BEING A SORT OF Robin Hood of the Continental set; as well as having a sort of World-wide fame in History and Legend, WILLIAM TELL was a natural for the TV producers to bring to the small screen. With the medieval costumes and sets, it was as if it could be made as a carbon copy of Richard Greene's ROBIN HOOD.THERE WOULD BE some fundamental differences, of course. For starters, Will used a Crossbow. Being much more accurate and having a great deal more penetrating power, it was once considered to be the "Ultimate Weapon!" (Well, at least of the hand carried variety.) BUT THAT IS only incidental. Tell's story is set in the 15th Century A.D. and is a Swiss patriot. The series makes him much more like Robin Hood than a military guerrilla leader, which was most likely the truth. Either way, both Robin and William have basis in historical fact, but their exploits and stature have grown considerably in Legend.ONE THING SEEMS to have veracity is that he was locked in a struggle with Austrian Governor, Gessler, whom he eventually killed. The series kicks off with Gessler's forcing William Tell into shooting the apple off of his own son's head. After being successful, Gessler asks why Tell has two arrows; to which William replies, "Because, if my Son had been harmed, the next one was for you!" THEN WILLIAM TELL flees off to the woods and organizes a revolt to establish a new country, which he says will be called, "Switzerland!" (a lot of playing it loose with what History there was on William Tell!) THE SERIES, WHICH lasted but one season had a cast featuring Conrad Phillips (William Tell), Willoughby Goddard (Gessler), Jennifer Jayne (Mrs. Tell) and Richard Rogers (as young Walter Tell, son of Apple on head fame). We are familiar with it during its run in syndication on American TV.IN PERHAPS ONE attempt to add some accuracy in the series, the opening theme song (see Summary above) includes a sort of musical quotation lifted from both the Rossini overture of the same name and from Swiss traditional music. Now that's accuracy for you!

Conrad Phillips stars in the 1950s action adventure series - William Tell. Set in the fourteenth century during the hostile Austrian occupation of Switzerland, William Tell is a reluctant freedom fighter, battling heroically against the tyranny and oppression of the invading forces. William tell is the Swiss version of Robin Hood. Conrad Phillips plays the protagonist fantastically. It is possible that Pascal Bugnion would have had greater success in the role, but he was unavailable at the time of filming. The classic action show is made up of series of 39. The episodes are in black and white, but this does not detract from the entertainment in any way.

Some of the series were filmed near where I lived in North Wales. The film company hired my pony for some of the scenes when he was rode by Hedda Tell (Jennifer Jane). I was fortunate enough to get a week off school to take my pony down to the 'set' each day and stay the day. It was quite an experience for a 10 year old! I still remember those days with fond memories especially when our local doctor was travelling past the set very early one morning. He did not know about the shoot and was very taken aback when he saw several men in medieval army dress appear from behind the rocks!There was also an interesting scene on the lake when one boat (containing soldiers) were firing arrows at another. I was fascinated to see that the actors in the boat being fired at stuck the arrows in the side of the boat themselves!!

I remember seeing the TV series of William Tell in the late 50s when I was at school, and I thought it was great then, with Conrad Phllips as William, and Willoughby Goddard as the Fat Villain lol. and the real excitement for a 30 minute series was superb for the time and obviously aimed at a child audience. I then saw a re run of the series on sky in the 90s and it was still really good entertainment even for adults. I even saw a very early appearance of Michael Caine in a minor role (Just shows you eh) and quite a few other actors who become better known later in their careers. Well worth a look for anyone who likes a good simple adventure jaunt from a long while ago which I think has kept it's bite through the years.