Australian TV Plays: Riptide (5 Feb 1969)

A British financed procedural. 26 episodes. The first hour-long colour show produced in Australia

Premise

An American (Ty Hardin) solves cases on his charter boat.

Production

Michael Noonan told Albert Moran in an oral history that he knew Guy Thayer from The Flying Doctor and says Thayer asked him to do an outline for a series about a guy who ran a charter boat on the barrier reef. It was to be called Charter Boat. Noonan was to receive 10 percent of the profits and said he never got paid.

They raised a million dollars via Artransa. Thayer got Associated British interested and got finance for 26 episodes in colour each running an hour.

Noonan told Albert Moran that Oliver Reed was going to star but they wound up with Ty Hardin.

The intention that the series would be written by three Aussies under Noonan's supervision - Bruce Stewart, Tony Scott Veitch and Rex Rienits. They did two eps each but Associated British knocked back all scripts. Noonan says he had to do uncredited writing on them so the Aussies would get paid. Noonan says that Robert Banks Stewart became story editor instead. Noonan wrote some episodes.

Noonan thought it was remarkable the show got off the ground and that it was wonderful thing for Australian television that a $2 million series was made. Noonan says that's why he never pressed for profit participation he wanted the show to go ahead.

He said Ralph Smart was called in half way "and he lowered the whole standard" of the series rewriting scripts.

Richard Lane in his oral history with Graham Shirley says that the AWG complained to Channel Seven that all the scripts were written by foreigners (including Australians based in London). James Oswin of Seven, with whom Lane normally got along with, said Lane and Australians were welcome to write episodes but that Oswin would just throw them in the bin. Lane understood Oswin was just doing "his masters' bidding".

Lane lobbied for Australian writers to do it. There was an assocation of Australian writers in London headed by Russell Braddon who said the AWG were discriminating against Australian writers overseas - people like Stewart, Peter Yeldham and Scott Veitch. This made Lane uncomfortable as he said he was friends with many of them from radio. Lane also says that most Aussie expats didnt particularly want to write for the show. In the end, he didn't get a quota for local writers (he wanted 50%). Ron McLean did some stories for it see here.

There's a profile on Hardin here and here. He arrived in Sydney on 14 Nov 1967 see here.

The budget was $2 million see here. It started 5 Feb 1969.