Paul McCartney to work with ATV for the “Zoo Gang” TV series

TV ROLE FOR JOHN MILLS

JOHN MILLS is to star in his first television series, and former Beatle Paul McCartney will have his first television spectacular, in a new £2,500,000 programme package announced by ATV today.

Kenneth More has also been tempted into Independent Television for a new series – playing Father Brown in G.K. Chersterton’s famous detective stories.

Mills is one of four top stars who will be in a series, of six hour-long films from Paul Gallico’s book “Zoo Gang”. The book was “scooped” by Sir Lew Grade, chief executive of ATV, after the author had originally decided to sell the story for cinema film rights.

The £2,500,000 budget represents 20 hours of programming from the three new productions.

“Zoo Gang” and the McCartney special – which Sir Lew has already sold to the American ABC network for £1,250,000 – will be screened here next autumn. The Kenneth More series of 13 programmes will begin production later this year and be seen by viewers in early 1974.

From Coventry Evening Telegraph – Friday 12 January 1973