The Human Jungle (TV series)

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The Human Jungle
Genre	Drama
Created by
Starring	Herbert Lom Sally Smith
Theme music composer	Bernard Ebbinghouse; played by John Barry and his Orchestra
Composer	Bernard Ebbinghouse
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	26 (list of episodes)
Production
Producers	Julian Wintle Leslie Parkyn
Cinematography	Bert Mason
Running time	49–51 minutes
Production company	Independent Artists for ABC Television
Distributor	United Artists Television MGM Television
Release
Original network	ITV
Picture format	Film 35mm 4:3 Black and white
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	30 March 1963 (1963-03-30) – 13 May 1965 (1965-05-13)[1]

The Human Jungle is a British TV series about a psychiatrist, made for ABC Television by the small production company, Independent Artists, for transmission on ITV. Starring Herbert Lom and Sally Smith, it ran for two series, which were first transmitted during 1963 and 1965.

Outline[]

The majority of the episodes (26 x 50mins) each focused on one patient, whose psychological ailment Dr Corder would treat using a humane yet idiosyncratic approach that mixed Freudian psychoanalysis with the contemporary methods associated with the then-fashionable theories of R. D. Laing.^[1] Several psychiatric techniques, such as word association, group work, role-play and hypnotherapy, were featured in the series. Because of the demands of the 50-minute television episode, it was often suggested that Corder would continue to see his patient after the denouement. Frequently, Corder's initial patient in a story would turn out not to be the character with the pressing mental health issue.

Cast and characters[]

• Herbert Lom as Dr Roger Corder M.D., D.P.M, who sees patients in his consulting room at 162 Harley Street and at the local (fictional) St Damian's Hospital
• as Dr Jimmy Davis, junior colleague
• Sally Smith as Corder's headstrong teenage daughter Jennifer, whose mother, we are told, was killed in a car accident
• as his secretary, Nancy Hamilton
• as his personal assistant, Jane Harris

Production notes[]

The series was created by Ronald J. Kahn, credited on screen as "assistant to the producers", and produced by Julian Wintle and Leslie Parkyn.^[2]

The theme music was composed by , and arranged and recorded by John Barry and his Orchestra.^[3]

Many high-profile guest stars appeared in his surgery or as hospital patients, including Joan Collins, Margaret Lockwood, Flora Robson, Roger Livesey, Rita Tushingham and André Morell.

The first series was filmed at Beaconsfield Studios, which closed down shortly after production ended; the second series was shot at the Shenley Road studios in Elstree owned by ABC Television's parent company Associated British Picture Corporation.

The script editor was John Kruse. The advisor on psychiatric content was Dr Hugh L. Freeman, on behalf of the National Association for Mental Health (now Mind).

Episode list[]

Series one[]

Airdate is for ABC Weekend Television.^[4] ITV regions varied date and order. Episode order is given as per the Network DVD release.

Series two[]

Airdate is for Associated-Rediffusion.^[5] ITV regions varied date and order. ABC Weekend Television was broadcast two days later. Order as the for the Network DVD release.

DVD[]

The complete series was released during November 2012 as a 7 DVD (Region 2) boxset with accompanying series guide by Andrew Pixley.

References[]

External links[]

• The Human Jungle at the BFI's Screenonline
• The Human Jungle at IMDb