Man from U.N.C.L.E., The
Entry updated 30 March 2026. Tagged: Film, TV.
US tv series (1964-1968). Arena Productions/MGM for NBC TV. Executive producer Norman Felton. Writers include Harlan Ellison, Jackson Gillis, Howard Rodman, Sam Rolfe, Stanley Ralph Ross, Stanford Sherman, Henry Slesar, Robert Towne and David Victor. Directors include Don Medford, Boris Sagal, Joseph Sargent and Barry Shear. Cast includes Leo Carroll, David McCallum and Robert Vaughn. 105 50-minute episodes. First season black and white; subsequent three seasons colour.
This was one of Television's first reactions to the success of the James Bond films based on Ian Fleming's spy stories. Vaughn starred as Napoleon Solo, an agent of the international agency U.N.C.L.E. (United Network Command for Law and Enforcement), assisted by his Russian colleague Ilya Kuryakin (McCallum); the organization's leader, the avuncular Waverly (Carroll), sends them on important assignments all over the world. Their primary goal is to prevent the sinister organization T.H.R.U.S.H. (Technological Hierarchy for the Removal of Undesirables and the Subjugation of Humanity – an acronym chosen, it has been suggested, because of its assonance with "the Russians") from taking over the world. (The meaning of the acronym, never mentioned in the series, was only disclosed in associated novels as listed below.) A recurring feature of the series was the accidental involvement of untrained citizens in their missions, contributing to the series's occasional touches of tongue-in-cheek Humour. While most episodes foregrounded Vaughn, the popularity of McCallum inspired occasional episodes featuring his character. Most of the plots featured modestly futuristic Technology or Weapons such as deadly bombs, dangerous chemicals, Ray Guns, heat Rays and vaporizers. The appearance of a spinoff series, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (1966-1967) may have overexposed the franchise and contributed to the original series' cancellation soon after this second series was also cancelled.
Eight feature films had theatrical release outside the USA. Each consisted of two episodes edited together, sometimes with added footage, to make 90-minute films: The Spy with My Face (1965), To Trap a Spy (1966), One of Our Spies Is Missing (1966), One Spy Too Many (1966), The Spy in the Green Hat (1966), The Helicopter Spies (1967), The Karate Killers (1967), and How to Steal the World (1968).
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. series of novel Ties was complex, 23 titles appearing from Ace Books in the USA and 16 from Souvenir Press in the UK. Ten of the 23 Ace books were reprints from books originated by Souvenir, and six of the Souvenir books were reprints of books originated by Ace; in the case of #3 in the Ace sequence, the reprint confusingly appeared before its original. No books were based directly on television episodes; all were original stories. As all the Souvenir editions appeared, either before or after their UK release, in Ace editions, we list only the Ace sequence: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. #1: The Thousand Coffins Affair (1965) by Michael Avallone, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. #2: The Doomsday Affair (1965) by Harry Whittington, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. #3: The Copenhagen Affair (1965) by John Oram, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. #4: The Dagger Affair (1966) by David McDaniel, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. #5: The Mad Scientist Affair (1966) by John T Phillifent, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. #6: The Vampire Affair (1966) by McDaniel, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. #7: The Radioactive Camel Affair (1966) by Peter Leslie, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. #8: The Monster Wheel Affair (1967) by McDaniel, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. #9: The Diving Dames Affair (1967) by Leslie, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. #10: The Assassination Affair (1967) by Joan Hunter Holly, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. #11: The Invisibility Affair (1967) by Thomas Stratton (Robert Coulson and Gene DeWeese), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. #12: The Mind Twisters Affair (1967) by Stratton, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. #13: The Rainbow Affair (1967) by McDaniel, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. #14: The Cross of Gold Affair (1968) by Fredric Davies (Ron Ellik and Steve Tolliver), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. #15: The Utopia Affair (1968) by McDaniel, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. #16: The Splintered Sunglasses Affair (1968) by Leslie, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. #17: The Hollow Crown Affair (1969) by McDaniel, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. #18: The Unfair Fare Affair (1968) by Leslie, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. #19: The Power Cube Affair (1968) by Phillifent, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. #20: The Corfu Affair (1967) by Phillifent, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. #21: The Thinking Machine Affair (1967) by Joel Bernard, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. #22: The Stone-Cold Dead in the Market Affair (1966) by Oram, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. #23: The Finger in the Sky Affair (1966) by Leslie. A 24th novel, The Final Affair by McDaniel, was never published but can be found online. McDaniel felt that A A Wyn, publisher at Ace, was not paying him enough; the initial letters of the chapters in The Monster Wheel Affair spell out AAWYNISATIGHTWAD. There were also three U.N.C.L.E. novels for younger readers published by Whitman: The Affair of the Gentle Saboteur (1966) by Brandon Keith, The Affair of the Gunrunners' Gold (1967) by Keith, and The Calcutta Affair (1967) by George S Elrick.
For the 1966-1968 magazine Tie to the series, see The Man from U.N.C.L.E. [magazine].
2. The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years Later Affair. Made-for-tv film (1984). Michael Sloan Productions. Directed by Ray Austin. Written by Michael Sloan, based on the television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. created by Sam Rolfe and Norman Felton. Cast includes Gayle Hunnicutt, George Lazenby, David McCallum, Patrick Macnee, Robert Vaughn, and Anthony Zerbe. 96 minutes. Colour.
This was evidently an unsuccessful pilot for a relaunch of the original series, with its two stars still looking spry enough to handle the business of being secret agents; since the actor who played U.N.C.L.E.'s leader Waverly, Leo Carroll, had died, Macnee was recruited to play their new boss, Sir John Raleigh. The story has Napoleon Solo (Vaughn) and Illya Kuryakin (McCallum) being called back into service after fifteen years to track down a devastating bomb that evildoers are threatening to detonate in 72 hours. One interesting scene features George Lazenby briefly returning to the role of James Bond (though here coyly identified only as "JB") to provide a bit of assistance.
3. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Film (2015). RatPak-Dune Entertainment. Directed by Guy Ritchie. Written by Jeff Kleeman, David C Wilson, Ritchie, and Lionel Wigram, based on the television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. created by Sam Rolfe and Norman Felton. Cast includes Henry Cavill, Elizabeth Debicki, Hugh Grant, Sylvester Groth, Armie Hammer and Alicia Vikander. 116 minutes. Colour.
This long-delayed adaptation of the television series is effectively a prequel to the original, as it explains how Napoleon Solo (Cavill), now identified as a CIA agent, and Illya Kuryakin (Hammer), a KGB agent, first met and became reluctant partners before bonding as trusted teammates, finally recruited by MI6 agent Waverly (Grant) to work for his newly created organization, the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. The convoluted plot involves their efforts to prevent the disclosure of a nuclear scientist's new method of easily making nuclear Weapons; they are opposed by Victoria Vinciguerra (Debicki) but aided by Gaby Keller (Vikander), eventually revealed as one of Waverly's agents. The film was well cast, with Grant especially effective as Waverly, but it utterly failed to capture the series' mixture of serious business and a lighthearted spirit, and it sadly declined to emulate the series' most appealing feature – the involvement of ordinary people in the antics of its agents. Disappointing returns at the box office doomed plans for a sequel. [GW/PN/DRL]
see also: Agent for H.A.R.M.
links
- Internet Movie Database – tv series
- Wikipedia episode list
- Internet Movie Database – The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
- Picture Gallery
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