É from the Pen of Robert Barr:

Spy Catcher & The Dark Island

 

 

Spy Catcher was based on the memoirs of Lt. Col. Oreste Pinto, a Dutch intelligence agent who worked for the Allied Counterintelligence Services in England during WWII - described by Eisenhower as "the greatest living expert in security".

It charted the exploits of Pinto and his team of investigators as they relentlessly tried to root out potential spies entering Britain. Spy Catcher began its life in 1959 as a 19 part TV series and made a star of Bernard Archard who played Pinto.

Masterminded by writer Robert Barr, Spy Catcher was produced in an almost the documentary manner and Pinto's half-hour cases were based on true stories.

Each episode found Pinto interrogating a self-proclaimed Allied serviceman or political refugee. Using all the verbal and psychological tricks at his command, Pinto endeavored to find out if the interviewee was actually a Nazi spy - which often as not proved to be the case.

In 1960 Robert Barr penned 26 Spy Catcher stories for BBC Radio - and these were broadcast in two seasons across the next two years again with Bernard Archard in the role of Pinto.

All but one episode of this fabulous radio series has survived.

 

Robert Barr next wrote a 6 part TV series entitled The Dark Island. A story of espionage in the remote islands of the Outer Hebrides, it starts out with the discovery of a strange, unidentified torpedo, found washed up on shore of a small, nearly uninhabited island. This leads to a long-standing Soviet espionage ring and an action-filled effort to find and capture the members of the ring.

The Dark Island originally aired as a TV serial on BBC TV, starting on 8 July 1962.

Later, Barr adapted it as a 6-part radio serial, airing on BBC Radio 4, from 19 September, before turning The Dark Island into a novel which was published in March of 1973.

 

Want to check out an of Spy Catcher episode? - why not "taste & try"?

 

This episode can be freely downloaded to your computer - just right button click on any link below and chose "Download Linked File" (or words to that effect). The file is on an average about 22 Mb - download time will depend on your (broadband) speed

 

SC_1960-09-28 The Photograph.mp3

 

 

This MP3CD contains all 25 surviving episodes of the

Spy Catcher stand-alone radio series as well as

the 6 part continuing radio series: The Dark Island.

Each episode / part is of about 30 minutes duration

 

A. Spy Catcher Episodes

 

1.              SC_1960-09-07 One Must Die

2.              SC_1960-09-14 Three from Spain

3.              SC_1960-09-21 Double Agent

4.              SC_1960-09-28 The Photograph

5.              SC_1960-10-05 The V I P

6.              SC_1960-10-12 The Gentle Gestapo Man

7.              SC_1960-10-19 I Know Your Face

8.              SC_1960-10-26 Friend or Foe

9.              SC_1960-11-02 Game, Set and Match

10.           SC_1960-11-09 The Absent Friend

11.           SC_1960-11-16 Never Say Die

12.           SC_1960-11-23 The Infernal Triangle

13.           SC_1960-11-30 Louise

14.           SC_1961-07-26 Left Luggage

15.           SC_1961-08-09 Neutral Ground

16.           SC_1961-08-16 Margin of Error

17.           SC_1961-08-23 Happy Landing

18.           SC_1961-08-30 Stooping to Conquer

19.           SC_1961-09-06 Doves of War

20.           SC_1961-09-13 Keeping a Promise

21.           SC_1961-09-20 Logic and Lies

22.           SC_1961-09-27 One of Our Aircraft

23.           SC_1961-10-04 Traitor in the Forest

24.           SC_1961-10-11 The Lisbon Run

25.           SC_1961-10-18 Spitfire Johnny

 

 

B. The Dark Island Episodes

 

1.              TDI_1969-09-19 Episode No. 1

2.              TDI_1969-09-26 Episode No. 2

3.              TDI_1969-10-03 Episode No. 3

4.              TDI_1969-10-10 Episode No. 4

5.              TDI_1969-10-17 Episode No. 5

6.              TDI_1969-10-24 Episode No. 6

 

 

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