The Protectors (TV Series) Shadbolt (1974) User Reviews

Shadbolt

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 7 September 2023]

Very few British actors could do steely menace like Tom Bell. So he is a good fit for this kind of story.

He plays a professional assassin called Shadbolt. His next target is to kill Harry Rule.

Shadbolt boards the Edinburgh to London train. However he first tries to charm a lone female passenger (Georgina Hale.) She rebuffs him initially but when she thaws, it is Shadbolt who coldly brushes her off.

It is Harry Rule next but Harry makes a daring escape from the train but Shadbolt gives chase.

Essentially as survival story for Harry Rule. He still manages to get under Shadbolt's skin. Shadbolt had to boast about it to Harry and in that Harry sensed weakness. Some tense moments.

Not a typical episode, taut and tense

[didi-5 · 23 January 2010]

Shadbolt marks itself from the start as an odd entry in the list of episodes of The Protectors. Quickly establishing its plot - as it must in a 25 minute running time - we learn that Shadbolt is a man, and a paid assassin. His target? Harry Rule himself.

Apart from an early few minutes with a mousy librarian, one of those great stereotypes, this episode is a two-hander between the hunted, Rule (Robert Vaughn), and the hunter, Shadbolt (Tom Bell). With two locations, the interior of a train from Edinburgh to London and a derelict patch of land somewhere en route, the action becomes tense and the mood claustrophobic.

An intriguing episode - it may not completely succeed but has enough going on to keep you watching.