HEAVENLY BODIES: THE RETURN OF "CHARLIE'S ANGELS"!



The original gang of three- Jaclyn Smith, Kate Jackson and  Farrah Fawcett-Majors: CHARLIE'S ANGELS! Image: ABC TV

 The Hugh Hefner of the Los Angeles Private Detective business, Charles Townsend, would never have been able to successfully solve so many criminal cases if it wasn't for the beautiful women who have constantly helped him over the years within the iconic hit seventies and early eighties US TV series CHARLIE'S ANGELS. And there would be many fantastic women, not just in the TV series but also in the highly successful and colourfully fun re-vamp films of the 2000's as well (though the less said about the dismal one hit wonder 1989 TV re-make ANGELS '89 (starring Tea Leoni, Claire Yarlett, Sandra Canning and Karen Kopins) the better!). From Cheryl Ladd to Cameron Diaz (and even the odd rogue baddie Angel like the second movie's Demi Moore), these ladies, alongside the faithful token male associate Bosley (David Doyle), would become involved in a dazzling amount of glamour, sex appeal, and action/adventure which have pleased fans young and old across the world. Now, the franchise continues afresh once more, with the news that actress/Producer Drew Barrymore (I still think of her as little Gertie from E.T.!) continues her association with CHARLIE'S ANGELS beyond her two hit movies with a further new version of the series returning to the TV airwaves later in the year, which will, no doubt, be more high octaned and glossy than ever, produced by SMALLVILLE's Miles Millar and Alfred Gough, with Robert Wagner (who originally conceived the winning shows format idea in the early seventies) now voicing Charlie with the passing of the late John Forsythe, passing out assignments to a new group of girls (including the first to be announced GENERAL HOSPITAL US actress Annie Ilonzeh, followed by Minka Kely and Rachael Taylor), now working from a Miami base rather than Los Angeles, and alongside a new Bosley (played by THE WIRE/TRANSFORMERS 2 actor Ramon Rodriguez), who will all hopefully hit the demographic mark with fresh new youthful appeal.

For my money though, nothing can ever beat the original gang of three who started it all: Jaclyn Smith as Kelly Garrett (my personal favourite-she lived in England in the eighties, too, but she never wrote me or called!), Kate Jackson (who, it had been first planned, was to have been the lead star of the series and was also the first actress cast by the producers, Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg, and the TV network ABC) as Sabrina Duncan, and the late Farrah-Fawcett Majors, wife of SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN Lee (and what a handsome couple they made!), as Jill Munroe, whose fair hair, big white teeth smile, and red swimsuited body would soon be in poster form in colleges dormitories and teenage bedrooms across 1977 America and Europe, alongside John Travolta in GREASE and Han Solo from STAR WARS!

Original pilot episode intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW_daBHfjag

The series may indeed look pretty dated and cliched now (who can forget the ANGELS IN CHAINS prison episode!), but ultimately its format still works, and our heroines remain icons to adore from a time where, despite some pretty horrible fashions, everything seemed so much hipper and happier. As long as there are intriguing crimes to be solved and baddies to be foiled, the lovely ladies of CHARLIE'S ANGELS will remain immortal TV icons.

The new CHARLIE'S ANGELS, currently filming in Miami. Image: ULIKE.

Numerous seasons of the original CHARLIE'S ANGELS, plus the two modern movies, are available from SONY/COLUMBIA DVD.