"In 1972 ago a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team."

...So begins The A-Team, the greatest TV show of the 80's. This introduction will attempt to answer the most frequently asked questions about the A-Team. I've kept it reasonably simple and put links to other parts of the site where necessary. There is already an exhaustive A-Team FAQ on the net which is better than anything I could do, although I may add to this one in the future. There is also a brief description about this website. Follow the links below to jump to particular sections, or just scroll down the page.

The A-Team

• Who were The A-Team?
• Who were the characters in The A-Team?
• Which actors were featured in the series?
• When was The A-Team originally aired?
• How many series and episodes were broadcast?
• Are The A-Team still featured on television?
• Where can I buy A-Team merchandise?
• Where can I discuss The A-Team?

The A-Team Shrine

• About The A-Team Shrine.
• About the author.

The A-Team

Who were The A-Team?
     The A-Team (The "A" stood for "Alpha", as in Alpha Team) were a former crack commando unit who fought during the Vietnam War. Nearing the end of the war The A-Team were wrongly arrested for robbing the Bank of Hanoi. After being arrested and trialed they escaped from a maximum security prison (Fort Bragg). In the years that followed the A-Team were on the run from numerous military pursuers. During this time the team helped out victimed people in America an beyond, usually for very little money.

Who were the characters in The A-Team?
     The A-Team consisted of: John "Hannibal" Smith, the leader of the team, and masterof disguise; Templeton "Faceman" Peck, a handsome conman; H.M. Murdock, an ace pilot who resided in a mental hospital; and Bosco "B.A." Baracus, a mechanic/ general hard bloke. However, they were also joined by various associates including Amy Allen and Frankie Santana. More information can be found in the characters section of this website.

Which actors were featured in the series?
     Hannibal was played by George Peppard a veteran film and TV star who sadly passed away in 1994. Face was played by Dirk Benedict who had previously starred in cult sci-fi series "Battlestar Galactica". Dwight Schultz played the part of Murdock, although, previous to the A-Team, he had mostly been a theatre actor. Mr, T (a former bouncer) took the part of master mechanic B.A. Baracus. More information on the actors in The A-Team (including associates and military pursuers) can be found in the characters section of this website.

When was the A-Team originally aired?
     The A-Team was originally shown in the U.S. from 1983 to 1987.

How many series and episodes were broadcast?
     The exact dates for each of the series is given below (again, this is for the U.S.):

Series 1 - 23/1/83 - 10/5/84. 13 episodes.
Series 2 - 20/9/83 - 15/5/84. 22 episodes.
Series 3 - 18/9/84 - 14/5/85. 24 episodes.
Series 4 - 24/9/85 - 13/5/86. 22 episodes.
Series 5 - 26/9/86 - 08/3/87. 13 episodes.

Are the A-Team still featured on television?
     In the UK they are currnetly shown on satellite channel, UK Gold (Saturday and Sunday, 12-1 pm). They haven't been shown on UK terrestrial television for quite a few years (I think the last episode shown may have been when George Peppard died, but I'm probably wrong). In the US they are shown on TV Land ,but as I'm not American I don't know any details.

Where can I buy A-Team merchandise?
     You can get videos, DVDs and the soundtrack from Amazon.co.uk. Merchandise that is rarer can often be bought at Ebay, although it can be very expensive. You can also buy other A-Team products (including T-shirts and mouse mats) at Vinmag.

Where can I discuss The A-Team?
     You can discuss the A-Team with other enthusiasts at the A-Team Shrine Forums or at Craig Robertsons A-Team Forums.

The A-Team Shrine

About the A-Team Shrine.
     I was feeling quite bored during my summer holidays away from university and decided to design a website. Initially it was to be a website based on the Final Fantasy series of video games (I'm a big fan), but I quickly found out that there was a pleathora of excellent sites already on the net (and most of them had about 10 members of staff, something which I could never compete with). I then decided on an A-Team site, as there were precious few good sites out there and proceeded to learn HTML (which was far easier to learn than I had expected it to be). The A-Team Shrine was launched on 24th July 2001, and the rest is history... or something. Bad history.
     Pretty much all of the information contained on this website is copyright of various television channels, Stephen J. Cannell etc... (basically, anyone that isn't me). If any of these people want me to remove some information from my website then I will do so.

About the author.
     Hmmm... the part I'm dreading... Anyway, I'm Colin Hannah the author of this site, although you will probably see the name Burtsplurt (my web alias) around the site. I'm a Marine Biology student at the University of Bangor (in Wales) and, rather obviously, I'm an A-Team fan. I would put up some photo at this point, but as I want people to come back at some time in the future, I won't. I'll just describe myself instead. I'm tall, skinny and currently bald (I thought shaving my hair would look good... it didn't). I usually wander about wearing hiking type clothes and have absolutely no sense of fashion whatsoever. As well as my interest in the A-Team and Final Fantasy, I also play guitar in a band. We're not exactly great (read, we are terrible), but it's fun nonetheless and I may put a link to a couple of our songs in the future (i.e. an exceptionally long time away). I enjoy reading 20th Century literature as well.
     I'm also a reasonably poor Mr. T impressionist, my phrase of choice being, "I ain't gettin' on no airplane, Hannibal!". It's a pity that I don't have a microphone as I'd be able to offend your ears with various bad impressions...
     Finally, if you want to contact me for any reason you can do so here. I respond to all the mail that I receive.