Adderly

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title: "Adderly" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["global-television-network-original-programming", "cbs-original-programming", "1980s-canadian-comedy-drama-television-series", "1986-canadian-television-series-debuts", "1988-canadian-television-series-endings", "canadian-english-language-television-shows", "television-shows-based-on-american-novels", "television-series-by-corus-entertainment", "television-series-by-mgm-television"] topic_path: "arts/film" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adderly" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox television"]

Field	Value
runtime	60 minutes
creator	Elliott Baker, based on his novel Pocock & Pitt
starring	Winston Rekert
Jonathan Welsh
Dixie Seatle
Ken Pogue
company	Global Television Network
JayGee Productions
Robert Cooper Productions
country	Canada
network	Global
location	Toronto
first_aired
last_aired
num_seasons	2
num_episodes	44
::

Adderly is a Canadian television adventure-drama series which aired from 1986 to 1988. It was broadcast on both Canadian TV and on CBS in the United States. It starred Vancouver-born Winston Rekert as "charming and witty V. H. Adderly," an operative working for an obscure government intelligence agency.

Background

Adderly was based on series creator Elliott Baker's novel, Pocock & Pitt.

Cast

Winston Rekert as V. H. (Virgil Homer) Adderly
Jonathan Welsh as Melville Greenspan
Dixie Seatle as Mona Ellerby
Ken Pogue as Major Jonathan B. Clack

Occasional:

Mairlyn Smith as Debbie Greenspan
Jack Leitch as Victor Barinov

Plot

V. H. Adderly (Rekert) is a secret agent for an organization known as the I.S.I (International Security and Intelligence). Before the series begins, an enemy agent, Victor Barinov, crushes Adderly's left hand with a medieval mace during an interrogation in East Germany. Adderly loses the use of the hand, and since he is no longer considered useful as an active agent, he is reassigned to the I.S.I.'s tiny Department of Miscellaneous Affairs, located in a small basement office. This is meant to be a sort of "good service" reward for Adderly, as his supposedly cushy Miscellaneous Affairs job is mostly concerned with mundane in-house administrative paperwork. During the series, Adderly consistently finds ways to use his vague, non-specific status as a representative of "Miscellaneous Affairs" to actively investigate anything the I.S.I. has overlooked, and regularly goes above and beyond his mundane duties to uncover and neutralize dread plots that the larger organization has failed to investigate.

Miscellaneous Affairs is officially run by Melville Greenspan (Welsh), a man fastidiously devoted to bureaucracy and unwilling to allow Adderly the freedom to pursue his outside interests. The only other departmental staff member is Mona Ellerby (Seatle), Greenspan's over-qualified secretary who is addicted to adventure and romance novels. Greenspan's superior is Major Jonathan B. Clack (Pogue), who is in charge of the I.S.I. as a whole, and is responsible for Adderly's reassignment from active field operations to Miscellaneous Affairs.

Through the course of the 44-episode run, Adderly repeatedly demonstrates his ability to perform the duties of an active field agent, even saving the life of Major Clack himself. This only confirms to Clack that Adderly is an important asset at his current post. It is implied that Clack may have created the Department of Miscellaneous Affairs to allow Adderly the freedom and flexibility to pursue various cases which the I.S.I. couldn't normally handle.

Episodes

Season 1 (1986–87)

Season 2 (1987–88)

Broadcast history

Adderly aired from September 1986 through May 1987 (its first season) in the 11:30pm CBS Late Night slot on the CBS network. For the second season (beginning in August 1987), the show's popularity prompted CBS to run episodes in prime time at 10:00pm on Fridays, but there was little promotion and the show didn't do well in the ratings. CBS moved the show back to the 11:30pm time slot in September 1987 where it remained until the series ended. That following summer the series was rerun on Mondays/Wednesdays at 1:00am. Canadian broadcasts of the series did not commence until January 1987.

References

Eirik Knutzen. "Manual Labor Finally Paid Off for Rekert." ''Cleveland Plain Dealer'', August 2, 1987, p. TV2.
Terrace, Vincent (2009). ''Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2007'' (Volume 1). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. {{ISBN. 978-0-7864-3305-6.
(2007). "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present". Ballantine Books.

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