The opening titles commence
with a shot of the squad's police car, an unmarked Holden Monaro GTS
(which generated much interest among the petrol-heads). The car drives over the
Sydney Harbour Bridge, and the subject shifts to various shots of street
scenes and detectives running, finally cutting to the three faces of the
detectives, which then merge into one from whence the title The Link
Men appears. The dynamic theme music for the series was specially
composed by Geoff Harvey.
The New South Wales Police
Force co-operated in the making of the programme, and a retired detective
was engaged to provide advice on police procedures. Executive Producer
Spenton-Foster stressed the level of authenticity achieved for the series:
"The Link Men go about solving crime in exactly the same way as
real policemen," he said.4
The Link Men
premiered in Melbourne on January 14, 1970, and in Sydney the following
day. Critics were unimpressed by the first episode, citing a lack of
decisive acting and lack of crisp direction, resulting in a lack of
believability. Mostly, the critics agreed that the series had potential
and expected it to get better.
The first episode, 'Home
Run', featured former Homicide regular John Fegan in a guest role.
The story is often told how Nine Network owner Frank Packer offered Fegan
some advice on how to handle a fight scene. In a demonstration, Fegan
landed Packer on the floor. Packer then ordered Fegan's dismissal, but
when it was explained that it couldn't be done without seriously
disrupting filming schedules, not to mention breach of contract issues,
Packer responded, "Well, sack him when he's finished!". (Contrary to the
entry in Moran's Guide To Australian TV Series, this incident had nothing to
do with the series cancellation.)5
A mild controversy came to
The Link Men when film editors were told to delete a nude scene
featuring guest actor Elke Neidhardt. The scene, from ep. 8 'Dishonoured Samurai',
showed Elke lying on her stomach on a bed, and was replaced by a similar
scene with a sheet covering the lower half of her body. Elke said that she
understood that she would be able to play the part wearing a swimsuit
under a sheet: "When we were ready to shoot the scene, someone said I had
to take all my clothes off," said Elke. "We had quite a row about it, but
the whole studio was waiting and I didn't want to be too difficult, so in
the end I took my clothes off. They shot the same scene twice - once
without any clothes and once with a sheet covering me to my hips. They
ended up using the alternate shot with the sheet. You wouldn't have seen
all that much anyway - only my bare bottom. I wasn't exactly thrilled
about appearing nude, so I was very pleased when things turned out the way
they did. I thought at the time that perhaps Channel Nine was just trying
to get some publicity out of having someone in the nude, but it didn't
work anyway."6
Michael Latimer was
appointed as Producer of the series in February 1970, and reportedly
declared war on the Melbourne made series Homicide and Division 4: "I
want to turn The Link Men into Australia's number one detective
series," he said.7
History would prove him to be unsuccessful in that endeavour.
One episode was
scrapped after extensive production work had been undertaken. 'Where Did
You Meet Carol Johnston?' had reached the stage where it was scheduled for
screening in Sydney on February 26 (even being listed in programme
guides), before TCN-9 decided the episode was sub-standard and withdrew it
before completion. This incomplete episode, together with
the completed but unaired pilot, placed The Link Men in a uniquely detrimental
position - it was the only series from the era in which two episodes were
considered to be of such a low standard that they should not be screened.
(Of course, there have been many shows of an even lower standard that
have been screened!)
By late February 1970 it
was reported that The Link Men had been extended for another 13
episodes with a bigger budget, but TCN-9 was not happy with the
series in its present form and it would be given a new direction.
Consideration was given to introducing an Emma Peel-type character as seen
in the British series The Avengers, and Janet Kingsbury, Jeanie
Drynan and Carmen Duncan were considered for the role. Various
reports
stated that the format could be changed, and the 'link men' may become
Commonwealth Police responsible to the Prime Minister. Another report said that a 'glamour
girl' would be added to the cast and Latimer was
spending his mornings on Sydney beaches to find her!8
Tristan Rogers resigned
from the series to pursue his career elsewhere, and therefore would not
appear in the new episodes. TCN-9 considered his departure temporary, and
his last appearance was scheduled for episode 14, in which Det. Gamble
would be beaten up by a criminal and sent away to 'recover'. It was not
intended to replace Det. Gamble; instead it was proposed to enlarge the
role of Det. Russell played by Max Meldrum.
Producer
Michael Latimer said TCN-9 may even be prepared to scrub the Link Men
concept entirely - however, he stressed that "this is most unlikely at
this stage".9
Scripts for the next 13 episodes had not yet been commissioned in case
further changes were implemented.
Bruce Montague at this
point was both defensive and optimistic about the series: "Give the series
a go," he said. "I do not think I am being bumptious when I predict The
Link Men will become the top crime series in Australia. I have
complete faith in saying that. I am well aware of the shortcomings of the
series. We all are. I'll agree there is not yet enough action in the
series. It is too slow. But I hope that will be rectified in a few weeks'
time. I'll also agree that the characters of the three policemen have not
yet properly developed. It will take a number of scripts before our
characters begin to really gel so that we come over as human beings. Our
problems are still many. First of all we have to settle down into the
series. Any series has to do this. One of our greatest problems is
antiquated technical equipment, which is responsible for a great deal of
the slowness viewers probably sense. Australia is hopelessly outdated with
its studio equipment. This makes a great deal of difference."10
Of course, these comments
make one wonder how long a series should take to get its act together.
Crawford Productions do not have this problem, and viewers should not be
expected to persevere with a programme in the hope that one day it might
get better. Montague also considered the ratio of video (70 percent) to
film (30 percent) was too high: "I am hoping for a greater percentage of
film - which gives a glossier, higher quality finish - will be used in
later episodes. But filming is expensive and our present budget does not
allow it."11
TCN-9 managing director Clyde Packer reappraised the
position on The Link Men, and decided to cut the losses. The order
came down from on high that production would stop a few days hence on
March 6, after completion of the twelfth episode.
The cancellation of the series led to an outburst of
public statements from the cast and crew, with mixed feelings being
expressed, and much
apportioning of blame. Tristan Rogers said the series was doomed after
episode five: "I had resigned when the final blow came on March 6," he
said. "I was surprised it came so soon, but I certainly wasn't surprised
that it happened. Things were cataclysmic. We just couldn't do anything
right. There was a lot of talent in the production unit, but the unit as a
whole was never allowed to settle down. They kept hiring and firing new
people. Another problem was the strain of shooting an episode every five
days. This meant actors working on two, and sometimes three different
episodes in the same week. There was never enough time for rehearsal. I
told them after episode five that I'd just do my best for the rest of the
series and say good-bye."12
Kevin Miles said he was "terribly sorry" that the
series had been dropped, whereas some TCN staff members were glad to see
the end of a "dreary series which just had to go".13
Bruce Montague was philosophical about it: "I'm an
actor. I've been in about 50 percent successes and in about 50 percent
failures. This is just one of the failures. Personally I feel that the
series would certainly have picked up in about another four episodes. A
number of things that were worrying me earlier in the series were
beginning to work out. We were already using a greater percentage of
filming rather than videotape."14
Producer Michael Latimer blamed nearly everything.
"I don't think the public gave us a chance," he said. "In particular a
number of journalists seemed ready to slam the series. I know Mr. Packer
needed an awful lot of courage to make the decision to drop the series. I
do not criticise his decision. He is a businessman and I am not. If The
Link Men was not making money then it had to be scrapped. I do say
that some of the earlier episodes were bad. The scripts were poor.
Furthermore, since the series began about a quarter of the team was
replaced. They were replaced by good people, but it does make things
hard."15
Executive Producer George Spenton-Foster had both
positive and negative things to say. He cited poor scripts as a significant
factor: "Of the first 13, only two were good enough for a director to work
on".16
He also said that ideas and talent had been thwarted by TCN-9 management,
people with false credentials from overseas had been given important
production work, back-stabbing and squabbling was occurring between
different groups, and many people had to work in excess of 80 hours a
week.17
Spenton-Foster accused two of the cast of acting
like 'prima donnas'. "They counted one another's close-ups and competed
against a third actor in the series," he said. "They fought over billing
and quibbled over nearly every piece of publicity anyone in The Link Men
received. This caused a gigantic problem. The two actors behaved like
children.
"I personally was very disappointed when a nude
scene of actress Elke Neidhardt was deleted from the episode 'Dishonoured
Samurai'. I thought the scene was good, tastefully done and as a matter of
fact I thought Miss Neidhardt looked very nice indeed. But viewers saw
Miss Neidhardt partly covered by a sheet.
"We suffered from antiquated equipment, a studio one
couldn't swing a cat in, shortage of staff. Added to this is the fact that
a similar series made in England or America would have three times the
budget. Production teams would be allowed nearly twice as long to edit one
episode. However, to make up for these deficiencies in Australian
television is this wonderful excitement and enthusiasm which Australians
have.
"On the credit side I'd like to say I feel very
sorry for the managing director of TCN-9, Mr. Clyde Packer. I believe he
genuinely wanted the series to succeed. Again on the credit side I would
like to praise the studio cameramen, the lighting engineers, the designers
and the film cameraman, Steve Richards, whose work was superb. There are
three performers whose work in the series impressed me a great deal. They
are Diana Perryman, Clarissa Kaye (both guest actors) and Kevin Miles.
"I have the awful feeling that The Link Men
debacle has set back the Australian TV industry by five years. This is a
great pity because in our different ways we all worked so hard to make the
series a success. But let's face it - one can't argue about a rating of
eight, which the series was receiving."17
Michael Latimer, in a letter to TV Week,
refuted some of Spenton-Foster's claims. "The strife attributed to the
series is grossly exaggerated," he wrote. "There were teething troubles
that were not seen to in time. That is all. By the time all of the
problems had been solved it was too late and a promising future was never
realised." Latimer also dismissed Spenton-Foster's claim that two actors
behaved liked prima-donnas as "absolutely laughable". "During the time I
was associated with the series I much admired the ability and sheer
professionalism of the actors I believe he means. I am only sorry that as
far as the series progressed neither was given the chance to show his true
talent."18
Tristan Rogers looked back on the series in 1976:
“It was a big break for a young actor and I was terribly excited about it.
Unfortunately, it turned sour. It was the first show of its type attempted
in Sydney and it suffered from too much interference from executives. Too
many cooks finally killed it off. If it had been left to find its level,
it might have gone on. But they wanted an instant success and fiddled with
it too much when it didn’t work out that way.”19
The Link Men at times looked very amateurish, with
awkward action and direction more suited to a stage play than a television series. At other times, it could look very polished and
professional indeed. However, although the series was improving, the awkward moments
were very obvious and would have caused many viewers to switch off.
The later episodes of The Link Men were a
vast improvement over the early episodes, and as a whole the series was a better
effort than the 0-Ten Network's The Long Arm. It was an
enjoyable series, but
it still paled in comparison to Homicide and Division 4 from the
Crawford stable.
The failure of The Link Men was soon followed by the
demise of The Long Arm. The 0-Ten Network finally found a successful local
drama with Crawford Productions' Matlock Police; the Nine network
of course already had the very successful Division 4 (also from
Crawfords), but it would be a long,
long time before Nine would attempt another in-house drama production.
After The Link Men, Kevin Miles moved
directly to a lead role in the ABC series Dynasty, and over the years
has appeared in many theatre, film and television roles, including a long
run in the 1980's serial Carson's Law. Tristan Rogers appeared in
guest roles in many other Australian series before moving to America and
becoming well-known for his role in the U.S. soap General Hospital.
The Link Men was repeated several times in off-peak timeslots, but
has not been seen since the advent of colour television in 1975.
