The Human Jungle

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 1964.

Lom played Dr Roger Corder M.D., D.P.M, who saw patients in his own Harley Street practice and at the local (fictional) St Damian's hospital. He was assisted by the more junior Dr Jimmy Davis (Michael Johnson), and his secretary Nancy Hamilton (Mary Yeomans) and, more occasionally, by his personal assistant Jane Harris (Mary Steele). He shared his home with his headstrong teenage daughter Jennifer (Sally Smith), whose mother, we are told, was killed in a car accident.

The majority of the episodes (26 x 50mins) focused on a specific patient, whose psychological ailment Dr Corder would treat and, invariably, cure, using an idiosyncratic approach which mixed Freudian psychoanalysis with more contemporary methods associated with the likes of the controversial R.D. Laing. The first series was filmed at Beaconsfield studios, which closed down shortly after prouction ende, causing the second series to be undertaken at Elstree Studios. The script editor was John Kruse and the advisor on psychiatric content was Dr Hugh L. Freeman on behalf of the National Association for Mental Health.

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 Alfie Bass. The series was created by Julian Wintle, and produced by Wintle and Leslie Parkyn, the theme music was composed by Bernard Ebbinghouse and recorded by John Barry and his Orchestra.

The series is due to appear as a complete Region 2 7DVD boxset during 2012.

Episode list

Airdates for ABC Weekend Television.
Season 1: (30 March 1963 - 22 June 1963)

1. The Vacant Chair
2. The Flip-Side Man
3. Run With The Devil
4. Thin Ice
5. The Lost Hours
6. Fine Feathers
7. A Friend of the Sergeant Major
8. Fourteen Ghosts
9. The Wall
10. A Woman with Scars
11. The Two Edged Sword
12. Time Check
13. Over and Out

Season 2: (29 September 1964 - 21 December 1964)

1. Success Machine
2. Conscience on a Rack
3. Struggle For A Mind
4. Solo Performance
5. Enemy Outside
6. Wild Goose Chase
7. Heartbeats in a Tin Box
8. Dual Control
9. The 24 Hour Man
10. Ring of Hate
11. Skeleton in the Cupboard
12. The Quick and The Dead
13. The Man Who Fell Apart

External links

• The Human Jungle at the BFI's Screenonline
• The Human Jungle at the Internet Movie Database