The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., produced by MGM Television, was an American spy TV series that aired on NBC for one season from September 16, 1966 to April 11, 1967. It was a spinoff of the hit series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Stefanie Powers starred as April Dancer, female American U.N.C.L.E. agent, and Noel Harrison starred as Mark Slate, her British partner. April wore mod styles and used her charms on the bad guys, but the rough stuff was left to Slate. MGM tried to cash in with paperback book tie-ins, comic books, etc., but the series never found an audience. Considered too camp and silly by many, it was canceled after 29 episodes. Apparently, Powers was not happy with the series, which did not help matters.
Jocelyn guest-starred in episode 4, The Mata Hari Affair, which originally aired on October 4, 1966. Based on reports in Variety, work on the series started in July 1966, so this episode was probably shot in August before Powers took a hiatus at the end of the month to marry actor Gary Lockwood on August 27.
In The Mata Hari Affair, for reasons that are not exactly clear, April is sent to drop onto a train in the south of France to rescue a belly dancer, who is in danger. After April gets to the dancer, the train blows up, killing the dancer, but leaving April with only minor injuries. The dancer was on her way to London to star in a stage production of Mata Hari and bore some resemblance to April, so April decides to go on to London, pretending to be the dancer. The remainder of the episode follows April as she rehearses with the production in London, serving as bait to capture the killer. Powers does one dance number in a leotard, which I would think was considered very sexy for American television in 1966. I enjoyed this episode more than I did Jocelyn's episode of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., but that is not saying too much. At least it has Stefanie Powers and some mod fashions to keep things reasonably interesting. I can see why the series never took off.
Jocelyn plays Mandy-Dean Tanner, one of the performers in the production. She really has little to do, mostly standing around and looking irritated. She delivers a few lines in the heaviest British accent that I have heard from her, which is appropriate for her Londoner character, and we get to see her dance briefly. She also gets to let out a blood-curdling scream. For some reason, she looks a little heavier in the face than I have ever noticed before, and her hairstyle seems to give her a bit of a harsh appearance. As for her performance, there really isn't much to say. She was certainly adequate, but I doubt this role did anything in particular to further her career. It was work, though, that kept her in front of U.S. audiences. As a Jocelyn fan, if you don't get around to watching this one, you haven't missed much.
The series is available in two parts on burn-to-order DVD (with no extras) from the Warner Archive Collection.
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