# Silent Reach

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{{Short description|Australian miniseries}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Infobox television
| image        =
| caption      = 
| genre        = [mini-series](/source/mini-series)
| writer       = Ted Roberts
| based_on     = 
| director     = [Howard Rubie](/source/Howard_Rubie)
| starring     = [Robert Vaughn](/source/Robert_Vaughn)<br />[Helen Morse](/source/Helen_Morse)<br />[Graham Kennedy](/source/Graham_Kennedy)
| composer     = 
| country      = Australia
| language     = English
| num_episodes = 2
| producer     = [Jill Robb](/source/Jill_Robb)
| company      = 
| camera       = 
| runtime      = 2 x 150 mins
| network      = [Nine Network](/source/Nine_Network)
| first_aired  = {{Start date|1983|03|02|df=y}}
| last_aired   = {{End date|1983|03|09|df=y}}
}}
'''''Silent Reach''''' is a 1983 Australian mini-series based on the novel by [Osmar White](/source/Osmar_White).<ref name="scott">Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford University Press, 1996 p235.</ref>

==Premise==
Conwright Industries, a huge mining company, hire American intelligence agent Steve Sinclair to investigate a series of sabotage incidents.

==Cast==
*[Robert Vaughn](/source/Robert_Vaughn) as Steve Sinclair
*[Helen Morse](/source/Helen_Morse) as Antonia Russell
*[Graham Kennedy](/source/Graham_Kennedy) as Chaster Fitzpatrick
*[Leonard Teale](/source/Leonard_Teale) as Hamilton Wrightson
*Peter Mountford as John Howard
*[Justine Saunders](/source/Justine_Saunders) as Allison Burnie
* [Tom E. Lewis](/source/Tom_E._Lewis) as Ben Burnie
*[Ron Graham](/source/Ron_Graham_(actor)) as Father Valdera
* [Betty Lucas](/source/Betty_Lucas) as Sister Beatrix

==Production==
Osmar White's novel was published in 1979. It was based on research trips White had taken to [Queensland](/source/Queensland) and [Western Australia](/source/Western_Australia). The novel was published in the US, UK and Australia. It was White's tenth book and second novel.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|date=17 February 1979|page= 21|title=Diamonds turn up trumps}}</ref>

Film rights were bought in 1980 by AAV Productions, a subsidiary of David Syme & Co. The producer was Jill Robb, who announced they would make an eight-part television series.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|date=1 April 1980|page=2|title=AFC puts up money for spy thriller}}</ref> It eventually became a five-hour project.

Robb could not initially get an Australian network interested in the project. She raised finance from Postwork Newsweek Stations in the USA along with the [Queensland Film Corporation](/source/Queensland_Film_Corporation), the AFC and a consortium of private investors. This enabled her to finance the mini-series which she sold to the [Nine Network](/source/Nine_Network).<ref name="age"/>

The project was known during filming as ''The Alcheringa Stone''.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|date=25 August 1981|page= 2|title=Too current for comfort}}</ref> The shoot took place in 1981 in Queensland, with location work in [Brisbane](/source/Brisbane), Chatsworth (south of [Mt Isa](/source/Mt_Isa)), and [Maryborough](/source/Maryborough%2C_Queensland).<ref name=
"age">{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|date=15 August 1981|page= 25|title=Vaughn free: the making of a TV saga|first=Brian|last=Courtis}}</ref>

==Reception==
The mini-series was considered a ratings disappointment.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Sydney Sun Herald|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/122641009/?terms=%22against%20the%20wind%22%20bodyline%20%22the%20dismissal%22&match=1|first=Jacqueline Lee|last=Lewes|title=Million$ of Viewing|date=5 June 1983|page=47}}</ref>

''The Age'' said the mini-series had "a lot going for it", saying the script and direction "are above the middlebrow soapie level... it looks good and is full of incident".<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|date=2 March 1983|page= 2|title=The countryside steals the show}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0467434/ ''Silent Reach''] at [IMDb](/source/IMDb)

Category:1980s Australian television miniseries
Category:1983 Australian television series debuts
Category:1983 Australian television series endings
Category:Films financed by the Queensland Film Corporation
Category:Films shot in Queensland

{{Australia-tv-prog-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Silent Reach](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Reach) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Reach?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.