Ryan (TV series)

Ryan
Created by	Crawford Productions
Starring	Rod Mullinar Pamela Stephenson Luigi Villani
Music by	Garry Hardman
Country of origin	Australia
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	39
Production
Executive producer	Terry Stapleton
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	60 minutes
Production company	Crawford Productions
Original release
Network	Seven Network
Release	25 May 1973 (1973-05-25) – 13 April 1974 (1974-04-13)
Related
Homicide

Ryan is an Australian adventure television series screened by the Seven Network from 27 May 1973. The series was produced by Crawford Productions and had a run of 39 one-hour episodes.

Synopsis

The series title relates to the character of Michael Ryan, a dashing private investigator played by Rod Mullinar. A few years prior Mullinar had briefly taken the lead role in similar Crawford's series Hunter (1967) in its closing episodes after the original lead actor Tony Ward left the show.

Ryan's secretary Julie King was played by New Zealand-born actor Pamela Stephenson, soon to leave for England and a successful television career.Some storylines were built around the character of Julie. Tony Angelini (Luigi Villani), a taxi driver and Ryan's regular informant and assistant was a key player in every episode while Detective Cullen (Colin McEwan) was Ryan's main liaison with the police force. When McEwan appeared in an episode, he would be credited as one of the four main cast members.

Production

Ryan was shot entirely on film and in colour with an eye to potential international sales. An initial sale of 39 episodes to the Seven Network recouped only 55% of the series' relatively high production costs. An international sale was therefore crucial to the show's continued feasibility.

Australian television was still in the process of transitioning to colour broadcasting in 1973, while key international markets were already in colour and would more readily purchase a colour series. Though many Australian series shot their interior scenes on videotape in the studio using a multiple-camera setup with only outdoor scenes shot on film, many television studios were not yet equipped with colour equipment. This meant Ryan had to be shot entirely on film. In another concession to international marketability Mullinar was instructed to play the role using a Mid-Atlantic American accent.

Broadcast

The series premiered in May 1973, rating well in Brisbane and Adelaide, but failing in the crucial Melbourne and Sydney markets. A key reason for low ratings was the fact that the Nine Network had moved the highly popular police drama Division 4 to a new night to compete with the much-hyped new series. Ryan was moved around the schedules in order to find an audience, but ratings remained mediocre. After the initial 39 episodes were in the can the Ryan crew were, in expectation of a second series, retained by Crawford's and put to work on Homicide - whose output was increased to two episodes a week - on that show's second weekly episode. This resulted in one cross-over episode, with the Ryan regular characters appearing in an episode of Homicide with the exception of Pamela Stephenson, who had opted to leave the series during the recess. Ultimately Ryan was not renewed by the Seven Network due to insufficient ratings. The Homicide production reverted to one episode a week. While some of the Ryan crew were rolled into new Crawford's serial The Box, that show featured little outdoors filming so inevitably some of the Ryan crew were retrenched - the first time Crawford's had ever retrenched staff.

Cast

Main

• Rod Mullinar as Michael Ryan
• Pamela Stephenson as Julie King
• Luigi Villani as Tony Angelini
• Colin McEwan as Detective Sergeant Dan Cullen

Guests

Actor	Role	Eps.
Alfred Sandor	Miklos / Knight	2
Alister Smart	Colin Brown
Anne Scott-Pendlebury	Katrina
Anthony Hawkins	Adler	1
Brian Moll	Warburton / Topley
Bruce Spence	Wally Scott	1
Carmen Duncan	Anne	1
Carole Skinner	Jane Moore	1
Cecily Polson	Gail Scott / Vicki	2
Christine Amor	Jennifer	1
Danny Adcock	Harry Fisher	1
Diane Craig	Lacey Glen	1
Dina Mann	Nikki	1
Elspeth Ballantyne	Rhoda Bitov	1
Graeme Blundell	Flip Mitchell / Slade	2
Jack Thompson	John Mitchell / Brian Duncan	2
John Clayton	Hunt / Harry	2
John Stanton	Johnson	1
Kate Sheil	Ellen Cornell	1
Kevin Golsby	Trevor Armstrong	1
Kevin Miles	John Hiller
Maurie Fields	Bob Clark	1
Michael Aitkens	Bernie Wood	1
Norman Yemm	Carl Hoffman / Max Miller	2
Pat Bishop	Elaine Duncan	1
Penne Hackforth-Jones	Jana / Helen	2
Peter Gwynne	Raymond Fitch	1
Roger Ward	Don	1
Rowena Wallace	Kate / Sue Ogilvie / Zita / Holly Beckett	4
Serge Lazareff	Patrick
Sheila Florance	Lorna Russell	1
Simon Chilvers	Joe / Fat man / Henderson	3
Terry McDermott	Matt

Episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	1	"Liz"	Simon Wincer	Morton S. Fine Terry Stapleton	25 May 1973 (1973-05-25)
2	2	"This Little Piggy Went to Pieces"	Andrew Swanson	Peter Schreck	1 June 1973 (1973-06-01)
3	3	"Firing Squad"	Gary Conway	Colin Eggleston	8 June 1973 (1973-06-08)
4	4	"Nut File"	Gary Conway	Neil Atkinson Terry Stapleton	15 June 1973 (1973-06-15)
5	5	"King's Bishop to Queen Three"	Gary Conway	Peter Schreck	22 June 1973 (1973-06-22)
6	6	"Catalyst"	Gary Conway	Ron McLean	29 June 1973 (1973-06-29)
7	7	"Death Watch"	Ian Bennett	Phil Freedman	6 July 1973 (1973-07-06)
8	8	"Come the Liberation"	Simon Wincer	William Froug	13 July 1973 (1973-07-13)
9	9	"Messenger Birds"	Ian Crawford Andrew Swanson	James Wulf Simmonds	20 July 1973 (1973-07-20)
10	10	"Tribe"	Simon Wincer	Dennis Paul Peter Schreck	27 July 1973 (1973-07-27)
11	11	"The Girl with the Golden Slippers"	Simon Wincer	David Boutland	3 August 1973 (1973-08-03)
12	12	"Miss Ogilvie Repents"	Andrew Swanson	Dennis Paul	10 August 1973 (1973-08-10)
13	13	"Man with a Mission"	Simon Wincer	James Wulf Simmonds	17 August 1973 (1973-08-17)
14	14	"But When She Was Bad"	Gary Conway	David Boutland	24 August 1973 (1973-08-24)
15	15	"Moon Monkey"	Gary Conway	Everett De Roche	31 August 1973 (1973-08-31)
16	16	"Nobody's Perfect"	Ian Bennett	José Luis Bayonas	8 September 1973 (1973-09-08)
17	17	"Person or Persons Unknown"	David Johnstone	David Boutland	15 September 1973 (1973-09-15)
18	18	"Fibber the Dancing Galah"	Simon Wincer	Everett De Roche	22 September 1973 (1973-09-22)
19	19	"Hamlet's Horse"	Simon Wincer	Dennis Paul	29 September 1973 (1973-09-29)
20	20	"Where Thunder Sleeps"	Simon Wincer	Ian Jones	6 October 1973 (1973-10-06)
21	21	"The Far Away Girl"	Simon Wincer	John Blair	13 October 1973 (1973-10-13)
22	22	"Hickory Dickory Dock"	Ian Bennett	José Luis Bayonas	20 October 1973 (1973-10-20)
23	23	"Pipeline"	Gary Conway	Michael Harvey	27 October 1973 (1973-10-27)
24	24	"Three-Legged Duck"	Gary Conway	Everett De Roche	3 November 1973 (1973-11-03)
25	25	"A Bag Full of Miracles"	Ian Bennett	José Luis Bayonas	10 November 1973 (1973-11-10)
26	26	"Giant, Giant Had a Great Fall"	Simon Wincer	Neil Atkinson	17 November 1973 (1973-11-17)
27	27	"Way Back"	Simon Wincer	Terry Stapleton	24 November 1973 (1973-11-24)
28	28	"Negative Proof"	Gary Conway	John Edwards	1 December 1973 (1973-12-01)
29	29	"A Little Something Special"	George Miller	William Froug	8 December 1973 (1973-12-08)
30	30	"Red Alert"	Ian Bennett	John Blair	15 December 1973 (1973-12-15)
31	31	"A Deep Dark Place"	Gary Conway	David Boutland	25 January 1974 (1974-01-25)
32	32	"A Song for Julie"	Ian Bennett	Everett De Roche	1 February 1974 (1974-02-01)
33	33	"The Man in Room 16"	Andrew Swanson	Ian Jones	18 February 1974 (1974-02-18)
34	34	"Give Them the World"	Simon Wincer	David Boutland	2 March 1974 (1974-03-02)
35	35	"Wild About Harry"	Simon Wincer	Ian Jones	9 March 1974 (1974-03-09)
36	36	"King Hit"	Gary Conway	José Luis Bayonas	16 March 1974 (1974-03-16)
37	37	"Goodbye Holly Beckett"	Ian Bennett	John Blair Terry Stapleton	23 March 1974 (1974-03-23)
38	38	"There's Going to Be a War"	Gary Conway	David Boutland	30 March 1974 (1974-03-30)
39	39	"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Altar"	Gary Conway	Neil Atkinson Terry Stapleton	13 April 1974 (1974-04-13)

DVD release

The complete series was released on DVD in June 2018. It and other Crawford Productions series are available to international viewers from Eaton Films in the UK and Australia and New Zealand based buyers from Crawfords DVD. As well as the full run of 39 episodes, the DVD set includes the Homicide crossover episode "As Simple As ABZ".

Title	Format	Ep #	Discs	Region 2 (UK)	Region 4 (Australia)	Special Features	Distributors
Ryan (Complete Collection)	DVD	39	10	June 2018	June 2018	HOMICIDE - Episode 408 featuring Ryan	Crawford Productions

External links

• Ryan at Crawford Productions
• Ryan at IMDb
• Ryan at AustLit
• episode "Catalyst" at AustLit