Manhunt is an American syndicated half-hour television crime drama starring Victor Jory as a San Diego police detective Lt. Howard Finucane, Charles Bateman as his partner Det. George Peters (in the first 13 episodes), and Patrick McVey as police beat newspaper reporter Ben Andrews, who also narrated the episodes. Seventy-eight episodes were broadcast between April 15, 1959, and 1961.
Filmed on location in San Diego, the series regularly showcased local sites such as the Pacific Highway district, police headquarters, the San Diego Zoo, the Star of India, San Diego Bay, the Bali Hai Resort and the Hotel Del Coronado. A panorama of the cityscape was featured during the closing credits.
The character Ben Andrews was based on the San Diego Union police beat reporter Pliny Castanien.
In 1960 the National Conference of Police Commissioners recognized the program for depicting "an accurate and realistic picture of the modern police officer".
Producer Robert Sparks said that actors who portrayed rookie policemen on the series were "taking on-the-air auditions" with the role increasing from one week to the next. Sparks said, "Everything from his attitude on the set to the nature of his fan mail is carefully checked."