David Callan

David Callan appears a slightly reserved, quiet man. Plying his trade as a merchant, living alone in a small, slightly dingy flat in London, he does not attract a second glance.

Callan himself is ordinary in one way at least: if he walked past you in the street you would forget him at once: you would scarcely see him. His ordinariness is his protection. He is a highly skilled cracksman, a master of unarmed combat, a dead-shot with a pistol. A killer. But he looks so much like everybody else he is almost invisible. It is only when you know him well that you realise his strength, his menace - and his charm.

Callan is in his thirties. His background lower middleclass. He speaks fluently, but not academically, with the accent of his background. He is a witty man, but his wit is bitter, sardonic.

Throughout his career in espionage Callan worked with "Hunter's Section" a counter-espionage group with the highest security rating. Their business is getting rid of people who are dangerous to the state. Their weapons are bribery, blackmail, and violence: death if necessary. Every member of the section is in danger, all the time. If they are caught in a crime - and they commit many crimes - no one can help them. They are on their own.

At the start of the series Callan has left the section. In many ways he is its most brilliant operative, but Colonel Hunter, its Head, released him. Callan worries too much about people: even the enemy whom he must destroy. (See "Magnum For Schneider") Yet Hunter needs Callan, because of his brilliance, and Hunter is shrewd enough to realise that, if handled the right way, he can still be used. The trick is to exploit his concern for other human beings. Callan is well-aware of this, but unable to prevent it. If a person can be helped, he must help them - and settle with Hunter later.

Throughout the series there is a fierce antagonism between Hunter and Callan. Each unconsciously is striving to make the other man more like himself. Sometimes the antagonism is comic, sometimes it is deadly. It is always there.