Trivia / Callan

• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: In 1985, South Florida's Sun-Sentinel published an article about Edward Woodward's later series The Equalizer, erroneously referring to Callan as a "detective series".
• Creator Backlash: Michael Goodliffe wasn't very happy working on the series. According to various people, the actor didn't bond too well with the rest of the cast and disliked the production in general. He asked to be replaced.
• Fake Brit: The Scottish Russell Hunter as the cockney Lonely.
• Fake Russian: Several, most notably Irish actor T.P. McKenna as the Russian spy Richmond.
• I Am Not Spock: Russell Hunter used to be subject to being slightly mocked over his character Lonely - to the actor's annoyance. In public places, people would move away from him and hold their noses. This was on account of the character having terrible personal hygiene.
• Irony as She Is Cast: Russell Hunter played London black-cab driver Lonely, but in real life Hunter could not drive and did not have a driving licence. All the shots of Lonely driving the taxi were filmed with it on the back of a low-loader that was towed around the streets of London.
• Missing Episode: Four of the six episodes of the first series are missing, along with six out of fifteen from the second. One of the surviving series 2 episodes, "The Worst Soldier I Ever Saw", only lasted as unedited studio tapes. The episode was re-edited from them for the main DVD release, and the full content from these tapes was included as a special feature with the documentary This Man Alone.
• One-Take Wonder: Whole scenes had to be filmed in one take, preferably. The reason for this, was to save money on the videotape as it was expensive to shoot re-takes.
• Playing Against Type: The original actor for the cool, sadistic Toby Meres was a pre-stardom Peter Bowles, who would later become known for his more lighted-hearted roles in sitcoms and dramedies such as Rumpole of the Bailey, To the Manor Born, and The Irish R.M..
• The Other Darrin:
  • Toby Meres is played by Peter Bowles in "A Magnum for Schneider", and by Anthony Valentine in the main series. Peter Egan took over the role for the feature film.
  • Liz is played by Judy Champ (in a voice-only role) in "A Magnum for Schneider", Lisa Langdon in the main series, Veronica Lang in the 1974 film, and Felicity Harrison in the 1981 "Wet Job" special.
  • Mostly averted with Hunter, who is a Legacy Character, although since the 1974 film is adapted from "A Magnum for Schneider", Eric Porter is presumably playing the same Hunter as originally portrayed by Ronald Radd.
• Scully Box: William Squires had to wear lifts on his shoes, so as to make himself look more imposing.
• Star-Making Role: For Edward Woodward.

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