Ghost Squad (TV series)

For the unrelated arcade game of the same name, see Ghost Squad.

Ghost Squad
Also known as	G.S.5
Format	Crime drama
Created by	John Gosling Anthony Kearey
Starring	Michael Quinn Donald Wolfit Angela Browne Anthony Marlowe Neil Hallett Clare Nielson Ray Austin
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	52
Production
Running time	50 minutes
Production company(s)	ITC Entertainment
Broadcast
Original channel	ATV
Original run	9 September 1961 – 16 May 1964

Ghost Squad, known as G.S.5 for its third season, was a crime drama series about an elite division of Scotland Yard that ran between 1961 and 1964. Each episode the Ghost Squad would investigate cases that fell outside the scope of normal police work. Despite the show and characters being fictional, an actual division did exist within the Metropolitan Police at the time.

Inspiration for the series was taken from a book of the same name, written by John Gosling — a retired police officer and former member of the team. Although the real-life squad only operated in London, the fictionalised team travelled internationally (sometimes to small countries with fictional names); however — as was typical of the time — most foreign locations were actually a combination of stock footage and sets at Independent Artists Studio at Beaconsfield and Elstree Studios. The stories were well plotted with both excitement and tension. A fight organiser was brought in for the realistic fight where Miller took on 3 hard men in Polsky and a dance organiser for the dancers in The Menacing Mazurka. Music was by Philip Green.

The show was produced by ITC Entertainment, along with Rank Organisation TV and ATV. It was the first ITC show filmed to fit the one hour time-slot (with 2 ad breaks) — setting the trend for the majority of ITC's future output. Another common ITC trait was to feature an American, in this case Michael Quinn, in a leading role so as to increase the chances of international sales. At 6' 3", Quinn often towered over his co-workers. This was especially noticeable in the first season title sequence showing him walking through a crowd walking in the opposite direction. He frequently smoked in the show as did many others. The second season had a different title sequence and Neil Hallett sometimes replaced Quinn. Hallett looked more like a spy while Quinn looked a bit like a playboy. Quinn was replaced by Australian actor, Ray Barrett in the third series. Ray Austin played Billy Clay in (Season 3) and was also Stunt Director on all season bringing the action to life. Austin went on to become a renowned TV director in Hollywood and the UK.

Cast

• Michael Quinn as Canadian, Nick Craig, squad operator (Seasons 1, 2)
• Neil Hallett as Tony Miller, squad operator (Season 2)
• Donald Wolfit as Sir Andrew Wilson, squad chief (Season 1)
• Angela Browne as Helen Winters, Wilson's secretary/executive assistant
• Anthony Marlowe as Geoffrey Stock, squad chief in most episodes of Season 2
• Clare Nielson as Jean (Porridge) Carter, Stock's Scottish secretary (Season 2)
• Ray Barrett as Peter Clarke (Season 3)
• Ray Austin as Billy Clay (Season 3) Ray Austin was also Stunt Director on all seasons

Episodes

The show was produced for three consecutive seasons.

Season	Premiere	Finale	Episodes
Season One	9 September 1961	22 November 1962	13
Season Two	19 January 1963	13 July 1963	26
Season Three	22 February 1964	16 May 1964	13

Season one

• 1. Hong Kong Story: A man is murdered so Craig gets a job as air crew to get inside a ring of smugglers, smuggling gold from Hong Kong to Karachi. Also stars: Bill Kerr, George Pastell and Leonard Sachs.

• 2. Bullet with my Name on it: An American lawyer in Rome is the next target of Murder, Inc. Craig takes his place as the assassin's next victim. Also stars Alfred Burke, Peter Williams, Richard Shaw and Philip Ray.

• 3. Ticket for Blackmail: An exclusive tour of France run by two brothers is a front for a con game, blackmail and murder. When Craig is in trouble with the French police, his boss denies knowledge of him. Also stars: Ronald Leigh-Hunt, Alex Scott, Donald Morley and Edwin Richfield.

• 4. Broken Doll: Five blonde girls are murdered in Marseilles. Julie Peters (Julia Arnall) is sent to investigate as she fits the profile of the victims. She gets a job as singer with the creepy Sergie Federoff (Simon Lack) who makes dolls of his favourites. Odd that the Marseilles police did not recognise Craig from his adventure there in the previous episode. Also stars: Richard Leech, Harry Locke and John G. Heller.

• 5. High Wire: A wave of bank robberies across Western Europe and a circus playing nearby each time leads Craig to get a job with them after saving the boss's (William Hartnell) life. Rice, the boss worked with Wilson in Special Ops in WWII. Hartnell with no stand-in got very wet doing underwater escapes in this show. Also stars John Cairney, Tom Adams and André Maranne.

• 6. Eyes of the Bat: Jerome (William Lucas) and his gang steal secrets and then blackmail companies and even countries who want them back. Craig joins the organisation as The Bat, a well known safe cracker. Also stars Lionel Murton, Edward Judd and Dudley Foster.

• 7. Still Waters: The jewels from a series of robberies around the world are known to be sent to Amsterdam to be recut before being sold on. Craig joins the organisation as a diamond cutter. Also stars John Carson and Stratford Johns.

• 8. Assassin: The Prime Minister of a small eastern European country is murdered and an American man framed for his death in a plot to get the Communists to win power there. Also stars Jill Ireland, Joseph Furst, George Coulouris, Paul Maxwell and Norman Bird.

• 9. Million Dollar Ransom: Dr Cookson who is working on a new anti-missile system is kidnapped in Stockholm for a large ransom with the threat of handing him over the Russians if the money is not paid. The 1961 Monte Carlo Rally (actual footage shown) is used to smuggle Cookson to Switzerland. Also stars Bruce Beeby, Peter Dyneley, Jennifer Jayne, Olaf Pooley, Keith Pyott and Jenny Laird.

• 10. Catspaw: In the small South American country of Sebasiana, the men under the President plot to frame him for theft of the country's funds followed by his death. Craig has worked for Ghost Squad for eight years. Also stars Paul Stassino, Michael Goodliffe, Alec Mango, George Pastell and Brian Blessed.

• 11. The Green Shoes: A small bar of radioactive material which can help make a neutron bomb is stolen and smuggled to Warsaw inside a ballet shoe. One man has already died from the radioactivity and Craig rushes to Warsaw to stop a ballerina who is to wear the shoe, from suffering the same fate. Also stars Ewen Solon, Glyn Houston, Neil Hallett, Neil McCarthy and Martin Miller.

• 12. Princess: Assassins are trying to kill a Middle-Eastern princess to stop a marriage that will help the West keep its supply of oil. Things don't go well for Craig or for the assassins. Also stars Barbara Evans, Honor Blackman, Robert Rietti, Marne Maitland and Warren Mitchell.

• 13. Death from a Distance: Craig is given 2 weeks vacation and leaves. Stephen Brett (William Sylvester), a Scotland Yard man with international experience handles this case. Hazel Court as Jackie is his GS contact. Balkans ruler Volgu (John Le Mesurier) is coming to London for a conference. 4 men who would like him dead are lured by GS to a small island but 2 escape to plot Volgu's death. Also stars Roger Delgado, Douglas Wilmer and Anton Diffring.

Season two

• 14. Interrupted Requiem: Sir Andrew has left for the Foreign Office and Geoffrey Stock is now in charge. A defector vital to rocket research is blackmailed into sabotaging it by threats against his daughter in a small Eastern European country (Ordania). Craig goes there as a toy salesman to try and rescue her. Also stars Richard Dare, Ellen McIntosh, Leonard Sachs and Derek Nimmo.

• 15. East of Mandalay: After being unable to get holidays in the earlier episodes, Craig is off on another 2 week holiday, allowing Tony Miller (Neil Hallett) to take the case. In the Far East country of Sylon, the British Eastern company is suspected of helping the rebels who want to overthrow the government and Miller must get evidence of this. Also stars Ian Fleming, Barry Shawzin and Wolfe Morris.

• 16. Sentences of Death: Craig is drugged and forced to reveal important information. The people want £40,000 or they will sell the information on. Also stars Ronald Leigh-Hunt, Ann Lynn, Bernard Spear, Reg Lye and John Boyd-Brent.

• 17. The Golden Silence: No mention of Craig and Mike Ferrers (Gordon Jackson) is boss. A GS operative is killed chasing gold smugglers so Tony Miller (who lives at 17, Hawthorne Mews, S.W.3.) tries to join their organisation but is almost immediately suspected. Bad guy, Max Leach (David Lodge) continually calls every man "darling" and "love". Also stars David Garth.

• 18. The Retirement of the Gentle Dove: Gentle Dove was the code name of a double agent working for the Allies in 1943 but he switched sides and many spies for the Allies were executed. The then head of British Intelligence set about finding him and eventually tracked him down to a retirement home, where he was murdered. A disguised Geoffrey Stock (Boss of GS) goes there undercover with Craig outside, to find Gentle Dove. Also stars Philip Ray.

• 19. The Missing People: A violent gang of people smugglers have killed a GS operative. Miller infiltrates the gang who charge Polish people £1,000 a time, then drop them into the sea. Also stars Nigel Green, Willoughby Goddard, Pamela Ann Davy, Rio Fanning and Hana Maria Pravda.

• 20. Lost in Transit: A murderous band of fanatics under Van Tempel (Anthony Jacobs) want to take over the world. GS has a man inside their organisation but they spot him. Tony Miller has to stop them letting a large bomb off at the Opera. Also stars John Woodvine, André Maranne, Jeremy Young, Walter Randall, Brian Vaughan, Wilfred Carter and John Scott Martin.

• 21. The Man with the Delicate Hands: A man is burned to death in an apparent car accident but his sister knows it is not the man claimed because the body does not have delicate hands. Her brother is being tortured nearby to get information that can be used on Insider trading to make money on planned currency devaluations. Boss Henry Dickinson (Basil Dignam) sends Miller on the case. Also stars Derek Francis and Erik Chitty.

• 22. Hot Money: An obviously counterfeit pound note leads Craig on the trail of a quarter of a million pounds of stolen money, thanks to Geoffrey Stock. Also stars Lloyd Lamble, Michael Coles and Samantha Eggar.

• 23. The Grand Duchess: The name of a Goya painting on loan to a London museum. Miller joins a gang intent on stealing it to find the gang's mastermind. When they steal it, they find someone else has beaten them to it and all they have is a fake. Also stars John Barron, Garfield Morgan, Colin Douglas, William Gaunt, Michael Robbins, John Ringham, Roger Avon and Clifford Cox.

• 24. A First Class Way to Die: Craig is on a cruise to Dubrovnik to protect an important scientist on holiday. It is not long before the first murder occurs then a second, both of which are tied up with The Condor, a criminal. Tony Miller turns up at the end and meets Craig. Also stars Peter Dyneley, Peter Halliday, Jennifer Daniel, Keith Anderson and Charles Morgan.

• 25. Quarantine at Kavar: Valuable thorium is believed to have been found in a small desert kingdom. Craig helped by Jean Carter is thwarted at every step by the Emir who wants to keep his kingdom isolated to protect his power. Also stars Maurice Kaufmann, Roger Delgado, Dallas Cavell, Martin Wyldeck and Elvi Hale.

• 26. The Desperate Diplomat: Craig and Geoffrey Stock investigate with the help of a safe-cracker (Tom Bowman) when the wife of a diplomat is not just a user but is also smuggling heroin into the country. Also stars Ferdy Mayne, Richard Caldicot, Barbara Shelley and Ivor Salter.

• 27. The Big Time: A tramp (Paul Farrell) steals a purse containing £70,000 in uncut diamonds, spoiling the work of Craig and others who were waiting for it to be handed over so they could arrest the smugglers. Craig has to track him down before the gang gets to him. Also stars Vincent Ball, Geoffrey Chater, George Murcell, Derek Waring, Henry McGee and Dennis Edwards.

• 28. The Last Jump: Miller and Stock join a parachute regiment where someone is killing paras and using its West Germany jumps to pass equipment to East Germany. Miller calls Carter: "Porridge" 3 times. Also stars Jack Watling, Denis Thorne and David Davenport.

• 29. Escape Route: A rich swindler in London turns up as a dead tramp in Sydney. Not the first rich swindler to have vanished just ahead of the police so Craig poses as one and is taken on the escape route, being systematically swindled along the way. Also stars Hugh Burden, Terence Alexander, Harriet Johns and John Junkin.

• 30. Mr Five Per Cent: Smuggled guns are causing tension between Russia and America. Miller has to work with someone (Guy Deghy) who has spent his life making shady deals and living on the suffering of others to crack this case. Also stars Edwin Richfield and William Marlowe.

• 31. The Heir Apparent: A playboy prince from a Middle Eastern country comes to an English college. Craig not very successfully keeps his eye on him as a games master, as his uncle, (Roger Delgado) tries to kill him. Also stars Frank Middlemass, Arnold Diamond and David Blake Kelly.

• 32. Death of a Sportsman: Miller who is working with a female operative (Patricia Mort) in Cairo, trying to stop a diamond smuggling operation believes a man he had thought dead, (John Longden) may be part of it. Miller is recognised as a policeman who won a judo competition ten years ago. Also stars Martin Benson, Warren Mitchell, Noel Howlett, Arnold Yarrow and Peter Diamond.

• 33. P. G. 7: A pacifist working for the government makes Paralyzing Gas 7. It makes test mice fall asleep for a few hours then wake up without any ill effects so he wants every country to have it to stop wars. He agrees to sell it to some unscrupulous people not knowing that if it is used on (monkeys or) humans it will kill them painfully after they revive. Also stars George Pastell, Ross Hutchinson, Alister Williamson, Frank Gatliff and Derek Sydney.

• 34. Polsky: A political group pull robberies across France to fund their anarchy then move to the UK, using and discarding people as they go. Miller pretends to be a Polish locksmith in trouble with the law, so is picked up by them (they nickname him Polsky). To get at the head man, Miller causes trouble which puts him in deadly danger. Craig puts in an appearance at the office. Also stars Ray Barrett, Tom Bowman, Gerald Cross, Frederick Schiller, Fernanda Marlowe and Alec Ross.

• 35. The Magic Bullet: The car brake pipes of a scientist working on nuclear weapon research are cut, resulting in his death. Craig becomes a scientist and with help from Jean Carter tries to find the person responsible. Also stars David Markham, Maurice Hedley, David King, Mary Morris and Norman Claridge.

• 36. The Menacing Mazurka: Miller is a publicity agent to keep an eye on the (Moscow) Bassrai State Dancers visit to London. A dancer wants to defect but Miller is suspicious of her. The visit is being used to try and return a Colonel (George Pravda) who defected to Britain years earlier. Also stars Olaf Pooley, Harry Towb and Rex Robinson.

• 37. Gertrude: Craig struggles in a comedy of errors to take a female spy and her plans of a Middle East anti-British uprising to England. However Gertrude (Mary MacKenzie) is self centred, untrustworthy and nothing but trouble to all around her as Atarah agents and the police close in. End titles have bagpipe music. Also stars Archie Duncan, Douglas Wilmer, Richard Caldicot, Henry Lincoln, Raf De La Torre and Steve Plytas.

• 38. The Thirteenth Girl: Neither Craig nor Miller appeared in this. Sally Lomax (Patricia Mort) is sent undercover to find what has happened to 12 au pairs who have vanished, one having recently turned up dead. Also stars John Carson, Simon Oates, Molly Weir, Margaret John and Peter Diamond.

• 39. Sabotage: Miller takes the place of a Dutch saboteur out to blow up a port installation in the Fillemore Islands, which are about to gain independence from Britain. Also stars Eric Pohlmann, John Paul, Jill Medford and Maurice Colbourne.

Season three

• 40. An Eye for an Eye: Also stars William Marlowe.

• 41. A Cast of Thousands: Also stars Edwin Richfield and George Pravda.

• 42. Death of a Cop: Also stars Roger Delgado.

• 43. Party for Murder: Also stars Lois Maxwell.

• 44. Dead Men Don't Drive: Also stars Zena Marshall, Geoffrey Chater and Colin Douglas

• 45. Pay Up or Else: Also stars Harry Towb and Toni Palmer.

• 46. Dr. Ayre: Also stars Garfield Morgan.

• 47. Scorpion Rock: Also stars Paul Whitsun-Jones and Michael Robbins.

• 48. The Goldfish Bowl: Also stars Gerald Sim and Talfryn Thomas.

• 49. Seven Sisters of Wong: Also stars Leonard Sachs and Donald Morley

• 50. Rich Ruby Wine: Also stars Geoffrey Bayldon and Harold Goldblatt.

• 51. Hideout: Also stars Emrys Jones.

• 52. It Won't Be a Stylish Marriage: Also stars David Garth.

Availability

The series has not been broadcast since the 1960s. It is available on DVD from Network DVD, who have also released several other ITC productions.