Colour version, from the original B&W. Fascinating political drama series with a splendid cast. Businessman and politician sir John Wilder, after becoming ambassador and special envoy for special situations and trade, pursues his tangled schemes, despite many adversaries (the original name of the series was "Special Envoy''). This is series 3 of this sequel to "The Plane Makers". Starring Patrick Wymark, Barbara Murray, Michael Jayston, Clifford Evans, Peter Barkworth, Donald Burton, David Savile, Richard Hurndall, Jack Watling, Deborah Grant, Barrie Ingham. Written by Peter Draper, Wilfred Greatorex.
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00:30© BF-WATCH TV 2021
01:00© BF-WATCH TV 2021
01:30© BF-WATCH TV 2021
01:54Darling?
02:00Is that on?
02:23Yes, Sir John.
02:25Jill.
02:27Get hold of Darling and Henderson. Tell them to get here right away.
02:31Mr. Darling's out of the office, Sir John.
02:34Mr. Henderson is in with the Minister.
02:37With the Minister? Henderson, are you sure?
02:40Quite sure, Sir John.
02:43Thank you, Jill.
02:48I'm not asking you to sneak, Don.
02:51I'm not asking you to be disloyal.
02:53Your loyalty to Wilder is your most appealing characteristic.
02:56But you must every now and then ask yourself whether you're being quite fair to yourself.
03:01Especially now that Sir John is an ambassador with no ambassadoring to do.
03:07I suppose you learnt the trick when you were a business consultant.
03:11What trick?
03:12Why leaving somebody's self out on a limb that they chuck it in out of sheer boredom without even a golden handshake.
03:17Now that for you, Don, is a staggeringly uncharitable thought.
03:20Besides, there are no golden handshakes in the Foreign Office.
03:23Why don't you just ask him to resign?
03:25I have.
03:26And he refused.
03:27Well, his actual reply was he'd see me fry in hell first.
03:31In which case, Minister, I suggest you get yourself a flame-proof jumpsuit.
03:37You could try to sack him.
03:39No, he has friends among the Cabinet.
03:41Well, if you think you're going to drive him through boredom, you don't know John Wilder.
03:45Foreseen.
03:47Which is why I asked you to come here.
03:49He's about as capable of remaining inactive as Vesuvius.
03:52So, the sight of that bleak desk being what it is, he'll move.
03:56Any time now, he'll move.
03:58Knowing his style, I expect a spectacular eruption.
04:05I just want to know when and where it's coming.
04:10He doesn't invariably have me on his early warning net.
04:13That's not what I hear.
04:15Snooping on my master's not my forte, Minister.
04:18If John's out, then so am I.
04:20Well...
04:21That's very noble of you.
04:23But managing directorships on the scale to which he's accustomed aren't too a penny these days,
04:28as many of our top-flight managing directors are finding out
04:30as they pad around their local golf courses every working day.
04:34And I'm sure you don't want to end up as his caddy.
04:37If that's all, Minister.
04:40Hmm.
04:45Now, John.
04:46I suppose you have no idea where Lincoln Dowling might be hiding.
04:49No, Minister.
04:50I think you have.
04:53Anyway, think over what I've put to you.
04:56If I turn you down, you'll invite Dowling?
04:59No, Don. I have quite other plans for Dowling.
05:04What's DIS, full stop W, full stop?
05:08Hmm?
05:09Estate agent shorthand should be forbidden by law.
05:14Dishwasher.
05:15Oh, they could have left in the H.
05:17I mean, it's not even as if they're buying space
05:19if their own handout run off in the office.
05:21There's habit and a congenital lack of respect for the language.
05:24All they're interested in is COM.
05:26COM?
05:27Commission.
05:28And...
05:30Anyway, what's wrong with this?
05:32I've grown out of it.
05:33Here you are, gorgeously snug,
05:36and you have to go and want to live in Mayfair or Belgravia,
05:40Regent's Park, or, as this agent quotes you,
05:43the better parts of Westminster.
05:45What's happening to you, Lincoln?
05:47I've just become more ambitious.
05:48Ambition could make a fool of you.
05:50I'm not staring at you.
05:51I'm not staring at you.
05:52I'm not staring at you.
05:53I'm not staring at you.
05:54I'm not staring at you.
05:55I'm not staring at you.
05:56I'm not staring at you.
05:57I'm not staring at you.
05:58I'm not staring at you.
05:59I'm not staring at you.
06:00I'm not staring at you.
06:01Oh, don't be a fool, Lincoln.
06:03Trying to emulate John,
06:05struggling to get into the same league,
06:07you'll only get hurt.
06:09Look what it's done to him.
06:10Is that what you want?
06:11You know what I want?
06:13Or rather, who?
06:15Oh, I'd never come and live with you, Lincoln.
06:17You might when I live there.
06:263492.
06:28Hello?
06:30Hello?
06:34I do hate people who do that.
06:36Well, burglars sometimes find it professionally necessary.
06:39Yes, and you can soon have them calling if you're going to live in Mayfair.
06:43But, Lincoln, how does a young, young-ish diplomat like yourself,
06:48on a modest, fixed Whitehall income, expect to keep up a pound like this?
06:53I could be in the pay of the Russians or the Chinese.
06:55You never know, you may be watching the arrival of the coolest trader since Kim Philby.
06:59What are you? Trait, never.
07:00Trait?
07:01Trait.
07:02What I could do is succeed in business without really trying.
07:05There you go again, trying to be like John.
07:08I do hope you know what you're doing.
07:10I have three firm offers, two from merchant banks, one from a construction firm.
07:14John again. His industry's both.
07:16Well, it might be easier to find the lady than find an industry John hasn't been in, or been booted out of.
07:21Don't be a bitch, Lincoln. Bite if you like, but don't scratch.
07:25Before I leave the department, I'd like to see Garfield Caine develop a limp.
07:28Lincoln.
07:29Oh, I know you like him.
07:30Well, the poor man only takes me out to dinner very, very publicly.
07:34And to his flat very unpublicly.
07:36Oh, what do you expect?
07:38Should he have me greeted at his penthouse door with a fanfare of an hours old cavalry?
07:42You know what I'm talking about.
07:45One thing, though.
07:47You do make the most delicious coffee. More, please.
07:53Lincoln.
07:55Do you suppose that was a burglar?
07:59I've tried, darling, everywhere.
08:01Then try at least six other places he might be.
08:04I need those big ears of his.
08:06Well, he may be a thousand places I don't know about.
08:08Have you tried his flat?
08:10No.
08:11Try it.
08:12Try it.
08:13He won't be there this time of day.
08:15Try it.
08:16I have, John. There was no reply.
08:19Oh, you mean that perhaps there was?
08:23Don, if Pamela is there, there's nothing to get red around the neck about.
08:31Yes, Sir John?
08:32Jill, darling is at his flat. Tell him to get in here immediately.
08:36Yes, Sir John.
08:37Thank you.
08:38Don't be a moral ostrich, Don.
08:41It gets in the way of your work.
08:43You seem to forget that your loyalty is not to Pamela or to anyone else but to me.
08:47Don't talk to me about loyalty, John. Not to me. Not today.
08:49Why, especially today?
08:51Oh, forget it.
08:52What happened today?
08:54Well, in India, a few hundred people died for lack of food in their bellies.
08:58In Africa, a few from far too many bullets in the head.
09:02And in concentration camps all over the world,
09:06some prisoners of conscience no doubt had their ribs smashed in.
09:11But what happened today, Don, here in this department?
09:15Here, John?
09:16Here.
09:17Here, John.
09:19The Minister of State, Mr Garfield Kane, MP,
09:24invited me to change sides.
09:26And, as you didn't...
09:28I'll get my reward in heaven.
09:30What makes you so sure I didn't?
09:32I know you, Don.
09:34You always back winners.
09:36Yes?
09:37Mr Dowling will be in soon, Sir John.
09:39He has a prior appointment with the Minister of State.
09:43Thank you, Jo.
09:45Kane's been looking everywhere for him.
09:48So it seems that we all...
09:51Well, if you can manage a week here next time, Coover,
09:53I'll prove to you just how far London's catching up on Paris for the gourmet.
09:57Wishful thinking, Garfield.
09:59And you too, if you can spare the time, Minister.
10:01I never have time to enjoy food in Paris, let alone in London.
10:04But then I have simple tastes.
10:06Oh, I remember.
10:08I developed a taste for roast beef when I was here during the war.
10:12Oh, well now, I'm very grateful to both of you for making the trip.
10:15Now, all we need is action at both sides.
10:17Oh, my company is deeply interested, Garfield.
10:20I can give you that assurance now.
10:22I don't want to sound over-optimistic,
10:24but I feel sure there will be no objections from the kiddos.
10:27Paris so weak today, Don?
10:29I can hardly wait. I need only the slightest pretext.
10:32My passport looks like a travel warrant to Orly.
10:45Well, Frank, what do you think?
10:50As long as there are equal shares, joint responsibility,
10:54equal publicity, no patriotic one-upmanship,
10:57you can count on National Electric to support you.
11:00I've always held the view we could get together
11:02with Electronic Francais on big overseas projects.
11:05Reservations?
11:07We'll need strong safeguards.
11:09I don't wholly trust the French,
11:11or, for that matter, politicians like yourself, Garfield.
11:14And you're not going to stick your noses into the business side.
11:17Well, you want the juicy jobs in the developing countries.
11:20And you want us in there.
11:22And the Chinese and the Russians out.
11:25So? Mutual interest, Frank.
11:28I must have strictly equal status to the French managing director.
11:31Oh, I'll see to that. Good.
11:33Brandy?
11:34I have 120,000 men's noses to keep to the grindstone.
11:38Nice meeting you, darling.
11:40I gather we may be seeing much of each other.
11:44I hope so.
11:46I'll see myself out, Garfield.
11:51So, it's up to you, Lincoln.
11:54What is?
11:55You set up an Anglo-French consortium with Frank Orwell
11:58and your French friends to attack the world electronics market.
12:01You asked me to watch you do it.
12:03Congratulations, Minister. Impressively smooth.
12:05What's my job?
12:06Parade down Whitehall with a placard saying Garfield Cain for PM?
12:10That's a very nice thought, but you'd not do it with enough sincerity.
12:14That's not the way a promising diplomatic service officer
12:17should talk to his minister.
12:19For me, the age of serfdom's nearly over.
12:21Yes, I'd heard about your plans to break out and invade the free market,
12:24the John Wyler territory.
12:26And don't ask me where I heard.
12:29Why not?
12:31Well, it might be embarrassing.
12:33Don't play games, Minister.
12:35Her leadership?
12:37She wouldn't tell you anything.
12:39Oh, come now, Lincoln.
12:42I know that she has you helping her on my charity committee
12:46and I know that you have her helping you, um, domestically.
12:51But what happens outside office hours concerns me very little.
12:54I wonder whether a minister of state has ever been taken from this office
12:57straight across the river to St Thomas' casualty department.
13:00What a diplomat, Lincoln. You are thin-skinned.
13:02I'm offering you the best chance you ever had.
13:05What's your present salary?
13:07You know to the penny.
13:09After allowances, it's still under 3,000.
13:11This consortium needs a foreign expert.
13:13It could be you.
13:15I'd be seconded on the same salary.
13:17No. No, you'd resign from the service and take up a contract with the consortium.
13:22My price would be high.
13:24Well, I had in mind...
13:2810,000.
13:30And I'd get the contract before resigning.
13:32Of course.
13:34Look, I'm not trying to con you into the wilderness.
13:37Why?
13:39Well, I must say, I'd expected little hesitation on your part.
13:43I mean, on 10,000 a year,
13:45you stand a better chance of making her ladyship, don't you?
13:48You shouldn't have been a minister of state.
13:50You've got all it takes to be a ponce.
13:53Well? Well what?
13:55You can work with me.
13:57Or with Wilder.
13:59Who can only lose.
14:02I'd have to see the colour of that contract first.
14:14Lincoln.
14:19You must be the most elusive private secretary in Her Majesty's diplomatic service.
14:25I'm sure you won't mind if I join you and my wife at lunch.
14:30Where are we going?
14:32The Cordon Francais.
14:34Yes, I thought we might have a talk about your session with Kane.
14:37Nothing to talk about. He was tedious.
14:39Very promising, though.
14:41Lincoln, I know what he is up to with National Electric and Electronic Francais.
14:47Then why ask me?
14:49What did he offer?
14:51That's beneath contempt.
14:53My question, or his offer?
14:58Lincoln, that consortium is not going to happen.
15:03I have a better idea.
15:11The Cordon Francais
15:37Tell me, Lincoln.
15:41What do you think of the brandy?
15:43Well, you should know a good brandy.
15:46Oh?
15:47He wasn't getting at your age, darling, were you, Lincoln?
15:50I don't think he was.
15:53It's only to look so sheepish, Lincoln.
15:55This isn't the last supper.
15:58But if you intend to become a tycoon,
16:02you better start learning to behave like one.
16:04With a little bit of practice, you may not look out of place behind a cigar.
16:10Pamela, remind me to get in a stock of best Havana's for him when he moves to Mayfair.
16:16Or wherever it is he aspires to.
16:20Oh, no, no, no, it wasn't Pamela.
16:23If you spend half your mornings on the phone to West End agents,
16:26you must expect a little gossip.
16:28I don't have to account for my private life to you or anyone.
16:31Are you sure?
16:33When your private life gets in the way of your professional, you'd better.
16:38At least to Foreign Office security.
16:40Well, yes.
16:41And to me.
16:42Oh, no.
16:43And to me.
16:46I think I'll just go and call the boxing ball. See if they've got a spare referee.
16:50No, Pamela, it's essential that you're here when Lincoln answers the question that I'm going to put to him.
16:55Oh, for heaven's sake, John, stop behaving like a cat pawing its prey.
17:00He needs careful handling just now.
17:02He's at a stage when he could take off like the whiz kid that some people are making him out to be.
17:08Or he could fizzle out like a damp squib.
17:11My career's my affair.
17:13It's not in your keeping.
17:15You're still my private secretary.
17:18I know Cain has bribed you to keep an eye on me.
17:21Nobody bribes me.
17:23Then how do you propose to pay for the properties that you have been looking at?
17:27My affair...
17:29My business.
17:31Some maiden aunt has left you a fortune.
17:34I've never inherited a penny in my life.
17:36The richest member of my family died owing eleven pounds, seven and sixpence.
17:39John, you're being quite horrible.
17:41I'm teaching him to grow up.
17:43When you get round to inspecting flats, with a rent of two thousand and a half plus,
17:48it's clearly not limited to your foreign office salary.
17:51There is private industry, some of it not exclusively yours.
17:56We're of the same breed, Lincoln, you and I.
17:58You're a late developer.
18:00But the killer instinct's there.
18:03That's the one thing I like about you.
18:06He's not your son.
18:08I should have been bloody worried recently if he had been.
18:12All right, Lincoln.
18:14How are you going to pay for this two and a half thousand year Mayfair flat?
18:19Leave the Fifth Amendment. Don't you answer that.
18:21I have offers.
18:22From Cain?
18:23And elsewhere.
18:25I know you had some harebrained scheme with Kenneth Bly.
18:28That would have only led to bankruptcy.
18:31No, not Kenneth Bly.
18:35What salary do you need, bearing tax in mind,
18:39to live in the style to which you would wish to become accustomed?
18:44Come on, Lincoln, I'm trying to be practical.
18:47Ten thousand a year, plus expenses.
18:49And that's what he offered you?
18:53Lincoln, until two weeks ago, until Cain got at you,
18:57you were considering six thousand without lavish expenses.
19:02Enough to keep you, say, in Hampstead, but not Grosvenor Square.
19:06You're just fishing.
19:08The offer came from Grafton's Merchant Bank
19:11as foreign advisor, a contract for three years.
19:14And what seedy little private eye did you get to dig that one up?
19:19I got Grafton's to make you the offer.
19:23Thanks for the dinner, Pamela.
19:25Don't be juvenile, Lincoln.
19:29You no more want Cain to get through than I do.
19:33And, quite possibly for personal reasons,
19:36even less than I do.
19:41I'll top his offer.
19:43By how much?
19:45The difference between a mere flat and a penthouse.
19:49Have some more brandy, Lincoln.
19:51Might help you to make up your mind.
19:54If the answer's yes, I shall want you to stay on.
19:57We shall need to work through the night.
19:59If the answer's no, then you'd better leave before my other guests arrive.
20:03I could say yes and still work against you for Cain.
20:06If you agree to join me, I'll take your word for it.
20:11As long as you say it in front of Pamela.
20:15Lincoln, don't lose your ash.
20:22There's nothing odd about meeting in a sauna.
20:24Some of my best thinking is done in saunas.
20:26Oh, it's only producing some of my worst.
20:29You mean you've never had one before?
20:31Baptism of fire.
20:33Oh, I'm sorry, sir.
20:35I'm sorry, sir.
20:37I'm sorry, sir.
20:39I'm sorry, sir.
20:41Baptism of fire.
20:43And never again.
20:45Phew, can't we turn it down a bit?
20:48Ah, well, you just come in.
20:50Yeah, I wish I hadn't.
20:51But it's only...
20:53It's only on a hundred.
20:55You've got a few minutes.
20:56You'll come through, Anderson.
20:59Nostrils burning?
21:01And a few other parts.
21:03Oh, I say, are you sure this isn't harmful to the old ticker, minister?
21:07Mine's thumping away like one of those heart-lung machines.
21:10Well, there's no record of anyone actually having dropped dead in a sauna.
21:14No, they just liquefy.
21:17We had half a dozen dancing girls in here.
21:19You'd not be so floppy.
21:21You'd still not catch me staying.
21:24Anyway, I'm...
21:26I'm glad you had second thoughts about your future, Anderson.
21:29Yes, but I didn't know that part of the deal was holding meetings in...
21:32hell boxes like this.
21:34How's Wilder taking to the monastic life?
21:37Well, he hasn't started saying his prayers yet.
21:40And don't expect him to take vows not to hit back.
21:43He knows about my consortium with the French?
21:46Enough.
21:48How much is enough?
21:50He's flying to Paris on Friday.
21:53Who's he meeting there?
21:57He hasn't said.
22:00Still, whoever meets him in Paris,
22:03don't do him any good.
22:06What are you doing?
22:08Making it hotter.
22:15Don't forget the cold plunge, Don.
22:18Never mind the ifs and buts, Carey.
22:21Just recap what you told me yesterday.
22:25National Electric's worth about 300 million.
22:28I don't think Norton would argue if I put a value of 240 million on his company.
22:33A merger would make the combined firm the biggest in its field in Europe.
22:38The biggest outside the States.
22:40And finance?
22:42Oh, it shouldn't be difficult.
22:44And quite unofficially, of course, I can promise support of my people.
22:47The Commercial Reconstruction Board sees the merger as a natural marriage.
22:52The new firm should soon move up to gross annual sales around the 600 million mark.
22:57Strictly on commercial grounds, it has everything in its favour.
23:01Rapid growth, cost reductions,
23:04an infinitely more efficient overseas marketing set-up.
23:08We should be able to stand up to any political criticism
23:12by promising vastly increased exports.
23:15And with Carey and his board throwing his weight about,
23:18I don't see how anyone can put a stop to it.
23:23I'm convinced, John.
23:25Subject to details.
23:27It's up to National Electric.
23:29Our board, I know, will not welcome any merger.
23:32They see their muddled old heads rolling in the gutters of the City of London.
23:36What about your managing director, Orwell?
23:39He'll fight, John.
23:41He wants us to go ahead with tie-ups with the French. That's his baby.
23:44No, no, no, that's Cain's.
23:46Now, what support can you expect from the rest of your board, Wendell?
23:51Three of the younger ones, immediately.
23:54Others are open to persuasion,
23:57provided they can be sure of places on the new combined board.
24:01Ah, we'll see that they get tucked in.
24:04Lincoln, how about passing round the Armagnac?
24:07Certainly.
24:09I should like to think that it would be less than a week
24:12before the press gets the first whisper.
24:20And Wilder not mentioned once, not even linked with that damn thing.
24:24Now, one of you must have had some inkling.
24:27No, Minister?
24:29Not even a whisper.
24:31I heard there was an all-night meeting at Wilder's house
24:34with Wendell and Norton present and, uh, others.
24:39And what happened to that Paris trip he was supposed to be making?
24:42Cancelled.
24:44If it was ever on. Far from wrecking the consortium in Paris,
24:47he's crippling its chances without even moving out of his office.
24:50He hasn't been here for days.
24:52Heck, shouldn't you know, Lincoln?
24:54Not that you should admit to your extra duties
24:57with a temporary civil servant present.
24:59All right, Henderson, leave us.
25:03But don't roam too far.
25:07Well, if Fowler is suggesting, because I'm also with intelligence,
25:10I should know of Wilder's movements, he's forgotten what it's all about.
25:13I doubt whether they even give him a second look.
25:15Then they should be carpeted for dereliction of duty.
25:18Yes, Jane?
25:20Show him in.
25:22I'd like you to stay, Jason. And you too, Lincoln.
25:27Oh, don't worry, Frank, you're among friends.
25:30Which is quite a change.
25:32Sir Jason Fowler is deputy undersecretary at my department
25:36and must necessarily be in the picture.
25:39And Lincoln Dowling you've already met.
25:41He'll most likely be working for the consortium.
25:43If it ever comes to anything.
25:45Oh, now, don't throw in the sponge, Frank. You've only just started fighting.
25:48I've already been knifed in the back twice.
25:50Well, it's your spine they're going for.
25:52They know it's your weakest part.
25:54As long as you don't leave a trail of blood
25:56right through our foreign office corridors,
25:58that kind of thing is apt to bring out the worst in our gunboat diplomats.
26:01I must say you're taking it very well.
26:03Well, I've never gone in for desk banging and foot stamping.
26:06It's bad for the heart.
26:09Wilder's behind it, isn't he?
26:11I mean, he must be.
26:13Garfield, I don't know what you stand to lose, but they're after my shirt.
26:16I think you've all got a Wilder complex.
26:18You've got no proof he's behind it.
26:21I've a member of my board named Wendell
26:23who should have been christened Judas.
26:25He's in Wilder's pocket
26:27and he's already got half the board behind him
26:29with at least another two coming out in goose pimples.
26:31How do you know?
26:32How do I know what?
26:33He's in Wilder's pocket.
26:34He's twice taken a company car to Belgrave Square recently.
26:37To Wilder's house.
26:39Wilder bested him on a deal two years ago.
26:42And ever since he's seen Wilder as some sort of
26:45heroic figure.
26:54This merger has to be stopped, Garfield.
26:56I don't mind how.
26:57And you don't know how.
26:59Now don't panic, Frank.
27:00That's just what he wants.
27:02My contract is still six years to run.
27:04I'm too young to be put out to grass
27:06and golf bores me.
27:09What is more, the revenue are tough about golden handshakes
27:11and Wilder would do his damnedest to drive holes in my contract.
27:14He'd be too busy to bother.
27:20Lincoln.
27:22I want a briefing on my desk by this evening
27:24giving every reason why
27:26a merger between Norton's and National Electric
27:29is not in the public interest or in anybody's.
27:34Jane, get a hold of Sir John Wilder
27:36and tell him I want to see him as soon as possible.
27:38In your office.
27:39Wherever is convenient.
27:40I'm afraid that won't be possible, Minister.
27:42I'd have to see the merger man at the Board of Trade
27:44and I've an important meeting on this afternoon.
27:47And you and the man from the Board of Trade can work through the night.
27:50I want that report on my desk by 7.30 in the morning.
27:57If you'll excuse me.
28:03So I hinted at a highly classified meeting.
28:05Which I suppose is what this is.
28:08Though why I should hold your hand
28:10when you're trying to find somewhere new to live
28:11I really don't know.
28:12You're a grown boy now.
28:13That's why.
28:16Looking for skeletons?
28:18You can't depend on anybody.
28:21You know, there's something very peculiar
28:23about people who go around peering in cupboards.
28:25Ah.
28:27Did you expect to find that there?
28:29Yes.
28:31Didn't they leave a barman?
28:33Always be sure when taking over a new place
28:35that the previous owners leave enough booze for you
28:37to get over the sadness of an empty home.
28:40Lincoln, they didn't.
28:41Why do you never believe a word I say?
28:43Because you're just like John.
28:45Just as big a liar if a more romantic one.
28:48Who did leave the hooch, really?
28:50The estate agent.
28:51As bait?
28:52As a service for which I paid.
28:53Well, cheers.
28:54It's the flat and all who sail in her.
28:58Oh, no, Lincoln.
29:00No sailing or any other sport.
29:02I say yes.
29:11Does it make you feel good, John,
29:13to have the minister come to you?
29:15You wanted to talk.
29:17Still, you should have accepted my invitation.
29:19To meet in a sauna bar.
29:21You make it sound obscene.
29:23A few saunas and you could look the world in the face.
29:27I can do now, without.
29:32I acted too hastily.
29:34I should have kept you busy.
29:36I'm sorry.
29:37I acted too hastily.
29:39I should have kept you busy.
29:41Instead, you chose to try and cut me out.
29:45That only works with terrified nonentities.
29:49Why are you against my consortium idea?
29:52Because it stinks.
29:55I had a discussion today
29:58with Orwell and his French counterpart, Cartier.
30:01And we all agree there could be an important chair for you
30:04in the consortium.
30:06Forget it.
30:08I don't hedge my bets, Cain.
30:10Nor should you yours, if you intend to go into business.
30:13I play politics till your heart turns to stone.
30:16But don't take me on in business.
30:18You'll only get hurt.
30:20And I don't think you're a masochist.
30:23Despite your saunas.
30:26Oh, hang on a moment. I think he's just come in.
30:30Lincoln Downing.
30:32For me.
30:35Hello, Lincoln.
30:36I'm working out just why your merger shouldn't go through.
30:39How are you?
30:40For Cain. He's pretty cock-a-hoop.
30:42I can't think why.
30:43He thinks he's found a cast-iron way of stopping you.
30:46He's having your merger referred to the Monopolies Commission.
30:49Good.
30:50I thought that's the way he would move.
30:53Thank you, Lincoln, and good night.
30:55Don't stay up too late.
30:57I shall need your mind at its sharpest and most devious in the morning.
31:26Who's baggage boy are you today, Don?
31:28The ministers or the ambassadors?
31:30One of these days, darling, your lip will land you on the floor.
31:33Or rather, your very own.
31:35On whose behalf, do you ask?
31:37Mine.
31:38Only, you make such a do about your intelligence connections these days,
31:41I sometimes wonder who you're not spying on.
31:43It's a role, I must say, that suits your personality.
31:46And you're in the role that suits yours. Running errands.
31:50I'm not running errands.
31:52Of course, running errands.
31:58Pamela must be out of her mind.
32:08Ah, setting us all an example, Henderson.
32:11Which way, north, south, east or west?
32:14You know, I never did manage to master the compass.
32:17Of which way, Jason, to Wagga Wagga?
32:19Very well.
32:21It is bona fide foreign office business.
32:23What else?
32:27The entire press is packed with reports on what politicians will do to kill my merger.
32:33And all you're concerned about is where Don's going.
32:36Where's your sense of proportion?
32:38I thought the Monopolies Commission didn't worry you.
32:40They don't.
32:41But you do.
32:44What if I said that Don was off to Paris?
32:47No point in warning the Bluebell girls. He's safe.
32:50Who would you warn?
32:51Not Cain.
32:53All right, then. Don's off to Paris.
32:56Is he having trouble at home?
32:58Only, if he's off to Paris, why should he leave a message for his wife telling her he's gone to New York?
33:04Oh, yes, I forgot that you also worked with those professional, nosy Parker boys from Intelligence.
33:12Has it not occurred to you that you are treading high wire held at one end by Cain and at the other end by me?
33:19Either of us could drop you from a great height.
33:22Don't worry. I have a safety net.
33:26Will that be all, Ambassador?
33:28Yes, Lincoln.
33:33Jason, I know that Wilder was in his office at 6.45 this morning,
33:37having presumably been tipped off by his Fleet Street chums at the contents of today's papers.
33:41Now, that doesn't indicate a man who's going to throw in the sponge.
33:44It's a myth about early risers. They're not necessarily the ones who get things done.
33:48Often they're just insomniacs who can't bear to lie about any longer in a rumpled bed.
33:52Well, you'd best assume that Wilder isn't one.
33:55Well, after this lot he should be.
33:57His merger couldn't possibly go through in face of the public wrath this will ignite.
34:01Well, the Commons will certainly be up in arms.
34:03And I've managed to persuade Headley, as a leading trade union backbencher, that his principles have been affronted.
34:08He's going to issue a statement saying that the merger will put 6,000 men out of jobs.
34:12How can he know?
34:13Well, he can't, but the figure has a suitably alarming ring.
34:16Well, you know, if Wilder had a trace of decency, he'd resign now.
34:19Do you think he might?
34:20No.
34:21Pity.
34:22He's still the outsider to you, isn't he, Jason?
34:24He belongs in the marketplace, not this office.
34:26Now, there, if you're not careful, is where we might part company.
34:29Don't forget, and certainly not while I'm the minister here, that we are the Department for Special Situations and Trade.
34:35And that calls for men from the marketplace.
34:37I'm one.
34:38Ah, but you do have an instinct for the more civilised virtues of diplomacy.
34:42I'm a salesman, Jason.
34:44As an orphan, I had to spend most of my early life selling myself.
34:48You strolled through Eton and Oxford and then nobly offered your services to the country.
34:54In fact, you are less my kind, really, than Wilder is.
34:57So just disabuse yourself of this idea that selling is a dirty word.
35:02Yes, Jane.
35:03Mr Dowling to see you, minister.
35:05Oh, send him in, Jane. And drink some coffee, will you?
35:09You may not know where Henderson's gone, but be sure, Dowling will.
35:12Yes, I feel that that young man knows far too much for the peace of mind of any of us.
35:16His extramural work for intelligence is corrupting him.
35:20Good morning, Lincoln.
35:22You read the papers?
35:23Quite a killing, minister.
35:24And what did your suspicious mind tell you could still stop my consortium, if anything?
35:28Don't count your French chickens yet.
35:30No.
35:31Wilder was up before daybreak and busy by sunup.
35:33We were curious as to where Don Henderson has gone, do you know?
35:36Oh, yes.
35:40He's gone to Paris.
35:43Oh.
35:44Another cup for Mr Dowling.
35:45Oh, no, if you don't mind, I have some clearing up to do for Wilder.
35:48Clearing up to do for Wilder.
35:50Oh, that has a very comforting ring about it.
35:53The sound of impending departure.
35:59All right, Lincoln.
36:07Do you believe him, Jason?
36:11I'm afraid I don't, minister.
36:13Jane, get me suddenly at the Home Office.
36:17Immigration.
36:18Yes, minister.
36:21Only first-class passengers, remember.
36:28We've got him.
36:29Donald Henderson, you said.
36:31He's on a BOC flight to New York, taking off just about now.
36:51New York.
36:52Yes, minister.
36:56Yes, minister.
36:57Jason, come in for a moment, will you?
36:59And on the way, try to work out why Henderson should have gone for his master to New York.
37:03Wilder did say Paris.
37:04Oh, I had no doubt, Lincoln.
37:06Anyway, it was probably a dummy run to fool us.
37:08Us, Lincoln?
37:09Count me in or out, just please yourself.
37:12Latterly, you've hardly proved yourself one of us.
37:16I'd like to trust you, Lincoln.
37:18I'd like to very much.
37:21I had great hopes of you.
37:23You talk as though you were my father.
37:27At the moment, I feel that's a handicap that fate has mercifully spared me.
37:35Of course, you could tell Cain that Henderson's a British member of the American CIA.
37:38That would curl his toes a bit.
37:40Flippancy, as I've told you, Lincoln, is often a cover for the basest behaviour.
37:46Even treason.
37:51Are you coming to help, or not?
37:54I have an important engagement.
37:56Oh.
37:58Highly classified, no doubt.
38:02Highly suggested.
38:04If you'd bring the sideboard in, we'll have something to put them on.
38:06Yes, and if you'd bring in a chair, I'd have something more comfortable to sit on.
38:10What chairs, then?
38:14Link, where on earth did you find them?
38:18Oh, a bargain I picked up in the King's Road one lunchtime.
38:21After lunch?
38:22Hmm?
38:23And how many brandies?
38:24You mean you don't like them?
38:26Lincoln, they're absolutely hideous.
38:29Well, I was going to turn them into lamps, but if you don't like them...
38:32Well, what matters is that you like them, you have to live with them.
38:35And you might.
38:38Oh, yes.
38:42Have you, um...
38:44Have you ever wondered who lived here a hundred years ago?
38:47I mean, who was born here, who died here?
38:49There isn't a blue plaque commemorating anyone famous, is there?
38:52All that concerns me is tomorrow, not yesterday.
38:55I also said you might live here.
38:57What, me?
38:58With them?
38:59I could always abandon them.
39:00I shouldn't think it's the first time they've been dumped, either.
39:02Well...
39:05Oh, Lincoln, don't be ridiculous.
39:07I mean it.
39:08Yes, I know you do. That's what makes it so sad.
39:12You must stop rushing at life.
39:14Learn to pace yourself.
39:16Like Garfield Kane?
39:17No.
39:18Like the man you've more in common with.
39:20John.
39:21All we have in common at the moment are mergers.
39:23His big business merger.
39:25And mine with you.
39:29Lincoln! I never suspected.
39:32Oh, you never saw it in the old place.
39:34I kept it in the attic, which had a skylight.
39:36It soothes me to look at the moon occasionally.
39:39Only the moon?
39:40Sheraton.
39:42Yes, it's, um...
39:43It's very attractive.
39:44You sound doubtful.
39:46No, no, I like it.
39:48You mean it's not authentic, Sheraton?
39:50I said no such thing, Lincoln.
39:52But the bloody thing's not, is it?
39:55No, Lincoln.
39:57It's our bar.
39:59Normal service, restored so quickly?
40:01And the Brotherhood of Burglars know already.
40:03I carry a rather high priority.
40:05Lincoln, darling?
40:08Yes, I'll be over right away.
40:13I thought something like that would happen.
40:15Still, it's better if you supervise the layout, if you don't mind.
40:19I do want you to like the place.
40:22Should I lock up afterwards?
40:24If so, where shall I meet you?
40:26I'll meet you at the bar.
40:27I'll meet you at the bar.
40:28I'll meet you at the bar.
40:29I'll meet you at the bar.
40:30I'll meet you at the bar.
40:31I'll meet you at the bar.
40:32I'll meet you at the bar.
40:33I'll meet you at the bar.
40:34Should I lock up afterwards?
40:35If so, where shall I meet you?
40:36Oh, I almost forgot.
40:38I have two.
40:41One for you.
40:43I mean, you may want to do more supervising when I'm not here.
40:46You know, you could get arrested for doing that.
41:06Sorry.
41:07Oh, take those out again with you, will you?
41:13Certainly.
41:15Leave it in the pram cupboard.
41:23We think you're right, darling.
41:26Whether we get the Anglo-French consortium or the all-British merger is academic to intelligence.
41:31But it is important that we penetrate any organisation of such a size,
41:35selling military electronics and other defence equipment to foreign powers.
41:40You will hear further from us, presently.
41:53Hello?
41:56Thank you.
41:58I suppose one day there'll be a night that doesn't go bleak.
42:01Hello?
42:02Hello.
42:03It's Don.
42:04Oh, hello, Don.
42:05Can you hear me, John?
42:06Yeah, very clearly. Go on.
42:07We're all fixed, John. It's a great press conference.
42:10When did the news agencies put it out?
42:14I see.
42:16Sounds good, Don.
42:18Now, catch the next flight back. We're going to be very busy.
42:25Won't it wait, John? Say, till daybreak?
42:28No, I'm trying to get out of good old...
42:30Oh, he's had a busy day, driving me around antique shops.
42:33Where the hell are you going to put this stuff?
42:35Not for us.
42:36You going somewhere I shouldn't know about?
42:39No, it's business. Fleet Street.
42:42Well, then, let good old sleep, John.
42:56I want all the first editions.
42:58Yes, sir.
43:06Sir.
43:24So there goes our chance with the Monopolies Commission.
43:28Nobody will lift a damn finger to stop the merger
43:30if the alternative is to let the Americans get control.
43:32If you'd like a tranquilizer, ask Jason. He's got a pocketful.
43:35I am about to have my firm snatched up by a bunch of Americans
43:38and all you can do is to sit there and prescribe drugs.
43:41You need electric shock therapy if you go on like this.
43:43The Americans will get nothing and Wilder knows it.
43:46You've got Wilder on the brain. What the hell's he got to do with it?
43:49His messenger boy went to New York yesterday.
43:51Wilder's well in with the president of the American firm who are making this bid
43:55and he's fixed this bombshell to scatter our MPs who are attacking his merger.
43:59Well, it will, won't it?
44:01Not if we show what's behind it and who
44:03and convince everybody that our consortium is preferable to Wilder's merger.
44:08Don't forget, half my board, more than half by now, is grasping at the merger.
44:13It's a life raft to them.
44:15They know what will happen to them under the Americans
44:17if they're thrown overboard and left to drown.
44:19Well, they could always learn to swim. Now, come on, Frank.
44:21Your managing director will manage them direct.
44:24It's up to you to keep their heads above water.
44:26This whole American business is just a rumor to stir things up.
44:29Well, of course, it is conceivable that there is a genuine American bid.
44:32Oh, now, you need a tranquilizer yourself, Jason.
44:35Yes, Jan.
44:36Sir John Wilder to see you, Minister.
44:38Oh. Well, show him in, Jan.
44:42I'm already here.
44:45You'll never get away with this.
44:46Once we show you're behind the Americans, you'll be completely discredited.
44:50You're too late, Kane.
44:51I can hardly be behind the Americans
44:53when I've just gone to great lengths to persuade an old friend of mine,
44:56the president of the American company,
44:58to hold off any bid as long as your get-together with the French is called off.
45:05Arnold J. Eastman, Jr.
45:07will never forgive the French for what they did to him and his company in recent years.
45:11He doesn't share your fondness for frogs' legs and garlic.
45:15Oh, no.
45:16You're behind the Americans, and I intend to make it known.
45:20Then you'd better be careful where you wag your politician's tongue.
45:25The only safe place is in the chamber of the House.
45:28There, at least, you can hide under the women's skirts of parliamentary privilege.
45:34There'll be no perks for you personally, should your merger go through.
45:37It would look too much like a fiddle.
45:39Which is indeed what it would be.
45:42The contract's already signed.
45:44I'm managing director for seven years,
45:47and some of your political colleagues, Kane, senior to you,
45:51see it not only as fiddle-free,
45:53but essential in the public interest that I run the group.
45:58As a minister of the Crown, they would expect you to keep a dignified silence.
46:03Of course, you could always resign.
46:07But you're too fond of the soft line to chuck it in at this stage of the game.
46:13So it's up to you.
46:16Ball your head off to the public and press.
46:19If you dare.
46:20John.
46:23Do you think you and I could talk?
46:25What about, Frank?
46:27Your top-hat pension?
46:30Whether you should take up golf or growing sunflowers?
46:50I still say it's bluff.
46:54Oh, for God's sake.
46:56Get your head out of the sand, Jason.
47:02Well, now.
47:03If you'll excuse me, gentlemen.
47:19Yes, Minister?
47:20Jan?
47:22Yes, Minister?
47:23Get me the Prime Minister.
47:49Mr. Kane insisted that he had no comment to make.
47:52But this evening, he issued a statement from his home
47:54saying that he had resigned on a matter of principle.
47:58His resignation will enable him to make a full statement to the House of Commons tomorrow.
48:03And now, further news of the Midlands rail accident.
48:07Principle?
48:08He diddle his grandma and said it had to be done on principle.
48:11Hasn't got one, Lincoln.
48:12Hasn't got what?
48:13A grandma. He's an orphan.
48:15Even orphans have grandmas. They have to be grandmas.
48:17Anyway, he was a fool to mix it with John.
48:20You only come off worse.
48:22Really?
48:23Very much, really.
48:28Well, John, it's been quite a day.
48:30Oh.
48:31And it's not over yet.
48:34I can't think why you're here, though I can guess.
48:38He came to see me.
48:40No, you.
48:41I promised you a job on the new combine. You got it.
48:45Your first task is an immediate sales recce in the Far East.
48:50That should keep you busy for at least six months.
48:53Now, if you don't mind, Pamela and I have some personal things to discuss.
48:57I can't think of even one.
48:59I'm not going to the Far East or anywhere else, Wilder.
49:02Then you're fired.
49:04Oh, no.
49:05I'm not becoming one of your executives, Wilder,
49:07to be tossed into the world's far corners at your whim.
49:10I'm becoming one of your directors on the new board.
49:14What have you been giving this upstart of yours, Pamela?
49:17Hallucinatory drugs?
49:19Call the office, then. Go on, ring them.
49:21And the higher you go, the firmer will be the confirmation.
49:24I'm on your board, Wilder, and there's nothing you can do about it.
49:27Besides, I've just taken a three-year lease on a new place in Grosvenor Square.
49:31It'd be such a waste if I wasn't in London to enjoy it.
49:35You're wasting your time.
49:37What's the address?
49:39The address?
49:41As of Lincoln's new place.
49:43Flat 2, 190 Grosvenor Square.
49:47Well, your ex-wife, Pamela, is a real womanizer.
49:51She's a real womanizer.
49:53She's a real womanizer.
49:55She's a real womanizer.
49:57She's a real womanizer.
49:59She's a real womanizer.
50:02Well, your extra duties at the Foreign Office have paid off, haven't they?
50:08Do your chums in intelligence make a habit of squeezing people onto boards,
50:12or is this special for services rendered?
50:18Hello. Er, Prentice and Walker?
50:21This is Sir John Wilder.
50:23I want you to send round a box of your very best Havana cigars
50:28to, um...
50:30All right, get a pencil and paper.
50:32I wouldn't say no to one now.
50:40The address is Lincoln Darling,
50:43Flat 2,
50:45190 Grosvenor Square.
50:49Yes.
50:51Yes, thank you very much.
50:54You'll find a cutter on the drinks table.
50:57Oh, that's all right. I have my own now.
51:23© BF-WATCH TV 2021
51:53© BF-WATCH TV 2021
52:23© BF-WATCH TV 2021