''Hunter'' was an Australian

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...

adventure

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...

screened by the Nine Network from Tuesday 4 July 1967 to 1969. The series was created by Ian Jones and produced by

Crawford Productions Crawford Productions is an Australian media production company, focused on radio and television production. Founded in Melbourne by Hector Crawford and his sister, actress and voice artist Dorothy Crawford, the company, also known as Crawfor ...

.Moran, Albert. ''Moran's Guide to Australian TV Series'', Allen & Unwin, 1993. } p 234-5

Series synopsis

The title character, John Hunter, was an agent working for SCU3, a sub-division of the

ASIO ''Asio'' is a genus of typical owls, or true owls, in the family Strigidae. This group has representatives over most of the planet, and the short-eared owl is one of the most widespread of all bird species, breeding in Europe, Asia, North and ...

-like COSMIC (Commonwealth Office of Security & Military Intelligence Co-ordination). While it is mentioned in episodes that "Hunter" is a status level for agents (similar to the "Double-O" status of

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

), with the title character being "Hunter 5"; he gives "Hunter" as his surname both in current scenes and flashback sequences. He was played by Tony Ward. However, he was quickly overshadowed by the show's main antagonist, Kragg, an agent employed by the Australian operation of the CUCW (Council for the Unification of the Communist World). Played by

Gerard Kennedy Gerard Michael Kennedy (born July 24, 1960) is a Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as Ontario's minister of Education from 2003 to 2006, when he resigned to make an unsuccessful bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Ca ...

, Kragg became the show's

breakout character A breakout character is a character in serial fiction, especially a member of an ensemble cast, who becomes much more prominent, popular, discussed, or imitated than expected by the creators. A breakout character may equal or overtake the oth ...

, with Kennedy winning a TV Week

Logie Award The Logie Awards (officially the TV Week Logie Awards; colloquially known as The Logies) is an annual gathering to celebrate Australian television, sponsored and organised by the magazine ''TV Week''. The first ceremony was held in 1959 as the ...

for Best New Talent for his portrayal of the character.Storey, Don. ''TV Eye - Classic Australian Television''
TV Eye - Classic Australian Television
/ref> SCU3 was the Melbourne-based arm of COSMIC, headed by Charles Blake (

Nigel Lovell Nigel Tasman Lovell (27 January 1916 – 13 December 2001) was an Australian stage, radio, film and television actor, and producer of opera and both stage and radio drama. History Lovell was born in Sydney, a son of Tasman Lovell, Professor of ...

), with offices in the former National Mutual building or St Kilda Road. Blake's secretary was Eve Halliday (played by Fernande Glyn), who also acted as a field agent. Halliday was replaced for the second season by the recurring character of Julie Coleman (played by Anne Morgan), with real-life police detective Gordon Timmins appearing as agent Doug Marshall (Timmins played a character of the same name in '' Homicide'', on which he also acted as police advisor, although the two roles were not the same character). The CUCW or simply the Council was overseen by Mr. Smith (Ronald Morse), with overseas superiors appearing from time to time, notably the bearded Vargon (Jack Hume).

Production

Scripts were written by Ian Jones and Terry Stapleton. The series became extremely popular rating in the top-ten most popular programs in Australia for 1967, and had a run of 65 one-hour episodes; it also achieved a limited number of international sales. It was shot in black and white, with interior scenes shot on

videotape Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocasse ...

in the

GTV-9 GTV is a commercial television station in Melbourne, Australia, owned by the Nine Network. The station is currently based at studios at 717 Bourke Street, Docklands. History GTV-9 was amongst the first television stations to begin regular t ...

Richmond studio and outdoor scenes shot on location on 16 mm film. Compared to Australian drama series of the day, the series featured an above-average quota of location-shot action footage and stunts. It featured a sophisticated jazz score by

reed Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * ...

player Frank Smith. The Melbourne-based show filmed some episodes in Sydney and in the Snowy Mountains in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, on the Gold Coast, Queensland, in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, and overseas in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. Initially stories were serialised over three and four-episode story arcs. Soon the decision was made to switch to stand-alone episodes. After episode 15 episodes largely featured a self-contained story, apart from two subsequent two-part stories. Kevin Sanders, a GTV-9 news journalist and announcer, supplied the opening narration setting up the lead character and premise over the main title sequence.

Series evolution

As the series progressed the immense popularity of the villain Kragg presented several problems. Apart from apparently being more popular amongst viewers than the show's title character, in the stories the villain invariably had to defeat the ostensible hero in order to still be around for the next episode. In a concession to the character's popularity, Kragg ultimately defected to the side of good. Series star Tony Ward had been somewhat dissatisfied with the direction his character was taking and the increased emphasis on Kragg, and late in the show's run suggested that the high output of episodes by this stage had outstripped the ability of the writers. Late in the show's run and after some disagreements with the show's producers, Ward left the series to pursue movie options - "John Hunter" was executed by a firing squad in an East European country after a mission went wrong (filmed in

Old Melbourne Gaol The Old Melbourne Gaol is a former jail and current museum on Russell Street, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It consists of a bluestone building and courtyard, and is located next to the old City Police Watch House and City Courts buildin ...

). A new lead spy (Gil Martin) was introduced, portrayed by British import

Rod Mullinar Rodney Mullinar (born 1942) is a British Australian actor, noted for his roles on Australian television. He emigrated to Australia with his first wife, casting agent Liz Mullinar in 1969. Career Mullinar took the leading role in Australian es ...

. Mullinar completed eight episodes of the series before it was cancelled. Keen to retain the services of Kennedy, Crawford's decided that new police series ''

Division 4 ''Division 4'' is an Australian television police drama series made by Crawford Productions for the Nine Network between 1969 and 1975 for 301 episodes. Synopsis The series was one of the first dramas to follow up on the enormous success o ...

'' was a better vehicle for his talents. They convinced the Nine Network to cancel ''Hunter'' and proceed with ''Division 4'', which indeed emerged as a popular success. Mullinar subsequently took the lead role in another Crawford's drama series, '' Ryan'' (1973).

Home Media

References

External links

''Hunter''
at Classic Australian Television
''Hunter''
at Crawford Productions * {{IMDb title, id=0196257 Nine Network original programming 1967 Australian television series debuts 1969 Australian television series endings Black-and-white Australian television shows Television shows set in Victoria (Australia) 1960s Australian crime television series Television series by Crawford Productions 1960s Australian drama television series