Magnum, P.I. gave top billing to Tom Selleck, but in truth the American TV detective show had another star – the islands of Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 and featured Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator based on Oahu, Hawaii.
Magnum lives in the guest house of Robin’s Nest, a beachfront estate owned by the never-seen author Robin Masters. Also present are two Doberman Pinschers, Apollo and Zeus, and the estate’s manager, Jonathan Quayle Higgins III, who holds access to the tennis courts, wine cellar and other amenities. In the last two years of the season, Magnum grows more suspicious that Higgins actually is Masters, and even the final episode leaves either possibility open.
Life of leisure?
Magnum seems to have it made. He works only when he wants, drives a Ferrari 308 GTS, wears a Rolex, stocks a mini fridge with an endless supply of beer and is surrounded by gorgeous women. He had a number of famously distinctive characteristics, including a thick mustache, numerous aloha shirts and a Detroit Tigers baseball cap.
Magnum is described as a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, Navy SEAL commando and Vietnam veteran who took his naval intelligence skills into work as a private investigator – not a PI or private eye, he is quick to correct. Another veteran, former Marine Corps helicopter pilot Theodore “T.C” Calvin, operates a tourist charter business and often lends his combat flight skills to Magnum during investigations. Also making appearances is another veteran, Calvin’s door gunner Orville Wilbur Richard “Rick” Wright, who runs the members-only King Kamehameha Club. He is useful for his weapons knowledge and underworld contacts.
