Counterstrike is a British science fiction television series produced by the BBC in 1969. It starred Jon Finch as an alien living on Earth posing as a journalist named Simon King. As King, he attempts to prevent an alien invasion. The series Counterstrike was originally proposed to the BBC in 1966 and a theme tune and effects were produced, but the project was shelved due to the airing of the US import series The Invaders on ITV, which had a similar premise. It lasted for one series of ten episodes, of which nine episodes were actually transmitted. "Out of Mind", the sixth episode, was cancelled on the night it was due to be shown and was replaced by a documentary on the Kray brothers who, on the same day, had been refused leave to appeal against their prison sentences. "Out of Mind" was, for unknown reasons, never rescheduled; it remained unscreened and was subsequently wiped from the BBC Archives, thus making it one of the rarest pieces of British science-fiction television. "King's Gambit", "Joker One", "On Ice" and "Nocturne" still exist in the BBC Archives as 16mm black and white film telerecordings, while the remaining five transmitted instalments "Monolith", "The Lemming Syndrome", "Backlash", "All That Glisters" and "The Mutant" – are listed as missing by the Lost Shows website. Episodes Episode descriptions are from the Radio Times King's Gambit (8 September 1969) Two apparently respectable businessmen, running an electronics factory, are investigated by a journalist called Simon King. The businessmen turn out to be far from respectable and the journalist, they discover, is not a journalist. Who is Simon King—or rather, what is he? Joker One (15 September 1969) Every war has a flash-point, a fuse, a detonator—something, however small, that triggers it off. In 1914 it was an assassin's bullet at Sarajevo. What could trigger off an atomic war today? The Centaurans think they have the answer. And Simon, of all people, appears to be helping them... On Ice (22 September 1969) Three scientists are mysteriously lost on a sledging party that set out from a polar research station. Nocturne (29 September 1969) The madman lives in a No-Man's-Land a borderline between fantasy and reality... where the real becomes unreal, the unreal real—and life itself a waking nightmare. Simon finds himself living in such a nightmare. Has he gone mad or is he merely suffering from temporary delusions? Above