE; its episodes were written by Hawkesworth and four screenwriters. The series was filmed in 1978 in and around the Clapham, Streatham and Tooting areas of south London. Lt. Col. E. E. Gooch, RE, rtd. was the technical adviser. The programme appeared on the US PBS as a segment of Masterpiece Theatre from 4 January to 5 April 1981. It was also screened in Australia by the public broadcaster ABC Television, and in New Zealand by Television New Zealand.
Cast
;347 Section, 97 Company
Anthony Andrews as Lieutenant Brian Ash, section bomb disposal officer
Maurice Roëves as Sergeant James, section sergeant
Ken Kitson as Corporal Samuel Horrocks, a large but timid section NCO
Kenneth Cranham as Lance Corporal Jack Salt, a married man anxious about the safety of his wife and children
George Innes as Sapper Jim Wilkins, section driver, a conniving petty thief and scrounger who avoids work as much as he can
Gordon Kane as Sapper Gordon Mulley, also Ash's batman. He falls in love with the landlady's daughter.
Robert Pugh as Sapper 'Tiny' Powell, a coarse and often bullying Welshman who plays the piano
Robert Longden as Sapper Copping, a religious and comtemplative young man
David Auker as Sapper Baines
Martin Neil as Private John Brinckley, a replacement from the Non-Combatant Corps later commissioned into the Royal Engineers as a bomb disposal officer
John Bowler as Sapper Scott, a replacement
Bryan Burdon as Sapper Binns, a replacement who in peacetime was a stage actor and comedian
Marjie Lawrence as Mrs Baker, landlady of Brian's billet
Deborah Watling as Norma, Mrs Baker's daughter and Sapper Mulley's paramour
David Wood as Lieutenant Roger Symes, 81 Company RE section officer
Christopher Good as Captain West, RE
Nick Tate as Lieutenant Chris Craik, Royal Navy, a bomb disposal officer specialising in naval mines
Tim Pigott-Smith as Harry Winthrop, Dr Gillespie's associate at Cambridge
Deborah Grant as Elspeth, Brian's paramour while stationed at Cambridge
Geraldine Gardner as Mickey, a cabaret dancer who is attracted to Lance Corporal Salt
Episodes
The series was first broadcast between 8 January and 2 April 1979 on Monday nights at 21:00.
Books
Hartley's book, a non-fiction memoir of technical information and anecdotes, provided some of the major story developments. Danger UXB, a novel based on the series and written by Michael Booker, was published by Pan Books in 1978, and an annual was published by World Distributors in 1980. A non-fiction book titled Danger UXB by Melanie Jappy was published in 2001 by Macmillan. It was based on the two-part Channel 4 documentary series Danger Unexploded Bomb, rather than the drama series.
Production
Many of the bomb-disposal scenes were filmed in what appeared to be deep, freshly dug holes lined with wooden shoring. In fact, these scenes were shot using two different physical sets intercut: a short above-ground wooden fence that appeared to be the top of the shaft down to the bomb ; and a 30-foot above-ground hollow wooden tower with a muddy area inside at the bottom. A side of the bottom was also removable to facilitate "bottom-of-shaft" close-ups.
