Thirteen Against Fate

Thirteen Against Fate is a British mystery thriller series, comprising thirteen individual stories by the Belgian writer, Georges Simenon. There are no links between each story, other than the original author, and no story features Simenon's most famous creation, Jules Maigret. Intended to be more of a psychological series than the usual British detective serial of the time, The Daily Telegraph described the first episode as "[a]n intelligent television crime series that concentrates on the character of the criminal instead of the almost invariably successful process of detection is overdue."

Episode list
The Lodger (transmitted 19 June 1966)

Writer: Hugh Leonard

Director: James Ferman

Principal Cast: Zia Mohyeddin, Gwendolyn Watts, Gemma Jones, Nicolas Chagrin, Clive Cazes, Neil Wilson

Based on the Simenon story "Le Locataire" (1934)

Trapped (transmitted 26 June 1966)

Writer: Julia Jones

Director: George Spenton-Foster

Principal Cast: Ronald Lewis, Keith Buckley, Sylvia Coleridge, Tenniel Evans, John Barrard, Donald Eccles, Geoffrey Cheshire, Derek Martin

Based on "Cours d’Assises" (1941)

The Traveller (transmitted 3 July 1966)

Writer: Stanley Miller

Director: Herbert Wise

Principal Cast: Kenneth J. Warren, Hywel Bennett, André van Gyseghem, Alan Lake, Kevin Stoney, Joan Young, Edward Burnham, Michael Hawkins, Jocelyn Birdsall

Based on "Le Voyageur de la Toussaint" (1941)

The Widower (transmitted 10 July 1966)

Writeript: Clive Exton

Director: Silvio Narizzano

Principal Cast: Joss Ackland, Henry Gilbert, Patricia Healey, Aimée Delamain

Based on "Le Veuf" (1959)

The Judge (transmitted 17 July 1966)

Writer: Hugh Leonard

Director: Naomi Capon

Principal Cast: Alexander Knox, John Ronane, Peter Howell, Erik Chitty, Keith Pyott, Wolfe Morris, Rosamund Greenwood

Based on "Les Témoins" (1955)

The Schoolmaster (transmitted 24 July 1966)

Writer: Alun Richards

Director: Peter Potter

Principal Cast: Stephen Murray, Helen Cherry, Cyril Shaps, Denis Carey, John Caesar, Petra Markham, Russell Waters, Robin Scott

Based on "L’Evadé" (1936)

The Witness (transmitted 31 July 1966)

Writer: John Hale

Director: John Gorrie

Principal Cast: Pamela Brown, Daphne Heard, Moultrie Kelsall, Barry Jackson, Sheila Grant, Christopher Burgess, Basil Moss, Will Stampe, Trevor Baxter, Reginald Barratt

Based on "Le Haut Mal" (1933)

The Friends (transmitted 7 August 1966)

Writer: Anthony Steven

Director: Michael Hayes

Principal Cast: Jessica Dunning, Frederick Jaeger, Sandor Elès, Joby Blanshard, Michael Robbins, Edward Dentith

Based on "Chemin sans issue" (1938)

The Survivors (transmitted 14 August 1966)

Writer: Stanley Miller

Director: Rudolph Cartier

Principal Cast: Lila Kedrova, David Buck, Kathleen Breck, Frank Williams, Terence De Marney, Hamilton Dyce, Jerold Wells, Michael Brennan

Based on "Les Rescapés du Télémaque" (1938)

The Son (transmitted 21 August 1966)

Writer: Jeremy Paul

Director: Waris Hussein

Principal Cast: Joan Miller, Simon Ward, Jack Woolgar, Clive Dunn, Lila Kaye, Alan Curtis, John Tillinger, Kevin Manser

Based on "Les Destins des Malous" (1947)

The Murderer (transmitted 28 August 1966)

Writer: Clive Exton

Director: Alan Bridges

Principal Cast: Frank Finlay, Michael Goodliffe, Annette Crosbie, Lyndon Brook, Jeremy Spenser, Norman Mitchell, Stephanie Bidmead, John Gill

Based on "L’Assassin" (1937)

The Suspect (transmitted 4 September 1966)

Writer: Donal Giltinan

Director: Michael Hayes.

Principal Cast: Marius Goring, Mary Miller, Peter Halliday, David Garfield, Noel Johnson, Jon Rollason, John Forgeham

Based on "Les Fiançailles de M. Hire" (1933)

The Consul (transmitted 11 September 1966)

Writer:

Director: John Gorrie.

Principal Cast: Jonathan Burn, Michele Dotrice, Jeannette Sterke, Michael Pennington, John Ringham, Andreas Malandrinos, Geoffrey Beevers, John Brandon, John Savident, Michael Lynch.

Based on “Les Gens d’en Face” (1933)

Archive status
Long thought almost entirely lost, the entire series was recovered from the British Film Institute (three episodes) and the American Library of Congress (ten episodes) by 2010.