The Vise is a half-hour drama

Drama

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

tic anthology television series which aired at 9:30 p.m. EST on Fridays on ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 from December 1955 to June 1957.

Produced in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and hosted by Australian actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 Ron Randell

Ron Randell

Ronald Egan "Ron" Randell was an Australian-born American film and stage actor.-Biography:Randell was born in Sydney. He started his career as a stage and radio performer in his teens. He soon established himself as a leading male juvenile for radio, acting for 2KY Players, George Edwards, BAP...

, the suspense series depicted people unwittingly trapped in "the vise" of fate due to their own actions, usually of a criminal nature. Each episode boasted a different cast and was an entity unto itself. Donald Gray

Donald Gray

Donald Gray was a South African actor, probably best remembered for providing the voices to Colonel White, Captain Black and the Mysterons in the TV series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and for being the reason that Donald Marshall Gray changed his name to Charles Gray when he became an actor...

, a native of South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, played the title role of private detective Mark Saber.

In 1957, The Vise was altered and moved from ABC to NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 under the title Saber of London

Saber of London

Saber of London is a half-hour 1950s detective television series about a British police captain named Mark Saber, who works, in the original version of the program, in the homicide department of a large American city. Tom Conway portrayed Mark Saber from October 1951 to June 1954...

, with Gray still in the lead role.

Petula Clark

Petula Clark

Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...

, Honor Blackman

Honor Blackman

Honor Blackman is an English actress, known for the roles of Cathy Gale in The Avengers and Bond girl Pussy Galore in Goldfinger .-Early life:...

, and Patrick McGoohan

Patrick McGoohan

Patrick Joseph McGoohan was an American-born actor, raised in Ireland and England, with an extensive stage and film career, most notably in the 1960s television series Danger Man , and The Prisoner, which he co-created...

- at the time all unknown in the States - were among those who appeared on the show.