In Conversation With Peter Borg: The Making of Gerry Anderson’s The Investigator

For the first time in over 50 years, Maltese actor Peter Borg speaks about his experiences making the Gerry Anderson pilot film, The Investigator.

I think it’s fair to say that my obsession with The Investigator has reached new heights.

At Andercon 2014, Shane Rimmer graciously agreed to sign my poster. We chatted, and despite the fact that he wrote the story and voiced the character of John, he had no recollection of the film. Not surprising, considering the vast number of other Anderson productions he appeared in and/or wrote. But that indicated to me fairly clearly that nobody who was around at the time probably had much to say about The Investigator. Gerry Anderson devised and directed it, Sylvia Anderson provided Julie’s voice and wrote the script from Shane’s story, John and Wanda Brown made and operated the puppets, and Reg Hill designed the star vehicles. All of them have now passed away and we’ll never get to hear more from them about what may or may not have brought this bizarre pilot film into the world.

Now, if you’ve been on the Security Hazard blog long enough, you’ll recall that I reviewed the rarely seen 23-minute pilot episode several years ago, right before I started on a similar journey to review every Thunderbirds episode.

In 2018, I indulged further with another article which tried to unpack some of the more bewildering aspects of The Investigator…

As a result of those articles I was recognised as something of an authority on The Investigator when a BBC journalist asked me to comment on the sale of the original car and boat props from the film.

Jack Knoll, marketing manager at Security Hazard, a blog dedicated to Anderson’s work, said toy manufacturer Dinky was ready to produce merchandise for The Investigator but that Anderson was “too embarrassed” to show the completed pilot to prospective buyer, NBC.

“Budgetary restrictions, and the limitations of using the sophisticated marionettes on location also played a big part in the downfall of the project,” he said.

BBC News, 4 October 2018

I scoff at the high and mighty title of “marketing manager” but that was very much my fault for getting my (former) day job mixed up with my Security Hazard responsibilities, (a title which I have yet to cement).

Anyway, I still wasn’t done with The Investigator because I had to subject my wife to the blessed thing for our Operation Anderthon podcast…

Oh, AND the lovely Ben Page invited me to an Anderson Insider exclusive commentary of The Investigator in 2021.

So, after a full review, a follow-up article, some actual media attention, a podcast episode, and a live commentary, you would think I had drained this single 23-minute oddity from Gerry Anderson’s back-catalogue completely dry.

Nope.

Earlier this year, I had a sudden brainwave that possibly, maybe, somehow, somewhere in the Maltese press in 1973, someone might have mentioned The Investigator or Gerry Anderson in some capacity. I attempted to search free online newspaper archives myself but was unsuccessful. Then I discovered Filmed In Malta, a Facebook page dedicated to preserving the history of films shot in Malta over the years. I reached out, desperate for any new scrap of information.

They uncovered two contemporary news articles, one a full interview with Gerry Anderson himself about the enjoyable time he had spent filming in Malta for The Protectors, and the second piece announcing Gerry’s arrival in Malta to make The Investigator. Needless to say, I was thrilled to share these articles on Security Hazard and analyse every detail. It confirmed that in some capacity in January 1973, the press had been given to understand that a full 26-episode series of The Investigator, all filmed in Malta, was on the cards.

Of course, such a thing never materialised and The Investigator spent decades gathering dust before eventually receiving DVD releases, initially exclusive to Fanderson members, and later a worldwide release from Network as part of The Lost Worlds of Gerry Anderson.

After the excitement of uncovering the two newspaper items, I went back to Filmed In Malta to learn more about the two Maltese actors who had appeared in The Investigator, Charles Thake as Karanti and Peter Borg as Christoph. I knew that Charles Thake had a number of credits to his name, and the press coverage at the time of his death in 2018 made it clear he was a national treasure in Malta. But the second actor, Peter Borg, was something of an enigma to me for a number of reasons. According to one erroneous IMDB listing, The Investigator was Peter’s only credit. I also soon discovered that Peter Borg was quite a common name in Malta, and that it might be a difficult thread to follow. Fortunately, Filmed In Malta were able to put me in direct contact with Christoph himself, the Peter Borg.

The interview which I have released today and that you can watch on YouTube right now was my first call with Peter after exchanging a few texts back and forth. And far from being a one-hit-wonder, I learned that Peter has enjoyed an incredible career as an actor in Malta on television, film, radio, and in theatre. Peter explained that many of his television appearances over the years have been lost due to the practice of the Malta Television Service for wiping and re-using videotape for other productions. A few photographs survive for stage and television plays such as Hitan, Vum-Barala-Zungare, and Dream? – which was billed as Malta’s first rock opera.

The Investigator, shot on 16mm colour film in 1973, is one of the best preserved examples of Peter Borg’s early acting work, despite the fact it was never broadcast. Peter remembers the excitement of getting his first film role, and working with director, Gerry Anderson: “I found him so father-like, Gerry Anderson. He used to pat me on the back, and say okay Peter, do this, do that, don’t worry, and he was very nice. It was marvellous working with him.”

What many would go on to regard as a turbulent, troubled shoot, Peter remembers very fondly, remarking, “It was heaven for me. I’d never been on a film set before, if I had been it was just for 2 days for a walk-on part, but this was different.” Peter had no sense at the time that the production was proving challenging for Gerry’s team who had to contend with bad weather and the troublesome radio-controlled vehicles. Gerry always kept his cool when working with both Peter and Charles Thake in their scenes. That said, even the actors were not immune to the terrors of the bright red Investigator car as Peter recalls, “I remember one time we were at Mdina and the car went beserk and hit the wall – boom. I said, erm, it’s not supposed to do that!”

Peter provides a unique perspective on The Investigator that I never thought we would get to hear. He has a gift for storytelling and paints an incredible picture of what it was actually like to be on the set of The Investigator for those two weeks back in the cold, rainy winter of 1973.

It’s a lesson to researchers and historians everywhere to never write off anyone’s contribution as insignificant. Peter’s role in The Investigator may have gone unbroadcast in the UK and the rest of the world, but what a shame it would have been to never hear about his time on the film from the man himself.

I’m grateful to Peter for his generosity and friendship, to Filmed In Malta for connecting us, to Andrew Clements for his help recording the interview, to Anderson Entertainment for allowing me access to their materials, and to all those richly populated online archives which made this documentary possible on a limited budget.

Even if you have never seen The Investigator before (although how you can follow this blog and not have seen it, I can’t even conceive), watch Peter’s interview and learn a little more about being directed by Gerry Anderson, and about the rich history of film, television, radio, and theatre in Malta.

Incidentally, if I’m ever going to make the trip to Malta to meet Peter Borg in person and tour the locations of The Investigator, I’m going to need cash. So chuck us a quid or a buck on Ko-fi if you fancy paying for my next holiday…