In this children’s thriller, a down-at-heel private detective is framed for murder and must unravel a smuggling conspiracy in Hull.
Gordon Stewart (Donald Churchill) is a private investigator whose business is on the verge of bankruptcy. A mysterious client (Philip Ray) offers a seemingly simple case, but Stewart soon finds himself the prime suspect in a murder he did not commit. Now a fugitive, he travels to Hull to follow his only leads and clear his name. As he attempts to investigate, he is hunted by the police and a menacing trio known only as the Man in Black (Peter Bull), the Little Man (Wolfe Morris), and the Tall Man (Peter Thomas). Stewart’s enquiries eventually point towards a local landmark, a statue of King William III nicknamed ‘King Billy’, as the centre of a dangerous smuggling operation.
The most striking feature of this five-part serial is its choice of protagonist. At a time when children’s adventure stories were dominated by gangs of resourceful youngsters, this production placed a world-weary adult at the heart of its narrative. Gordon Stewart is no aspirational hero; he is a cynical, down-on-his-luck gumshoe borrowed from the pages of adult crime fiction. This decision fundamentally alters the tone of the adventure. C.E. Webber’s adaptation of Henry Treece’s novel substitutes the high-spirited romps of its contemporaries for a grittier, more grounded thriller. The story trusts its young audience to invest in a plot driven by adult desperation and peril, making it a distinctive and surprisingly mature entry in the canon of 1950s children’s television.
Broadcast: BBC, 5 Episodes, Tuesdays, 3 November – 1 December 1959
Adapted by: C. E. Webber
Based on the novel by: Henry Treece
Producer: Tony Halfpenny
Designer: Susan Spence
Main Cast: Donald Churchill (Gordon Stewart), Gillian Barber (Connie), Philip Ray (The Client), Peter Bull (Man in Black), Wolfe Morris (Little Man), Peter Thomas (Tall Man), Anthony Woodruff (Alan Brookes), Ronnie Reeves (Garage Man)
