CONTRABANDITS
ARTICLE

HOME

INTERVIEWS

CHRONOLOGICAL
OVERVIEW

F.A.Q.

LINKS

EXPLANATION
OF EPISODE
GUIDE TERMS

EPISODES: 30.
LENGTH: 60 mins.
FORMAT: Mono, Video and Film Integration.
PRODUCTION: ABC Production, Sydney. 1967 (Series 1), 1968 (Series 2).
ORIGINAL SCREENING: 1967 - 1968.
RUNNING ORDER: Airdate.
NETWORK: ABC. (Repeat screening rights sold to the Seven Network.)

CAST:
Chief Insp. Ted Hallam.......DENIS QUILLEY
Mardi Shiel.......JANET KINGSBURY
Bob Piper.......JOHN BONNEY
Jim Shurley.......BEN GABRIEL
Charles Keally.......JOHN GREGG (eps 9 - 30)
Ross.......BOB HADDOW

CREW:
Producer.......ERIC TAYLER
Script Editor.......COLIN FREE
Theme music.......ARNOLD BUTCHER

AWARDS:
1967 Penguin: Ben Gabriel - Best Supporting Actor.
1968 Awgie: Colin Free - Major Award: Most Outstanding Script For The Year for ep. 1 'Cage A Tame Tiger'.
1968 Awgie: James Workman - ep. 8 'Target, Smokehouse'.
1968 Penguin: Eric Tayler - Best Producer.
1968 Penguin: Dennis Quilley - Leading Talent Commendation, Drama.
1968 Penguin: Janet Kingsbury - Supporting Talent Commendation.

EPISODE TITLES
Series 1
1. Cage A Tame Tiger
2. Bait And Little Fishes
3. Horse On The Wing
4. Corner Of The Market
5. Sweet And Sour
6. A Drop In The Ocean
7. Madame Ukelele
8. Target, Smokehouse
9. Films Are Just For Kicks  First John Gregg
10. Deadly Harvest
11. A Case Of Kinetics
12. Man On The Hook
13. Time Out
Series 2
14. Closed Circuit
15. Samson Out Of Joint
16. Money For Jam
17. In For A Penny
18. The Professionals
19. Double Exposure
20. Game For Two Players
21. Tiger By The Tail
22. According To Arcadius
23. Write-Off
24. A Mention In Despatches
25. Fool's Gold
26. Collectors Piece
27. File It Under Personal
28. Double Entry
29. Blind Man's Bluff
30. A Good Way To Go

SERIES 1

1. Cage A Tame Tiger

Martin Fly.......Max Meldrum
Mike Nicholl.......Tom Oliver
Borchardt.......Tony Bazell
Sally French.......Alice Fraser
Mana-A-Ma.......Chin Yu Williams
Mao.......George Wong
Chien.......Terry Erwin

Script.......Colin Free
Director.......Eric Tayler

Synopsis: Convicting Martin 'Tiger' Fly, a known Kings Cross drug pedlar, is a personal challenge to Chief Inspector Ted Hallam. While the Customs Special Branch are convinced that Fly is obtaining drugs from merchant seamen, their frequent raids have never actually found him in possession of any drugs. Mardi Shiel is used as part of the  investigation that leads to an exotic Chinese dancer, a well-endowed prostitute, and a frightened Melbourne businessman.

Notes: Colin Free won the Awgie Major Award: Most Outstanding Script For The Year (1968) for this episode.

Airdate: Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane 22/9/67, Adelaide 28/9/67, Hobart 29/9/67

2. Bait And Little Fishes

John Rynd.......Don Pascoe

Script.......Martyn Sanderson & Nigel Roberts

Synopsis: John Rynd, veteran war hero of Korea who was wounded while trying to save a friend, has returned to civilian life inadvertently hooked on the drugs that saved his life. With his skills as a diver and a cunning born of war he is soon picked up by a crime syndicate and becomes an unwilling courier to recover drugs brought into Sydney Harbour. Hallam is trying to crack down on the syndicate, and his investigations lead to Rynd just as the former hero reaches desperation point.

Airdate: Melbourne & Sydney 29/9/67, Adelaide 5/10/67

3. Horse On The Wing

Angela Carrol.......Helen Morse
Garnet.......Eddie Hepple
.......John Norman
.......Patricia Hill

Synopsis: Mardi Shiel and Bob Piper get little more than arrogant unconcern from teenage addict Angela Carrol after she nearly dies from a near fatal overdose of pure heroin. A dead pigeon is found to be carrying a capsule of the identical drug, but Angela denies that she is hooked on 'horse', and says her 'addiction' is to Harry, the man that supplies her. Angela refuses to incriminate Harry, but her own obsession, fears and instabilities lead to her making a break from hospital, and gives Chief Insp. Hallam the opportunity he has been seeking. A hunch, luck and painstaking investigation lead Hallam and his team to the uncovering of a vicious chain of narcotics distributors.

Airdate: Melbourne & Sydney 6/10/67, Adelaide 12/10/67

4. Corner Of The Market

Capt. Race.......Ken Goodlet
Greer.......Alister Smart
Fred.......Reg Gorman
Arnell.......Wynn Roberts
.......Tessa Mallos
.......Allen Bickford

Synopsis: In the decaying south coast fishing town of Maleleucca, the men try to save their town by securing 'a corner of the market' - in smuggling. They arouse the interest of the Customs Special Branch - the amateur's first shipment is lost at sea, and their efforts to replace it are under the watchful eye of undercover officer Bob Piper, but the solution to the case is a bitter surprise to Hallam.

Airdate: Melbourne & Sydney 13/10/67, Adelaide 19/10/67

5. Sweet And Sour

Script.......Allan Trevor

Synopsis: Chief Insp. Hallam sends Jim Shurley, who is having personal problems, to the small country town of Summerfield which he believes is the distribution centre for contraband radios. With the help of his former girlfriend, Shurley tracks down the man behind the smuggled transistor radios.

Airdate: Melbourne & Sydney 20/10/67, Adelaide 26/10/67

6. A Drop In The Ocean

Jean.......Valerie Taylor
Clay.......Martin Harris
Royce.......Martin Magee
Albert.......John Morris

Script.......Allan Trevor

Synopsis: Chief Insp. Hallam has a definite tip that the Tongsan is carrying a large haul of narcotics, but the ship proves to be clean. After realising that the only possible contact was by fishing boat, Hallam takes his team into a beach resort. A surfboard rider off Manly beach proves to be the key to the vicious drug syndicate that pays off in murder.

Airdate: Melbourne & Sydney 27/10/67, Adelaide 2/11/67

7. Madame Ukelele

Don.......Willie Fennell
Eddie Miller.......Don Crosby
Stripper.......Josie McKay
Vic.......Barrett Fleming
Receptionist.......Lyn Lee
.......Gordon Glenwright

Synopsis: Middle-aged vaudeville artist Eddie Miller has been smuggling watches for years. Having served his time, Miller's last trip from Melbourne begins a chain of accidents that threatens his resolve to go straight. Miller was one of Hallam's first arrests in his Customs' career, and Hallam takes a personal interest in an investigation into Miller's affairs, and Bob Piper learns his chief has memories.

Airdate: Melbourne & Sydney 3/11/67, Adelaide 9/11/67

8. Target, Smokehouse

Det. Sgt. Tony Thompson.......Ron Graham
Sam Kodiak.......Richard Meikle
Erley.......Eddie Hepple
Const. Nash.......Robert Bruning
Davidson.......Ron Roberts
Frank Bitters.......John Armstrong
Pilch.......Robert McDarra
Cox.......Alister Smart
McGee.......Stan Penrose
Kessell.......Peter Williams
Whitman.......Robin Cuming
Sandy McGee.......Shirley Cameron

Script.......James Workman
Director.......Wilf Buckler

Synopsis: In an inner Sydney suburb a notorious opium den continues its flagrant operation, and Chief Insp. Ted Hallam is requested by the Minister to eradicate it at all costs. When an informant is murdered, Customs Special Branch and the police move in on the den in a joint operation.

Notes: James Workman won an Awgie Award (1968) for this script.

Airdate: Melbourne & Sydney 10/11/67, Adelaide 16/11/67

9. Films Are Just For Kicks

Dimiti.......Janne Walmsley
Ed Sanders.......Ross Thompson
Allen.......Max Cullen
Hutchison.......Don Philps

Synopsis: When the Vice Squad stumble across an allegedly obscene psychedelic movie, Chief Insp. Hallam and his team are called in to check whether it is of local origin or has been smuggled in from abroad. Piper and Keally find themselves experiencing the 'love generation' first hand at a wild hippie party, while Shurley is sent out to investigate smuggled amphetamine pills.

Notes: First episode with John Gregg as Charles Keally.

Airdate: Melbourne & Sydney 17/11/67, Adelaide 23/11/67

10. Deadly Harvest

Nikola Pradic.......Kirrily Nolan
Stepan Pradic.......Allen Bickford
Mama Pradic.......Doreen Warburton
.......Rod Mullinar
.......Tom Oliver

Synopsis: After a man dies from contaminated liquor, Chief Insp. Hallam traces suspect supplies to a quiet valley where some migrants are illegally brewing 'grappa'. Bob Piper goes under cover, which involves him in a short jail sentence, back-breaking toil on a poor fruit farm, a fierce fight with a jealous young Yugoslav, and the disquieting attentions of pretty Nikola Pradic, believed to be the daughter of one of the wine makers.

Airdate: Melbourne & Sydney 24/11/67, Adelaide 30/11/67

11. A Case Of Kinetics

Neirmacher.......Redmond Philips
Kraft.......Kevin Miles
Nicoll.......Tom Oliver
Alma Styssen.......Pamela Raymond
Styssen.......Bill Hodge
Vechter.......Ray Lamont

Synopsis: Five people from an overseas liner engage Chief Insp. Hallam's interest - an American acoustics expert with an attaché case full of pornographic literature, a con-man who is a master of disguise, an empire builder and his wife, and a self-styled kineticist with his kinetikit.

Airdate: Melbourne & Sydney 1/12/67, Adelaide 7/12/67

12. Man On The Hook

Murdoch.......John Ewart
Pogo.......Reg Gorman
Billy Baker.......John Unicomb
McNabb.......Chris Christensen
Shelley.......Amanda Irving
Harry.......Don Sky

Synopsis: A single miscalculation will result in tragedy when Hallam seeks the names behind an unknown opium syndicate. The only lead is the man who tipped off the Customs Special Branch about a hide of opium on the old freighter Alvin, and the ship's bosun, Billy Baker, himself an addict who is now deprived of his supplies.

Airdate: Melbourne & Sydney 8/12/67, Adelaide 14/12/67

Janet Kingsbury and John Bonney

13. Time Out

.......Barbara Frawley
.......Peter Whitford

Script.......Colin Free
Director.......Eric Tayler

Synopsis: When Jim Shurley visits a timber yard to meet an informer he finds him dead. The information has died with him, and Shurley is left with no more than a network of suspicions that fail to interlock, and then he is put out of action when a brutal attempt is made on his own life. Keally finds his investigations take him into a world of people who live on the borderline of the law. These include a prostitute, and a lonely old man living in a dockland who does not hesitate to kill.

Airdate: Melbourne 15/12/67, Adelaide 21/12/67

SERIES 2

14. Closed Circuit

Douglas Holly.......Brian James
Mira Sainsbury.......Janne Walmsley
Verna Salvo.......Jessica Noad
Mallow.......Eric Archer

Synopsis: Hallam's well laid plans go astray when he races the courier for an international syndicate engaged in smuggling Australian parrots. The racket threatens to become a million-dollar crime, especially when the celebrated Paradise Parrot - thought to be extinct - is shipped to New Zealand. Investigations lead the Customs Special Branch on an ocean liner trip to New Zealand, and Hallam assumes the role of a shipboard bore to try and get the truth from a famous ornithologist, Douglas Holly, who is involved in the smuggling.

Notes: Segments were filmed on the ocean liner Angelina Lauro en route to New Zealand.

Airdate: Melbourne 15/8/68, Adelaide 23/8/68

15. Samson Out Of Joint

Liber.......Ronald Morse
Steve Chambers.......Dennis Miller
Tina.......Rosemary Butcher
Samson Suggs.......Sean McEuan
Himself (disc jockey).......Ward Austin
Himself (reporter).......Gerald Stone

Synopsis: 'Gear' and girls are the main concern of celebrated British pop singer Samson Suggs. Both enter the country via the back door: the 'gear' is Acapulca gold - first class marijuana. When Suggs is caught with a reefer, Hallam suspects more is hidden away.

Airdate: Melbourne & Sydney 22/8/68

16. Money For Jam

.......Harry Lawrence

Synopsis: Newell, a shiftless Hawkesbury River district farmer, is a man accustomed to looking for lurks. The best thing that has ever come his way is picked up on a midnight boat cruise - money for jam. The sleepy environment of this quiet backwater is the other end of a line of contraband that stretches from New York. Newell finds life easier acting as a receiver of smuggled jewels than working his property - until the Customs Special Branch move in.

Airdate: Melbourne 29/8/68

17. In For A Penny

Donald Steele.......Robert Helpmann
Mrs. Klaus.......Marilyn Mayo
Kimble.......Harry Lawrence
McLean.......Tom Farley
Air hostess.......Benita Collings
Johnson.......Damien Parker
Janet.......Barbara Joss
ASIO officer 1.......Mark Albiston
ASIO officer 2.......Tony Thurbon
Customs officer.......Barry Hayes
Whitman.......Robin Cumming
Captain Geddes.......Alex Cann
Mate.......John Paisley
Steward.......Eddie Marsh
Adair.......Ronald Golding
Houghton.......Dan Milder

Script.......John Martin
Director.......Brian Faull

Synopsis: Donald Steele has carved himself a niche in the world of finance and his greed causes him to turn to smuggling in a large way. To trap him, Charles Keally begins accepting bribes from Steele and ends up in his employ, while Mardi Shiel infiltrates his set-up and gains Steele's confidence by acting as his girlfriend.

Notes: Most expensive episode of the whole series, utilising many lavish 'props' (seaplane, luxury cars, a harbour-side mansion, helicopter, Navy patrol boat, and an ocean cruiser). Robert Helpmann was asked to play the lead guest role, and was available for only one week - which had to include learning the script and rehearsal.

Airdate: Melbourne 5/9/68, Adelaide 13/9/68

18. The Professionals

Hauschild.......Alistair Duncan
Jimson.......Ray Taylor
Barnao.......Guy Le Claire
Roberts.......Max Rowley
.......Bryan Niland
.......Stella Pithey

Synopsis: While Chief Insp. Hallam is on holidays, Bob Piper becomes involved in a case of art robbery with international ramifications. Jimson, a playboy art collector, is one of two Sydney contacts of a mysterious migrant in shabby clothes named Hauschild, who is stopped by Customs officers as he steps ashore with a suspected stolen painting that could be worth thousands. The investigation leads the Customs Officers into the uncovering of a Nazi political party, and a twilight world of neo-Nazis, swindlers and thieves.

Airdate: Melbourne 12/9/68, Adelaide 20/9/68

19. Double Exposure

George Payne.......Ron Haddrick
Jack Fry.......Tim Eliott
William Searby.......John Unicomb
Denise Payne.......Rona Coleman
Coral.......Beverley Kirk
Miss Burney.......Eve Hardwick
Lester.......Donald MacDonald
Parking attendant.......James Bowles
Club member.......John Quinlan

Script.......Robert Peach
Director.......John Croyston

Synopsis: George Payne, a respectable businessman, is blackmailed by an importer of pornographic films by the threat that compromising photographs of his daughter would be revealed unless he assists in organising a screening of blue films for an audience of 300 men. Hallam's search narrows down to Payne, and a shadowy fringe of men who deal in dollars and, sometimes, flesh and blood.

Airdate: Melbourne 19/9/68, Adelaide 27/9/68

20. Game For Two Players

Carole.......Rowena Wallace
.......Martyn Sanderson

Script.......Martyn Sanderson

Synopsis: Carole, a flighty young girl just returned from London, attempts to bring drugs into the country, thinking they are 'sophisticated'. She meets an old boyfriend, Charles Keally, and offers him some, unaware that he is now a Customs officer. Keally has to decide whether to arrest her, and lose her, or resign from the Customs Department. Keally's entanglement with Carole jeopardises Hallam's plans to crack another drug gang.

Airdate: Melbourne 26/9/68, Adelaide 4/10/68

21. Tiger By The Tail

Hoffman.......Kevin Miles
Martin Fly.......Max Meldrum
Samantha.......Judith Fisher
'Keyhole' model.......Colleen Clancy

Script.......Colin Free
Director.......Eric Tayler

Synopsis: Carrying out a police request to investigate 'Keyhole' magazine, Hallam comes up against the man he can least tolerate - Martin Fly, who has just been released from prison after serving a sentence following a conviction by Hallam. Fly has started distributing mail order pornographic magazines, and Hallam is determined to stop Fly once and for all. Bob Piper gets a lead through a friend of his, Samantha, and with the help of a 'Keyhole' model, a trap is set for Fly.

Notes: Features the return of Martin Fly, who first appeared in episode 1, 'Cage A Tame Tiger'.

Airdate: Melbourne 3/10/68, Adelaide 11/10/68

22. According To Arcadius

Dallas.......Ron Haddrick
Darnell.......Alistair Duncan
Irene Arcadius.......Clarissa Kaye
Glover.......Don Crosby
Sheldon.......Charles McCallum
David Foy.......Alexander Hay
Plowden.......Reg Collins
Frank Stellar.......Gregory De Polnay
Ben.......Sean McEuan
George.......Terry Finnegan
Smitty.......Kevin Johns
Foreman.......Les Foxcroft
Detective.......Barry Donnelly
Customs officer 1.......Bob McPhee
Customs officer 2.......Harold Jones
Bank guard 1.......David Haddon
Bank guard 2.......Jack Cable
Watchman.......George Grey

Script.......Colin Free
Director.......Brian Faull

Synopsis: Financier Kevin Arcadius dies suddenly, leaving a master plan for using imported counterfeit money worth millions. Hallam goes undercover posing as a professional criminal from London and joins the organisation, the Arcadius Syndicate, in order to break it up.

Airdate: Melbourne 10/10/68, Adelaide 18/10/68

Ep. 21: Colleen Clancy

Ep. 22: Don Crosby and Alistair Duncan

23. Write-Off

Austin.......James Condon
Gun-runner.......Barry Donnelly
Shepherd.......Frankie Davidson

Script.......Brian Wright
Director.......Ken Hannam

Synopsis: A near-bankrupt manufacturer, Austin, desperately tries to salvage his engineering business by becoming involved with professional smugglers. As the bids range higher, Austin realises that his business and also his life is a write-off, when he joins a gang of smugglers who are running guns to island insurgents.

Airdate: Melbourne 17/10/68, Adelaide 25/10/68

24. A Mention In Despatches

Szarvos.......Don Reid
Filbert.......Tim Eliott
Sam.......Judith Fisher
Quillen.......Edward Howell
Nan Hallam.......Lyn James

Synopsis: Bob Piper has just returned from Berlin where he has been investigating a racket in counterfeit money involving innocent migrants. Suddenly all his hopes and plans are corroded by an unbalanced man who has followed him back to Australia, who is playing a waiting game and is intent on revenge. Piper finds that violence has returned with him and not only is his life in danger, but death threatens the one woman in his life.

Airdate: Melbourne 24/10/68, Adelaide 1/11/68

25. Fool's Gold

Barney McNeill.......Graham Rouse
Joshua Storey.......Wynn Roberts
Walter Bailey.......Jack Allan
Captain Grant.......Patrick Orde
Billy Wilson.......Kevin Leslie
Major Ogden.......Tom Lake
Jock.......Shane Porteous
Sarah.......Eve Hardwick
Prudence Storey.......Philippa Baker
Elder.......John Brunskill
Sect member.......Les Foxcroft

Script.......John Martin
Director.......Ken Hannam
Production Assistant.......Frank Arnold

Synopsis: Minor breaches of Customs regulations don't bother Joshua Storey at all, but then Joshua, a member of an obscure religious sect who imports junk and scrap metal from New Guinea, has never been in possession of a large quantity of stolen gold before. Chief Insp. Hallam follows a strange trail as he tries to prevent the stolen gold from being taken out of the country.

Airdate: Melbourne 31/10/68, Adelaide 8/11/68

26. Collectors Piece

John Courbet.......Kevin Miles
Anne Courbet.......Jennifer West

Synopsis: A complaint to the Collector Of Customs takes Chief Insp. Hallam and his team to the palatial oriental-style home of John Courbet, an expert on Japanese art, who imports prohibited films for his own enlightenment. It isn't long before Courbet is connected with a nationwide smuggling ring.

Airdate: Melbourne 7/11/68, Adelaide 15/11/68

27. File It Under Personal

George Bishop.......Mike Dorsey
Len Bishop.......John Warwick
Judy.......Ann Charleston
Aunt Elma.......Neva Carr-Glynn
Nan Hallam.......Lyn James

Synopsis: Customs agents uncover a highly organised illicit wine business ostensibly operating as a legitimate organisation. Chief Insp. Hallam has a problem of conscience when he suspects one of his friends.

Airdate: Melbourne 14/11/68, Adelaide 22/11/68

28. Double Entry

Peter Chattaway.......John Gray
Tom Keating.......Peter Collingwood
George Pecton.......Deryck Barnes
Bill Baker.......Frank Taylor
Hazel Reeves.......Pat Bishop
Miss Ackroyd.......Ailsa Carpenter
John.......Alan Dearth
Adams.......Lionel Haft
Bennett.......Des Rolfe
Beryl.......Margaret Shephard
Skindiver.......Robert Quilter
Foreman.......Vaughan Tracey
Det. Sgt. Harrison.......Don McNiven

Script.......Ron Harrison
Director.......John Croyston

Synopsis: For many years Chattaway has evaded Customs duty on thousands of radio parts through a swindle involving a number of interlocking firms. The discovery of drugs brought in on a luxury yacht indicates that Chattaway is mixed up in drug running, and the Customs Special Branch uncover a trail which leads to transistor radio parts in cases which should contain machinery.

Airdate: Melbourne 21/11/68, Adelaide 29/11/68

29. Blind Man's Bluff

Marcia Haslek.......Gillian Jones
Rev. Welsh.......Joe James
Blind Cyril.......Alistair Duncan
Ken Hodge.......Martyn Sanderson
Dr. Yarnold.......Ric Hutton
R & R man.......Bruce Kerr
Mrs. Creel.......Marion Johns
Micky.......Ron Shand
Doorman.......Peter Whitford
Blackett.......Graham Rouse
Bouncer.......Jack Coble
Waiter.......David Whitford
Crowe.......John Gaden
Social worker.......Margot Lloyd
Cliff.......Bob Karl
Taxi driver.......Ambrose Foster

Script.......Martyn Sanderson
Director.......Brian Bell

Synopsis: Shurley is a volunteer member of a group who help drug addicts break the habit. His friend Marcia Haslek finds she can't stop taking drugs, and, more heavily addicted than ever, she returns to the streets as a prostitute - the only way she knows of earning enough money to pay for them. Customs Special Branch officers watch her contacts who lead them to the source of the supply - a blind dope pedlar called Blind Cyril, who proves to be a surprisingly fast moving quarry.

Airdate: Melbourne 28/11/68, Adelaide 6/12/68

30. A Good Way To Go

Sancter.......Noel Trevarthen
Nola.......Barbara Angell
Carlos Valdes.......Jack Hume

Synopsis: Carlos Valdes, a master smuggler, comes out of retirement to dispose of $500,000 worth of stolen gold bullion. Chief Insp. Hallam has applied for higher duties and is forced to play cat and mouse with Valdes, knowing that if he fails to prevent the stolen gold from being taken out of the country he will almost certainly lose his chance for promotion.

Notes: Also listed in some programme guides as 'What A Way To Go'.

Airdate: Melbourne 5/12/68, Adelaide 13/12/67