Never Say Die (1960)
American producers Paramount Pictures, who backed creator Roger Mirams to begin production without having seen a script. He made the pilot episode, Spy Catcher, which impressed Paramount, and the Nine Network immediately bought the local rights. The first episode aired in Sydney on August 8, 1971, and the rest of Australia on August 26, 1971. It was originally intended to produce 26 episodes, but following the success of the first series, Mirams held talks with both Nine Network and Paramount Pictures who backed him for a second series. In all 42 episodes were produced. The series was last aired on Australian television in Adelaide on September 21, 1976, but has been re-run several times since. Famous antipodean actor Russell Crowe appeared briefly in one episode as a child actor at the age of seven. The record of Colonel Pinto and his team in trapping the spies who came to Britain is exceptional and is fully described in Colonel Pinto's two excellent books Spycatcher and Friend Or Foe? which tell in exciting detail both the methods and intentions of the spies and the patience and experience required to trap them. Every efficient spy, says Colonel Pinto, would have a plausible and well-supported story. Only the ability of the interrogator to probe beneath the surface could succeed in breaking the spy's story. Colonel Pinto lists the following qualifications "for a successful spycatcher": a phenomenal memory, patience and regard for detail, a gift for languages, courage, a detailed knowledge of the capitals and towns of the world, a thorough knowledge of international law, a gift for detection, and a long experience of the methods and tricks of spies.
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