| Genre: | Espionage Drama |
| Runtime: | 98 – 103 minutes |
| Creator: | Frederick Forsyth |
| Director: | Tom Clegg Lawrence Gordon Clark Ian Sharp James Cellan Jones |
| Starring: | Alan Howard |
| Music: | Paul Chihara |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Num Episodes: | 6 |
| Executive Producer: | Nick Elliott Frederick Forsyth Murray Smith |
| Producer: | Frederick Muller |
| Company: | London Weekend Television in association with IFS Productions Ltd. |
| Location: | Middle East, North Africa, Europe, West Indies |
| Channel: | ITV |
| Related: | The Deceiver (1991), a related book which followed production |
Frederick Forsyth Presents is a series of British made-for-television films made by FremantleMedia for London Weekend Television on ITV, first broadcast between 2 December 1989 to 8 December 1990.
Based on stories which were later published as the Forsyth novel The Deceiver, there are six films, most with the themes of espionage and war. An important character who appears in all six is Sam McCready, played by Alan Howard, a Secret Intelligence Service agent who has become an author but continues to work on SIS operations. He plays the lead in most of the films, but in A Little Piece of Sunshine he has more of a supporting role. Each of the stories are introduced on screen by Frederick Forsyth.
Sam McCready is an experienced SIS field agent who believes in his way of doing things, which is no longer welcome in some quarters. Set in areas of international tension around the world, including the Middle East, Berlin, and the West Indies, the films highlight a division in British espionage and government between those who favour a subservient British relationship with the American Central Intelligence Agency and those, including McCready, who want to see more independence of thought and action. There is also a tension between the protagonists of Signals intelligence, or Sigint, intelligence from electronic interception and satellite observation, and Human intelligence, or Humint, intelligence from agents in the field. The series mocks the subservient camp and those who are over-awed by technology, as well as more gently finding fault with the CIA.
In 1988 Frederick Forsyth secured a contract with London Weekend Television for six thrillers under the headline name of Frederick Forsyth Presents, with a book to be linked to the series, which came out in 1991 as The Deceiver.[1]
The first three episodes were filmed, and the launch of the series was fixed for December 1989. In the run-up to that, the producers said they were hoping to attract eight million television viewers.[2]