HUNTER
ARTICLE
Part 2

HUNTER
EPISODE DETAILS
Part 1: Eps 1 - 31
Part 2: Eps 32 - 65

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By the mid 1960's, spy shows were the 'in' thing overseas, and in 1966 Australia contributed to the genre when production commenced on our first counter-espionage series. Hunter was made by Crawford Productions for the Nine Network, and was (by Australian standards) our first big-budget drama series. It cost approximately $20,000 per episode - mere peanuts compared to overseas shows, however by contrast Homicide, also made by Crawford Productions, had a budget of only $7,000 per episode.

Homicide pioneered Australian television drama and proved it a viable industry, and because of its success on the Seven Network the rival Nine Network wanted their own home-grown drama. Hunter took the next step forward with a bold, sophisticated and ambitious venture into slick, professional local drama. Many commentators believed the success or failure of Hunter, seen as the strongest attempt yet to achieve equality with overseas programmes, would determine the future of local production.

Hunter ("the name just cropped up", according to Creator, Director and Scriptwriter Ian Jones)¹ also made extensive use of location shooting. Although Melbourne based, episodes were filmed in the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales, on the Queensland Gold Coast, and at Andamooka and the Woomera Rocket Range in South Australia. Many episodes were shot in Sydney, and three episodes were made overseas in Singapore.

In spite of the international flavour of the storylines, Hunter remained a thoroughly Australian production. Hector Crawford, head of Crawford Productions, said, "This will be truly Australian. If it eventually sells overseas that's fine - but we are making shows for Australia about Australia, and we are putting a lot of money into Hunter."² Speculation that the series would be produced in colour and entirely on film was without foundation, and the series was made as a black and white film / video tape integration.

Tony Ward - actor, banana farmer and reporter for the Sydney current affairs programme Telescope - was cast in the title role of John Hunter. Hunter is an efficient and sophisticated Australian secret agent working for SCU3 (Special Clandestine Unit 3) of COSMIC - the Commonwealth Offices for Security and Military Intelligence Co-ordination. SCU3 operates under the 'front' organisation of Independent Surveys, and is headed by Charles Blake, played by seasoned actor Nigel Lovell. Female agent Eve Halliday was played by Fernande Glyn, who changed her hair colour from brunette to blonde for the part.

As in all good spy thrillers, there was a band of enemy agents with their own political axe to grind. In Hunter they were the CUCW - the Council for Unification of the Communist World, the Australian division of which was headed by Mr. Smith, played by Ronald Morse. The Council's chief agent was Kragg, played with great restraint by Gerard Kennedy, who had to adopt a crew cut hair style for the role to provide a contrast with Tony Ward. Gerard had previously appeared in several Homicide episodes as a villain, and in one episode (No. 58, 'Vendetta') his character shot and killed one of the regular detectives - Det. Sgt. Bronson, played by Terry McDermott.

Kragg was a complex character. Seemingly a cold-blooded and ruthless killer, he was actually a misguided idealist, well-educated, with curious ideals and ethics. Gerard Kennedy explained his approach to the role:

"I decided to underplay him a bit and do without the 'cloak and bared teeth' approach. The problem was how to kill so many people and still have Kragg remain a believable type. First, I decided that Kragg would need strong reasons for doing the killing. He couldn't be a moron who did just what he was told, because he often has to work under his own initiative, and disguise himself in various ways to pass as an intellectual.

"Money didn't seem a strong enough reason - although the scripts lead us to believe that Kragg doesn't need to go without ready cash. Finally, I realised that Kragg would have to be a dedicated man who really believed he was working towards a new world leadership."³ Gerard won a TV Week Logie award for Best New Talent for his portrayal of the character.

The original concept of Hunter was dreamed up by Ian Jones, and was quite different to the final product. Ian envisaged a series of half-hour episodes similar in style to the Saturday matinee serials, with Gerard Kennedy in the title role and Norman Yemm as the villainous Kragg, two actors that were intended to create great impact as a dramatic double. At this point it was proposed that Kragg would be no more than a superficial villain, and, although not a spoof, the series was not intended to be grounded too deep in reality. But as the idea developed, Hunter evolved into a sophisticated adult drama, and the finished product was definitely meant to be taken seriously. Kragg's character was given greater depth, and John Hunter became more of a 'man of the world', moving in the glamour circles that popular fiction traditionally associates with espionage.

Tony Ward was perfect for the role of John Hunter, which was ironic because his agent only asked him as an afterthought to try for the role - every other available actor had already been booked for the audition. Tony asked to be auditioned last to give him a chance to study the script (all the other actors received copies of the script prior to the audition), and when his turn came he injected his own touches into the character. He was then called to the control room and told 'you're exactly what we've been looking for'. Later Tony stated in TV Eye: "Hunter was a project which fired my imagination. I had no doubts about giving up a good career in current affairs for an opportunity like this - it was Heaven sent."⁴

"Tony Ward was not my first choice for Hunter," said creator Ian Jones, "but Tony made the role his own, and he worked very, very hard on Hunter, and I respected him very much. He made it his own - we had some problems during the course of it, but Tony made it work."⁵

The lead actors were signed in July 1966, however scripts had been written even before the Nine Network had made a firm commitment to the series. Back in June, Hector Crawford said, "This is the first time that we have been confident enough to proceed with writing actual episodes in advance of sales".⁶

The whole project was shrouded in secrecy at this stage. The first episode was shot during October and November, mostly on weekends when Tony Ward would secretly travel from Sydney to Melbourne, with more filming undertaken when Tony had one week off from Telescope. Some scenes were filmed in Sydney, and onlookers at Manly beach were told they were making a suntan lotion commercial.

"How we kept it a secret is beyond me," said Tony. "Word didn't get out about who was in it and what it was about until the first episode had been completed. Then somebody got hold of a videotape and spilled the beans to Veritas (a television critic), who rang me up and said, 'I believe you’re the mysterious Mr. Hunter!' I swore him to secrecy, which he honoured. Unfortunately, he didn't get the scoop like he was supposed to, but I couldn't control publicity."⁷

After Nine Network executives viewed the first episode, go-ahead was given for production of the series and in January 1967 names of the lead cast members were revealed. Filming commenced on the second episode in February 1967. "It's not a Danger Man and there's no 'James Bond' gimmickry," said Tony. "It has an Australian setting and is being written by Australian writers Ian Jones and Terry Stapleton who have created a completely fresh character. I have seen the pilot and the finished programme was slick, fast, polished and I think will stand comparison with any overseas shows we get."⁸

The budget for the first 26 episodes was $500,000, and the final 39 episodes cost just over one million dollars to produce. GTV-9 Melbourne and TCN-9 Sydney split five-sevenths of the cost equally, and NWS-9 Adelaide and QTQ-9 Brisbane each paid one-seventh. This was offset by sales to over 20 country stations and the sponsorship of the earlier episodes by the oil company Ampol, who saw the programme as an excellent opportunity to promote their 'Australian-owned' image. The Ampol sponsorship was reported to be worth $50,000 a month.

When the first episode was completed it was transmitted via the Melbourne-Sydney coaxial cable for viewing at a joint conference of Ampol and Nine Network representatives, held simultaneously at the GTV-9 and TCN-9 studios. At one stage Ampol planned a national advertising campaign which would have seen Tony Ward and Fernande Glyn’s faces on every Ampol petrol pump in Australia.

The theme and background music was especially written for the series. In addition to the title and incidental music, there were themes for all of the principal characters. The man behind the music, Frank Smith, described it as the most stirring background music on TV. "Hunter is a dynamic, powerful production and I have tried to paint this picture through music. We have produced an hour and 50 minutes of some of the most exciting music I have been associated with." Smith described the music as ‘a mixture of modern jazz and a double mod rhythm section’. He explained that he doubled up on the drums and the electric bass combined with an electric guitar to give the music strength and power, and used four trumpets for special impact.⁹

The opening titles featured the dynamic theme music together with action footage, including a clever shot taken of then U.S. President, Lyndon 'LBJ' Johnson, on his Australian visit panning to a watchful John Hunter in the crowd. A narrative stated:

This man wears no uniform
He has no rank
His name is often not his own
The law offers him no special protection, no exemption
If necessary, his own country will deny his existence
He is part commando, part detective, part spy
He is... HUNTER.

Hunter first went to air in Adelaide on July 4, 1967. It premiered in Melbourne the following night, with a special introduction by GTV-9 newsreader Eric Pearce, who summed it up thus: "We think it’s good." Critics for the most part concurred, acknowledging that Hunter lived up to the expectations created by its elaborate publicity campaign.

Viewers liked Hunter's man-of-action style: he drove a fast car, fought gun battles, wrestled a shark and jumped from a plane without a parachute. Stunts (many performed by the actors themselves), explosions and other special effects were commonplace; as were the 'high-tech' gadgets and gizmos, such as bugging devices, covert weapons and a radio transmitter disguised as a camera, not to mention the transistorised inkwells in Blake's office.

Hunter’s gun was a .357 Magnum, with three chambers of .38 ammunition for accurate shots and three heavier ‘blockbuster’ shells to follow. Even Hunter’s car was different - a specially imported Mustang, uncommon in Australia at the time, with the registration plate JOH 999 (a genuine registration number). The letters obviously stand for John Hunter, and the number was selected to signify the Nine Network.¹⁰

All these accoutrements notwithstanding, Hunter was firmly grounded in reality, in stark contrast to the 'over-the-top' fantasy worlds of James Bond and the like. "I am not worried that we might be accused of imitating James Bond," said Tony Ward. "Bond is restricted to movies and is done in colour. He relies heavily on gadgets. We are sticking with realism. I drive a blue Mustang - it's completely gimmick-free. The same with the plots. They are going to be believable."¹¹

Viewers also liked the interplay between the characters. Kragg and Smith were great foils for one another, and Ronald Morse played the cold and calculating Smith well, with his urbane, sophisticated and long-suffering attitude to Kragg who, in his opinion, was a fanatic. Strong characterisation was also found in Hunter's interactions with Blake. Nigel Lovell did an excellent job playing Blake, very convincing as the leader of a security organisation, with a cool head and uncanny judgement yet with a dry sense of humour.

Given the infancy of Australian television drama production, inevitably allegations were raised that Hunter was merely a copy of overseas programmes. Hector Crawford answered these criticisms:

"If we were to rule out every category of television entertainment already covered by overseas producers, there'd be nothing left for us. We got similar comments when we launched Homicide. At this stage there were the Highway Patrol, Naked City and New Breed type of crime shows from America being shown here, and no-one was prepared to accept a series about Australian detectives. Australian viewers have been conditioned to hear their action heroes talking in American or British accents. But with Homicide we've broken the ice and shown we can produce our own successful thriller series. The same goes for Hunter, and I'm sure the public will accept and enjoy the show in it's own home context, and not compare it with something American or British.

"Probably the most common criticism I get is that Hunter is nowhere near as slick as some overseas series like The Man From UNCLE or The Avengers. I'm not making excuses - all I'll say is that more Australians should bear with us and try and realise how little money we have to work with. An average hour-long episode of an American spy series costs between $150,000 and $200,000. We have a mere fraction of this money. The Australian television industry is still very young and struggling, and the Hunters, Homicides and McGooleys are all helping us to find our feet. We could have decided to do our own hospital series and we would have been within our rights. We are entitled to our own 'Ben Caseys' in the same way that we are entitled to our own 'Sergeant Fridays'. And we are entitled to 'Hunter', our own secret agent."¹²

Tony Ward explained that Crawfords were spending a lot of money taking Hunter on location around Australia and overseas, but there was still difficulty in obtaining scripts due to a severe shortage of good, experienced writers in Australia. "This is a vital year for Australian TV productions," he said. "It's still cheaper for our TV stations to buy series overseas than spend money making their own. So Hunter has got to find its feet. It's the most ambitious Australian TV project yet, and if public interest wanes it'll be a bad day for our entertainment industry."¹³

Ratings-wise, Hunter was a great success, and Nine Network executives were surprised to find it among the top 10 shows around Australia. It rated 42 in Melbourne, excellent by any standard, and on a national level it became the fourth highest rating programme of 1967 (first place went to Homicide). The success of the first series of 26 episodes convinced the Nine Network to take up an option to purchase 39 more episodes in 1968. However, despite the show's success, Ampol decided not to renew their sponsorship - a move that did not cause any undue concern, especially considering that Homicide had never been fully sponsored.

Early publicity made much capital from the fact that Tony Ward did most of his own stunts, but press reports that he wrestled a live shark were rather exaggerated. He did wrestle the shark, but it was already dead, having just been caught outside Southport on the Queensland Gold Coast where the sequence was filmed.

A real shark threat occurred later in the series when both Tony Ward and Gerard Kennedy were required to dive into Sydney Harbour - the Melbourne based crew not knowing that the filming location was notorious for sharks. Tony, being from Sydney, was aware of the fact and insisted on one take only for the scene.

More dramatic were the stunts in which Hunter fought on top of a tall wheat silo with no safety rail, and stepped from one moving vehicle across to another. For a scene in which Hunter jumped from an aircraft clinging only to another agent’s parachute, Tony and the other actor (Earl Francis) had to leap from a high tension power line tower into some saplings which were intended to break their fall.

Another scene filmed on Sydney Harbour required Tony and actor Richard Meikle to have a knife fight on board a boat. They were using real knives, and rough water was making the choreography almost impossible - Tony insisted that the director move the boat to calmer waters before they filmed the scene.

"He was a cold fish, this director," said Tony. "He was the one who fired bullets after us in a river to get ricochets off the water for effect. I didn't know he was going to do it, and we got the shock of our lives as we were racing down this stream."¹⁴ Gerard Kennedy elaborated: "That was a particularly insensitive director. I was carrying this wounded fellow, and as we were going up the stream I saw these flicks in the water beside me, and I thought, 'That's very effective - I wonder how they're doing that?!' As soon as they said 'Cut!' I looked over, and there he was emptying the rest of the bullets from the gun."¹⁵ (It should be stressed here that the attitude of this particular director was in no way typical of Crawfords staff).

At the time it was common in Australian series for actors to do their own stunts. Tony Ward explained to TV Eye: "There were no doubles, no stunt men. It would have inhibited the shooting enormously if we had to have stunt men dress up in your clothes, trying to look like you. We tried a double once, and it was so unsatisfactory, and so unnecessary, that we decided to do the stunts ourselves, and be careful and be sensible."¹⁶

In a TV Eye interview, Film Director David Lee commented on why Hunter differed from Homicide: "Hunter was just a little bit slicker, it had more time, it had different equipment. They wanted it to work, and there was more money right from the start. And it travelled - Sydney, South Australia, Queensland, Singapore. The way the writers wrote it with all their gizmos and gadgets, we had to get extra lenses to make it all work.

"It was a different approach. It was shoot it from any angle - wide, or big, or Sydney. It was also different in a fight scene or whatever because a lot of the time you were only covering one guy, and not three of the detectives. So you could hone in, and perhaps be able to do a couple of shots extra with the one guy and build it up. It had its own style, and Tony and Gerry were good. I think it would still stand up, for an old show, as well or probably better than some Homicides, some Division 4's. I think it was a good show and, unfortunately, a bit ahead of its time."¹⁷

Episodes 1 to 11 of Hunter were produced in serial format, with events in the four-part 'The Tolhurst File' linking on to the three-part 'The Prometheus File', and likewise to the four-part 'The Benedict File'. The first part of 'The Tolhurst File' had segments filmed in Sydney and Canberra in addition to Melbourne, and the next three parts featured extensive filming on the Queensland Gold Coast.

Guest actor Carmen Duncan was required to film a diving scene in shark-infested waters near Southport on the Gold Coast. Although she was protected by divers armed with spear guns, Carmen admitted she was terrified. "It was only reading the script on the plane on the way up to Brisbane that I realised what I had let myself in for," she said. "I wrote my last will and testament in red ink on the back of my script. At one stage the sharks came within feet of me - and there was no doubt about the fear I was supposed to portray. However, everything went off like clockwork and we got some tremendously exciting sequences."¹⁸

‘The Prometheus File’ was unique in that it was filmed actually within the Woomera Rocket Range in South Australia, during trials of the ‘Blue Streak’ rocket. It brought some fascinating footage to television - access to such a project, let alone filming of it for a TV series, would not be permitted today.

A brief recapitulation was featured at the beginning of these episodes, narrated by Kevin Sanders, and the ubiquitous Crawfords preview scenes appeared at the end throughout the whole series. In one instance, an early episode ended with the 'cliff-hanger' of Eve Halliday being involved in a car accident, only to have the preview scenes for the next episode showing her alive and well!

Anne Morgan, wife of Scriptwriter Terry Stapleton, joined the cast in a semi-regular support role as Julie Coleman. Her first appearance was in episode 8, 'The Benedict File - Section One'. Julie was primarily a secretary for Mr. Blake, however she was often involved in field work to varying degrees. She would later develop a romantic attraction to Hunter.

'The Benedict File' caused the Students Representative Council of Melbourne University to strongly complain about the depiction of students as ‘tools of a communist organisation’. Having obviously lost the plot of the episode, they continued to over-react by asking that the remaining parts of ‘The Benedict File’ be withdrawn. Needless to say their request was not acceded to by GTV-9.

The same episode included scenes shot during Melbourne's Moomba parade, where crowds were fooled into thinking the arrest of some student demonstrators by the police was a real-life drama. The GTV-9 news that evening revealed that the 'students' and 'police' were actors, along with an 'Air Force Colonel' taking part in the procession with the permission of Moomba organisers. (The previous year the crowds were similarly fooled when the Moomba procession was used for filming an episode of Homicide).

The next episode, 'The Singapore File', was self-contained although spread over three parts. As the title suggests, it was mostly filmed on location in Singapore - a very bold move, especially considering the infancy of the Australian television drama industry. "It was most ambitious," said Tony Ward. "I was vastly impressed with them taking it to Singapore. It involved a lot of co-operation from the authorities there."¹⁹ Filming was a costly exercise, with 12 cast and crew members spending 16 days in Singapore. The episode also featured Hunter's first face to face encounter with Kragg when the pair fought at an airfield. The narrative was dropped from the opening titles with these episodes.

Commencing with episode 15, 'The Vaughan Jackson File', all episodes were single and self-contained, with the exception of 'The Snowy Mountains File' and 'The Mirage File', both of which were two-part stories. The change to self-contained episodes improved the pace of the show by removing the recapitulation and the requirement to link the stories with a 'cliffhanger' ending. The opening titles were also significantly altered at this point, with a new display icon and different action scenes.

A GTV-9 spokesman refuted media suggestions that the change was made because of public criticism: "There have been no complaints from viewers. In fact surveys have given the fourth and fifth episodes of 'The Tolhurst File' as high a rating as the first couple of episodes, which had a curiosity audience. The only criticism we have had has been from a section of the Sydney press."²⁰

A nurse unwittingly intruded upon filming for episode 16, 'The Cornucopia File', when an actor 'collapsed' outside the Southern Cross Hotel. The Nurse did not notice the film crew and immediately stepped in to help. Not sure what to do, the actor played dead until he received instructions from Film Director Ian Jones. The unexpected bonus of realism was retained in the episode.

A second overseas filming trip was planned, this time to New Guinea where segments for episodes 17 and 18 were to be shot in Lae and Rabaul. However, the project was cancelled because the script dialogue for the two episodes was considered below standard. At this time Ian Jones was recalled from film-directing the Hunter exterior scenes to work on raising the scripts to even higher standards. Ian Jones and Terry Stapleton initially wrote all the scripts, later being joined by Howard Griffiths and others.

Jack Hume first appeared in a semi-regular support role as Vargon from episode 19, 'The Vargon File'. Vargon, posing as a film producer, was the international head of the CUCW. Gordon Timmins also had a semi-regular support role as SCU3 agent Doug Marshall, his first appearance being in episode 25. Timmins, who was once a real-life policeman, played a character of the same name in Homicide as a Senior Detective. This was not a crossover between the two series - Timmins simply preferred to retain the name for his own ease of use.

Other minor characters would occasionally turn up in small support roles. Kenric Hudson appeared in several episodes as Sir Howard Marks, head of COSMIC. Dorothy Bradley made minor appearances from time to time as Smith's secretary Miss Pendle, and Norman Sharp occasionally popped up as CUCW thug Yang. John Edmund reprised his 'Singapore File' role as British agent Peter Martin in a later episode, as did Hans Farkash as Russian agent Gregori Loschenko.

Episodes 20 and 21 formed a two-part story and featured extensive location filming at the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales (aptly titled 'The Snowy Mountains File'). Any ideas that Tony Ward may have had of indulging in a spot of skiing while on location were vetoed by Crawfords, who weren't taking any chances that their lead actor may sustain a broken leg.

A number of other mishaps did occur though. A blizzard on the first day prevented filming, and the next day a large snow-cat overturned, destroying an expensive camera. As soon as replacement equipment arrived a second blizzard set in, and when filming could resume the icy conditions forced the crew to huddle around the camera to prevent it from freezing up. A professional stand-in for a skiing scene, Bob McClelland, went tumbling and did an unplanned double somersault past the camera (the footage was retained in the episode). And two cars skidded on ice and gravel resulting in minor collisions. Luckily, in all these incidents no-one was hurt.

Fernande Glyn was dropped from the show after the first 26 episodes, her contract not being renewed for 1968. Ostensibly it was due to financial constraints, however it was felt that her character of Eve Halliday was not working out. She made her final appearance in 'The Hans Felburg File', with the explanation that Eve was promoted to a security position at Cape Kennedy in the U.S.A. To compensate for her absence, Anne Morgan's role of secretary Julie Coleman was given more prominence. Minor changes were made to the opening titles - different action scenes from recent episodes were included, and another shot of Gerard Kennedy as Kragg was substituted for the more sinister looking original.

Hunter, along with Homicide, had limited overseas sales at this time, being distributed by Fremantle International. New York station WPIX-11 began screening the show on Sunday afternoons, commencing on January 21, 1968, with episode 12, 'The Singapore File'. The American TV Guide magazine incorrectly described the series as a 'documentary set in South-East Asia starring John Hunter as secret agent Tony Ward'.

Although pleased with the overseas sale, Hector Crawford had regrets about the technical quality. As U.S. videotape standards differ from Australia, the programme had to be sold in kinescope format, which results in a lower quality picture. "The fact that the Americans will accept it in this format is a tribute to the quality of Hunter's Australian scripts, acting and direction," he said.²¹

Standards continued to grow and Hunter was improving all the time. Harold Lander joined the crew as Script Editor, with the philosophy that it is better to hit a man over the head with a desk-drawer than to stand around arguing with him. "The rule in Hunter is never to allow characters to hang about talking when action will tell the story better," he said. "Often, a Hunter writer has been able to replace a page of explanatory dialogue with several seconds of meaningful camera directions. That's the kind of pace we seek in the show."²²

 

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

 

1. TV Times, Oct 4, 1967.
2. TV Week, June 18, 1966.
3. Melbourne Listener In-TV, Sept 16, 1967.
4. TV Eye No. 2, May 1994.
5. TV Eye No. 5, June 1995.
6. TV Week, June 18, 1966.
7. TV Eye No. 2, May 1994.
8. TV Times, Jan 11, 1967.
9. TV Week, Feb 4, 1967.
10. This was a genuine registration number, which the car still carried in 2003.
11. TV Week, Feb 11, 1967.
12. Pix, July 29, 1967.
13. Pix, Sept 16, 1967.
14. TV Eye No. 2, May 1994.
15. TV Eye No. 13, Dec 1997.
16. TV Eye No. 2, May 1994.
17. TV Eye No. 8, May 1996.
18. TV Week, April 22, 1967.
19. TV Eye No. 2, May 1994.
20.  TV Week, Sept 2, 1967.
21. TV Times, March 27, 1968.
22. TV Times, March 6, 1968.

Tony Ward as John Hunter, Australia's first television spy.

Gerard Kennedy as counter-spy Kragg, a complex misguided idealist.

Nigel Lovell as Charles Blake, head of SCU3.

Tony Ward with Fernande Glyn, who played SCU3 agent Eve Halliday.

Hunter and Eve receive instructions from Blake at SCU3 headquarters.

Filming on location at Kings Cross in Sydney for episode 17, 'The Martin Brenzer File'. Tony Ward is on the left and Film Director David Lee is on the right.

Romance for Hunter with Jill Forster as Chris Charter in episodes 6 & 7, 'The Prometheus File'.

Fernande Glyn as Eve and Tony Ward as Hunter at SCU3 headquarters.

A 'fancard' issued by GTV-9.

Hunter and his Mustang.

Original Hunter opening titles.

Hunter original end credit title.

An advertisement for Hunter from Adelaide's NWS-9.

Fernande Glyn as SCU3 agent Eve Halliday.

Gerard Kennedy as Kragg with Ronald Morse as Mr. Smith.

Gerard Kennedy accepting his Logie award for Best New Talent - April 5, 1969.

Hunter advertisement from a Melbourne TV programme guide.

Tony Ward and Fernande Glyn.

Gerard Kennedy and Tony Ward on location filming in Sydney. Some media beat-ups alleged a rift between the two actors, but as this photo illustrates Tony and Gerry were good friends.

Hunter bashes up CUCW agent Jim Bettman, played by Earl Francis.  A scene from section 4 of the 'The Tolhurst File'.

Tony, Fernande and Nigel Lovell during a break in filming.

Fernande Glyn as Eve Halliday with John Edmund as British agent Peter Martin.

Hunter and Eve Halliday in action.

During the first year the end credits carried a disclaimer to thwart any spies who might pick up a trick or two from watching the show: 'In the interests of security, this programme does not follow exactly the procedure of any Commonwealth body'.

Gerard Kennedy as Kragg filming on location in Singapore.

Two shots of Tony Ward as John Hunter disguised as a Navy Commander, on location in Singapore.



Fernande Glyn and Tony Ward in a scene from 'The Singapore File' filmed at night on location at the Tiger Balm Gardens in Singapore.

The opening titles as used on episodes 15 - 57, with minor variations due to Fernande Glyn and Ronald Morse leaving.  Episodes 15 - 26 used the shot of Gerard Kennedy that appeared on the original opening.

Jack Hume in a support role as Vargon, with Gerard Kennedy as Kragg.

Gordon Timmins in a support role as SCU3 agent Doug Marshall.