What a nice surprise! Thanks to skyewalker, seamus, dorrien, fiery, and ixion for the votes, and to dorrien and mattrom for the mentions, and of course to the shadowy peterm for officiating, and for the prize. That series was never broadcast across the water but my wife and I have gotten it from our public library.
stevea: The word has worked its way into English, and would certainly be in any dictionary (I just checked Chambers).