THE DEFENDERS: THE TRAITOR

By the early 60’s Larry Cohen was playing in the upper league of television writers, as the two episodes, one from the legal drama series, The Defenders, the other from the spy series, Espionage, show. What the two episodes have in common is their political background, which, typical of their time, plays on issues such as high treason, the Cold War and paranoia. In The Defenders, E.G. Marshall and Robert Reed are Lawrence and Kenneth Preston, a father-and-son lawyer duo dedicated to defending civil rights even if – or particularly if – the defendant is accused of betraying state secrets. It is fascinating to see how 22-year-old Larry Cohen works the political reality of the Kennedy era – the episode was aired in the year of Kennedy’s assassination – into his story.
Made just a few months later, Medal for a Turned Coat of the British drama series, Espionage, also deals with potential treason, this time against the backdrop of World War II: Twenty years after his return home, a German officer involved in negotiating peace with Britain on behalf on the German resistance movement is to be honoured in his native country. But is the veteran hero perhaps simply a turncoat who changed sides at the right moment in time?

]]>The Defenders: The Traitor]]> will be screened before Espionage: Medal for a Turned Coat.