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

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