Kenneth R. Hayles

Kenneth Roy Hayles was born in Cowes, Isle of Wight, in 1923 but emigrated to Australia shortly after the Second World War. He returned to England in 1952-64, working as a screenwriter for Republic and others, penning episodes of Stryker of the Yard, a half-hour series distributed in cinemas in 1953-54 and later shown on TV (at least as late as 1972). One of Hayles' stories, 'The Case of the Two Brothers', was used in the compilation film Companions in Crime (1954).

His screenplays included a series a crime films featuring John Bentley as Mike Billings (Final Appointment, Stolen Assignment) directed by Terence Fisher. The film Blind Spot, about a temporarily blinded Army officer accused of diamond smuggling, was recently (May 2011) released on DVD.

Hayles wrote a number of novels between 1956 and 1962, but returned to Australia soon after, where he would later write episodes of The Rovers, an Australian TV adventure series about wildlife photographer Bob Wild and the crew of the schooner The Pacific Lady.

Kenneth Hayles died from bowel cancer on 23 January 2003, Gold Coast, Australia. He had two children, Janice and Stephen and four grandchildren.

Novels
The Long Reach. London, Robert Hale, 1956.
Trader Brooks. London, Robert Hale, 1957.
Volcano. London, Robert Hale, 1958.
The Purple Sheba. London, Robert Hale, 1959.
The Death-Masque. London, Robert Hale, 1962; New York, Roy, 1963.

Screenplays
Companions in Crime, with others (Republic, 1954)
Final Appointment, based on the play 'Death Keeps a Date' by Maurice Harrison & Sidney Nelson (Monarch, 1954)
Track the Man Down (Republic, 1955)
Barbados Quest (RKO, 1955)
Stolen Assignment (British Lion, 1955)
Secret Venture (Republic, 1955)
No Smoking, based on a play by G. H. Moresby-White & Rex Rienits (Eros, 1955)
Passport to Treason, with Norman Hudis, from the novel by Paddy Manning O'Brine (Eros, 1956)
Find the Lady, from a story by Paul Erickson & Dermot Palmer (Rank, 1956)
The Hideout (Rank, 1956)
Suspended Alibi (Rank, 1957)
Blind Spot, from a story by Robert S. Baker (Butcher, 1958)

TV Plays
Stryker of the Yard (1954)
__The Case of Diamond Annie (1954)
__The Case of the Bogus Count (1954)
__The Case of the Two Brothers (1954)
Ghost Squad (1960s)
The Saint: The Invisible Millionaire (13 Feb 1963)
The Rovers:
__Pigeon Post (2 Oct 1969)
__The Strangers (9 Oct 1969)
__The Day of the Black Eagle (6 Nov 1969)
__Forget Me Not (13 Nov 1969)
__U.F.O. Pacific (20 Nov 1969)
__Sophia (24 Apr 1970)

Radio Plays
The Long Reach (BBC Home, 15 Mar 1958)
Landing Emergency (BBC Home, 18 Apr 1959)
The Battle of Pinklesea Hoe (BBC Home, 8 Aug 1960)