Australian TV Plays: The Stranger (26 April 1964)

Australian sci fi series. Australia's first locally produced science fiction television series and one of the first Australian TV series to be sold overseas

You can watch the first episode here.

A children's serial.

Premise

A schoolmaster finds an unconscious young man on his doorstep, takes him in, and looks after him. A firm friendship develops between the stranger and the headmaster's children Bernard and Jean, and their friend Peter, leading them to discover the stranger's secret: that he is from another planet and has been sent to find a new home on Earth for his people.

The stranger, Adam, is joined by fellow alien Varossa. They live in a society without books where they memorize everything. In the second series the children have to enlist the help of the Australian Prime Minister when Peter is kidnapped by the alien, and a procession of intrigues eventually leads them to the aliens' home planet of Soshuniss.

One rainy night a stranger (Ron Haddrick), suffering from amnesia and with no discernible heartbeat, is found unconscious on the doorstep of the Walsh family home in the Blue Mountains of NSW, Australia.

He is welcomed inside by high school principal Mr Walsh (John Faassen), his wife (Jessica Noad), teenage children Bernie (Bill Levis) and Jean (Janice Dinnen), and their school friend Peter Cannon (Michael Thomas).

Given that he speaks German and French as well as English, the family decide that the stranger must be Swiss.

‘Adam Suisse’, as he is quick to name himself, asks for employment at the school (St Michael’s) until he recovers his memory of who he is and where he is from.

Hired at St Michael’s as a languages master, Suisse turns out to have a gift for teaching even the most unruly of boys and is rumoured to have hypnotic powers.

Secretly searching his room, the three teenagers come across a strange electronic gadget emitting communications in an unrecognisable language and they discover the Stranger’s secret – he is an alien from the planet Soshuniss.

The teenagers decide to help him in his quest to find a new home on Earth for his people.

In the second series, the children have to enlist the help of the Australian Prime Minister (Chips Rafferty) when Peter is kidnapped by the aliens and taken to their planet.

Cast

* Ron Haddrick as Adan Suisse

*Reg Livermore as Varossa

*Jessica Noad as Mrs Walsh

* John Fraser as M r Walsh

*Bill Levis as Bernie Walsh
* Jannice Dinnen as Jean Walsh
* Michael Thomas as Peter Cannon
* Owen Weingott as Prof Mayer
* Chips Rafferty as PM

Original radio serial

The Stranger began life as a six-part radio series, broadcast on the BBC Home Service from December 1963. This was written by New Zealand-born author G.K. Saunders and starred David Spenser as "The Stranger", Adam Suisse.Ep 1 entry is here.

(Dr Who premiered on British TV on 27 Nov 1963)

Production

The Australian TV version followed four months later, again scripted by Saunders, produced by Storry Walton and directed by Gil Brealey, with production design by Geoffrey Wedlock.

Saunders devised a special language that the aliens spoke amongst themselves and they spoke English with a "foreign" accent; in the story Adam can speak German and French, and this leads to the children's father's initial assumption that he is from Switzerland (whence his surname; Adam comes from Adam and Eve).

The series was made with cooperation from the CSIRO with pivotal scenes shot on location at the Parkes Observatory and the facility's radio telescope featured in the iconic opening title sequence.

The CSIRO were also consulted on the design of the alien spacecraft that lands on the steps of the Sydney Town Hall where the aliens are greeted by the Prime Minister, played by veteran Australian screen star Chips Rafferty.

Two series of six episodes each were produced in 1964 and 1965.

Reception

It was a major hit in Australia and was sold back to the BBC.

The ASO entry is here.

2020 Reissue

The series was reissued in 2020. An article is here.