Roger Mirams
Director
Spyforce (1971)
Season 1
Spyforce was an Australian TV series produced from 1971 to 1973, based upon the adventures of Australian Military Intelligence operatives in the South West Pacific during World War II. It was produced by the Nine Network in conjunction with Paramount Pictures. The series centres on the action and adventures of lead actor Jack Thompson's character Erskine, and his main support character, Peter Sumner's Gunthar Haber. It was the first lead role for Jack Thompson. The two are part of an elite unit of special operatives, the Special Intelligence Unit, and their adventures are loosely based upon those of the real Services Reconnaissance Department who often operated behind Japanese-held lines during the war. Unlike most previous war films, Spyforce deliberately steered away from the notion that the United States was solely responsible for Japan's defeat, and highlights the important role Australian forces played in the defeat of the Imperial Japanese Army. Producer Roger Mirams was also careful to avoid stereotypes of the genre, and tired formulas for the battle scenes. The idea appealed to American producers Paramount Pictures, who backed creator Roger Mirams to begin production without having seen a script. He made the pilot episode, "Spy Catcher", which impressed Paramount, and the Nine Network immediately bought the local rights. The first episode aired in Sydney on 8 August 1971, and the rest of Australia on 26 August 1971. It was originally intended to produce 26 episodes, but following the success of the first series, Mirams held talks with both Nine Network and Paramount Pictures, who backed him for a second series. In all 42 episodes were produced. The series was last aired on Australian television in Adelaide on 21 September 1976, but has been re-run several times since.
Released Aug. 1, 1971
Episode 60 min
None+
Keywords: imdb.world-war-two, imdb.spy
Network: Nine Network
S1E1 - The General
The Japanese army have invaded New Ireland and plantation owners, Erskine and Haber have fled to Australia leaving behind a woman they both love. They are offered/coerced by Australian intelligence, a chance to rescue her, if they first go in and kidnap a German officer who is visiting the island.
Aug. 2, 1971, midnight
S1E2 - Death Railway
Erskine and Haber are sent to Siam to be deliberately captured so they can obtain a blueprint of the Buma - Siam railway, which is being built by allied prisoners.
Sept. 2, 1971, midnight
S1E3 - Portuguese Man Of War
German saboteurs are attacking wartime installations. Erskine is sent to track down the saboteurs supply lines in the Portuguese fishing community, while Haber is interned in a prison with some captured Germans to learn their plans.
Aug. 16, 1971, midnight
S1E4 - The Prisoner
Erskine and Haber break into the notorious Changi Prison in Singapore to rescue a British bacteriologist.
Aug. 23, 1971, midnight
S1E5 - The Bridge
A plan to blow up the Sydney Harbour Bridge is discover by Erskine and Haber.
Sept. 30, 1971, midnight
S1E6 - The Trader
Erskine and Haber take refuge at a trading post while evacuating a small party from New Guinea. Suspicion grows that one of the party is in league with the enemy.
Sept. 6, 1971, midnight
S1E7 - The Escape
Erskine and Haber guard German aeronautics expert Gen. Gustav Hochstraadt against an escape attempt.
Sept. 13, 1971, midnight
S1E8 - 27 Hours
Erskine and Haber take Gen. Hochstraadt on a direct 27 hour flight to Colombo where he is to be handed over to the British.
Sept. 20, 1971, midnight
S1E9 - The Volunteers - part one
Erskine and Haber lead a daring raid against enemy shipping in Singapore Harbour, however it becomes obvious that one of the group is determined to sabotage the attempt.
Sept. 27, 1971, midnight
S1E10 - The Volunteers - part two
A saboteur endangers the mission in Singapore Harbour, and Haber is faced with the decision of abandoning Erskine to certain capture, or picking Erskine up and risking the lives of all the others on the mission.
Oct. 4, 1971, midnight
S1E11 - The Countess
Erskine and Haber make contact with the Countess in Macau, to obtain information on Japanese troop movements.
Aug. 30, 1971, midnight
S1E12 - The Cripple
Erskine is shot and loses the use of his legs. The doctor suspects the disability is only psychosomatic.
Oct. 18, 1971, midnight
S1E13 - The Assassin
A top German assassin is sent to Australia to kill General MacArthur. Cato has a devious plan to protect MacArthur - without his approval.
Nov. 13, 1971, midnight
S1E14 - The Tunku
Erskine and Haber are sent to Malaya to prevent the Tunku of the Selegore area from making a broadcast to his people instructing them to cease resisting the Japanese.
Dec. 11, 1971, midnight
S1E15 - The Gunner
Haber and Jill Stewart are in New Guinea to sink Japanese shipping in Lae Harbour, and need help from a sole surviving, mentally unbalanced member of a lost artillery unit.
Nov. 8, 1971, midnight
S1E16 - The Saviour - part one
Erskine, Haber and Lt. French go to New Guinea to bring back a pacifist doctor wanted by the Americans due to his involvement with the atom bomb research.
Nov. 22, 1971, midnight
S1E17 - The Saviour - part two
Erskine, Haber and Lt. French go to New Guinea to bring back a pacifist doctor wanted by the Americans due to his involvement with the atom bomb research.
Dec. 18, 1971, midnight
S1E18 - The Samurai
Erskine and Haber are sent to an occupied island to assassinate a high-ranking Japanese Intelligence officer, who models his life on the 11th century Samurai.
Jan. 12, 1972, midnight
S1E19 - The Bunker
Erskine, Haber and two Japanese soldiers spend Christmas Eve trapped in a bunker under heavy fire from Allied and Japanese artillery.
Jan. 12, 1972, midnight
S1E20 - Reilley's Army
Erskine and Haber go to New Guinea to bring back Reilley, who has been waging a private war with the japanese thus jeopardising Allied coastwatchers.
Sept. 23, 1971, midnight
S1E21 - The Courier
Erskine and Lt. French are stranded in the desert by a German agent while escorting a captured Japanese courier from Darwin to Sydney.
March 8, 1972, midnight
S1E22 - The Doctor
German agents abduct the wife of a doctor in order to force his aid in sabotaging the supply of penicillin to Allied troops.
Jan. 26, 1972, midnight
S1E23 - The Major
Erskine and Jill Stewart go to Burma to blow up a bridge the Japanese are using to advance north into China. They find a British regiment left behind as a ‘tactical rear guard’.
Jan. 5, 1972, midnight
S1E24 - The Lovers
Erskine and Haber evacuate a Patrol Officer and two civilians from New Guinea. One of civilians, Haber had former relationship with.
S1E25 - The Chase
Erskine and Haber are sent to rescue a politicians son from a prison camp, but the Japanese seem all to aware of the plan.
March 1, 1972, midnight
S1E26 - The Diplomat
A Japanese cabinet minister wants to organise a peace treaty as he is does not think Japan can win the war. Haber, impersonating Col. Cato, is sent to a Japanese island for a meeting with the cabinet minister.
Feb. 9, 1972, midnight
S1E27 - The District Commissioner
The local District Commissioner stops Erskine from using the radio to organise a retreat as he is obsessed with holding the line.
Feb. 23, 1972, midnight
S1E28 - The Troupers
A group of entertainers who have visited many of the Allied camps are captured by the Japanese. Erskine and Haber are sent to rescue them before the Japanese can learn the locations of the camps.
March 15, 1972, midnight
S1E29 - The Encounter
An American deserter is captured by Erskine as Col. Cato suspects he is being using as a scapegoat to cover a more serious war crime.
March 22, 1972, midnight
S1E30 - The Breakout
hen a number of Australian soldiers are captured, Erskine is sent to New Guinea to break them out of a holding camp before the Japanese can learn of Allied troop movements.
Nov. 13, 1972, midnight
S1E31 - The Interrogator
Cato and Lt. French are en route to an Intelligence Conference when they are captured by Germans. Cato is subject to an interrogation to obtain details of Allied troop ship movements.
Jan. 19, 1972, midnight
S1E32 - The Raiders
A Japanese sub has been raiding northern Australia. Haber and explosives expert Owen Davies, an unreliable drunk, are sent to destroy it.
April 19, 1972, midnight
S1E33 - The Forger
Haber and Parsons are sent to track down a counterfeit ring which appears to be centred in a small Queensland country town.
April 17, 1972, midnight
S1E34 - The Correspondent
An American news correspondent jeopardised a mission when he reveals details of the operation.
March 27, 1972, midnight
S1E35 - The Double Agent
Haber takes the place of a captured German agent in order to track down the suppliers of a German sub operating off the coast of Australia.
Dec. 4, 1972, midnight
S1E36 - The Misfits
Erskine and Haber are sent to rescue a cypher expert from a Japanese prison camp, but a group of misfit soldiers also at the camp cause problems.
Jan. 29, 1973, midnight
S1E37 - The Mission
Erskine has an attack of malaria which forces him to seek shelter in a mission on a Japanese occupied island. The mission has an uneasy truce with the Japanese, which Erskine's presence shatters completely.
Dec. 2, 1972, midnight
S1E38 - The Journey
On an escape flight from Burma, Erskine and Haber share a plane with five refugees, one of whom is a secret British agent. It is discovered that someone is radioing the plane's position to the Japanese, and then shortly after one of the passengers is murdered.
Dec. 9, 1972, midnight
S1E39 - The Decoy
Erskine is sent to a Pacific island to blow up a Japanese fuel dump, as a cover for an Allied attack on a nearby island. Upon arrival he finds British women and their families held captive by the Japanese.
Jan. 15, 1973, midnight
S1E40 - The Murder
Col. Cato supposedly dies of a heart attack while working at his desk, but Erskine, Haber and French find evidence that he was murdered, and they work to expose the cover-up.
Jan. 20, 1973, midnight
S1E41 - The Trail
Erskine accompanies two Army nurses to a medical aid station on the Kakoda Trail in New Guinea. When he discovers a Japanese platoon in the region his report is ignored by the General in command of the area, who refuses to allow the post to be evacuated.
June 14, 1972, midnight
S1E42 - The Rolls That Went To War
Erskine's plane is shot down, and he is washed ashore on an isolated peninsula in Malaya. He is found by a group of Allied agents who crash-landed some months previously and are hiding out in an abandoned mansion. Erskine is wary of the group, but he must depend on them to help destroy a bridge, which is vital to Allied war efforts.
Feb. 2, 1973, midnight
Network: Nine Network
Episode Runtime: 60 min.
Season Runtime: 60 min.
Released: Aug. 1, 1971
Last Air Date: Feb. 2, 1973, midnight
Status: Ended
Certification: NR
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