Kings Men

CLASSIC AUSTRALIAN TELEVISION

KING'S MEN

F.A.Q.

Reg Grundy Productions, later known as the Grundy Organisation, had been a prolific producer of quiz and game shows since the 1950’s. In 1974 they made their first foray into drama with the early evening soap opera Class Of ‘74, which continued into the following year as Class Of ‘75. In spite of its American sounding title, Class Of ‘74 was very successful, and gave Grundy’s invaluable experience in drama production. Although the follow-up Class Of ‘75 did not fare as well, Grundy’s soon mastered the art of the soapie and became the undisputed leader in the field of serialised melodrama, with the long-running series Neighbours perhaps being their greatest success.

In 1975, Grundys decided to try their hand at serious adult drama and to this end they procured the services of prolific scriptwriter Ron McLean, who had previously worked on Spyforce and Silent Number among other things. Grundys Managing Director, Lyle McCabe, thought their capital and McLean’s expertise would be a good combination, and he made McLean ‘an offer he couldn’t refuse’.¹The first thing McLean came up with was ‘City Hospital’, which later developed into the soapie The Young Doctors. The next series that McLean devised was the police drama King’s Men.

The original concept was ‘King Of The Cross’, based on the almost-legendary New South Wales policeman ‘Bumper’ Farrell, who had been stationed in the Sydney red-light suburb of Kings Cross. The series was to be centred on a tough old cop who was based at Kings Cross during the Second World War, since transferred to different areas in the police force and had now returned to his old territory. According to McLean, “it was sitting somewhere around the Maigret / Van Der Valk area”.²

It was then that the series changed direction. Inspired by the American series Mod Squad, the company decided to modify the concept by adding young cops working undercover. The emphasis of the series shifted from one central character to an ensemble focussing on the operations of an undercover squad. “On two minutes notice it didn’t work,” said Ron McLean.³ A new working title ‘All The King’s Men’ was soon reduced to simply King’s Men.

The Nine Network commissioned Grundys to make two 90-minute pilot episodes – one for King’s Men, and another for a courtroom series Case For The Defence. The King’s Men pilot was made in July 1975. Veteran actor Gordon Glenwright was cast as the Inspector in charge of the Kings Cross police station - named Harry King (what else!). His immediate subordinate is Detective Senior Constable Ben Price, played by Shane Porteous. Det. Price, who formed the undercover squad, is in charge of its day-to-day operation. Members of the undercover squad are Const. Hal Whelan, played by Don Barkham; Const. Tim Harper, played by Don Spencer; and Const. Maple Brown, played by Jane Harders. The title was an obvious play on words and referred to species and not gender, especially considering one of the operatives was female. (One wonders if, in today’s world of overboard political correctness, the show would have been called ‘King’s People’?)

The pilot episode was average, being let down by some stilted dialogue and a dodgy fight sequence. The opening titles were garish and uninspiring, and would have been far more suited to a programme such as The Green Hornet. Before the pilot episode was screened, the Nine Network ordered a series of 13 one-hour episodes, which went into production on March 15, 1976. Producer of the series was Reg Watson, who described King’s Men as Grundys most ambitious and expensive project to date⁴ - hardly surprising, considering their previous efforts were quiz shows and a soapie. (The Case For The Defence pilot was made in August 1975, and also entered series production during 1976).

Some aspects of the series differed from the pilot: two cast members were replaced, some changes were made to the main characters, and the opening titles were completely revamped. To accurately reflect NSW Police practice, the Constables in the undercover squad were elevated in rank to Senior Detective, and the squad co-ordinator was promoted from Senior Detective to Detective Sergeant. Gordon Glenwright continued to play Det. Insp. Harry King as head of the Kings Cross police station. Shane Porteous was replaced by Tom Oliver, who played Det. Sgt. Frank Weston, the co-ordinator of the undercover squad. Don Barkham and Don Spencer played the same roles, as Sen. Det. Hal Whelan and Sen. Det. Tim Harper respectively, only their rank being changed. Jane Harders was replaced by Tina Bursill as Policewoman Jaybee Giddings.

The opening titles were changed completely. The pilot episode graphics - yellow stencil writing on a bright red background, with individual cast credits - were replaced by night scenes of a cat prowling around the city. Credits were superimposed on these scenes, and finally the cat slips through Insp. Kings office door where we see a group shot of the cast. The ‘buzzing bee’ theme music of the pilot was replaced by an effective slow, low-bass theme.

In spite of the changes to the original concept, the character of Insp. King was still largely based on ‘Bumper’ Farrell. King is of the old school, a hard-boiled old-fashioned cop in his fifties known to be tough, but fair. King believes in justice rather than law, and will tolerate some small crimes in order to put down larger crimes. Gordon Glenwright described the character: “He suffers the undercover operation but doesn’t really approve of the squad’s methods or the way they look. He uses them, but certainly wouldn’t mix with them socially. He’s a widower, a bit of a loner, who lives with his sister. He’s only got one interest outside of the force and that’s the odd game of golf, which he plays badly. And he’s got a lot of respect for some of the criminals he knows.”⁵

And the criminals even have respect for him. He is referred to as 'Mr. King' by most criminals, and colleagues call him 'Sir' or 'Inspector' - only Sgt. Weston gets close enough to call him Harry. King is a hard man to get to know, and has little time for social pleasantries. His rugged appearance reflects his character, emphasised by a scar on his right cheek - which the make-up lady had to apply to Gordon Glenwright before filming. "King is supposed to have been in a brawl some time during his career, and he collected a broken bottle on his face," explained Glenwright.⁶

Det. Sgt. Frank Weston is in his late 30’s and, as the officer responsible for the day-to-day operation of the undercover squad, acts as a buffer between King and the squad’s more free-and-easy attitudes. It would be easy to assume that Tom Oliver replaced Shane Porteous because Det. Price in the pilot episode was not a very strong characterisation, but Oliver thought it was solely due to availability. "Shane Porteous played (the character) in the pilot,” he said, “but then by the time it was decided to go ahead with a series he was involved with other things and couldn't do it."⁷

Sen. Det. Hal Whelan is a longhaired, bearded, motorbike-riding Vietnam veteran who bummed around the world before joining the police force. Intelligent, articulate, brooding and as hard as nails, Whelan lives constantly on the criminal fringe. Whelan and King do not get along and are often in conflict. For the role, Don Barkham was required to ride a 900cc motorbike, a prospect he found somewhat daunting: “I think this bike is 82hp and will go up to 240kph, but I suppose you don’t learn to ride until you’ve fallen off a few times.”⁸

Sen. Det. Tim Harper usually works undercover as a well-to-do ‘man-about-town’, always on the lookout for kicks, gambling and girls - although he can and does switch characters as the situation requires. A TV Week reviewer described Don Spencer as ‘uncertain’ in the role,⁹ which was a valid criticism - Spencer had very little straight acting experience, and was previously better known as a country and western musician, and also as a presenter on Play School.

Policewoman Jaybee Giddings (Jaybee stands for Joanna Barbara) is an attractive and intelligent university graduate with a keen, investigative mind, and is a lousy cook. She can easily pose as anything from a prostitute to a social worker with equal conviction. “It’s only revealed in later episodes that Jaybee wants to write a book on law and sociology and joins the police for some background,” said Tina Bursill. “Before we started filming I went to Sydney Uni to check out the women students. I wanted to know about their course and, although they had a high mental attitude, all they wanted to do - which surprised me - was get married!”¹⁰ It was reported that Tina was chosen from 100 girls who were considered for the part.

King’s Men was produced on videotape and in colour, and each episode was self-contained. Insp. King and Sgt. Weston represent the traditional police figures, with the younger team members, who look like anything but cops, assuming a different undercover role for each case. The function of the undercover squad is to infiltrate the underworld of Sydney’s crime scene and either prevent crime or solve it from within. The producers received a lot of co-operation from the NSW Police Department, which included the loan of ‘props’ such as uniforms and police cars. Gordon Glenwright said, “We’ve worked very closely with the police in making this series and their co-operation has been marvellous.”¹¹

King’s Men suffered from some technical problems, which resulted in production delays. One problem was that night filming was not permitted in Kings Cross. To overcome this, the crew shifted location to Manly on Sydney’s northern beaches, where the main shopping street, The Corso, was dressed up with various signs and lights to resemble Kings Cross.

Episode 3, ‘The Butcher’, caused some controversy, and TCN-9 Sydney withdrew it from screening. The episode was based on the exploits of the infamous ‘Toe Cutters Gang’, a criminal group who allegedly hacked the toes off other criminals in order to make them surrender the proceeds of robberies. Originally scheduled for screening on June 10, TCN-9 felt the episode was too close to the real thing. The episode was re-edited and was approved for screening, scheduled for July 22.

It was decided that another episode, 'Contract For King', would be held over for the series finale, as the episode closes with Insp. King being shot and his recovery is uncertain. With these two episodes rescheduled, production was now only a few days ahead of airdate. "We were two weeks ahead," said Grundy's production director Ray Newell, "but now production is line-ball. The episode we finish on the Saturday goes to air in Brisbane on the following Tuesday and in Sydney on the Thursday. It makes it difficult, but not impossible."¹²

Further setbacks came when two cast members became ill. Episode 6, ‘Takeover’, had to be rewritten at short notice when doctor’s orders forced Tina Bursill to take a week off. Peita Toppano stepped in to take her place, playing a policewoman who was brought in from outside the squad. Then Tom Oliver became ill, and scripts were again amended to minimise disruption for the few days he was off work.

King’s Men premiered in Sydney on the 27^th May, 1976, at 9:30 PM on Thursday. Gordon Glenwright criticised the timeslot, claiming that it was unrealistic and unfair for a locally produced series, and accused TCN-9 of not being prepared to give the series a fair go at a more desirable time.¹³ Lynton Taylor, TCN-9 programming vice-president, disagreed with Glenwright, and described the time as ideal: “In Sydney King’s Men replaces Police Story, which was a very successful series for us, and follows S.W.A.T. which is rating very highly. We think we have given King’s Men a very warm timeslot.”¹⁴ Ray Newell concurred: “Gordon, of course, is entitled to his opinions, but we in no way share them. We are perfectly happy with what Nine has done with the show. For an action series, it’s a very nice spot.”¹⁵

King’s Men received only a lukewarm reception from the critics. Jerry Fetherston’s comments in TV Week were typical: “King’s Men is, at best, an adequate series. It isn’t a disaster but it’s not very good either.”¹⁶ Viewers obviously agreed, as low ratings caused TCN-9 to drop the series in mid-July after less than half of the episodes had been shown. Production of the 13^th episode was completed at that time, and plans for a second series were cancelled. "We finished making the 13 episodes of King’s Men a couple of weeks ago,” said Tina Bursill, “and everyone involved has been very disappointed at the fact that only four or five have gone to air. Originally, of course, it was hoped that it would go into a second series, but that wasn't to be. I just hope Nine does something soon with the rest of the King’s Men episodes."¹⁷

QTQ-9 in Brisbane commenced screening the series at the same time as Sydney, and NWS-9 Adelaide followed four months later on September 20. In Melbourne, GTV-9 decided they were not going to waste a prime time spot on King’s Men after its dismal performance in Sydney, and the series went to air during the summer non-ratings period, commencing on the 20^th of November 1976. It was pulled from the schedule after only five episodes had been shown, and the rest of the series did not appear for another three years, finally being screened during the 1979-80 summer non-ratings period.

King’s Men was not as good as Homicide or Bluey or any of the other police series from the Crawfords stable, but it wasn’t bad either. The late change of direction to incorporate the undercover squad was a significant factor in the show's demise. If more time had been allowed for development, King’s Men could have been a successful, polished product. Its strengths were in the characterisation, particularly the animosity between Whelan and King; its weaknesses were some stilted dialogue and some miscasting. Being shot entirely on video tape did not help either - unlike film, video tape in the 1970’s looked cheap and amateurish.

Grundys did produce three more drama series in the late 1970’s (Case For The Defence, Glenview High and Chopper Squad), and they made a worthy police series in 1981 with Bellamy. For the most part, however, they stuck to what they knew best - soap operas. The Young Doctors, The Restless Years, Prisoner, Sons And Daughters and Neighbours are just a few of the copious serials produced by Grundys. While many people are dismissive of the whole soapie genre and regard these shows as a load of old rubbish, they were nonetheless a very successful load of old rubbish. The concept of an undercover squad as the basis for a police series surfaced again in 1998 with Stingers, which enjoyed a long successful run before being cancelled in 2004.

KING’S MEN EPISODE DETAILS

1. Albert Moran, Making A TV Series: The Bellamy Project, (Currency Press, Sydney, 1982), p. 45, interview with Ron McLean.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. TV Week, Jan 17, 1976.
5. TV Week, July 3, 1976.
6. TV Times, June 12, 1976.
7. TV Week, June 19, 1976.
8. TV Times, Nov 13, 1976.
9. Jerry Fetherston, Viewpoint, TV Week, July 3, 1976.
10. TV Times, Sept 25, 1976.
11. TV Week, July 3, 1976.
12. TV Times, July 3, 1976.
13. TV Week, June 12, 1976.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid,
16. Jerry Fetherston, Viewpoint, TV Week, July 3, 1976.
17. TV Week, Aug 7, 1976.

The King's Men cast: Tom Oliver, Gordon Glenwright, Tina Bursill, Don Spencer and Don Barkham.

Opening titles from the pilot episode.

Gordon Glenwright as Insp. Harry King.

Tina Bursill as Policewoman Jaybee Giddings.

Don Barkham as Sen. Det. Hal Whelan.

Tom Oliver as Det. Sgt. Frank Weston.

Don Spencer as Sen. Det. Tim Harper.

King's Men opening titles.

A scene from ep. 6, 'Takeover'.

Make-up girl Michelle Lowe preparing Tina Bursill for the cameras.

Guest actor Noeline Brown with Don Barkham in a scene from the final episode, No. 13 'Contract For King'.

Tom Oliver and Don Barkham.

On location under the 'Big Dipper' at Luna Park for ep. 10, 'Public Enemy No. 1' - Tom Oliver, Gordon Glenwright and Don Barkham.

When Tina Bursill became ill, Peita Toppano was brought in at short notice to replace her in ep. 6, 'Takeover'.

Gordon Glenwright as Det. Insp. Harry King.

Don Spencer as Sen. Det. Tim Harper with Don Barkham as Sen. Det. Hal Whelan.

Tina Bursill as Jaybee Giddings.

Don Spencer as Sen. Det. Tim Harper, in disguise for an undercover operation.

Gordon Glenwright.

A scene from King's Men with King's men in King's office in Kings Cross listening to Insp. King. From left: Don Spencer, Gordon Glenwright, Tom Oliver, Tina Bursill and Don Barkham.