The Human Jungle (TV series)

The Human Jungle
Genre	Drama
Created by	Ronald J. Kahn
Starring	Herbert Lom
Theme music composer	Bernard Ebbinghouse; played by John Barry and his Orchestra
Composer(s)	Bernard Ebbinghouse
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	26 (list of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	Julian Wintle Leslie Parkyn
Cinematography	Bert Mason
Running time	49-51 minutes
Production company(s)	Independent Artists for ABC Television
Distributor	United Artists Television
Release
Original network	ITV
Picture format	Film 35mm 4:3 Black and white
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	30 March 1963 (1963-03-30) – 13 May 1965 (1965-05-13)[1]

The Human Jungle is a British TV series about a psychiatrist, made for ABC Television by the small production company Independent Artists, for transmission on ITV. Starring Herbert Lom, it ran for two series, which were first transmitted during 1963 and 1965.

Outline

The majority of the episodes (26 x 50mins) each focused on one patient, whose psychological ailment Dr Corder would treat using a humane yet idiosyncratic approach that mixed Freudian psychoanalysis with the contemporary methods associated with the then-fashionable theories of R. D. Laing.^[1] Several psychiatric techniques, such as word association, group work, role-play and hypnotherapy, were featured in the series. Because of the demands of the 50-minute television episode, it was often suggested that Corder would continue to see his patient after the denouement. Frequently, Corder's initial patient in a story would turn out not to be the character with the pressing mental health issue.

Cast and characters

• Herbert Lom as Dr Roger Corder M.D., D.P.M, who sees patients in his consulting room at 162 Harley Street and at the local (fictional) St Damian's Hospital
• Michael Johnson as Dr Jimmy Davis, junior colleague
• Sally Smith as Corder's headstrong teenage daughter Jennifer, whose mother, we are told, was killed in a car accident
• Mary Yeomans as his secretary, Nancy Hamilton
• Mary Steele as his personal assistant, Jane Harris

Production notes

The series was created by Ronald J. Kahn, credited on screen as 'assistant to the producers', and produced by Julian Wintle and Leslie Parkyn.^[2]

The theme music was composed by Bernard Ebbinghouse, and arranged and recorded by John Barry and his Orchestra.^[3]

A number of high-profile guest stars appeared in his surgery or as hospital patients, including Joan Collins, Margaret Lockwood, Flora Robson, Roger Livesey, Rita Tushingham and André Morell.

The first series was filmed at Beaconsfield Studios, which closed down shortly after production ended; the second series was undertaken at Elstree Studios, owned by ABC Television's parent company Associated British Picture Corporation.

The script editor was John Kruse. The advisor on psychiatric content was Dr Hugh L. Freeman, on behalf of the National Association for Mental Health (now Mind).

Episode list

DVD

The complete series was released during November 2012 as a 7 DVD (Region 2) boxset with accompanying series guide by Andrew Pixley.

References

External links

• The Human Jungle at the BFI's Screenonline
• The Human Jungle on IMDb