AustLit

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither synopsis nor character notes.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither synopsis nor character notes.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither synopsis nor character notes.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither synopsis nor characer notes.

This is the script for the first of of the two episodes of Hunter collectively called 'The Snowy Mountain File'. The Crawford Collection does not hold the script for the second episode.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither synopsis nor character notes.

The script in the Crawford Collection has neither synopsis nor character notes.

According to Storey, 'The Mirage File' was a two-part episode: there is some confusion in the annotations as to whether this script is the script for part one or part two. No copy of the script for the other part is held in the Crawford Collection.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither character notes nor synopsis.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither character notes nor synopsis.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither synopsis nor character notes.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither synopsis nor character notes.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither synopsis nor character notes.

In this episode, the murder of Kragg's mentor Lestrovic finally forces the disillusioned idealist to turn his back on the Council for Unification of the Communist World (COUW) and approach COSMIC, though it takes a further two episodes and the murder of a colleague for him to fully join COSMIC (in 'A Reason for Dying').

The episode was written as 'The Jan Lestrovic File' (the title that appears on the script cover page) but aired under the title 'Doves in the East'.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither synopsis nor character notes.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither synopsis nor character notes.

This episode is the last in the arc that began with episode 29 ('The Jan Lestrovic File'/'Doves in the East'), though it had been signalled in earlier episodes: Hunter's nemesis Kragg, disillusioned with the Council, especially after they order the murder of his mentor (and Council founder) Lestrovic, ultimately defects to COSMIC. He is aided by Council spy Georgie Savage. In this episode, Georgie is brutally murdered for assisting Kragg. Stapleton went to great lengths to ensure a specific mood and tone to the scene in which Hunter finds the dying Georgie, adding the following detailed stage directions:

'SPECIAL NOTE:

'THE OBJECT OF THIS SEQUENCE HAS CERTAINLY NOTHING TO DO WITH EITHER SEX OR SENSATIONALISM.

'IT SHOULD SHOCK, AND IT SHOULD HAVE GREAT IMPACT. BUT THE INTENDED EFFECT IS ONE OF TRAGEDY.

'THE IMAGE WE RETAIN OF GEORGIE'S DEATH MUST BE POWERFUL BECAUSE, WHEN HUNTER DESCRIBES IT TO KRAGG, IN A LATER SCENE, WE MUST BELIEVE THIS MAKES SUCH AN IMPACT AS TO GIVE KRAGG ONCE MORE A REASON FOR LIVING, I.E., REVENGE.

ALSO, IN ONE OR TWO LATER EPISODES, THIS IMAGE WILL SUSTAIN HUNTER AND KRAGG IN THEIR SEARCH FOR GEORGIE'S KILLER.

'FILM DIRECTOR:

IT MAY BE NECESSARY TO MAKE SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS REGARDING THE SIMULATION OF CUTS AND BRUISES ON GEORGIE'S FACE AND BODY. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT THESE BE UTTERLY CONVINCING AND TRAGIC.

'ALSO, WE SHOULD BELIEVE THAT GEORGIE IS NAKED. WE SEE HER BARE BACK, THEN GO TO HEAD AND SHOULDERS WHEN HUNTER TURNS HER OVER.

'WHEN FIRST SEEN, SHE SHOULD BE COVERED BY AN OLD, STAINED, RAGGED TARPAULIN OR CANVAS. THE WHOLE EFFECT SHOULD BE SQUALID, PATHETICALLY TRAGIC.'

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither synopsis nor character notes.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither synopsis nor character notes.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither synopsis nor character notes.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither synopsis nor character notes.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither character notes nor synopsis.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither synopsis nor character notes.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither synopsis nor character notes.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither character notes nor synopsis.

This was Rod Mullinar's first episode as Gil Martin: Tony Ward's central character, John Hunter, was killed off in the next episode, 'Misadventure'.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither character notes nor synopsis.

'Misadventure' was Tony Ward's final episode as the titular Hunter. Ostensibly on holiday but actually on loan to British Intelligence, Hunter is paired with a British spy and sent to an unspecified country behind the Iron Curtain. But the British spy has been hiding a worrying heart condition, which began after his last physical examination: when he drops dead in the street of a heart attack, police find a code book strapped to his chest, and arrest Hunter as a spy. Hunter is given a strict script to follow for his show trial, which should end in deportation or a short prison term. But when Hunter not only refuses to read the plea that has been written for him but also reveals to the audience that this is a show trial, he is sentenced to death. His country disavows him in order to preserve the sanctity of COSMIC generally, and Hunter is executed by firing squad.

The stage directions for Hunter's execution are detailed. On page 52, they read:

'A FEELING OF EARLY MORNING FRESHNESS ABOUT THIS SCENE.

'FIRST SHOT IS OF SOME BIRDS PERCHED ON THE BRANCHES OF A TREE. THERE ARE DEWDROPS AT THEIR FEET.

'PULL BACK TO SEE HUNTER, HEAD ERECT, WALKING WITH TWO GUARDS ALONG THE COBBLED COURTYARD TOWARDS AN EXECUTION POST WHICH HAS BEEN SET UP IN FRONT ON [sic] A BLANK BRICK WALL AT THE END OF THE COURTYARD.

'HUNTER SEES NESTRI OUT OF THE CORNER OF HIS EYE, STANDING TO ONE SIDE OF THE YARD AS HUNTER WALKS PAST.

'THE WHOLE THING SEEMS UNREAL TO HUNTER.

'THERE IS A DREAMLIKE QUALITY ABOUT THE SCENE.'

On page 53, the stage directions read:

'HUNTER'S HANDS HAVE BEEN SECURED TO THE POST. ONE OF THE SOLDIERS WITH HIM PRODUCES A BLINDFOLD AND HOLDS IT UP. BUT HUNTER SHAKES HIS HEAD.

'THE SOLDIER HESITATES, THEN POCKETS THE BLINDFOLD.

'HE GIVES HUNTER A GLANCE OF RESPECT, AS HE WITHDRAWS TO THE SIDE, OUT OF FRAME, WITH HIS COMPANION.

'HUNTER LOOKS UP AT THE SKY FOR THE LAST TIME.

'CLOUDS DRIFT ACROSS THE SKY.

'CUT TO A MEDIUM LONG SHOT OF HUNTER AS HE LOWERS HIS HEAD AND LOOKS DIRECTLY AT THE CAMERA, WHICH IS IN THE POSITION WHERE THE FIRING SQUAD WOULD BE.

'WE HEAR THE FIRST ORDER SHOUTED, STILL ODDLY MUTED AND FLAT, AS WE BEGIN A SLOW ZOOM IN ON HUNTER'S FACE.'

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither synopsis nor character notes.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither synopsis nor character notes.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither character notes nor synopsis.

The first scene of this episode involves a character called Errol Bremner 'being interviewed by Mike Walsh on the "Today" set' (according to the stage directions). Tony Ward, who had already left his role as John Hunter on Hunter by this time, had himself been a current-affairs reporter in the early 1960s (first on Channel 7's Seven Days and then on Channel 10's Telescope) and would become one again in the early 1970s, when he joined the crew of Mike Willessee's A Current Affair.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither character notes nor synopsis.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither character notes nor synopsis.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither character notes nor synopsis.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither synopsis nor character notes.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither synopsis nor character notes.

The final episode of Hunter, in which Kragg, realising that he has been exhausted by the sequence of deaths he has experienced (including Lestrovic, Georgie Savage, and Hunter himself) and that his professional instincts have become dulled, resigns from COSMIC to marry his girlfriend Heidi Frankel.

The script held in the Crawford Collection has neither synopsis nor character notes.