7. Garry Halliday and the Gun-Runners

Six episodes written by Richard Wade, based on characters created by Justin Blake (aka John Bowen and Jeremy Bullmore). 

Broadcast live on Saturdays, 24 February — 31 March 1962; repeated on Mondays, 5 November — 10 December 1962.

The Voice frames Garry and his friends so that they appear to be smuggling guns to rebels in the middle-eastern country of Talaat. In getting to the truth, the trail takes our heroes to Trieste... and the opera. 

Regular cast: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Audrey Nicholson (Vicky Fox); Frederick Treves (Nigel Fox); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Maurice Kaufmann (Traumann); Edward Jewesbury (Inspector Potter, eps 1-4, 6); Richard Dare (Heidrich, ep 1-4, 6); Simone Lovell (Maid, ep 2; Simonetta, eps 4 and 6); Hugh Latimer (Inspector Romano, eps 2-4); Roland Brand (Hoover, eps 4-6)

Crew: Richard Wade (writer); Justin Blake (characters created by); Leonard Newson (film cameraman); Ron de Mattos (film editor, eps 1-3); Ken Cooper (film editor, eps 4-6); Stewart Marshall (designer); Richard West (producer); Paul Machell aka Paul Ciappessoni (director, eps 2-3, 5); Michael Harald (script associate, eps 3-6).

Uncredited crew: Douglas Camfield (floor manager).

Flying and airport sequences by courtesy of Skyways Ltd.

1. Down to Earth (5.25 pm, Saturday 24 February 1962) — Genome / Radio Times

Top-billed cast: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Maurice Kaufmann (Traumann); Alan Tilvern (General Hasheme).

Cast in order of appearance: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Alan Tilvern (General Hasheme); Ian Fairbairn (Officer); Tom Gill (Mr Pennington); Audrey Nicholson (Vicky Fox); Frederick Treves (Nigel Fox); Edward Jewesbury (Inspector Potter); Maurice Kaufmann (Traumann); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Richard Dare (Heidrich).

Crew: Terry Baker (fight arranged by).

Summary:

“Everything now seems nice and peaceful,” Eddie Robbins remarks to Garry Halliday as they fly towards Aden with a cargo of radio parts. Suddenly they find themselves being buzzed by a strange aircraft. Garry attempts to veer away, but to no avail. He is forced to land in a small, hot, Middle-Eastern country—Talaat. On top of this he finds himself accused of carrying guns to rebels in that country. Naturally he protests. Then he discover that his aircraft has been loaded with gun and not radio parts... He really is in difficulty. (“Garry and the Gun-runners” (preview), Radio Times #1998, 22 February 1962, p. 3.)

Following a fight (arranged by Terry Baker), Garry and Eddie are placed in a cell with a Mr Pennington. When a guard comes in, Garry grabs his gun. Garry and Eddie escape — but are apprehended by General Hasheme, toting a revolver. (Source: opening moments of the script for the next episode.)

2. On the Hook (5.25 pm, Saturday 3 March 1962) — Genome / Radio Times

Top-billed cast: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Maurice Kaufmann (Traumann); Hugh Latimer (Inspector Romano); Alan Tilvern (General Hasheme).

Cast in order of appearance: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Tom Gill (Mr Pennington); Alan Tilvern (General Hasheme); Ian Fairbairn (Officer); Frederick Treves (Nigel Fox); Audrey Nicholson (Vicky Fox); Edward Jewesbury (Inspector Potter); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Maurice Kaufmann (Traumann); Richard Dare (Heidrich); Simone Lovell (Maid); Gerald Turner (Mike Henry); Hugh Latimer (Inspector Romano).

Summary (based on surviving rehearsal script kept by actor Ian Fairbairn): 

• TK1: Pre-filmed sequence played in on tele-cine (referred to on paperwork as “TK”), in this case the opening titles, with caption faded up to show title of the episode.
• Scene 1. Int. Studio: Night — The prison cell at Talaat
  Garry, Eddie and Pennington are in the cell. A guard comes in; Garry jumps him and grabs his gun, which he gives gun to Pennington. Pennington will remain in the cell while Garry and Eddie leave to “find the man who filled my aircraft full of guns”
• Scene 2. Int. Studio: Night — Passage outside cell (1)
  As Garry and Eddie emerge from the cell, they are stopped by General Hasheme, behind them with an automatic. Garry grabs Hasheme’s gun and puts him in the cell. Hasheme says he will shoot down their aircraft if they try to escape, but Garry and Eddie will risk it.
• TK 2: Garry and Eddie exit the airport building at night, sneak to their aircraft, jump a guard “before he has a chance to say Arab Republic” and get onboard, Eddie removing the chocks.
• Scene 3. Int. Studio: Night — Flight deck of Garry's plane (1)
  Garry readies the plane in darkness, using his cigarette lighter to check instruments.
• Scene 4. Int. Studio: Night — Passage outside cell (2)
  The officer (Ian Fairbairn) releases General Hasheme from the cell. Hasheme wants Garry’s aircraft shot down but the officer hands him a telegram bearing the instruction “Let them escape.”
• Scene 5. Int. Studio: Night — Flight Deck (2)
  Garry and Eddie take off.
• TK 3: Garry’s aircraft takes off (at night).
• Scene 6. Int. Studio: Night — Flight Deck (3) 
  Garry and Eddie and relieved to be in the air. Eddie asks if this sort of thing is normal. Garry replies that it used to be, when he dealt with The Voice. He’d thought those days were over. Now he’s not so sure.
• Scene 7. Int. Studio: Night — Garry’s Office [in England] (1)
  Nigel and Vicky Fox, and Inspector Potter, want to help Garry and Eddie. To do so, the Foxes will fly the charter company’s other plane to Trieste (where the guns apparently came from) and then to Talaat. Unseen by the others, Nigel takes a revolver with him.
• Scene 8. Int. Studio: Voice’s Control Room (1)
  The Voice issues commands to “Russ” [as scripted; late in the day, Maurice Kaufmann continued his role as Adolph Traumann from the preceding story] and Heidrich, both seen on monitors. Dialogue in the script says Russ has not previously encountered Garry, which may have been changed to fit Traumann.
• Scene 9. Int. Studio: Day — A hotel room in Trieste (1)
  A long scene, lasting almost 12 pages of script. A maid shows Garry and Eddie into their room. Garry calls home but gets no answer, whereupon the Foxes walk in. After a happy reunion, the maid returns, now with Inspector Romano who thinks they’re all gun-running to rebels in Taalmat. Romano shows them an unloaded, distinctive-looking gun, one of 52 found in a box delivered to Trieste the previous afternoon and addressed to Garry. Then consignment also contained rifles and ammunition. Romano warns Garry and his friends to leave Trieste and not return, then exits. Garry deduces that someone is behind all of this effort to frame him: the Voice was not killed when the temple exploded (at the end of the previous story). To continue their investigations, Garry and Eddie will return to England; the Foxes remain in Trieste.
• Scene 10. Int. Studio: Voice’s Control Room (2)
  The Voice instructs Russ [ie Traumann] to go to Trieste and do something to ensure Garry has to return there — he has Garry “on the hook.”
• TK 4: Garry’s aircraft in flight.
• Scene 11. Int. Studio: Flight Deck (4)
  Eddie draws, from memory, the odd gun Romano showed them which he thinks was specially made. Garry is still convinced that the Voice involved in all this.
• TK 5: Russ [ie Traumann] emerges from Trieste airport, gets into cab; the cab arrives at the hotel.
• Scene 12. Int. Studio: Evening — Hotel Room (2) 
  Nigel Fox heads out to investigate local warehouses and haulage firms that may be involved in this business. Vicky is left alone in the hotel room. Russ [ie Traumann] arrives, grabs her. The last line of the episode is his threat: “You’re going to take a sea voyage.”
• TK 6: Closing credits.

3. A Drop in the Ocean (5.25pm, Saturday 10 March 1962) — Genome / Radio Times

Top-billed cast: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Maurice Kaufmann (Traumann); Hugh Latimer (Inspector Romano).

Cast in order of appearance: Audrey Nicholson (Vicky Fox); Maurice Kaufmann (Traumann); Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Edward Jewesbury (Inspector Potter); Fred Ferris (Mr Chamberlaine); Frederick Treves (Nigel Fox); Mike Hall (Ted); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Jane Cavendish (Waitress); Gerald Turner (Mike Henry); Hugh Latimer (Inspector Romano); Richard Dare (Heidrich). 

Summary: Unknown.

4. Unhappy Landing (5.25 pm, Saturday 17 March 1962) — Genome / Radio Times

Top-billed cast: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Maurice Kaufmann (Traumann); Hugh Latimer (Inspector Romano).

Cast in order of appearance: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Hugh Latimer (Inspector Romano); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Maurice Kaufmann (Traumann); Richard Dare (Heidrich); Frederick Treves (Nigel Fox); Audrey Nicholson (Vicky Fox); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Michael J Harrison (Policeman); Penelope Lee (Receptionist); Roland Brand (Hoover); Simone Lovell (Simonetta); Michael Harald (First mechanic); Norman Hartley (Second mechanic); Edward Jewesbury (Inspector Potter).

Uncredited supporting roles: Sheila Dunn (walk-on supporting artist).

Summary: Unknown.

5. A Box at the Opera (5.25 pm, Saturday 24 March 1962) — Genome / Radio Times

Top-billed cast: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Maurice Kaufmann (Traumann).

Cast in order of appearance: Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Frederick Treves (Nigel Fox); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Audrey Nicholson (Vicky Fox); Maurice Kaufmann (Traumann); Sandra Skermer (Receptionist); Roland Brand (Hoover); Roy Purcell (Gustav); Dennis Harkin (Hans).

Crew: Terry Baker (fight arranged by).

Summary: Unknown.

6. Finale (5.25 pm, Saturday 31 March 1962) — Genome / Radio Times 

Top-billed cast: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Maurice Kaufmann (Traumann).

Cast in order of appearance: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Frederick Treves (Nigel Fox); Maurice Kaufmann (Traumann); Roland Brand (Hoover); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Richard Dare (Heidrich); Audrey Nicholson (Vicky Fox); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Edward Jewesbury (Inspector Potter); Simon Lovell (Simonetta); Dennis Harkin (Hans); Kevin Barry (Austrian inspector).

Summary: Unknown.

Production notes:

This has been the most difficult of the Garry Halliday stories to piece together. What sources I can find prompt further questions — and I’ve only partial answers.

As we’ve seen, in autumn 1960 Richard Wade seems to have been working in-house at the BBC as uncredited script editor on Garry Halliday. In mid-September, series creators John Bowen and Jeremy Bullmore (working under the pseudonym Justin Blake) delivered their scripts for the fourth Garry Halliday story, The Sands of Time, which Wade reworked ahead of the start of production; the first episode was probably recorded on 1 November.

By 17 November, Bowen and Bullmore had also delivered scripts for the fifth Garry Halliday story, The Flying Foxes. In September, the plan had been for Wade to revise these as well, for a fee of 30 guineas per script. This fee, over and above his staff salary, was acknowledgement that the revisions would be pretty extensive; it was 50% of the fee he’d later be paid for writing episodes from scratch. 

Perhaps because his work on the fourth story proved more extensive and time-consuming than expected, responsibility for the fifth story was handed to another in-house writer, David Whitaker. The plan was then for Wade and Whitaker to co-write the next two Garry Halliday stories: one based on a storyline already accepted from Bowen and Bullmore, the other of their own devising. (Source: Script Organiser, Television [Robin Wade] to Miss Ross, copy to Richard West, “GARRY HALLIDAY (5th series)”, 17 November 1960, John Bowen Drama Writer’s File, WAC T48/103/1, a copy also held in Whitaker, David, Copyright File 1, 1958-1962, WAC RCONT1) 

A formal commission for this original story was issued on 14 December, with Wade and Whitaker to be paid 30 guineas each per instalment of the seven-episode story. Although the brief does not survive, it is referred to in a latter memo confirming that the first half of the fee was being issued to the two writers. (Source: Miss DL Ross, Copyright Department to Script Organiser [Robin Wade] in room 5055 TC, “GARRY HALLIDAY — 5TH SERIES”, 29 December 1960, Whitaker, David, Copyright File 1, 1958-1962, WAC RCONT1)

But then, on 31 December, Jeremy Bullmore wrote a stiffly worded letter to Garry Halliday producer Richard West, and just over a week later objected to Whitaker’s rewrites on the fifth story in a formal complaint to Owen Reed, Head of Children’s Television. Bullmore (and Bowen) did not want to be credited as writers on the story as revised but the credits for at least the first episode had already been recorded. The producer agreed to have a voiceover announcement correct the credit during broadcast: the story would now be credited solely to David Whitaker, based on characters created by Blake. (Source: Jeremy Bullmore to Mr [Owen] Reed, 10 January 1961, John Bowen Drama Writer’s File, WAC T48/103/1)

Donald Wilson, the Head of Script Department (and Whitaker’s boss), responded to this complaint in a letter to Bowen and Bullmore’s agent, confirming the revised credit. But he also said it was now unlikely that the storylines that the authors had submitted for further Garry Halliday adventures (suggesting they provided more than one) would be used. Instead, entirely new storylines would be sent to Bowen and Bullmore in due course, whereupon they could decide on an appropriate credit. (Source: Donald Wilson, Head of Script Department, Television, to Gareth Wigan, Esq at John Redway & Associates, 12 January 1961, John Bowen Drama Writer’s File T48/103/1)

The result of all this was, first, a discrepancy in the credits. Fourth story The Sands of Time, broadcast between 5 November and 17 December 1960 — that is, before the complaints from Bullmore — was credited solely to Justin Blake, with no credit for Richard Wade who revised the scripts. But fifth story The Flying Foxes, written by Blake and then revised by David Whitaker, was credited solely to Whitaker.

Secondly, Wade and Whitaker were now devising two new Garry Halliday stories. The obvious way forward was for them to take one each — but things weren’t quite so simple in practice.

One issue was that the BBC faced criticism for too often commissioning in-house writers, referred to as “shopping down the corridor” by the Screenwriters’ Guild (now the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain). (Source: p. 28 of Robin Wade, “Where the Difference Began — Some developments in scripts and script sections in BBC Television, 1936-74”, BBC Television Script Unit, 1975; held at BFI Conservation Centre ref. 654.197-82)

To address this, staff needed formal approval to contribute to programmes beyond their full-time capacity, and there were fixed limits on how many such contributions they could make in a given year. The day after Wilson wrote to Bowen and Bullmore’s agent, permission was given for Whitaker, as an in-house member of staff, to co-write with Wade a single seven-episode story for broadcast in the autumn. Notably, Wade was described as an “outside contributor", ie no longer on staff at the BBC. (Source: AG Finch, Television Establishment, to Script Organiser [Robin Wade], “‘GARRY HALLIDAY’: MR DAVID WHITAKER (B/74624)”, 13 January 1961, Whitaker, David, Copyright File 1, 1958-1962, WAC RCONT1) 

Whitaker wrote the first two episodes of the new serial himself, then co-wrote episodes 3-7, all of which had been delivered by 5 February. (Source: Senior Establishment Assistant, Programmes, Television [CS Mortimer] to Television Accountant, “‘GARRY HALLIDAY’: MR DAVID WHITAKER (B/74624)”, “5 January” 1961 but surely 5 February as it refers to events of 13 January, Whitaker, David, Copyright File 1, 1958-1962, WAC RCONT1) 

But I don’t think he co-wrote them with Richard Wade; when Garry Halliday and the Secret of Omar Khayyam was broadcast in 1962, it was credited to Whitaker and Michael Harald, an actor friend of producer Richard West, who was in the cast of the fifth story, The Flying Foxes, at exactly the time when the new story was being written.

Richard Wade was instead responsible for the other new story and, as the BBC’s Script Organiser acknowledged later that year, he never really collaborated with Whitaker at all. But while Whitaker delivered his scripts within weeks of the commission, Richard Wade didn’t deliver his full set of scripts until September. 

That month, Script Organiser Robin Wade wrote to Owen Reed, the Head of the Children’s Department, to suggest they attempt to renegotiate the contract agreed with Richard Wade’s agent. David Whitaker was, he said, keen to dissolve a relationship that had never really existed and for each to be responsible for their own scripts — suggesting Whitaker had been left with some responsibility for Wade’s story as uncredited script editor. One awkwardness, says the memo, was that Richard Wade had originally been commissioned for a seven-part story but this had been cut down to six. The memo concluded that a decision could be made on 16 September, once they saw what Richard Wade ultimately delivered. (Source: Script Organiser, Television [Robin Wade] to H.C.P.Tel [ie Owen Reed, Head of Children's Programmes], “GARRY HALLIDAY: RICHARD WADE”, 5 September 1961, Whitaker, David, Copyright File 1, 1958-1962, WAC RCONT1)

The sense is of multiple frustrations: Richard Wade annoyed that his commission had been cut back by an episode, in favour of Whitaker, who had succeeded him as script editor; Whitaker annoyed by the ongoing association when Wade hadn’t delivered his scripts. I’m not sure what else was going on in Richard Wade’s life at the time to explain the delay though he has no credits listed on IMDB for the whole of 1961. But it doesn’t help tracing things that around this time another Richard Wade (born 1938) started at the BBC, who rather eclipsed him in the record; this Richard Wade was later executive producer on Tomorrow's World and in a senior position at Radio 4.

Reed, in reply to Robin Wade, acknowledged Whitaker’s “embarrassment” and suggested one practical solution: that they swap the order of the two new stories, with Whitaker’s going first into production. As well as Whitaker having delivered his scripts, he had a good relationship with the producer, said Reed, who also agreed with the proposal to renegotiate contracts to be fair to all parties. Notably, Reed concluded that when they finally received Wade’s scripts — suggesting that they were overdue — these would come under David Whitaker’s purview as the script department’s representative on the series. (Source: Head of Children’s Programmes, Television [Owen Reed] to S.O.Tel [Robin Wade, Script Organiser, Television], “GARRY HALLIDAY: RICHARD WADE”, 13 September 1961, Whitaker, David, Copyright File 1, 1958-1962, WAC RCONT1)

So, Whitaker wanted to be disentangled from Richard Wade but, at this point, the plan was that he would still script edit Wade’s scripts. I can see why Whitaker would not have been keen on this, given that his last revisions to someone else’s Garry Halliday script had ended up with them taking their names off the episodes. 

How much did Whitaker actually do on Wade’s scripts when they eventually came in? As an in-house script editor, he was never going to be credited on the episodes he worked on. But listings for episodes 3-6 include a credit for “script associate” Michael Harald; perhaps Whitaker readied the first two scripts for production and was then able to leave the series by handing over to Harald, with whom he’d co-written the sixth serial.

Alternatively, perhaps Whitaker was allowed to leave the project before this, given all the embarrassment, with Harald replacing him in the editorial role on both stories. If so, Harald reworked The Secret of Omar Khayyam so that it could go first into production and the was considered substantial enough work for him to be granted a credit as co-writer. He then did some editorial work on The Gun-Runners for which he was credited as script associate on the latter episodes. The discrepancy in the way Harald was credited on the two stories is striking. Perhaps, in renegotiating the contract with Richard Wade, the BBC agreed to correct the perceived injustice in the way The Sands of Time and The Flying Foxes had been credited. 

Sadly, there’s nothing in surviving paperwork to tell us.

Even so, swapping the order created some anomalies. That The Gun-Runners was originally planned to go first explains its setting. Presumably, the fictional middle-eastern state of Talaat would have been — or would have been revealed to be close to — Balakesh, the fictional state where the Voice was “killed off” at the end of The Sands of Time. 

Yet the story with which it switched places, The Secret of Omar Khayyam, is also set in the Middle East. Always before, the sell of a new Garry Halliday story had been a different foreign location. One possibility is that The Gun-Runners was originally set mostly in Trieste (as per the surviving script) but would reveal to the viewer that the Voice was still alive in Balakesh; Omar Khayyam would then have seen Garry and his friends trying to find him there. Switched round, the Voice is revealed to be in the Middle East in one story and then, once thwarted, he uncharacteristically stays there rather than flees.

Whatever the case, the scripts were revised and readied for production. Robin Wade’s memo of 13 September suggests that production was to begin on Omar Khayyam in November, initially with pre-filming of location and stunt sequences. We don’t know how far in advance of broadcast the episodes were recorded in studio: as we’ve seen, on previous stories that could be either days or weeks in advance.

We at least know that these episodes were pre-recorded because the Radio Times listing for each episode of Omar Khayyam includes the words “BBC recording”. But those words don’t appear in listings for The Gun-Runners, even though broadcast followed directly on from Omar Khayyam. As we’ll see, surviving paperwork shows that the fourth episode of The Gun-Runners, Unhappy Landing, was broadcast live on 17 March 1962; the implication is that this entire story was broadcast live.

This means that the regular cast and crew rehearsed and recorded for seven consecutive weeks on Omar Khayyam, and then had some days or perhaps weeks off before rehearsing and performing live for six consecutive weeks. Why change the way the programme was made and have a gap in the middle?

On Wednesday 7 February, between the broadcast of episodes 5 and 6 of Omar Khayyam, actors Terence Longdon and Bill Kerr were at the BBC’s Television Film Studios in Ealing to pre-film sequences for The Gun-Runners. Things didn’t go quite to plan:  

“Australian actor Bill Kerr receives treatment after fracturing his right arm during a fight sequence with two stunt men at the BBC’s Ealing Film Studio. Kerr was playing the role of Eddie Robbins in the children's drama Garry Halliday and the Secret of Omar Khayyam. Looking on is actor Terence Longdon (left) and director Paul Machell.” (Source: Alamy photo G7BEBR, dated Wednesday 7 February 1962, between broadcast of episodes 5 and 6)

Another account of this made front-page news. Quoting Kerr himself, it said he’d broken his elbow:

“I had to crawl through a window in a cell block on the set,” Mr Kerr said last night. “I was being given a lift up to the window on a man’s hands when everything collapsed and I fell. ... My right elbow was hurting, but I carried on. It was pointless to stop at that stage, and at the time I didn't know anything was broken.” (Source: “Actor injured in film adventure”, Liverpool Daily Post, 8 February 1962, p. 1.)

Photographs published with these accounts and others (“Garry Halliday calls...”, Derby Evening Telegraph, 20 February 1962, p. 13; Northern Daily Mail, 20 February 1962, p. 10; Nottingham Evening News, 20 February 1962, p. 4; Herald Express, 23 February 1962, p. 8.) show Kerr with his arm in a sling. That surely gave the production team two choices: either rewrite scripts to explain his injury or delay production of the episodes until he’d recovered. The longest that they could delay production, to allow him maximum time to recover, was to broadcast live. I think that’s what they did.

The remainder of the pre-filming may also have been delayed due to Kerr’s accident. We know that at least some filming took place on The Gun-Runners more than a fortnight after the accident, and after the final episode of Omar Khayyam had been broadcast on 17 February. On the following Tuesday, a newspaper reported that stars Terence Longdon and Bill Kerr had visited nine year-old Johnny Probyn at his home in Bexhill in Surrey,

“during a break in filming on the South Coast for their TV series.” (Source: “Garry Halliday calls”, Derby Evening Telegraph, 20 February 1962, p. 13.)

The boy had been wounded in an explosion and Kerr was able to commiserate given his own injury.

The accident wasn’t the only press coverage the new story merited. In advance of the first episode, Radio Times boasted a preview, as quoted above in the summary for episode 1. This meant that Radio Times promoted both stories in the 13-episode run; although BBC paperwork speaks of the 13 episodes as a single “serial”, breaking it up into two distinct stories gave it two distinct “opening nights”, allowing for a second wave of publicity. When, the following year, Garry Halliday was succeeded by a series of serials running for a whole year, Radio Times continued this system and devoted space to preview each new Doctor Who story.

The Radio Times preview of The Gun-Runners included a one-paragraph profile of Kerr, who “really is Australian”. “I am a fourth-generation Australian,” Kerr was quoted as saying. The piece said he was brought up in Wagga Wagga and made his first stage appearance at just ten weeks-old, sitting on his mother’s knee. It cited his wide-ranging work from radio series The Flying Doctor to TV sitcom Citizen James. (Source: “Garry and the Gun-runners” (preview), Radio Times #1998, 22 February 1962, p. 3.)

Rehearsals for the studio performance of the first episode of The Gun-Runners probably began on Tuesday 20 February, at the Remembrance Hall on Flood Street in Chelsea, London SW3 — which producer Richard West says in his memoir The Reluctant Soldier & Greasepaint and Girls was the usual haunt for Garry Halliday (Kindle ref. 3369). On Saturday 24 February, cast and crew moved to Studio D at Lime Grove for the live broadcast of the first episode, which was recorded for possible repeat transmission. (Indeed, it was repeated later that year.)

The cast of The Gun-Runners included several recurring characters: as well as the main heroes and villains from the previous story, Edward Jewesbury was back as Inspector Potter, a role he’d played since The Sands of Time. Richard Dare as Heidrich had been Berhman in The Flying Foxes. Hugh Latimer, playing Inspector Romano from episode 2 onwards, had been Temhani in Omar Khayyam. Jane Cavendish as the waitress in episode 3 had been Ruth in The Sands of Time and Giulietta in The Flying Foxes, and so on... 

Ahead of rehearsals on the second episode, beginning Tuesday 27 February, actors were issued with rehearsal scripts that only listed actors in the regular roles (Garry, Eddie, Voice and the Foxes), with supporting cast still to be confirmed. We know this because Ian Fairbairn, cast as the “officer” in episodes 1 and 2, kept his script for the second episode, which I’ve been able to see. 

The script is 27 pages long, plus title page (with cast list) and running order. A note from writer Richard Wade suggests that the opening scene, in the cell, should either be pre-filmed or tele-recorded as part of episode 1 to save on a set that otherwise does not reappear in this episode. Here, the Voice is assisted by “Russ”, a character replaced by Traumann in the broadcast version, with Maurice Kaufmann continuing the role introduced in Omar Khayyam. Likewise, the script makes no mention of Mike Henry, the character played by Gerald Turner introduced in the last two episodes of that story and credited in Radio Times listings for episodes 2 and 3 of this one.

The surviving script includes some handwritten corrections, presumably by Ian Fairbairn, to the officer’s dialogue: the officer lost his line “General — a telegram! General!”, which became the general commanding, “Open this door, guard!” We don’t know what other lines were tweaked or changes made during the rehearsal process, and so how accurate a record this script is of the episode as broadcast.

The script also reveals some of the mechanics of production: the 340 m2 of useable floor space in Studio D at Lime Grove had to accommodate five sets — six if the prison cell was included. Most of these would have been small: a passage outside the prison cell, the flight deck of Garry’s aircraft and the Voice’s control room. Garry’s office was probably a little larger, but the predominant set was the hotel room in Trieste, given the lengthy scene that would have comprised about a third of the episode.

Given this, I think we can speculate a bit about what that set might have been like. There was no pre-filmed footage of Trieste in the episode, so the set had to convey the glamour of this foreign location. The easiest way to do so was through stylish furnishing and props, plus a window showing a suitably impressive view (provided by a photographic backdrop). Something similar, I think, can be seen in the 1968 Doctor Who story The Invasion, in the large, modern office of Tobias Vaughan with its commanding view showing (a photo of) London. The director of The Invasion had been floor manager on The Gun-Runners.

(Above, the set for Tobias Vaughan’s office in The Invasion, designed by Richard Hunt, recreated as a paper model by Philip Lawrence for Action Figure Theatre; photo by MisterBill82 who also made the model, sourced from PaperMau.)

On Thursday 8 March, while rehearsals were under way on the third episode of The Gun-Runners, the Guardian profiled fight arranger and stuntman Terry Baker, surely referring to his recent work on Garry Halliday even if the series went unnamed.

“Mr Baker sometimes takes part in a brawl which he has been engaged to arrange. Only a few weeks ago, in a television serial, he collected a shiner from actor Bill Kerr whose punch went wide of the mark and into his eye.” 

It’s not clear if this accident took place on Omar Khayyam (on which Baker was credited on episodes 4-6)  or The Gun-Runners (on which he was credited on episodes 1 and 5). But the piece revealed that the stuntman was paid 30 guineas for “a three-minute scrap between two to ten people” on a TV serial, and quoted Baker saying that some actors “haven’t a clue how to move in a free-for-all and you have to do some clever work with the camera.” (Source: Geoffrey Moorhouse, “Fighting business”, Guardian, 8 March 1962, p. 9.)

On Saturday 10 March, the Manchester Evening News briefly mentioned Garry Halliday because former star Terence Alexander was now appearing in The Six Proud Walkers, a serial written by Donald Wilson (the BBC’s Head of Script Department) and originally broadcast eight years previously. It was being remounted to fill the break between seasons of “flagging” police series Dixon of Dock Green. The piece also referred to another serial, “Tim Frazer”. (Source: Max North, “Thrills and spills with a new look for Lana [Morris]”, Manchester Evening News, 10 March 1962, p. 5.)

This was The World of Tim Frazer (1960-61), by thriller writer Francis Durbridge, with an 18-week run of episodes comprising three distinct stories. The sense is of television drama moving ever more from the one-off play to formats for ongoing series; this was the context in which Garry Halliday was being produced. The World of Tim Frazer was being repeated in full when this Manchester Evening News article was published and Durbridge also wrote a novelisation, published by Hodder in both hardback and paperback editions in 1962. Just as with Garry Halliday, a successful format could be further exploited in other media.

A week after this newspaper article, the live recording of episode 4 of The Gun-Runners included a small on-screen role for script associate Michael Harald as one of two mechanics. There was also an uncredited role as a “walk-on” for actress Sheila Dunn, booked via her agent Michael Williams Ltd of 1 Wardour Street. We know this from the last-known surviving document relating to this story.

According to the “TELEVISION (Walk-ons)” slip that Dunn kept, post-dated 19 March 1962 (ref. 35/PWM-C), she was paid £3.5.0d per day “to walk on as arranged” at rehearsals held in the Remembrance Hall on Flood Street from 11 am on Friday 16 March and then at Lime Grove Studio D the following day from 10.30 am, ahead of the live broadcast at 5.25. The programme number for the episode was CH62/1804.

Dunn kept this form but not a script for the episode, which may mean she was never sent one; instead (as per the form), she arrived at rehearsals and was told what to do for the episode, presumably by floor manager Douglas Camfield. Dunn later said:

“All I can remember of Douglas at the time of our very first meeting is that he was just a ‘call-boy’, and his ambition was to direct TV — and to do this, you have to become a PA [production assistant], then go on to the Director’s course at the Beeb…” (Source: Michael Seely, Directed by Douglas Camfield, p. 9.) 

According to biographer Michael Seely, Camfield was employed as a floor manager for the BBC’s Productions Management department, where he was assigned to children’s programmes and frequently worked with Garry Halliday producer Richard West. We know, for example, that Camfield worked on the second Garry Halliday story, where he first met his lifelong friend Walter Randall. 

Some months after completing work on The Gun-Runners, Camfield applied for a promotion to PA in the BBC’s Drama department; in doing so, he argued that while working as floor manager on children’s programmes, he had effectively acted as PA anyway. His work on Garry Halliday therefore helped get him the job as PA, which he had taken by the end of 1962.

Dunn got to know Camfield better in 1963 when he was a PA on Z-Cars; they married in 1965, by which time he was a director. But before all of that, Camfield wrote an episode of the eighth and final run of Garry Halliday...

Written by and (c) Simon Guerrier. Thanks to Paul Hayes, Andydrewz, Michael Seely, the BBC's Written Archives Centre, the British Newspaper Archive and Macclesfield Library.

6. Garry Halliday and the Secret of Omar Khayyam

Radio Times preview
4 January 1962

Seven episodes written by David Whitaker and Michael Harald, based on characters created by Justin Blake (aka John Bowen and Jeremy Bullmore).

Pre-recorded ahead of broadcast 6 January - 17 February 1962.

The Voice lives! Members of the Foreign Legion discover him alive and well in the desert, plotting new sinister schemes - and they agree to help him gain his revenge over Garry Halliday. Garry, who no longer has Bill Dodds to support him, is soon caught up in a plot involving an eminent archaeologist and an 11th century poet from Persia...

Regular cast: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Audrey Nicholson (Vicky Fox); Frederick Treves (Nigel Fox); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Maurice Kaufmann (Sergeant Adolph Traumann); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice, credited in Radio Times on all episodes but only appeared from ep 4); Hamlyn Benson (The Voice, eps 1-3, uncredited in listings); Oliver Johnston (Professor Irenon, eps 1-4, 6-7); Jack Rodney (Private Fallon, eps 1-5); George Little (Fahzil Imrali, eps 1-3, 5-6); Hugh Latimer (eps 2-3, 5-7); Robin Lloyd (Paul Brinker, eps 2-4, 6-7); Barbara Evans (Ludmila, 2-3, 5-7); Julie Martin (Leonie Martin, eps 3-5); Kevin Brennan (Mr Karim, eps 5-7)

Crew: David Whitaker and Michael Harald (writers); Justin Blake (based on characters created by); Douglas Wolfe (film cameraman, eps 1-4, 6-7); Ron de Mattos (film editor, eps 1-4, 6-7); Stewart Marshall (designer, eps 1-4, 6-7); Richard West (producer); Paul Machell (director, eps 2-3, 5-7); Terry Baker (fights arranged by, eps 4-6).

Flying and Airport sequences by courtesy of Skyways Ltd.

1. Live and Die (5.25 pm, Saturday 6 January 1962) - Genome/Radio Times

NB: Without the novelisations to work from to provide synopses, the full cast list in Radio Times is a helpful clue to what happened in each episode because actors are listed in order or appearance, plus some actors are given additional top billing in bold, denoting major roles. I'll include these as listed in what follows:

Top-billed cast: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Oliver Johnston (Professor Irenon); Jack Rodney (Private Fallon).

Cast in order of appearance: Clive Cazes (Lieutenant Boule); Bruce Wightman (Private Baltonne); Maurice Kaufman (Sgt. Traumann); Jack Rodney (Private Fallon); Elwyn Brook-Jones Hamlyn Benson (The Voice); Winifred Hindle (Mrs Peacock); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Frederick Treves (Nigel Fox); Audrey Nicholson (Vicky Fox); Oliver Johnston (Professor Ireton); George Little (Fahzil)

Summary: 

"There doesn’t seem to be much connection between Garry Halliday and a famous poet of the Middle East [ie Omar Khayyam (1048-1131)], but young viewers will remember that last seen, ‘The Voice’ was wandering helpless, thirsty, almost dying in the desert. … The new series begins by showing how he escaped death." (Source: "Return of Garry Halliday", Lincolnshire Echo, 28 December 1961, p. 4.)

Four members of the Foreign Legion (1) in the desert of the fictional Balakesh near the real-life Tripoli (2) discover the Voice - alive, but not seen on screen (3). One of the soldiers, Sergeant Adolph Traumann (4) is "tired of his job" and "a man on the make" (5), so presumably does a deal with the Voice. The Voice has "started on another of his grandiose criminal schemes, but before he starts on this he is determined to get rid of Halliday" (6).

The action then switches to one-off character Mrs Peacock and new series regular Eddie Robbins (7), an Australian pilot (8). Only after meeting Bill would viewers have seen a familiar face:

"As the charter plane lands, another quite normal routine flight comes to an end. The pilot steps from the cockpit. It is the owner of the line himself. But no sooner is he in his office than trouble starts. That is hardly surprising for the pilot’s name is Garry Halliday." (9)

Nigel Fox is now Garry's partner in the business and his sister Vicky also works for the airline. They also have a visitor: "a Professor of Archaeology, a man called Irenon, who seeks Garry’s help" (10).

(1) "Traumann, a sergeant in the Foreign Legion" (Source: The Mail Man, "Children's Own —a new adventure series", Birmingham Evening Post, 4 January 1962, p. 8.)

(2) The setting of Garry Halliday and the Sands of Time, where the Voice was last seen.

(3) Although credited in Radio Times, Elwyn Brook-Jones was ill during production of the first three episodes of the story, and his place was taken by Hamlyn Benson. (Source: Cathryn Rose, "Topics for viewers", Grimsby Evening Telegraph, 12 January 1962, p. 6.)

(4) His first name given in the listing for the second episode; it's just possible he might be German.

(5) Quotations from Birmingham Evening Post, as above.

(6) Ibid.

(7) Deduced from the cast list being in order of appearance.

(8) Birmingham Evening Post, as above.

(9) Source: "Garry Halliday" (preview), Radio Times #1991, 4 January 1962, p. 4.

(10) Birmingham Evening Post, as above.

2. Dawn of Reckoning (5.25 pm, Saturday 13 January 1962) - Genome/Radio Times

Top-billed cast: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Oliver Johnston (Professor Irenon); Hugh Latimer (Mr Temhani).

Cast in order of appearance: Audrey Nicholson (Vicky Fox); Oliver Johnston (Professor Ireton); George Little (Fahzil Imrali); Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Frederick Treves (Nigel Fox); Jack Rodney (Fallon); Hugh Latimer (Mr Temhani); Robin Lloyd (Paul Brinker); Maurice Kaufmann (Adolph Traumann); Barbara Evans (Ludmilla); Elwyn Brook-Jones Hamlyn Benson (The Voice); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Denis Harkin (Valet)

Summary: Note how late into proceedings Eddie Robbins appears in the cast list. In the first episode, Robbins is in a scene with Mrs Peacock before the scene featuring Garry Halliday. That makes me wonder when the two men first appeared on screen together - they might not even have met by the end of this second episode. Pre-publicity for the story describes Robbins as Garry Halliday's new co-pilot, replacing Bill Dodds. But perhaps that's a role Eddie took on over the course of this adventure, rather than being in the job from the start.

3. The Goal (5.25 pm, 20 January 1962) - Genome/Radio Times

Top-billed cast: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Oliver Johnston (Professor Irenon); Hugh Latimer (Mr Temhani).

Cast in order of appearance: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Frederick Treves (Nigel Fox); Audrey Nicholson (Vicky Fox); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Oliver Johnston (Professor Irenon); Jack Rodney (Fallon); Barbara Evans (Ludmilla); Elwyn Brook-Jones Hamlyn Benson (The Voice); Maurice Kaufmann (Adolph Traumann); Clive Cazes (Lieutenant Boule); Hugh Latimer (Mr Temhani); George Little (Fahzil Imrali); Robin Lloyd (Paul Brinker); Julie Martin (Leonie Martin).

Summary: Not known.

4. A Key (5.25 pm, 27 January 1962) - Genome/Radio Times

Top-billed cast: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Oliver Johnston (Professor Irenon).

Cast in order of appearance: Frederick Treves (Nigel Fox); Julie Martin (Leonie Martin); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Robin Lloyd (Paul Brinker); Maurice Kaufmann (Adolph Traumann); Pat Wallen (Nurse); Annette Kerr (Miss Sanderly); Jack Rodney (Fallon); Jean Marlow (Typist); Robin Ford (Tony); Valerie Bell (Rita).

Summary: Featured a fight, arranged by Terry Baker. Note also that series regular Audrey Nicholson (Vicky Fox) is not included in the cast list.

5. The Temple (5.25 pm, Saturday 3 February 1962) - Genome/Radio Times

Top-billed cast: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Maurice Kaufmann (Traumann); Jack Rodney (Fallon).

Cast in order of appearance: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); George Little (Fahzil Imrali); Kevin Brennan (Mr Karim); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Julie Martin (Leonie Martin); Barbara Evans (Ludmilla); Maurice Kaufmann (Traumann); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Hugh Latimer (Mr Temhani); Jack Rodney (Fallon); Frederick Treves (Nigel Fox); Audrey Nicholson (Vicky Fox); Anthony Bate (Sergeant Nelson); Terry Baker (First man); John Barry-Hayes (Second man); John Harrison (Third man, credited in Radio Times as "Michael Harrison"); Maureen Moore (Daphnis).

Summary: Featured a fight, arranged by Terry Baker. Since he's the "First man", the fight may have involved him, "Second Man" and "Third Man", late into the episode given their place in the billing.

6. Pitfall (5.25 pm, Saturday 10 February 1962) - Genome/Radio Times

Top-billed cast: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Maurice Kaufmann (Traumann); Oliver Johnston (Professor Irenon); Hugh Latimer (Mr Temhani).

Cast in order of appearance: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); George Little (Fahzil Imrali); George Fisher, Christopher Fay and Dinny Powell (Thugs); Kevin Brennan (Mr Karim); Maureen Moore (Daphnis); Paddy Hayes (Hassan); Frederick Treves (Nigel Fox); Gerald Turner (Mike Henry); Audrey Nicholson (Vicky Fox); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Barbara Evans (Ludmilla); Maurice Kaufmann (Traumann); Madeleine Kasket (Stewardess); Roy Patrick (Fireman); Oliver Johnston (Professor Irenon); Robin Lloyd (Paul Brinker); Hugh Latimer (Mr Temhani). 

Summary: Featured a fight, arranged by Terry Baker, presumably involving the three "Thugs" as Dinny Powell (1932-2023) was a stuntman, and relatively early in the episode given where they are billed.

7. Give and Take (5.25 pm, Saturday 17 February 1962) - Genome/Radio Times

Top-billed cast: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Maurice Kaufmann (Traumann); Oliver Johnston (Professor Irenon).

Cast in order of appearance: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Maurice Kaufmann (Adolph Traumann); Bill Kerr (Eddie Robbins); Frederick Treves (Nigel Fox); Kevin Brennan (Mr Karim); Gerald Turner (Mike Henry); Jack McQuade (Seaman); Elwyn Brook-Jones (The Voice); Oliver Johnston (Professor Irenon); Robin Lloyd (Paul Brinker); Barbara Evans (Ludmilla); Audrey Nicholson (Vicky Fox); Hugh Latimer (Mr Temhani); Kim Peacock (First councillor); Frank Henderson (Second councillor)

Summary: At the end, the Voice is in a temple that explodes, because in the second episode of the next serial, Vicky Fox says: “But Garry, he was buried when that temple blew up.” (Source: script of Garry Halliday and the Gun Runners 2. On the Hook, p. 21) In that same episode, Garry says of the Voice, “I’ve seen him. Not lately but I’ve seen him. I’m one of the few people who has.” (Source: ibid, p. 23.) That suggests that, while Halliday had been face-to-face with the Voice in 3. The Kidnapped Five and 4. The Sands of Time, they don't meet at all in The Secret of Omar Khayyam.

Production notes

On 17 November 1960, BBC Script Organiser Robin Wade proposed that BBC staff writer David Whitaker be engaged to co-write the 13 episodes of the fifth series of Garry Halliday - that is, stories 6 and 7 - to be produced 1961-62. This, of course, followed the example of the 13 episodes of the fourth series (stories 4 and 5), in production at the time and broadcast 1960-61. The first of the new stories was to be based on a storyline already purchased from John Bowen and Jeremy Bullmore, the creators of Garry Halliday (under their pseudonym "Justin Blake"). The second was to be an original scenario devised by Whitaker and Richard Wade, who seems to have been acting as an uncredited script editor on the fourth series. Robin Wade forwarded a copy of his memo about this to producer Richard West, asking to be informed when the Voice had been killed off - ie when Richard Wade completed work revising scripts for the fourth serial. (Source: Script Organiser, Television [Robin Wade] to Miss Ross, copy to Richard West, "GARRY HALLIDAY (5th series)", 17 November 1960, John Bowen Drama Writer’s File, WAC T48/103/1, a copy also held in Whitaker, David, Copyright File 1, 1958-1962, WAC RCONT1)

On 25 November, Miss DL Ross in the BBC copyright department noted that Bowen and Bullmore would need to be paid an additional fee for the use of their characters in any such fifth series of 13 episodes. (Source: Miss DL Rose, Copyright Department, to Script Organiser, Tel. [Robin Wade], "GARRY HALLIDAY - 5TH SERIES", 25 November 1960, John Bowen Drama Writer’s File, WAC T48/103/1) 

That fee seems to have been agreed over the next fortnight and on 14 December Robin Wade issued a copyright brief commissioning Richard Wade and David Whitaker to co-write a new seven-part Garry Halliday serial for 60 guineas per episode each. That brief is not known to survive but is referred to in Miss Ross's confirmation of 29 December in which she added that the first half of the fee was being paid to the two writers. (Source: Miss DL Ross, Copyright Department to Script Organiser [Robin Wade] in room 5055 TC, "GARRY HALLIDAY - 5TH SERIES", 29 December 1960, Whitaker, David, Copyright File 1, 1958-1962, WAC RCONT1)

The plan at this point, then, was for the fifth serial of 13 episode to comprise:

• A six-part story based on a storyline already supplied by Bowen and Bullmore, to be written by Richard West (perhaps in collaboration with David Whitaker)
• A seven-part story that West and Whitaker would cowrite based on their own original storyline

We don't know what either of these storylines entailed, or how much of them survived in the fifth serial when it was eventually broadcast more than a year later. In the meantime, Richard Wade had completed rewrites of Bowen and Bullmore's scripts for the fourth story, The Sands of Time the final episode of which was broadcast on 17 December - killing off the Voice. Whitaker was at work revising Bowen and Bullmore's scripts for the fifth story, The Flying Foxes.

As we saw last time, on 31 December 1960, Jeremy Bullmore wrote a stiffly worded letter to producer Richard West, presumably objecting to the changes made to the fourth story as broadcast, or perhaps to Whitaker's initial reworking of the fifth story. That letter is no longer known to survive but is referred to in subsequent correspondence. On 10 January 1961, the day on which the first episode of The Flying Foxes was pre-recorded in studio, Bullmore wrote to Owen Reed, the Head of the Children's Department for BBC Television, objecting to Whitaker's rewrites. Unable to change the pre-recorded credits, Bullmore wanted an announcement made on broadcast to make clear that Whitaker was the sole author, using characters created by Justin Blake. (Source: Jeremy Bullmore to Mr [Owen] Reed, 10 January 1961, John Bowen Drama Writer’s File, WAC T48/103/1)

Again as discussed last time, Donald Wilson, the Head of Script Department, responded to this formal complaint. In a letter to Bowen and Bullmore's agent, Wilson said that the two writers would be paid for the storylines they'd supplied for the next 13 episodes / two stories, but that it was now unlikely that either of these would be used. Instead, entirely new storylines would be sent to Bowen and Bullmore in due course; they could then decide on an appropriate credit for themselves. (Source: Donald Wilson, Head of Script Department, Television, to Gareth Wigan, Esq at John Redway & Associates, 12 January 1961, John Bowen Drama Writer’s File T48/103/1)

The implication, then, is that the six-part storyline bought from Bowen and Bullmore was abandoned. Stories 6 and 7 would both be original ideas, conceived and co-written by Richard Wade and David Whitaker.

The following day, permission was given for Whitaker, as an in-house member of staff based in room 4016 of Television Centre, to co-write with Richard Wade a new, seven-episode story for broadcast in the autumn. As before, Whitaker was to be paid 60 guineas per episode for 50% of the work. Wade was described as an "outside contributor", ie not on staff at the BBC. Authorisation was also given to pay Whitaker the first half of his fee for this work, ie 210 guineas. (Source: AG Finch, Television Establishment, to Script Organiser [Robin Wade], "'GARRY HALLIDAY': MR DAVID WHITAKER (B/74624)", 13 January 1961, Whitaker, David, Copyright File 1, 1958-1962, WAC RCONT1) 

On 24 January, recording (presumably) took place on the third episode of The Flying Foxes. Rehearsals for the fourth episode probably began two days later, ahead of studio recording on 31 January. The cast for this fourth episode included Michael Harald as "newspaper boy". As we saw last time, Harald was a wartime friend of producer Richard West. As well as his small role on screen, Harald was also soon involved in the writing of Garry Halliday... 

Just over three weeks after Whitaker was commissioned to write the new serial, the BBC formally acknowledged that scripts for all seven episodes had been received and accepted. This was quick, not least given that the work was done outside Whitaker's full-time job as an in-house script editor. It was also noted that the first two scripts had been written solely by Whitaker, who was duly entitled to a full rather than half fee. Episodes 3-7 were written with an outside contributor; Whitaker was due a total second-half fee of 330 guineas. (Source: Senior Establishment Assistant, Programmes, Television [CS Mortimer] to Television Accountant, "'GARRY HALLIDAY': MR DAVID WHITAKER (B/74624)", "5 January" 1961 but surely 5 February as it refers to events of 13 January, Whitaker, David, Copyright File 1, 1958-1962, WAC RCONT1) 

The outside contributor on episodes 3-7 was Michael Harald not Richard Wade. That's confirmed in a later memo from Script Organiser Robin Wade, who explained that Whitaker and Richard Wade had never collaborated on scripts. (Source: Script Organiser, Television [Robin Wade] to H.C.P.Tel [ie Owen Reed, Head of Children's Programmes], "GARRY HALLIDAY: RICHARD WADE", 5 September 1961, Whitaker, David, Copyright File 1, 1958-1962, WAC RCONT1) Harald seems to have reworked Whitaker's initial drafts as he and Whitaker were the credited co-writers on all episodes of story 6 when it was broadcast; Wade the sole credited writer on story 7.

If Harald joined the writing of story 6 only from the third episode, the storyline for this adventure was surely devised by Whitaker alone - albeit in consultation with producer Richard West and acting script editor Richard Wade. The premise seems to have started from the decision to resurrect Halliday's nemesis, the Voice - the antagonist of the first four stories. 

This would have been a big surprise, not least coming halfway through the series of 13 episodes, with Richard Wade's story initially scheduled first (as we'll see in later paperwork). The return of the Voice would have served to galvanise the series midway through its run. But perhaps the plan was never to keep the return of the Voice script. In advance of the new series, publicity could have noted the imminent return of the Voice. A second wave of publicity could then promote episode 8, in which the Voice actually would return. If the episode was structured so that the Voice only appeared in the closing moments, as a cliffhanger, it would build anticipation for the next episode, too. Indeed, these were the tactics used in 1964 to resurrect the Daleks in Doctor Who after they'd been killed off in their first story; with the Daleks returning in the second story of the new series, not the first, and then only in the closing moments of the first episode. David Whitaker was the story editor on The Dalek Invasion of Earth.

Whatever the case, Whitaker had to devise a way to bring the Voice back from the dead. The character had last been seen, at the end of The Sands of Time, wandering lost in the desert of Balakesh, a fictional state close to the real-life Tripoli in Libya. The new story drifted a little eastward, drawing inspiration from the history of Persia (modern-day Iran).

Omar Khayyam (1048-1131) was a noted mathematician and astronomer working under Sultan Malik-Shah. His work included a Treatise on Algebra and, as part of a team, taking especially accurate readings of the stars using new technology, the astrolabe, with which they devised the Jalali calendar. This proved to be far more accurate than the contemporary Gregorian calendar and was still in use into the 20th century. Yet in the west, Omar Khayyam is best-known for the sequence of four-line poems, or Rubaiyat, attributed to him, translated into English by scholar Edward Fitzgerald and first published in 1859. This became “one of the most admired works of Victorian literature” and “in the first half of the 20th century was arguably the most influential [long poem] in the English language”, according to Melvyn Bragg, introducing a 2014 episode of discussion programme In Our Time on the Rubaiyat.

One reason the book resonated with late 19th and early 20th centuries readers in Britain was because of imperial links to the east and to India (where Persian had been an official language of the civil service until the 1830s). Many British people served and/or lived in India or knew people who had done so. Indeed, Whitaker's mother was born in Jalandhar on 21 October 1893. Her son drew on elements of her life and experience in various things he wrote throughout his career, as detailed in my biography.

The Hollywood film The Life, Loves and Adventures of Omar Khayyam (1957), starred Hungarian-American actor Cornel Wilde in the title role, foiling a plot to assassinate the shah. But the Rubaiyat itself doesn't really offer a story to draw from. It's about a man wandering through a Persian town, musing on the nature of existence. 

Perhaps Whitaker drew on Khayyam's career as a mathematician and proto-scientist - was the "secret" of the story some technical innovation or weapon? Perhaps, to tie in with resurrecting the Voice, the plot involved some elixir to restore and extend life. Alternatively, the adventure may have been sparked by an infamous criminal case. In 1948, the body of a man was found in Somerton Park in Adelaide, South Australia, with a scrap of paper in his pocket reading "tamám shud" - "It is finished". This was subsequently found to have been torn from a copy of the Rubaiyat. What was more, the back cover of that particular copy was marked with indentations: the phone number of a young woman with no apparent connection to the dead man, as well as numbers thought to be some kind of code. The code has never been broken and the dead man never identified; an inquest into the case in 1958 was reported on in some press, which Whitaker could well have read. Perhaps the "secret" in his story related to coded messages.

Whatever the case, his storyline owed its structure to the Rubaiyat. Each of the seven episode titles is a direct quotation, mostly from consecutive quatrains and mostly in chronological order. The poem must have been the starting point because it would be almost impossible to write a storyline and then find matching phrases. The relevant quatrains are as follows, sourced from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (tr. Fitzgerald, 4th edition):

LXXII

And that inverted Bowl they call the Sky,
Whereunder crawling coop'd we live and die,
Lift not your hands to It for help--for It
As impotently moves as you or I.

LXIII
With Earth's first Clay They did the Last Man knead,
And there of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed:
And the first Morning of Creation wrote
What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read.

LXXV

I tell you this--When, started from the Goal,

Over the flaming shoulders of the Foal

Of Heav'n Parwin and Mushtari they flung,

In my predestin'd Plot of Dust and Soul.

LXXVI

The Vine had struck a fiber: which about

It clings my Being--let the Dervish flout;

Of my Base metal may be filed a Key

That shall unlock the Door he howls without.

LXXVII

And this I know: whether the one True Light

Kindle to Love, or Wrath consume me quite,

One Flash of It within the Tavern caught

Better than in the Temple lost outright.

LXXX

Oh Thou, who didst with pitfall and with gin

Beset the Road I was to wander in,

Thou wilt not with Predestin'd Evil round

Enmesh, and then impute my Fall to Sin!

LXXXI

Oh Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make,

And ev'n with Paradise devise the Snake:

For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man

Is blacken'd--Man's forgiveness give--and take!

Sadly, this doesn't provide much in the way of clues to the overall storyline or what happened in particular episodes.

The sixth and final episode of The Flying Foxes was (presumably) recorded on Tuesday, 14 February 1961 and broadcast on 11 March. In his memoir The Reluctant Soldier & Greasepaint and Girls, producer Richard West seems to suggest that the plan had been to go straight into production on the next story - just as location filming for The Sands of Time seems to have followed soon after the broadcast of The Kidnapped Five.

“We did a further six Garry Hallidays [ie The Flying Foxes], and then we were told that the programme was to be postponed till the autumn. This left a nasty gap for me. The BBC had been subjected to an inspection by time and motion experts, who suggested a reduction of staff in all the wrong places.” (Kindle ref. 3308.)

The latter could well have been related to the Pilkington Committee on Broadcasting, set up in July 1960 and reporting two years later on the future of the BBC. Its recommendations included the creation of a second BBC Television channel (BBC Two) and the introduction of licences for colour television. But the scope of the investigation included questions being asked about productivity and value for money for the licence payer. In that climate, West could have found himself under pressure if he didn't have a serial in active production.

Why didn't he? As we'll see, while Whitaker had written his scripts extremely quickly, Richard Wade didn't complete work on the other episodes of the serial until mid-September. It's difficult to tell from the scant surviving paperwork, but the sense is of ongoing frustration. Remember, too, that in October 1960, Anthony Good left his full-time job at Silver City Airways to become technical adviser to Garry Halliday  (Source: "Leaving Silver City Airways", Kentish Express, 14 October 1960, p. 10), surely believing that episodes would be in production well into 1961. It must have strained relationships between the cast and crew.

According to West's memoir, Terence Alexander - who'd played Bill Dodds in all Garry Halliday epiodes to date - suggested that West look for work with ITV. It may be that the delay to the new serial led to Alexander leaving Garry Halliday. West followed his friend's advice, initially working in current affairs at Associated-Rediffusion before finding work in drama. (Kindle ref. 3308)

First, there was an ITV Play of the Week, in this case Mrs Skeffington (tx 16 May 1961) from the stage play by Noel Coward. The cast included several actors West had worked with on Garry Halliday, providing work for Jack Carlton, Peter M Elrington, Audrey Nicholson, Geoffrey Palmer and Frederick Treves. This was soon followed by another adaptation of Coward, Gilt and Gingerbread (tx 5 September),  starring Terence Alexander and with a minor role for fellow Garry Halliday veteran Norman Hartley. Then, West's episode of Call Oxbridge 2000 (tx 8 October), included Geoffrey Hibbert in the cast.

West says in his memoir that he was up for directing more of Call Oxbridge 2000 but was "under contract" with the BBC to do more Garry Halliday, adding that it was a lucky escape given the Equity Actors' Strike that began on 1 November, affecting all ITV drama productions except Coronation Street, (Kindle ref. 3353). West's recollection is that,

"I was welcomed back [to the BBC] by what had become the Garry Halliday unit, and there was much to do." (Kindle ref. 3369)

His memory here is a little out. He thinks this happened after the death of Elwyn Brook-Jones (in September 1962), and that the team duly commissioned a series of six one-episode stories without the Voice. But the eighth run of episodes, comprising standalone episodes, was broadcast between 18 August and 29 September 1962; the fact these were commissioned before the death of Brook-Jones is confirmed by him being in one of them.

While West had been away working for ITV, the assumption had always been that Garry Halliday would continue in the autumn. On 23 May, Script Organiser Robin Wade confirmed that David Whitaker's seven-episode serial would still be going ahead, in a memo relating to Whitaker's other writing commitments outside his day job. (Source: Script Organiser, Television [Robin Wade] to Establishment Assistant, Television (Mr Finch), "STAFF CONTRIBUTION FORM: DAVID WHITAKER: GOLDEN GIRL SERIES ("A GLASS OF OPALINE")", 23 May 1961, WAC Drama Writer’s File: David Whitaker T48/619/1)

As we've seen, Whitaker's scripts for the new seven-part story were delivered and accepted in February, without the contribution of Richard Wade - though they had been contracted to work together. This created an awkward situation in that Wade could claim half the fee for the work done by Whitaker. Whitaker objected and Robin Wade took up his case on 5 September. One issue, he noted, was that Richard Wade had initially been commissioned to co-write a seven-part story but this had been changed to him writing, solo, a six-part story. Even though Richard Wade had agreed to this, it created an imbalance between him and Whitaker over the splitting of fees. Robin Wade thought the BBC should perhaps renegotiate the contract with Richard Wade's agent, but suggested that they make a decision once they'd seen what the writer delivered on 16 September. (Source: Script Organiser, Television [Robin Wade] to H.C.P.Tel [ie Owen Reed, Head of Children's Programmes], "GARRY HALLIDAY: RICHARD WADE", 5 September 1961, WAC Whitaker, David, Copyright File 1, 1958-1962, WAC RCONT1)

Reed replied on his return from leave. He agreed to ending the collaboration that never was, and to renegotiating the contract with Richard Wade. Reed also said that the decision had now been taken to swap the two stories of the forthcoming serial: Whitaker's story, for which scripts had long been available, would go into production in November. A complete set of Richard Wade's scripts had not yet been received - suggesting that he'd at least delivered initial episodes. Once fully delivered, the six scripts would come under Whitaker's purview in his role as the Script Department's representative on Garry Halliday. (Source: Head of Children's Programmes, Television [Owen Reed] to S.O.Tel [Robin Wade, Script Organiser, Television], "GARRY HALLIDAY: RICHARD WADE", 13 September 1961, WAC Whitaker, David, Copyright File 1, 1958-1962, WAC RCONT1)

So, Whitaker had co-written the seven episodes of The Secret of Omar Khayyam as a freelance contributor, outside his full-time commitments as script editor of light entertainment. But he would also act as script editor to the 13-episode run of Garry Halliday, covering his own story and the one written by Richard Wade, as part of his day job.

On 10 November, Faber & Faber published Garry Halliday and the Ray of Death, the second novelisation by Justin Blake, priced 9/6. (Source: The Bookseller, 4 November 1961, p. 2114) Publication had surely been timed to coincide with the broadcast of the new TV serial, which would effectively act as an advertisement for the book in the run-up to Christmas. Delays in production, pushing back the serial to the new year, may well have affected sales. That can't have pleased Bowen and Bullmore.

On the same day as publication, BBC executives discussed cutting back the new series of Garry Halliday and/or the drama that preceded it, Circus Boy, by two minutes. This would mean they ran to a total of 53 minutes, accommodating the start of Weather Report at 5.53 - children's TV coming lower in the pecking order than the weather. The same memo reveals that consideration had been given to moving Garry Halliday to Sunday evenings but that executives agreed with Owen Reed's assessment that it would prove weak here; instead the decision was made to run a 13-episode serialisation of Oliver Twist, even though this was being made by the drama department rather Reed's children's department, which usually took the teatime slot. (Source: Children's Programmes Organiser, Television [Jack Rich] to H.C.P.Tel  [ie Owen Reed, Head of Children's Programmes], "NOTES ON INFORMAL DISCUSSION WITH H.P.P.TEL 10.11.61", 10 November 1961, WAC TV Policy, Children's Programmes, File 3, 1960-66, T16/45/3)

This reference to the "weakness" of Garry Halliday suggests BBC management were still not convinced of its worth. In fact, the very robustness of Oliver Twist going out at Sunday teatimes (tx 7 January - 1 April 1962) proved to be controversial.

On 28 December, the Lincolnshire Echo ran a preview of the new Garry Halliday serial, ahead of the first episode airing on 6 January. The same page ran a longer piece, with accompanying photograph, of another new BBC series, Z Cars, due to begin on 2 January. (Source: "Z Car" [sic] is new BBC crime series" and "Return of Garry Halliday", Lincolnshire Echo, 28 December 1961, p. 4.) Another new series began the same day, the BBC soap opera Compact; both this and Z Cars were part of an effort to produce continuous drama, holding audience loyalty by running all through the year rather than for six or seven weeks at a time. I think the efforts to increase the output of Garry Halliday in 13-episode serials should be seen in that context. The difficulties in achieving more regular production may explain why it lost support at the BBC.

The preview of Garry Halliday in the Birmingham Evening Mail on 4 January was very similarly worded to the preview in the Lincolnshire Echo a week earlier. (Source: The Mail Man, "Children's own - a new adventure series", Birmingham Evening Mail, 4 January 1962, p. 8). The same wording featured in the Radio Times preview, which boasted a photograph of Longdon in character (Source: "Garry Halliday", Radio Times issue #1991, 4 February 1962, p. 4), and which ran in addition to the usual listing. This all suggests a more concerted drive for publicity than on previous Garry Halliday serials. All the previews noted that new series regular Bill Kerr had been a stuntman which would prove useful in the "inevitable fights". The Radio Times listing for the second episode also boasted a photograph of star Longdon. 

The listings of the first three episodes all credit Elwyn Brook-Jones as the Voice, which is evidence that episodes must have been pre-recorded close to broadcast, when it was too late to make corrections before going to print. On some previous serials, episodes were recorded on the Tuesday before broadcast; if so in this case, the first episode of The Secret of Omar Khayyam was recorded on 2 January 1962, with rehearsals beginning soon after Christmas. Unfortunately, Brook-Jones "was ill when rehearsals for the new series began so his place was taken by Hamlyn Benson. Elwyn will be back after the first three instalments.” (Source: Cathryn Rose, "TOPICS FOR VIEWERS", Grimsby Evening News, 12 January 1962, p. 6.)

Given that the story was all about the return of the Voice, this absence was quite an issue. Richard West explains what happened in his memoir:

"Our scriptwriters ... were hugely hampered by the illness of Elwyn Brook-Jones, who was taken off to hospital, where he was told that if he did not stop drinking, he would shortly be dead. He chose to continue, though always perfectly sober in rehearsals and performances, and returned to us for a while." (Kindle ref. 3270)

On a happier note, West's return to the BBC saw him reunited with familiar crew members, as he recounted modestly.

"We were allotted Crew 6, with whom I had happily worked before, so the technical run-through in the rehearsal room was attended by my old friends, Frank Sellen (technical operations manager) and Jimmy Purdey (lighting engineer). … ‘It’s good to have you back,’ said Jimmy. ‘You’re the fastest director in the business. You always do your homework, and know what you want, which saves us endless time and trouble.’ Nothing like a bit of flattery.” (Kindle ref. 3380)

As usual, the guest cast also included many familiar faces. Maurice Kaufmann, as Adolph Traumann, had played the Voice's henchperson Kurt in the very first Garry Halliday serial. Winifred Hindle, as Mrs Peacock, had played the old actress masquerading as Nanny in The Flying Foxes. Anthony Bate, as Sergeant Nelson here, had played Sergeant Jones in that serial.

West also added new members to his regular troop. Hugh Latimer, playing Mr Temhani, had been in West's production of Mrs Skeffington for ITV, and would appear in different roles in the next two Garry Halliday serials.

Given the pressures of two stories made back to back, Richard West produced all 13 episodes but eight of them were directed by Paul Machell (1929-2008), who went on to a prolific directing career under the name Paul Ciappessoni. Episode 2 of The Secret of Omar Khayyam seems to have been his directorial debut. He can be seen in a press photograph alongside stars Terence Longdon and a wounded Bill Kerr, which gives some sense of what production might have been like:

“Australian actor Bill Kerr receives treatment after fracturing his right arm during a fight sequence with two stunt men at the BBC's Ealing Film Studio. Kerr was playing the role of Eddie Robbins in the children's drama Garry Halliday and the Secret of Omar Khayyam. Looking on is actor Terence Longdon (left) and director Paul Machell.” (Source: Alamy photo G7BEBR, dated Wednesday 7 February 1962, between broadcast of episodes 5 and 6)

On Wednesday 7 February, between the broadcast of episodes 5 and 6 of this serial (and the day after studio recording of episode 6 if I'm right about Tuesday recordings), Kerr and Longdon had been pre-filming an action sequence for the next story, The Gun Runners, when he fell and broke a bone in his right elbow. The story made front-page news of at least one paper. (Source: "Actor injured in film adventure", Liverpool Daily Post, 8 February 1962, p. 1.) Other papers picked it up in due course. (Sources: "Garry Halliday calls...", Derby Evening Telegraph, 20 February 1962, p. 13; Northern Daily Mail, 20 February 1962, p. 10; Nottingham Evening News, 20 February 1962, p. 4.) Note how widely this was reported: previous serials have struggled to get any mention in the press. Again, there was a more concerted effort being made.

By then, production was already under way on the next Garry Halliday story. Michael Harald stayed on, credited as "script associate" on episodes 4-6 of the new serial. But David Whitaker had been reassigned: taking over from his colleague Rosemary Hill as the Script Department's liaison on new soap opera Compact. Whitaker, who'd had a hand in helping develop the soap, would be liaison from episode 13. (Source: Senior Assistant, Script Department, Television [Robin Wade] to Alan Bromly [producer of Compact], "COMPACT", 19 January 1962, WAC Compact production file T5/624/2)

Whitaker never worked on Garry Halliday again but I think his experience on it was a significant factor the following year when he was assigned as story editor to a new adventure serial to be broadcast in the same Saturday teatime slot. I'll address what Doctor Who owes to Garry Halliday in a later post...

One last observation: Omar Khayyam continued to have resonance. On 12 June 1962, the BBC Home Service broadcast a performance of the Rubaiyat by film star Marius Goring - with whom David Whitaker would work on several subsequent occasions. That same month, TV presenter Bruce Forsyth chose the Rubaiyat as the book he'd take along with his selection of Desert Island Discs. From 27 December 1963, the BBC Home Service began airing The Omar Khayyam Show, a comedy written by and starring Spike Milligan, the cast including Bill Kerr. Kerr also worked with Whitaker again, when he was cast in a major role in the Doctor Who story The Enemy of the World.

Further reading

• My review of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, translated by Edward Fitzgerald
• For more on Z Cars, see BD to Z Victor 1 - The Z Cars Casebook Season 1 by David Brunt (2014)

Written by and (c) Simon Guerrier. Thanks to Paul Hayes, Michael Seely, the BBC's Written Archives Centre, Newspapers.com, the British Newspaper Archive and Macclesfield Library.

5. Garry Halliday (and the Flying Foxes)

Six episodes written by David Whitaker, based on characters created by Justin Blake (aka John Bowen and Jeremy Bullmore).

Pre-recorded ahead of broadcast 4 February — 11 March 1961; novelisation Garry Halliday and the Flying Foxes by Justin Blake published at 13s 6d by Faber & Faber, c. November 1965*, with jacket design by Leo Newman.

* Reviewed by Jean Ware, "Adventure unlimited", Daily Post (Merseyside edition), 24 November 1965, p. 8.

A rival charter airline is taking Garry Halliday's business. Garry soon discovers that the "Flying Foxes" — brother and sister Nigel and Vicky Fox — are involved in smuggling an anti-ageing drug stolen from a laboratory in Rome, on behalf of some dangerous villains...

Regular cast: Terence Longdon (Garry Halliday); Terence Alexander (Bill Dodds); Hector Ross (Jumbo Wiles); Audrey Nicholson (Vicky Fox); Frederick Treves (Nigel Fox); Harold Lang (Da Rica, eps 2-6); David Morrell (Luigi, eps 2-6);  Richard Dare (Berhman, personnel manager, eps 3-6); Jane Cavendish (Giuletta, eps 4-6); Michael Harald (Newspaper boy ep 4, BBC announcer eps 5-6). With Juno Stevas (Sonya Delamere, eps 1 and 4). Narrator (eps 3-6): Geoffrey Palmer.

Crew: David Whitaker (writer); Justin Blake (based on characters created by); Bill Munn (Film cameraman, eps 1-5); Keith Latham (Film editor, eps 1-5); Stewart Marshall (Designer, eps 1-5); Richard West (Producer). 

Flying and airport sequences by courtesy of Skyways Ltd.

1. A Bad Business (5.25 pm, Saturday 4 February 1961) — Genome/Radio Times

Guest cast: John Forbes-Robertson (Traffic controller); Robert Young (Mr Sharples)

Summary (based on the first chapter of the novelisation, "Going Broke"): The Voice is dead; a body and distinctive glasses are discovered out in the desert. Garry Halliday returns home — only to find that a rival charter airline working from the same airfield is undercutting his business. The "Flying Foxes" are also a three-person outfit operating a single Dakota aircraft: pilot Nigel Fox, his sister Vicky acting as stewardess plus a moustached man called Jumbo Wiles. 

Given Garry makes little profit, he can't understand how the Foxes can offer the same service for 25% lower rates. They must be running at a loss until he is put out of business. But then how are they funded?

In the control tower at the airfield, Garry watches the Flying Foxes' Dakota take off for Treviso. He's surprised to see it perform "a rather showy roll" (p. 12), which Bob the Chief Controller [an unnamed traffic controller on screen] says Nigel Fox always does. It seems Nigel is superstitious; another idiosyncrasy is that, when returning to the airfield, he always begins his approach run over the nearby Tonbridge Estate.

When Garry visits the Foxes to hand over documents relating to clients they have taken from him, he drops a pin to see if the superstitious Nigel will pick it up for good luck. He doesn't. When Garry asks about the Tonbridge Estate, Nigel says he likes to fly over it because his and Vicky's old nanny lives there. He is obviously lying.

Prompted by Garry, his own stewardess / secretary Sonya Delamere makes enquiries. Local shopkeeper Mr Sharples is among those who tells her that the Foxes pay for everything in cash. Having been questioned, Mr Sharples is suspicious of Vicky Fox the next time she comes into buy something. Vicky learns to her horror that Garry Halliday's people have been casting aspersions.

Vicky angrily confronts Garry, who coolly asks how the Flying Foxes can run an airline at such a loss. He asks if it involves something crooked. "My brother would never do anything really dishonest," insists Vicky (p. 20) — which, Garry notes, doesn't mean he's entirely honest. Garry asks about Jumbo Wiles and is told he is a "brilliant man" who earned a medal as a bombardier among the Dambusters. Realising she's said too much, Vicky rushes out. Garry deduces that the Foxes are using Wiles's skill to drop small parcels into the lake on the Tonbridge Estate before they land — it's a smuggling operation.

Jumbo Wiles is annoyed by Vicky having said too much. He has also annoyed Nigel by ringing someone called "Barstow", who Nigel normally deals with.

Hidden in the reeds by the side of the lake, Garry watches with binoculars as the Flying Foxes' Dakota begins its approach run — and yes, a "hat-box-sized" parcel (p. 24) drops from it, hits the lake and then sinks. Garry waits and waits, watching. But no one comes to retrieve it.

2. The Secret of the Lake (5.25 pm, Saturday 11 February 1961) — Genome/Radio Times

Guest cast: John Harrison (Baristow); Jack Carlton (Airport manager); Winifred Hindle (Nanny)

Summary (based on the second chapter of the novelisation, "The Secret of the Lake"): "This is a chapter in which Bill Dodds shows enormous intelligence and perspicacity," says the novelisation (p. 25). Bill is preparing breakfast when Garry comes in having spent all night at the lake and explains what he's seen regarding the missing parcel [this recap may explain why there's no "narrator" credited in the listing for this episode]. Bill then goes for his bath, where he experiments with submerging his scrubbing-brush by loading it with different implements such as a nail-brush, razor and tube of shampoo. The point, as he then demonstrates to Garry and Sonya, is that one can load the scrubbing-brush in such a way as to make it disappear under the surface for a given amount of time before it pops back up again.

They assume that something similar is involved with the parcel dropped from the plane: it must contain something heavy to make it sink but which slowly dissolves in water, whereupon the parcel resurfaces. It's unlikely that the Foxes will retrieve the parcel during daylight when they might be seen so it has probably been rigged to resurface at dusk. Sure enough, Nigel Fox and Jumbo Wiles set off to the lake that evening, only to discover that their Landrover has a puncture. They fix it, then find a second wheel now damaged — they don't realise that both have been sabotaged by Bill Dodds. 

While they're distracted, Garry swims out in flippers and successfully recovers the parcel. It is full of drugs — but apparently of an innocuous sort.

"The neat packages contained in the canister were labelled 'penicillin', 'sulphananomide' and 'ascorbic acid concentrate', not 'morphine', 'heroin' or 'cocaine' ... Garry had carefully opened three of the packages, and taken out a little of the contents. He was no chemist ... but, by using himself as a guinea-pig and tasting a small quantity, he could be fairly sure that they weren't cocaine or anything like it." (pp. 33-34)

Garry presents his findings to Bob the Station Officer [on screen, the "Airport manager", a different character from the first episode], who asks Nigel Fox to come see him. With Garry there to witness proceedings, Nigel repeats his story about visiting his old nanny, who he phones up and asks to join them. Nanny convinces the embarrassed Station Officer that Nigel's story is true. Nigel denies having anything to do with the canister Garry found. 

"He examined the neat packets with great curiosity. He even opened one, tasted it, and made a face. 'Still,' he said, 'wherever you got these from, it's not illegal to have them. I mean, look at the labels. They're not poisons or addictive drugs or anything like — what's the word? — 'snow'? It doesn't say 'snow'. It says penicillin. You could get them anywhere." (p. 36)

The implication is that Garry had made up the whole story to frame the Foxes. Shaken by this encounter, Garry sends a small sample of drugs from two differently labelled containers in the parcel to Bill's chemist friend Les to analyse. Les confirms that the two samples, though differently labelled, are the same, unidentified substance. He will continue to investigate.

Nigel Fox thinks he has outwitted Garry Halliday; his "nanny" is really an out-of-work actor Nigel paid to play a role. But Jumbo Wiles suggests that it would be easier if Halliday were out of their way permanently. Nigel quickly assures the innocent Vicky that Jumbo didn't really mean this.

Garry is sure that a precision drop like the Foxes made must involve some specialist targeting equipment on the Fox's plane, of the sort used by the Dambusters. At midnight, he crosses the airfield to take a quiet look. There he is stopped by a man [Luigi] with a gun, who thinks Garry is "Mr Fox". Garry plays along.

[Note that the chapter doesn't feature "Barstow/Baristow" or "Da Rica", though they had credited roles in the TV episode.] 

3. Halliday Must Die! (5.25 pm, Saturday 18 February 1961) - Genome/Radio Times

Guest cast: Jack Carlton (Airport manager); Jennifer Schooling (Ruth Weyland); Jill Hyem (Vera Staple); Peter M Elrington (Cab driver)

Guest crew: Terry Baker (Fight arranged by)

Summary (based on the third chapter of the novelisation, "'Halliday Must Die'"): The man with the gun gives "Mr Fox" (ie Garry) new orders: he is to kill Garry Halliday by arranging an accident. Fox is also to telephone Barstow on a new telephone number that the gunman provides, to receive his next instructions.

Bill Dodds, meanwhile, has been "snogging with Sonya on the road to the village" (p. 46) but arrives back at the office on the airfield to find Jumbo Wiles has broken in. They fight. Garry arrives and they overcome Wiles. Garry tells Bill to go to the Flying Foxes' office to ask Nigel to join them; if Nigel refuses, Bill is to say that Garry will phone Barstow. That name should have the desired effect.

An angry Vicky joins Nigel at Garry's office, where Nigel tries to bluff it out — he's told Vicky that what they're smuggling is merely perfume. Garry tells them about the man with the gun and his order to kill Garry Halliday. Now Nigel rounds on Jumbo Wiles for getting them into this mess. 

Nigel agrees to call Barstow on the new number and a voice on the other end tells him to deliver his latest consignment of smuggled drugs to Parliament Square at 9 am on Wednesday morning. There he is to hail a taxi and go to 47 Saxon Street to deliver the canister. Having rung off, Nigel explains to Garry and the others that the person to whom he just spoke had a different voice to the man he usually dealt with. Garry gets Nigel to ring the old number for Barstow. The phone is answered by a "middle-aged woman with thick legs" (p. 56)  [suggesting TV viewers saw her] who informs Nigel that Mr Barstow has been murdered, his body found down by the railway.

Garry doesn't want to go the police because the Foxes will face prison. Instead, he offers them a chance to help expose the real villains. The Foxes and Jumbo Wiles agree. But first, says Garry, they must ensure that these villains think he (Garry) is dead: his friends must arrange an accident.

Meanwhile in an "undistinguished building not far from the Piazza Navona" in Rome (p. 58), a nervous, disgraced Personnel Officer [named "Berhman, personnel manager" in TV listings], who is originally from Detroit, reports to the Managing Director of Da Rica International — though Mr da Rica "liked to be called the Spider (p. 59). This Spider is angry that the people hired by the Personnel Officer for the smuggling operation — ie Barstow and now the Foxes — have proved to be unreliable. They will instruct Jumbo Wiles to kill Nigel Fox.

Nigel takes the consignment of drugs (bar the samples Garry sent for analysis) to Parliament Square as instructed by the new "Barstow". Vicky is ready at a telephone booth with a view of 47 Saxon Street to observe who comes and goes. However, the taxi never gets there: it stops in a mews, where the driver tells Nigel to leave the parcel on the seat and get out. Delivery has been made without being observed.

However, da Rica soon learns that this consignment has been opened, some powder extracted and the contents resealed. He orders the Personnel Officer to bring him the inquisitive Nigel Fox, dead or alive, "or I will get you" (p. 62). When the Personnel Officer protests, da Rica presses a button and a huge net — "Spider's Web" — falls on him.

Garry and Bill, meanwhile, have flown to Oslo to collect a cargo of toys, a job Nigel passed on to them. On the journey home, they play out the "accident" by jettisoning the toys and a barrel of oil into the sea. Bill then bails out. From an inflatable raft, he waves up at the departing plane — and his "dead" friend.

[There's no mention in the novelisation of the characters Ruth Weyland or Vera Staple, who are listed in Radio Times. My best guess is that Vera Staple is the woman who answers the phone to Nigel. Ruth, who also features in the next episode, may be the TV interviewer who, in the opening of the next chapter, Bill tells about the "death" of Garry, given that there's no one else credited in the cast for this role. If so, this third episode must have ended with some part of the interview. But see notes on the next instalment.]

4. The Disappearing Rabbits (5.25 pm, Saturday 25 February 1961) — Genome/Radio Times

Guest cast: Jennifer Schooling (Ruth Weyland); Peter Myers (Les); David Lander (Dherio); Clive Cazes (Dherio's assistant)

Summary (based on the fourth chapter of the novelisation, "A Matter of Some Rabbits"): Bill appears on the live, real-life news programme Tonight to give an account of Garry's "death", which he says was caused by engine failure over the North Sea. [No interviewer is credited in the cast list; the novelisation says the interviewer is male and assisted by "a worried young woman" (p. 65), while Bill glimpses but does not speak to real-life host Cliff Michelmore.]

In Rome, the Personnel Officer reads out to da Rica the news of Garry's death, as published in the Times, Daily Mirror and Sun [the latter launched on 15 September 1964, so if newspapers featured in the TV broadcast it would have been the Herald]. 

Les the chemist reports to Bill on the powder that he's now fully analysed: it's an "anti-agathic" drug called BDM, manufactured in Italy. 

"It slowed the process [of ageing] down, helped the cells to renew themselves, and so actually prolonged life. That was the claim, anyway. The drug hadn't been going long enough for anybody to be sure exactly how well it worked." (p. 69)

BDM has been developed by an Italian pharmaceutical firm owned by Roberto Dherio and is licensed for sale in the UK by Hartford, Logue and Company. Bill phones Garry, who is now in Rome, to report this. Garry has just read a newspaper headline about a break-in at Dherio's laboratory with a quantity of BDM stolen worth 400 million lire or £200,000. He supposes that if the stolen BDM is to be sold in the UK, it will either be put into bottles that resemble those used by Hartford, Logue or the villains might offer to sell it to Hartford, Logue direct. Bill is dispatched to look over this company.

Garry, with the help of Giulietta — the daughter of the padrone at the pensione where he's staying — learns more about the theft and then visits Dherio's laboratory. Dherio is with his animals: test rabbits housed in 20 cages, marked A to J. Dherio's assistant [a girl in the novelisation, a man on TV] says, in Italian that Garry doesn't understand, that the rabbits in Batch J died [on screen, it is Batch 3]. But Dherio tells Garry, in English, that the rabbits in Batch J are fine, having been transferred elsewhere while their cage is being cleaned.

Vicky visits Harford, Logue and Company and meets the relatively young Mr Logue who had recently taken charge of the firm and has bold ambitions.

Garry returns to the pensione where Nigel Fox and Jumbo Wiles are waiting. As he already knows, their latest instructions are to collect an envelope in Nigel's name from the main Post Office in Rome; the key inside will open a particular locker at Central Station in which they'll find the next canister to be smuggled back to England. But while Garry was out, he collected both the envelope and the canister himself. He now tells Nigel and Jumbo to go to the Post Office and cause a fuss when the envelope can't be found there. He'll keep watch to see what happens next.

Concerned that everything goes smoothly so that he won't face further wrath from da Rica, the Personnel Officer is at the Post Office to observe Nigel and Jumbo collect the envelope. When they complain, loudly, that it has gone missing, it draws undue attention. The Personnel Officer decides to intercede and takes the two men to da Rica. Nigel and Jumbo introduce themselves to the Spider — this is the first time they've met in person. Luigi tells da Rica that this is not the Nigel Fox he met in England but Nigel recounts their meeting (having been given details by Garry). Da Rica says "with great sweetness" that anyone who can explain this strange mix-up will be gifted with their life.

Vicky, Bill and Les break into the laboratories at Harford, Logue where they find an old man who yawns repeatedly and then dies, with no sign of what may have killed him. But Vicky realises that this is Logue, the relatively young man she met earlier the same day.

[There's no Logue listed in the credits of the TV episode; perhaps the character was only seen in the next episode, but under the name "Henry Gardner".] 

5. The Secret of Batch 3 (5.25 pm, Saturday 4 March 1961) - Genome/Radio Times

Guest cast: Peter Myers (Les); David Lander (Dherio); Norman Pitt (Henry Gardner); Edward Jewesbury (Inspector Potter); Anthony Bate (Sergeant Jones); Fred Ferris (Inspector Butterfield); Hamilton Dyce (Meg's father); Jill Thompson (Meg)

Summary (based on the fifth chapter of the novelisation, "The Secret of Batch J"): Having seen Nigel Fox and Jumbo Wiles escorted from the Post Office (to go and meet da Rica), Garry returns to the pensione to wait. Jumbo comes to find him, with a gun-totting Luigi. While Nigel has opted to help Garry battle the villains, Jumbo has in fact not switched sides. Luigi wants the canister that Garry took from the locker in the Central Station. Garry doesn't have it on him and wonders aloud whether Luigi's fingerprints are on it. This causes Luigi some concern. Garry says he will swap the canister, fingerprints and all, in exchange for the safe return of Nigel. Luigi reluctantly agrees.

From England, Bill calls Garry and tells him all that has transpired. Garry thinks that Logue apparently ageing to death must be related somehow to the drug reputed to prevent ageing. He goes to see Dherio, who admits that the rabbits in Batch J died of old age. Dherio assures Garry that this particular experimental batch has not been released to the public but Garry points out that material was stolen from the lab. When Dherio realises that this includes material from Batch J, he agrees to provide the English authorities with an antidote to the effects of BDM — whether good or bad.

Bill tries to warn the UK authorities of the deadly risk from smuggled BDM. In the novelisation, Garry's friend Inspector Potter is away and there's a new Assistant Commissioner [Potter, played once more by Edward Jewesbury, is in the cast list of the TV episode]. Dherio then calls Scotland Yard from Rome and confirms the story. A grave warning about BDM is issued on BBC and ITV news every hour.

A young woman called Meg and her unnamed, elderly father don't have a television and the radio isn't on. Meg's father, who takes BDM regularly, thinks it must be made from monkey glands. He plans to take his next dose and then turn on the radio. As he and Meg talk, they miss the broadcast warning. But then, when they turn on the wireless set, the warning is repeated — so they are saved just in time.

Luigi arrives at the garden of the pensione to exchange Nigel for the consignment of BDM. It seems da Rica is keen to ensure Nigel is returned with all his possessions; Jumbo Wiles gives him back his overnight bag. When the exchange has been made without hiccup, Garry comments that he expected some trick, asking Nigel if he might have a bomb in his pocket. Nigel is suddenly conscious of the overnight bag. He runs out of the garden with it, shouting for everyone to keep back... and is killed in the ensuing explosion.

[In the broadcast version, Nigel doesn't die and remains a regular character in Garry Halliday for the rest of its run on TV.]

6. A Fall From Power (5.25 pm, Saturday 11 March 1961) - Genome/Radio Times

Guest cast: Hal Dyer (Waitress); Wilfrid Grantham (Italian police inspector)

Summary (based on the sixth chapter of the novelisation, "A Cure for What Ails You"): Vicky is numb with shock at the death of her brother. Garry coolly says that they now have a chance to get ahead of the crooks. He won't ask Giulietta to lie to the police about what's just happened, but if anyone else should enquire, he wants her to say that Garry, Vicky and Bill were all killed in the blast as well.

Sure enough, the Personal Officer [Berhman] arrives, posing as a journalist from the Milwaukee Courier who just happens to be passing. Giulietta tells him that three English men and one woman have been killed in an explosion. Garry and his friends listen in. When Giulietta says the police have been called, the Personal Officer hurries away. Garry and Bill follow him to the "tall building" off Piazza Navona where da Rica is based.

Vicky remains at the pensione, her job to explain to the police all that really happened. From a cafe with a view of da Rica's building, Garry and Bill phone Vicky to share what they have discovered — but she doesn't answer. Jumbo Wiles has arrived at the pensione and takes Vicky away at gunpoint. When the police arrive at the pensione soon after this, Giulietta is left to explain what little she knows. It doesn't sound very convincing. When Garry calls again, the inspector answers and becomes increasingly suspicious as Garry tries to explain. Realising this, Garry puts the phone down on him.

Bill and Garry then see Jumbo Wiles escort Vicky into da Rica's building. Inside, Vicky tells da Rica, Luigi and the Personnel Officer that her brother Nigel, Garry and Bill were all killed in the explosion. Da Rica thinks they should kill Vicky, too. The nervous Personnel Officer objects. Vicky then reveals that Mr Logue in England is also dead. The phone rings, the Personnel Officer answers — but it is a wrong number.

In fact, Garry made the call from the cafe across the road to confirm which office in the building da Rica and recognised the voice of the journalist from the Milwaukee Courier. Soon, Garry and Bill burst into da Rica's office, wielding guns. When Luigi tries to pull out his own gun, Bill shoots him in the wrist. But da Rica presses the button that releases his web — the huge net — on Garry, Bill and Vicky. Jumbo takes Garry's gun.

The boastful da Rica says he can't be beaten. He won't be like other noted criminals such as Al Capone who grew old and were superseded. Da Rica isn't just smuggling BDM; he is taking it himself.

Garry yawns. He continues to yawn as he explains what happened to Logue: the stolen BDM included some from Batch J, which killed the test rabbits by speeding up the ageing process. Bill confirms that Logue aged to death and that the old man was yawning.

Da Rica yawns. When his henchpeople react in horror, he tries to protest — and yawns again. The Personnel Officer yawns. Garry tells them to turn on the radio. The Personnel Officer tunes into the BBC, just in time for the hourly news. They hear the news announcer repeat the warning about the dangers of BDM. Da Rica is now convinced he is dying. Garry produces a small phial which he says contains the antidote, which he trades for the villains' guns.

The waitress at the cafe is able to tell the police inspector where Garry and Bill went. The police arrive at da Rica's office to find him held at gunpoint by Garry. In fact, da Rica was never really poisoned; Garry explains that yawning is infectious. Da Rica and his people are taken away. Jumbo Wiles goes to prison. 

On the last page of the novelisation we learn that Sonya Delamere (who hasn't featured much in this story) is "tired of adventures", so she and Bill Dodds leave the charter airline and go off to be married. Garry is left with a vacancy for a stewardess. But after all she's gone through, Vicky doesn't know if she'd like to take the job. She asks for time to think it over. Garry is left pondering his relationship with Vicky, and supposes that if he were to get married he'd have to give up his adventures, too.

"... and he wasn't sure he could do that." (p. 120)

Production notes

As detailed in the entry on the previous serial, producer Richard West recalls in his memoir The Reluctant Soldier & Greasepaint and Girls that Rome was chosen as the setting for the fifth Garry Halliday story quite by accident. 

Probably around the spring of 1960, West had taken advantage of the relationship that the Garry Halliday team had built up with Silver City Airways over the preceding year to fly a small crew to Tripoli. As well as West himself, there was star Terence Longdon, Silver City's press officer Anthony Good acting as cameraman, writer Jeremy Bullmore and West's assistant Jean Hart. The idea was to capture some atmospheric shots as they came to hand, from which Bullmore and co-writer John Bowen would then devise a story. 

When this trip was abruptly cut short, West and his team hastily arranged flights home via stop-offs in Malta and then Rome, with a night spent in the latter. 

"Our hotel was near the Piazza di Spagna and the Spanish Steps, a very Roman landmark that we thought most suitable for filming. I telephoned the BBC Rome representative to tell him of our intentions. He said that he had no prior warning of our arrival (not surprisingly), and that it was absolutely impossible to film in Rome without prior notice."

West went ahead anyway, his guerrilla unit quickly grabbing what shots they could during the morning before the flight back to London that afternoon.

"We set up the camera on the Spanish Steps, and got excellent footage of Halliday running down them, running up them, and looking suspicious in a local trattoria. All of which, Jeremy Bullmore said he could weave into a script." (Kindle ref. 3302-06) 

As the memoir makes clear, West knew Rome very well. He first visited while serving in the army during the war, where he met and courted an English woman working in the theatre there who became his first wife (Kindle ref. 1486). His memoir cites numerous visits to the city in subsequent years. Given this, I suspect that the Garry Halliday filming was a little more planned than he makes out in his memoir, even if the correct permissions weren't in place.

As detailed in the previous entry, once back in England writers Bowen and Bullmore spent the summer of 1960 working on storylines and scripts for what was now a double-length series of Garry Halliday, comprising a seven-episode story partly set in Tripoli to be followed immediately by a six-episode story partly set in Rome. At the same time, they wrote a novelisation of the first Garry Halliday serial, published by Faber & Faber on 21 October. They also submitted ideas for a further 13-episode run on TV.

A report in the Kentish Express in April 1960 says that Garry Halliday was due to begin its new run on TV that October. If so, this double-length series was initially scheduled for the 13 weeks up to the end of the year, where it would have been something of a fixture in the schedule. With a second extended run in the offing, too, we can see why Anthony Good, who'd been part of the trips to Tripoli and Rome, felt confident enough in the future of Garry Halliday to quit his job as publicity officer at Silver City Airways to become "technical adviser" on the TV series. (Source: "Leaving Silver City Airways", Kentish Express, 14 October 1960, p. 10.) 

Unfortunately, things didn't work out as planned. As we saw last time, when Bowen and Bullmore delivered their scripts for the fourth Garry Halliday story, probably in August, staff in the BBC script department didn't feel the dialogue was of sufficient quality. The writers were instructed to stop work on the fifth story altogether; in-house writer Richard Wade would instead write up the six scripts from their storyline. By 8 September, it had been agreed that Bowen and Bullmore would complete the six scripts themselves, for a full fee, but that the BBC (ie Wade) would then be free to rewrite them as they wished. (Source: memos as referenced in previous entry, but especially RG Walford, Head of Copyright, to Gareth Wigan, Esq, 8 September 1960, John Bowen Drama Writer’s File, WAC T48/103/1) 

By the time this had been agreed, Richard Wade seems to have completed rewrites on the first three episodes of the fourth story, as it was now agreed that he would receive 30 guineas per script for rewriting episodes 4-7. The plan was to then pay him at the same rate for rewrites on the fifth story once Bowen and Bullmore delivered their scripts. (Source: Script Organiser, Television [Robin Wade] to H.Cop [RG Walford], "GARRY HALLIDAY SERIES", 7 September 1960, John Bowen Drama Writer’s File, WAC T48/103/1) 

The rewritten fourth story was in production by the end of October and began transmission on 5 November. Six days later, BBC script organiser Robin Wade confirmed receipt from Bowen and Bullmore of scripts for episodes 8 to 13 of the fourth series — that is, the Rome-set fifth story. (Source: Script Organiser, Television [Robin Wade] to Miss Rose, Copyright Department, "GARRY HALLIDAY: BOWEN AND BULLMORE", 11 November 1960, John Bowen Drama Writer’s File, WAC T48/103/1)

The following week, Robin Wade proposed that another BBC staff writer, David Whitaker, be engaged to co-write with Richard Wade the 13 episodes of the fifth series — that is, the sixth and seventh Garry Halliday stories, to be produced 1961-62. The first of these new adventures was to be based on a storyline already purchased from Bowen and Bullmore, while the second would be an original scenario devised by Whitaker and Richard Wade. Robin Wade forwarded a copy of this memo to producer Richard West, with a handwritten note asking to be informed when the Voice had been killed off. (Source: Script Organiser, Television [Robin Wade] to Miss Ross, copy to Richard West, "GARRY HALLIDAY (5th series)", 17 November 1960, John Bowen Drama Writer’s File, WAC T48/103/1, a copy also held in Whitaker, David, Copyright File 1, 1958-1962, WAC RCONT1) 

That note suggests that rewrites were still under way on the seventh and final episode of the fourth story. This was very late in the day. If, as on previous Garry Halliday serials, episodes were pre-recorded in the same week of broadcast, the fourth episode of the story was in production that same week. But things may have been even more advanced, as the opening episode of the fifth story was recorded almost four weeks ahead of broadcast (see memo of 10 January 1961, below). Whatever the case, writer Richard Wade was clearly under considerable pressure to complete his rewrites on the fourth story, and then had a further six-part serial still awaiting his attention. At some point, responsibility for rewriting the fifth Garry Halliday adventure was passed to Whitaker, the sole credited writer on the episodes when broadcast.

David Whitaker (1928-80) had been an actor in rep and on radio. After more than a year of submitting ideas to the BBC, he sold a play especially written for television: A Choice of Partners, broadcast in June 1957. By the end of that year, he'd taken a three-month contract in the script department and was still there three years later. His duties included reading submissions from would-be writers, revising work to make it suitable for production, ensuring copies of scripts were retained by the BBC's internal library, and writing his own work. As with a lot of staff writers, that work was prolific and wide-ranging. At the time he wrote for Garry Halliday, Whitaker was script editor of the BBC's light entertainment output, writing continuity scripts for the hosts of numerous variety shows, as well as his own one-off broadcast plays and pitches and pilot scripts for unmade series. I've written a biography about him: David Whitaker in an Exciting Adventure with Television (Ten Acre Films, 2023).

Little paperwork survives, so we don't know exactly when Whitaker took over from Richard Wade on the fifth Garry Halliday story or how extensive his rewrites might have been. As we can see from the synopses given above, the titles of the six episodes as broadcast are very similar to the chapter titles in the novelisation, suggesting that the outline was broadly the same. But cast lists for the TV episodes include several characters not featured in the novelisation at all, and the novelisation kills off Nigel Fox when on TV he remained one of the regular cast members in subsequent stories.

Some changes were made for practical reasons: the 20 cages of rabbits labelled Batches A to J in the novelisation became a less costly three batches on TV. According to the BBC paperwork quoted above, the perceived need for rewriting was due not to the storyline but to the quality of dialogue. It's ironic, then, that Bowen and Bullmore duly criticised the quality of Whitaker's work.

On 31 December 1960, Bullmore wrote a stiffly worded letter to producer Richard West that is no longer known to survive but is referred to in later correspondence (see below). My guess is that this letter voiced dissatisfaction at the broadcast version of the fourth story, rewritten by Richard Wade, which concluded on TV on 17 December, as Bowen and Bullmore did not receive Whitaker's rewritten scripts for the fifth story until 9 January 1961. 

But the receipt of these scripts only compounded their dissatisfaction, not least because they were given no time to object. The first episode was pre-recorded using the BBC's Ampex system on Tuesday, 10 January, the day after those scripts were received. That means the writers were probably sent the final "camera" scripts, after amendments to dialogue and staging had been made in the process of rehearsals. Bowen and Bullmore quickly phoned Richard West to ask for their name (ie "Justin Blake") to be taken off the credits. West told them that the credits could not be amended without re-ampexing the episode but agreed to have a correction spoken over the credits during broadcast. The writers sent a formal complaint in writing to Owen Reed, the Head of the Children's Department for BBC Television. (Source: Jeremy Bullmore to Mr [Owen] Reed, 10 January 1961, John Bowen Drama Writer’s File, WAC T48/103/1)

Donald Wilson, the Head of Script Department, responded to this. In a letter to Bowen and Bullmore's agent, he pointedly said he would not comment on Bullmore's letter to Richard West of 31 December or comments made elsewhere, suggesting that there had been other, heated things said. Instead, Wilson focused on the practical ways forward from this point. The two writers would be paid for the storylines they'd supplied for the next 13 episodes / two stories, though Wilson said it was unlikely that either of these would now be used. New storylines would be sent to Bowen and Bullmore in due course and they could then decide on the appropriate credit. Wilson also admitted that work on the fifth story had been carried out in something of a rush and referred to it by the title The Flying Foxes. (Source: Donald Wilson, Head of Script Department, Television, to Gareth Wigan, Esq at John Redway & Associates, 12 January 1961, John Bowen Drama Writer’s File T48/103/1)

Up until the end of this story, all episodes were broadcast as "Garry Halliday" followed by an individual title for that particular instalment. But Wilson's letter shows that, internally, the BBC used overall titles for each distinct story of six or seven episodes, and these these match the titles used on the later novelisations.

Production continued on The Flying Foxes. If a new episode was recorded every week, episode 2 was recorded on Tuesday, 17 January and continued until recording of episode 6 on Tuesday, 14 February. We know from other TV productions of the time that the rehearsal process could often entail small changes to dialogue and staging, which would be approved by the producer and script editor on behalf of the writer. Apart from producer Richard West, who oversaw this on The Flying Foxes?

It may not have been Richard Wade. On 13 January, permission was given for David Whitaker, as an in-house staff member based in room 4016 of Television Centre, to co-write a new, seven-episode Garry Halliday story with Richard Wade, for broadcast in the autumn. Whitaker was to be paid 60 guineas per episode. Wade was described as an "outside contributor", ie not on staff at the BBC. (Source: AG Finch, Television Establishment, to Script Organiser [Robin Wade] through Ch.P.O.Tel, "'GARRY HALLIDAY': MR DAVID WHITAKER (B/74624)", 13 January 1961, Whitaker, David, Copyright File 1, 1958-1962, WAC RCONT1) 

That may mean Wade's experience on the fourth story had led to him leaving his staff job. In that case, perhaps David Whitaker oversaw the rehearsal period, both as the writer of these episodes and in his capacity as script editor for light entertainment at the BBC, where his remit included some drama.

Alternatively, there may have been some confusion over exactly who was involved in the new story. When this new commission was ultimately broadcast a year later, it was credited to Whitaker and another outside contributor, Michael Harald — who was in the cast of The Flying Foxes. He was credited as "script associate" on later episodes of Garry Halliday; perhaps he took some version of that role, without credit, at this early stage.

Harald was, by turns, an actor, director and tour guide. In the latter role, he'd lived and worked in Rome and escorted American tourists across Europe. His time as an "aircraftman" during the war was also good experience to bring to Garry Halliday. While stationed in Alexandria, he'd taken the leading role in Night Must Fall by Emlyn Williams, where producer Richard West first met him. After the war, West employed Harald as actor and director in repertory productions in Newquay (where the cast included a young Kenneth Williams) and Scarborough; in the latter, Harald played the Devil in Tobias and the Angel. West's memoir provides a vivid sense of the man and his busy love life. 

"He subsequently married a nymphette typist from the office. He wrote plays for television. The first two were successfully screened, but the third, which dealt with the fall of Mussolini, was thrown out of a train window by the enraged nymphette." (Kindle ref. 2406)

West cast Harald in two roles in the fifth Garry Halliday story: the newspaper boy seen in episode 4 and the BBC radio announcer heard warning of the effects of BDM in episodes 5 and 6. Presumably, once he was part of the company Harald heard from his friend the producer about the woes involved in scripts and offered to help deal with the crisis. Yet, given the impression we get of Harald from the memoir, he hardly seems the most appropriate candidate to bring order to proceedings. 

He wasn't the only old friend West cast in this story. The sense is of a repertory company, like the ones where West had been director of programmes after the war, with the same actors playing different roles each week. Audrey Nicholson and Frederick Treves had both been in the serial St Ives, directed by West and broadcast in the summer of 1960. Treves had also played a character called Andre in three episodes of the second Garry Halliday serial.

Edward Jewesbury reprised the role of Inspector Potter for a single episode. Hamilton Dyce, playing Meg's father in one episode, had been Henry Riggs in the first Garry Halliday serial and Sir Charles Logan in the second. Richard Dare, as Berhman, had previously played Jakob in the first serial, a clerk in the second and Professor Mundt in the third. John Harrison, here as Baristow, had been a passenger in the first serial, Sergeant Eustace and a schoolmaster in the second, a police sergeant in the third and a passenger (again) in the fourth story. Peter Myers as Les, Jill Hyem as Vera Staple and Peter M Elrington as the cab driver had been, respectively, Smith-Clayton, the Swiss clerk and Mappin in the third serial.

Howard Lang, playing the villainous da Rica, was a new member of the Garry Halliday company, with the unenviable task of replacing Elwyn Brook-Jones as the Voice. Lang was brought up in the East End of London, left school at 14 and was expected to become a cabinet maker but instead went to RADA where, in 1942, he won a gold medal for his acting. The 35 year-old, blond and young-looking actor was not an established name. A month after completing work on Garry Halliday, he appeared in an episode of the BBC arts programme Monitor, which featured his work as a tutor to acting students at the Central School of Speech and Drama. This, said one newspaper, made him "a TV personality overnight". The same piece noted that Lang also wrote and produced plays, had collaborated on a book ignored by critics, and had recently returned from India where he'd been teaching on behalf of the British Council. (Source: "Monitor put 'dunce' on road to top", Evening Telegraph, 14 April 1961, p. 8.) This all implies Lang wasn't already a known quantity. Another report suggested he was known to the public because of his role in Garry Halliday, noting how different his appearance on Monitor had been to the "particularly nasty drug smuggler". (Source: "About Mr Lang the teacher..." Hampstead News, 14 April 1960, p. 18.) 

That, at least, suggests he was a memorable and effective villain. But going from the novelisation, da Rica isn't particularly chilling, not least because he makes a series of threats that then seem to be forgotten. The net that falls from the ceiling of his office is a fun gimmick but not one that bears much repeating. The real tension in the story, I think, comes from Nigel and Vicky Fox as largely good people caught up in something bad, and the switching loyalties of their partner Jumbo Wiles.

Hector Ross, as the untrustworthy Jumbo, may have been the suggestion of writer David Whitaker — Ross had taken the lead role of Harry Ashworth in Whitaker's first script for television, A Choice of Partners. Perhaps the name of shopkeeper Mr Sharples owed something to Whitaker's close friend of the time, comedy writer Dick Sharples, though the name also appears in the novelisation so may have originated with Bowen and Bullmore. As "Ruth Weyland" in two episodes of the TV version — and not featured in the novelisation at all — Jennifer Schooling was surely Whitaker's suggestion. They seem to have been romantically involved at the time and Whitaker at some point "got engaged to Justine Lord", the name by which Schooling was later known. (Source: interview with Whitaker's first wife June Barry in Jeremy Bentham, Doctor Who — The Early Years (WH Allen, 1983), p. 60)

Given this connection, Whitaker may well have attended rehearsals and studio recording, where he would probably have encountered assistant floor manager Douglas Camfield. The two men would work together again on Doctor Who.

The novelisation may also provide some hints about the production of this story. On page 83, the garden of the pensione in Rome is described as having "a smack of Eastbourne" about it, which may be an in-joke about where these scenes were really filmed. What's more, Bowen and Bullmore provide a brief but vivid sense of life inside the BBC. When Bill Dodds arrives at Television Centre for his interview, he is quickly ushered into a waiting room:

"Life in the Centre seemed to be mainly a matter of moving from room to room" (p. 64). 

He's then taken to Lime Grove Studios, where Garry Halliday itself was recorded, and briefed by a nervy interviewer and,

"a worried young woman (because they all seemed to worry [in the studio]; they lived in it like fish in a tank)" (p. 65). 

Everyone at the BBC, we're told, drinks gin and tonic; when Bill asks for lager, they have to send out for it. Besides noting the nervy, boozy nature of live TV production, Bill spies the real-life Cliff Michelmore across the Tonight studio. Perhaps Michelmore made an uncredited cameo in the episode as broadcast, or perhaps this is another in-joke about him not appearing on screen.

Radio Times preview
2 February 1961, p. 5.

Whatever the problems behind the scenes with this story, there was clearly a renewed effort to promote Garry Halliday. For the first episode, Radio Times boasted a quarter-page preview of the story and photo of Garry in his cockpit. The listing used the credit agreed with Bowen and Bullmore a month earlier: 

"A new serial in six episodes by DAVID WHITAKER Based on characters created by JUSTIN BLAKE" (Source: Radio Times, 2 February 1961, p. 5) 

But, given the letter of 10 January, this wasn't the credit as broadcast. At least on this first episode of the new story, Blake and Whitaker presumably shared billing as writers, with a voiceover correcting the error.

The Birmingham Evening Mail also previewed the new story, providing a name for it not used in broadcast:

“The title of the serial is Garry Halliday and the Flying Foxes and during location filming, Longdon enjoyed a new experience—underwater swimming with mask and flippers. What he did in this outfit will be seen in episode two.” (Source: The ‘Mail’ Man, "Adventures of a charter pilot", Birmingham Evening Mail, 2 February 1961, p. 34.)

The Evening Post featured a photo of new guest star Audrey Nicholson to promote the first episode. (Source: "Looking and Listening with AJ Webber", Evening Post, 4 February 1961, p. 6.) The Newark Advertiser noted that star Terence Longdon had been a pupil at nearby Southwell Minister Grammar School (Source: "NAMES in the NEWS', Newark Advertiser, 8 February 1961, p. 16.) It referred to Longdon's local connection again later the same month, this time in relation to him playing Drusus in the new movie Ben Hur, but with a mention of Garry Halliday, too. (Source: "NAMES in the NEWS", Newark Advertiser, 22 February 1961, p. 16.)

Oddly, the previews don't mention the story being set in Rome, whereas location filming abroad had been part of the sell of previous adventures. Indeed, it's odd that Rome doesn't feature at all in the opening episode, with the previews instead citing Garry's swim in a lake in Kent (in episode 2).

No film cameraman or editor were included in listings for the final episode of the story, which may suggest it did not feature any pre-filmed inserts. However, there's also no listing for designer Stewart Marshall, so the absence may just be due to lack of space on this particular page of Radio Times.

Tantalisingly, something of the location filming survives. The BBC Film Library holds four sequences of black-and-white 35mm film, all titled "Rome: Architecture" in its internal catalogue, all lasting 9m 15s and all with the same programme number, "SFLP056W". The repetition suggests that these are four versions of the same film material, though the description for each item in the catalogue lists different shots of Roman buildings and street scenes. As with other surviving film clips, these seem to be fragments without star Terence Longdon or specific to the plot, retained for reuse in other programmes.

The descriptions mention both Garry Halliday from 1960 (ie from this story) and also "Christopher Wren", broadcast 4 July 1961. The latter is a reference to a documentary film, The Miracle of Youth, but it's not clear whether what's held is surviving footage from both Garry Halliday and the documentary or material shot for Garry Halliday that was then reused in the documentary. 

Another surviving sequence, again listed as relating to Garry Halliday, is an undated shot of the undulating sea, which lasts for some minutes. My best guess is that, from all of Garry Halliday to choose from, this might have been used at the end of the third episode of this story, when Bill Dodds is left in an inflatable raft on the North Sea. It may be that the closing credits rolled over this sequence.

Sadly, from this point onwards, Garry Halliday is a lot less tangible. There are no further novelisations from which to lift the plots of these missing episodes. There's less BBC paperwork to help us make sense of production. It's all much harder to piece together the story...

Further reading

• My review of the novelisation Garry Halliday and the Flying Foxes

Written by and (c) Simon Guerrier. Thanks to Paul Hayes, the BBC's Written Archives Centre, the British Newspaper Archive and Macclesfield Library.