Adventures of Maj Gregory Keen of MI5
Australian Radio Serial
16K and 32K -
Has anyone else listened to any of the Australian radio serials from the late 1940s and early 1950s that featured Major Gregory Keen of MI-5? If you haven't, and you like spy stories with complicated plots and lots of suspense, you're missing out! If you have others than these 4 please post here or if you have better encodes of them post here.
Major Gregory George Athelstan Keen (what a mouthful!) and his faithful right hand man, Sergeant Tommy Coutts, were the heroes of four serials produced by Australian radio programme syndication company Grace Gibson Productions between about 1949 and 1952. Keen and Coutts were in the British Commandos during the war and went to work in MI-5 (the British counterespionage and internal security organization roughly paralleling the FBI) after the war. Keen is a refined character, a prototype James Bond in many respects. Coutts is a tough-as-nails Cockney. New Zealand born actor and writer Bruce Stewart starred as Keen in the early days of a long career in radio drama that spanned continents and genres.
Dossier on Dumetrius
163 mb rar file
The first serial, Dossier on Dumetrius, was set in Europe in 1949, principally in London, but with a couple of sojourns to the English countryside and Occupied Berlin. The McGuffin is a treasure chest of Nazi loot worth a million pounds that was stolen by a collaborator and is now being sought by a master criminal with a secret identity, a large gang, and a particularly nasty streak called Dumetrius. Keen's job is to find out who Dumetrius is, what he's after, and to stop him. The job is made much more complicated when Dumetrius' mistress (although it's never actually said, it's certainly strongly implied in a way that most American radio at the time wouldn't have done) takes a definite liking to the virile Major Keen and begins to hedge her own bets. With plenty of characters, red herrings, and dangerous situations, the story winds out quite well over a staggering 104 quarter-hour episodes.
I'm now listening to the next Keen serial, and will try to remember to provide a teaser for it and the other 2 later on.
Deadly Nightshade
291 mb rar file
It is a fast-moving, exciting, suspenseful radio drama in which Gregory Keen is sent to Australia to search for a missing scientist. As the plot unfolds, the characters emerge – some sinister, some loveable, some terrifying – a gallery of real, vivid and believable people drawn against the factual background of Sydney.
Each episode is introduced by Gregory Keen – brilliantly played by Bruce Stewart. No narrator is used, so that the program is alive the instant each chapter takes to the air. Touches of actuality create an atmosphere of realism throughout. From the opening scenes, as the web is spun to enmesh the characters one after another to the climax – the suspense mounts, the pace quickens.
Twenty Six Hours
294 mb rar file
This is the third adventure featuring Major Gregory Keen of MI-5 and follows on from Dossier On Dumetrius and Deadly Nightshade.
In Twenty-six Hours, Major Gregory Keen – together with Sergeant Coutts – travels to Berlin to find and destroy some diaries written by an indiscreet American General which are so inflammatory that, if they were to fall into the wrong hands, could cause another World War.
The diaries fall into the hands of ex-German General, Manfred Von Remer, who decides to sell them to the highest bidder…the United States, Russia or Great Britain. Von Remer offers them first to the Americans, but will deal only through British Intelligence.
And so…Major Keen of MI-5 is put on the case. He is to make his first contact through a girl in a Berlin café and it soon becomes obvious to Keen that more than one group is after the diaries.
104 x ‘Quarter-Hour’ episodes
Two Roads To Samarra
154 Mb rar file
The fourth of the Gregory Keen mysteries – this time set in Scotland. Major Keen is sent to protect one of the world’s richest men who is willing to set the world ablaze to save his financial empire. (104 x 12 mins: 20+ hours)
Come for the long weekend and bring your arms. We might be fortunate enough to kill a beast!’ That was a perfectly normal social invitation issued to friends by wealthy landholders in Scotland.
Suppose you received one … and accepted. Would you be embarrassed to find that the ‘beast’ your host hoped to kill … was you? Major Gregory Keen was!
Set in the highlands of Scotland, Keen’s prime task is to protect the daughter of a wealthy oil magnate and bring her safely to Scotland from her European hideout. SMERSH, a Soviet controlled group of assassins, is after Jasmine so that Bagradjan’s empire can be controlled.
But the plot is not that simple as Keen finally discovers after it moves to Europe, London and, finally, the high road to Kilcraigie Castle.
This is the fourth story based around the adventures of Major Gregory Keen. Earlier titles include Dossier on Dumetrius, Deadly Nightshade and Twenty Six Hours.
if you have others of the seties Please Post here. There are at least 2 more maybe 3 to 4. Also if you have better encodes of any of these please post here. That would not be a difficult task to have better encodes since these are at 16K and 32K. LOL ------------------------- R
Replies
It appears the download link isnt valid anymore, any chance for a repost? Want to listen on my long commutes
I missed these and would love to hear them. I hope that someone can reupload.
Thanks--I'm happy for the opportunity to hear more Australian otr.
I believe that the original Keen files we had were from the early 50's. They are locked away somewhere on an XP so I can't compare each series word for word. But, the first one was Dossier on De-metrius, not Dumetrius. Plus, i don't think they played up the agent of MI5 shtick so much. After my hubs' mom died, we discovered OTR thru a pay for site, that no longer exists. This guy had a cracking collection of Aussie and SA stuff ( I now realize), but I think the copyright police/filth came after him since he disappeared quite quickly. I can say Keen saved my old man's sanity, but must admit I am losing it slightly hearing Dossier on Doometrius and Deadly Nightshade repeated 104 times...lol Thanks for the files though. Bittersweet memories.
The fifth and final Keen adventure
The Smell of Terror
104 episodes
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/omxda8yg8etfp/ST
The Smell of Terror
The island republic is ruled by a dictator, who receives word that an ex-armed forces type is heading to the island to help train revolutionaries. When Keen’s host Denise refuses to sell her estate to the State, she receives threatening phone calls. She finds her staff will no longer come to work. Her chauffeur is beaten. Then Keen is framed and arrested. The intrigue that follows finds Keen and Tommy Coutts return to their old ways as they deal with kidnappings, beatings and corruption. This is the final of the Major Gregory Keen adventures.
Thank you. I've begun to listen to the first adventure---great fun.
These were very popular in Australian radio. I heard them being re-run well into the early 1970s.
THANK YOU!!!
This sonds right up my spy OTR alley!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you Rick!