AustLit

'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.