Garry Halliday

For some reason this series popped into my head this morning... I was thinking back to early experiences that may have influenced my own writing! Saturday evenings were 'Garry Halliday' (just as Friday evenings were 'Dr Kildare'). I was always anxious to get home to watch and staying for tea at Granny's inevitably meant I would miss an episode in the days before video recorders! Terence Longdon must have been my first TV heartthrob - it was probably the uniform, although possibly having a much older brother who was doing National Service in the RAF may have been a factor too! I was so enthralled that we even used to recreate the action in the garden until the next episode came along! So pleased to see that I am not the only one who remembers this exciting series!

This series was (I believe) broadcast live during the late 50s and early 60s. It featured a "Biggles" type character who flew into all kinds of excitement with his faithful co pilot played by Terence Alexander. Their sinister adversary "The Voice" was only ever seen from the mouth to the chin and seemed to be in constant radio contact with the flight deck of Halliday's aircraft. As a ten year old watching childrens tv, I found it deeply disturbing but unmissable! I hope some tapes remain so future generations can enjoy this series.

Compulsive Saturday evening viewing, Garry Halliday represented the perfect seamless transition from boys own adventures such as 'The Lone Ranger' at 5pm, to the later more adult evening shows such as 'Dixon of Dock Green' and er... The Billy Cotton Band Show'. Halliday was indeed slick, fast paced, suspenseful and an acknowledgement by the BBC that 'kids' TV did not have to be ropey costumed dramas or feature Billy Bunter. I always knew when serious action was about to start on GH when video tape or live transmission changed to film about 10 seconds before a fight commenced. Presumably action sequences had to be prerecorded on film.

The Voice was far more frightening than those later multi handled dustbins called Daleks. I remember the shock and disbelief I felt during the last series when the Voice suddenly changed appearance, Dr Who like, from one actor to another, following the death of Elwyn Brook Jones. The BBC could have handled this much better. The series , for me, lost all credibility at this point and maybe represented the loss off a certain innocence. I still have the Justin Blake book 'Garry Halliday and the Disappearing Diamonds' my Mum gave me at Christmas 1960! Good that Terence Longdon and Bill Kerr are still going strong and God bless Terence Alexander who died in 2009.

I had no idea anyone other than my brother or myself even remembered Garry Halliday or the Voice.. We were avid fans during 1959 ,1960 and 1961 I was 6-8 and my brother was 10-12 years old. Our family went to Cyprus for 18 months and by the time we came home in Aug 1962 it was no longer on air. However we continued our love for the show by writing little illustrated stories of the adventures of Garry, Bill and of course The Voice. I still have these crude but very funny stories written in pencil . I would like to know if there is any way I would be able to get hold of a copy of the only episode available? I now live in Australia, but my brother is in the UK. We had a favourite saying from the show, that is from "The Voice" "Its not only the end of THAT Mr Dodds.. but the end of you" August 08 : Wow guys, it seems that Garry, Bill and The Voice are well remembered. That's great.

Having just seen Elwyn Brook-Jones in 'Odd Man Out' it took my mind back to Gary Halliday, the first UK TV series to make a real impression on my young mind. I've never seen any repeats or articles on the series but the fact that it had an aviation basis and the mysterious 'Voice' was enough to hook me. Perhaps it's best that it remains a vivid, if slightly scary, memory as its production values may not stand up today? Of course Terence Alexander went on to be a television staple whereas Terence Longden and Elwyn Brook-Jones became rarer commodities. Anyway it remains stronger in my memory than all its contemporaries like Ivanhoe, Robin Hood and William Tell.