Fellow Traveller

Writer Michael Eaton examines how the McCarthy witch hunts of the 1950s with the subsequent Hollywood blacklist had an impact on British television drama.

Asa Kaufman (Ron Silver) is a screenwriter who has gone into exile in Britain rather than name names to a Senate committee in America.

While in Britain on a tourist visa. He looks for work and there are jobs available for the fledgling ITV companies making adventure serials such as Robin Hood.

All Asa has to do is assume the identity of an existing but over the hill British writer. In exchange for 10% of his fees.

This also allows Asa to insert a political subtext in the Robin Hood stories such as being persecuted or being a victim of a witch hunt.

Asa is also anguished to learn that his childhood friend Clifford Byrne (Hart Bochner) who was also a film star has killed himself. Clifford was also left wing and being investigated.

Both men had also being seeing a psychiatrist in Hollywood Jerry Leavy (Daniel J Travanti) who also claimed to share their left wing beliefs.

Fellow Traveller was originally meant to be a television movie for the BBC. It later got a movie release. It is an early example of a BBC film production.

There was a time when it was little known just how many blacklisted American writers were working incognito both in Britain and America. There were writers who won Oscars for best screenplay who did not write a single line. The actual writer was a blacklisted writer. Fellow Traveller gives a fascinating glimpse about this.

The film does get bogged down when Asa tries to find out more as to what drove his friend to suicide. It leads to an encounter with Leavy who is visiting Britain to speak to the peace movement.