AustLit

Developed by Guy Thayer as a co-production between Artransa Park Studios and Trans Pacific Enterprises, Riptide starred American actor Ty Hardin (former star of the western series Bronco, which ran from 1958 to 1962) as Moss Andrews, an American businessman who travels to Australia after the sudden death of his Australian wife, and works through his bereavement by assisting his father-in-law in operating a charter-boat business, a purpose that is frequently thwarted as he crosses the paths of various villains.

Apart from Hardin, the cast was Australian, including such short-lived roles as medical student Neil Winton, his girlfriend Judy Plenderleith, and Moss's father-in-law Barney Duncan (whose character disappeared when the actor portraying him died during the series' run). (See notes below for more details on Australian guest stars.)

According to Don Storey in Australian Classic Television, the series cost around $70,000 an episode, and made extensive use of expensive props (largely nautical, but also including cars and helicopters). However, the plots were frequently stigmatised as ridiculous: Storey notes that 'These comments are quite valid - the plots in Riptide are ridiculous', but Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, counters that 'it did not deserve these brickbats. It is a reasonably entertaining adventure series in the tradition of Adventures in Paradise'.

'Suspense story of trans-European espionage activities under cover of toy import firm.'

Source: British Film Institute (http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/81956). (Sighted: 27/8/2013)

New Zealand-born producer Roger Mirams followed his earlier children's television programs The Terrific Adventures of the Terrible Ten and The Magic Boomerang with this ship-based adventure series, which, as Don Storey points out in his Classic Australian Television, was one of 'three Australian half-hour adventure series [that] were set on boats' during the first twenty years of Australian television.

Adventures of the Seaspray followed the adventurers of a widowed journalist who is raising his three children on a schooner in the South Pacific (aided by a Fijian crew member, Willyum).

According to Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, 'The 26 half-hour stories have all the adventure material that children love - haunted islands, rescues, shipwrecked sailors, hidden treasure, smugglers and primitive tribes all filmed in exotic Pacific locations.'

Storey concurs with this analysis, and adds

Seaspray was notable for several achievements, apart from a high standard of production. It was filmed on location in an international setting; it was the first Australian television show to be filmed in colour since the 1955 series The Adventures of Long John Silver (made before Australia had television); it was the first co-production with an overseas company; and it had a Fijian native in a lead role, the first Australian series to give such prominence to a non-white person.

Drawn into the orbit of the planet Vortis, the Doctor and his companions (Barbara, Ian, and Vicki) encounter three sets of non-humanoid inhabitants: the Zarbi, the Menoptra, and the Optera. The Zarbi are under the control of a sinister, spider-like central force, the Animus, which uses gold as a conductor for its mesmerising power. After a disastrous ambush of the spearhead Menoptra force attacking the Animus, Barbara manages to destroy it with an act of concentrated willpower. With the Zarbi freed from the Animus's malevolent control, they, the Menoptra, and the Optera are free to live on Vortis, while the Doctor and his companions leave in the TARDIS.

Novelised by Strutton from his own television script for Doctor Who, screened as 'The Web Planet' early in the same year.