African Patrol


African Patrol is a 39-episode syndicated adventure television series created, directed and produced by George Breakston in conjunction with Jack J. Gross and Philip N. Krasne. It was filmed on location in Kenya for a period of 15 months beginning in January 1957.

Plot

The series relates the adventures of the African Patrol, a unit of police officers based in Nairobi. Paul Derek is an inspector in the unit whose members are specially trained to investigate crime. Their telephone number is 1356.

Cast

  • John Bentley as Inspector Paul Derek
  • Tony Blane as Parker
  • Glynn Davies as Lt. Greer

    Background

Many independent American television production companies shot their series outside the United States in the 1950s. Not only did this give audiences a chance to see new locations not shot in a studio but costs were much cheaper, especially as these runaway productions did not have to pay residuals or pay American film union wages.
In the 1950s a genre of American television series set in Africa were so popular and prolific they were nicknamed the "Straw Hut Circuit". Unlike most series that were filmed in the United States and used stock footage of African fauna taken on safari, African Patrol was filmed on location in Kenya.
Producer and director George Breakston moved to Kenya in the early 1950s filming several safari adventure feature films such as The Scarlet Spear, Golden Ivory, Escape in the Sun and The Woman and the Hunter. Many of these featured John Bentley. Breakston also filmed another series in Kenya The Adventures of a Jungle Boy also in collaboration with American television producers Jack J. Gross and Philip N. Krasne.

Episodes

The Baboon Laughed

The Hunt

Bodango Gold

Lost

The Accident

The Duel

Murder is Spelled L.O.V.E.

The Bad Samaritan

Hooded Death

Shooting Star

No Science

Heart of Gold

Counterfeit

Mombasa

Tycoon

Hashish

Knife of Aesculapius

Killer from the Forest

Breakout

The Girl

Missing Doctor

Dead Shot

The Abduction

The Silver Story

Black Ivory

The Robbery

No Place To Hide

The Mortimer Touch

Shadowed Light

Ghost Country

The Sickness

Snake in the Grass

The Speculator

Hell Hath No Fury

The Trek

Knave of Diamonds

Witness to Murder

The Deadly 20 Minutes