Editing Adam Adamant Lives! (section)

==Influences and legacy==

===''The Avengers''===
With its pairing of an upper-class adventurer with a "trendy" woman of the 1960s, parallels have been drawn with competitor [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]]'s ''The Avengers''. There was also a similarity with Granada's ''[[The Odd Man|Mr. Rose]]'' (1967) in which [[William Mervyn]] as a retired police inspector was assisted by a youngish confidential secretary ([[Gillian Lewis]]) and a manservant (Donald Webster). However, because ''Adam Adamant'' was a last-minute replacement for another concept, the degree to which the BBC intended such similarities with ''The Avengers'' is unclear. Lambert directly addressed the issue: "In ''Adam Adamant Lives'', we were trying to create something original. Even though it may have been aimed at a similar audience to ''The Avengers'' – any production decisions we made were not influenced by trying to imitate".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ascendant-lee.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/adamant/lambert.htm |title= Verity Lambert Comments on.. |access-date=2007-07-31 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929122753/http://ascendant-lee.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/adamant/lambert.htm |archive-date=29 September 2007 |df=dmy }} A January 2004 written response to questions posed by fansite Adam Adamant Lives!: The Unofficial Homepage</ref>
However, a reviewer of the 2006 [[BBC Four]] retrospective ''The Cult of ... Adam Adamant Lives!'' detected something more to the issue when Lambert and other principals were interviewed on camera: {{blockquote|The genial and personable Harmer, Clemens, Harper and producer Verity Lambert all owned up to the clunking obviousness of the series' hamfisted and, in retrospect, laughable attempt to trump [[ABC Weekend TV|ABC]]'s masterpiece. Even an otherwise impartial and unironic script compared the two shows thus: "Edwardian gent teamed with beautiful girl ... and Edwardian gent teamed with beautiful girl". The unspoken tag, of course, was that ''The Avengers'' had queered this pitch three years previously.|Paul Stump|''Off the Telly'' review of ''The Cult of ... Adam Adamant Lives!'', 2006<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.offthetelly.co.uk/reviews/2006/cultofadamadamant.htm |title=The Cult of ... Adam Adamant Lives! |access-date=2007-07-31 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929095641/http://www.offthetelly.co.uk/reviews/2006/cultofadamadamant.htm |archive-date=29 September 2007 |df=dmy }}</ref> }}

Anthony Clark at the [[British Film Institute]]|(BFI) noted that while the show "owes a stylistic debt to ''The Avengers''", it was "the BBC's reply to the success of ITV's spy and action series like ''[[The Saint (TV series)|The Saint]]'' (1962–69) and ''[[Danger Man]]'' (1960–69)". He goes on to call the character of Adamant "more age-of-empire adventurer than spoof spy". A Television Heaven review said that while the programme has been "long cited as the BBC's answer to ''The Avengers''", it in fact "owes more to the slick style, tone and format of [[Lew Grade]]'s phenomenally successful [[ITC Entertainment|ITC]] stable of action series rather than the sleek and sophisticated antics of Steed and Mrs Peel".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/adam.htm |title=Adam Adamant Lives! &#124; A Television Heaven Review |access-date=31 July 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808103351/http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/adam.htm |archive-date=8 August 2007  }} Television Heaven's review of ''Adam Adamant Lives!''</ref>

===''Doctor Who''===
Harper's portrayal of Adamant has been cited as formative to [[Jon Pertwee]]'s interpretation of [[Third Doctor|the Doctor]]. The BBC's episode guide to ''Doctor Who'' claims parallels between the Third Doctor's inaugural scenes in a hospital with those of Adamant in his pilot, "A Vintage Year for Scoundrels".<ref>https://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/spearheadfromspace/detail.shtml "Spearhead from Space". BBC ''Doctor Who'' episode guide.</ref>

===''Austin Powers''===
"Adamant" is frequently viewed as partial inspiration for ''[[Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery]]''.<ref>http://www.clivebanks.co.uk/Adam%20Intro.htm Banks, Clive. "Adam Adamant Lives!".</ref><ref>http://www.clivebanks.co.uk/Adam%20Intro.htm "Austin Powers — the Movie Trilogy". h2g2. 4 February 2003.</ref><ref>https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118655/movieconnections IMDb's list of movie connections for ''Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery''. {{User-generated source|certain=yes|date= March 2022}}</ref> In particular, allusions are seen between the way in which [[Austin Powers (character)|Austin Powers]], like Adamant, is revived from [[cryogenic]] sleep and befriended by an attractive woman who had known of his exploits before being frozen. The formula is exactly reversed in ''Powers'', however, in that his partner, [[Vanessa Kensington]], is not impressed with his previous record of service, whereas Georgina Jones is a positive fan of Adamant.