- 6 weeks ago
Classy, intelligent, witty political drama series about the fascinating, ruthless businessman/politician sir John Wilder who becomes Special Envoy (the original name of the series was "Special Envoy'') - ambassador for special situations and trade - and has to deal with the equally ruthless competition. His wife is the witness, trying to support him without interfering much, while his handsome secretary is too ambitious for his own good. The sequel to "The Plane Makers". Starring Patrick Wymark, Barbara Murray, Jack Watling, Michael Jayston, Clifford Evans, Peter Barkworth, George Sewell, Ian Holm, Richard Hurndall, Barrie Ingham, Donald Burton, Norma Ronald, Robin Bailey, James Maxwell, Rachel Herbert, William Devlin, Philip Madoc, Norman Tyrrell, John Brooking, Peter Hughes, Peggy Sinclair, Ralph Michael. Written by Peter Draper, Wilfred Greatorex, Edmund Ward, John Bowen, Raymond Bowers.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00.
00:39¶¶
01:08¶¶
01:41¶¶
02:12¶¶
02:12Who is it, Martha?
02:13This way, please.
02:17Heavens.
02:19Did you ever see anything like them?
02:24Hmm. I might have sent them myself.
02:27Thank you for a wonderful evening, Novak.
02:31Don't let it turn your head.
02:33It's not you that Novak's after.
02:47Toss you for it, Charles.
02:50Oh, not your day, Charles. Tails.
02:52It was heads, Mr. Novak.
02:53Oh, must be all those carrots you eat.
03:28No, thank you, if you don't mind.
03:29Whiskey and soda.
03:30And I'll have vodka and tonic.
03:32Thank you, gentlemen.
03:35I don't know how to thank your wife for last night's dinner, Sir John.
03:38I thought you'd done it with flowers.
03:40Ah-ha, those.
03:42Whose gardens did you rob? Buckingham Palace?
03:45Oh, the royal gardeners were very kind.
03:48All right. So, you enjoyed your dinner.
03:53How can I convince you, Sir John, that my intentions are purely commercial?
03:57Well, let's assume for the sake of speed that you have done.
04:00If British firms put in for this contract, Sir John, they'll get it.
04:03I don't see why.
04:05Hmm. Poland has its reasons.
04:08We need new roads.
04:09You have the road-making machinery.
04:12What about your Russian masters?
04:14They'll have to lump it.
04:16They're not very good at lumping it where the satellite countries are concerned.
04:19In this turn, they'll have to.
04:21Besides, we owe Britain some trade.
04:23Last year, we sold you nearly 20 million pounds worth more goods than we bought from you.
04:28Yes, but why me?
04:29Who better, to get British firms interested?
04:32I won't lead them into a fight they can't win.
04:35I'm a bad loser, no man.
04:37You have my word, Sir John.
04:40I wonder why they always sit behind the Times or Telegraph, never the Mirror or Express.
04:44Hmm?
04:45British security, then.
04:47Him?
04:49Even if you hadn't told them we were meeting, Sir John, they'd have found out.
04:52Oh, we're in London now, not in one of your eastern democracies.
04:56You make democracy sound like a dirty word.
04:59And you could be rich without working, Sir John.
05:02At poker.
05:06Uh, would you give the gentleman over there a drink?
05:11He looks thirsty.
05:12Yes, Sir John.
05:14You're known here.
05:16Both of us, it seems.
05:17Oh, I've known wherever I go.
05:18By security matter, as well as the waiters.
05:28Here in the Foreign Office, there's more personal gossip than in a lady's hairdressers.
05:33So, Wilder's been seeing a lot of a communist diplomat.
05:36Minister, Novak is his country's top intelligence agent in the UK.
05:41You know perfectly well that half the seedy cars in London are driven by professional spies.
05:45Well, I'm merely reporting, Minister, if you don't think...
05:48Wilder's been got at.
05:50Sir John Wilder of Red.
05:52He may not know the risks he's running.
05:54Wilder?
05:55He'd never go for a bath without water wings.
05:58Now, don't humbug me, Father.
06:00What you're saying is that he's been got at.
06:01Brain.
06:02He's an amateur.
06:03He failed to notify our security boys he was meeting Novak.
06:06All that proves is that he's telling you to stick your bureaucratic nonsense up your filing system.
06:12Anyway, after your phone call, I thought I'd better make sure.
06:15Has Conyers arrived yet?
06:16He's here, though, by the way, Sir.
06:18Send him in.
06:21Now, take it from me, Father.
06:24If Wilder is up to anything, it'll have to do with personal profit.
06:28Not left-wing politics.
06:31Oh, come in, Congressman.
06:35I, er, take it you two know each other?
06:38Over long years, Minister.
06:40If MI5 were told that Sir John Wilder was seeing a lot of the, er, suspect diplomat...
06:46Novak.
06:48Oh?
06:49You know?
06:50It's our business, Tom.
06:51Well?
06:52We're taking no action, Minister.
06:53It wouldn't be the first time we disagreed.
06:55In our view, Wilder is no security risk.
06:59You mean he went to the wrong school?
07:01Well, he does seem to have the wrong background for treason.
07:04Yes, Minister.
07:06Your Eaton Oxford are in trouble, Fowler.
07:11I must say, I can't see Wilder running a collective farm.
07:16Oh, dear, the old establishment is not what it was, is it, Fowler?
07:20Still, you can't blame us in few or fairly recent events if we have reservations about the dependability of the
07:26public school product.
07:27Well, the score is bound to look a bit lopsided, Minister.
07:30How is that?
07:30In view of the fact that 90% of the diplomatic service comes from the public schools and from Oxbridge.
07:36All the same, Jason, don't mean too big a hurry to even the score.
07:41I must still place on record my concern about Novak.
07:44You mean your concern about Wilder?
07:47Well, do what you like.
07:49Good day, gentlemen.
07:50I have a speech to make in the Lords in half an hour.
08:05Yes, sir?
08:05Uh, call Jarvis's, the coronet makers, and tell them that I'm free for a fitting this afternoon.
08:15He appeared to be unduly hasty to bring you in.
08:18Cunning devil.
08:19Making doubly sure Wilder lands in it.
08:21And failing.
08:23We're too busy to waste time on tittle-tattle, Jason.
08:28Sir, if you could just keep an eye on him for us.
08:31It's 35 years since I was in the Boy Scouts.
08:34Ah, so we've bade and piled the blame.
08:37Novak was never a Boy Scout.
08:38Communist youth from the day he first walked.
08:41I think most of your people are colour-blind.
08:43All they see is a great red blur.
08:45I hardly thought you were committed to actually doing any business with Novak.
08:48That's not surprising, since I told you.
08:50What we'd like, Sir John, is for you to string him along a little.
08:53We'd like to know exactly what his game is.
08:55If there's trade in it, I'll string him along till 1984.
08:59If not, I'll cut him out tomorrow.
09:01And you can hound him till he drops.
09:03Have you, um, any idea what he might be up to?
09:06Another Scotch.
09:08I do have vodka.
09:10That's all I've noticed, sir.
09:11Three brands.
09:12Serious.
09:14Here, Connors.
09:15Have a look at this.
09:17Oh, I know who they're from, Sir John.
09:19We saw him place the order.
09:22Chose all the flowers personally, you know.
09:24Hmm.
09:26He has taste.
09:27I'll admit that.
09:35John, I am entitled to know what you're up to.
09:39Only when it becomes official.
09:41I expect the pinstripe time service to get in my way, but not you.
09:45I am minister responsible for this section.
09:49And if it's any consolation to you, I probably am not going to Warsaw.
09:53Oh.
09:55I should, John.
09:59They need roads.
10:01Somebody's been doing their research, darling.
10:04Oh, somebody.
10:05You could do a good job in Warsaw, John.
10:08This makes me sure it's the last place I should go.
10:12Hmm.
10:14Would you like to open it?
10:17Or shall I?
10:18There's clearly not a bomb, or you wouldn't be here.
10:24Hmm.
10:27Now, if ever you become a baron, John, bear in mind the price.
10:31The ball's a solid gold.
10:33Eighteen carat.
10:35You mean you can actually wear it?
10:41And you're going to the opening of Parliament in that?
10:44No, it's one of the few ways left to hoard gold without breaking the law.
10:48The Bank of France is nothing on you, has it?
10:52Don't underrate the Lords, John.
10:54We represent the accumulated wisdom of long lifetimes.
10:58All you've done is to replace the music hall.
11:02Take my advice, John. Go to Warsaw.
11:04Oh, by the way, Caswell, coronets are not warm at the opening of Parliament.
11:09I don't think you'll be around for the next coronation.
11:21Shall I take clothes for one week or two?
11:24For where?
11:25Warsaw.
11:26You're not going, and even I may not be.
11:29I hear Novak's family make the most exquisite glass.
11:33Novak is a salesman.
11:35Yes, he's charming.
11:37And with a reputation with security.
11:39Security?
11:41Oh, I forget it.
11:42Oh, don't be foreign office furtive with me, John. Is he a spy?
11:46Of sorts.
11:47I've always wanted to meet one, a real one.
11:50He's one of the hygienic ones with full diplomatic immunity.
11:55Free parking, no breath tests and CD plates?
11:59Quite a job when you come to think of it.
12:01Anyway, you can forget about Warsaw.
12:04If you go, I go.
12:07Caswell's so set on my going that I'm damn sure I shouldn't.
12:13It's not the Queen, you know.
12:15You'll forget. I haven't seen him for almost a week.
12:22Lincoln, how lovely to see you.
12:24Lady Wilder.
12:25You look like our man at the UN when the have not nations have ganged up on him.
12:29Ganging up's the word.
12:31Lincoln's lips are sealed.
12:32I'll just have to sign the Official Secrets Act myself.
12:35Well, have a large brandy and get whatever it is off your chest.
12:38I haven't got all night.
12:40Oh, it's all right, Lincoln.
12:41I won't be able to hear a thing from the splashing of soda.
12:46Well?
12:47It's about Novak.
12:48Oh, our foul power man.
12:50You should have notified security you were meeting him.
12:52If I'd known, I would have notified them automatically on your behalf.
12:55I haven't time to report everything I do to those dried up bloodhounds.
12:59The day I start, you can automatically notify my psychiatrist.
13:03They won't brush off that easily, Wilder.
13:05The office is touchy about such things.
13:08Especially since Burgess and Clane and Thuby.
13:12The high tide of treason has left its mark and its quicksand.
13:15And you've been sent running with the warning flags.
13:17Why, come voluntarily, Wilder.
13:20I don't want you discredited at the Foreign Office.
13:23We're already too many privileged upstarts whose only certificates of merit are their birth certificates.
13:29Hey, Lincoln, that brandy suits you have another.
13:32You do realise every meeting you've had with Novak has been watched?
13:35So I gave one of the bloodhounds a drink today.
13:38He looked thirsty.
13:40He probably made notes for your dossier.
13:43Philby warned Burgess and MacLean.
13:46So thank you, I'm touched.
13:48Wish I could share your indifference to security people.
13:50Ah, their pipsqueaks are blinded by the daylight.
13:54I've been asked by one scout troop to watch Novak.
13:57I wonder which one's watching me.
13:58One of the MI sections.
14:00They and our lot have a sort of class war of their own.
14:03Eaton versus Manchester grammar kind of thing.
14:05Which one's after me?
14:06Eaton.
14:08Imagine John as the ball in the Eaton wall game.
14:11Some of our career people can play just as dirty as the meanest of your big business pirates, Wilder.
14:16And they want you O-U-T.
14:18There's not one of them I couldn't skin for breakfast.
14:21Don't imagine our ministers on your side.
14:23That'll be the day when Caswell is.
14:25He suggests that I go to Warsaw with Novak.
14:28In writing?
14:29Well, I'm not going anyway.
14:31There's not enough in it.
14:33That's irrelevant.
14:34It would give the security boys a field day.
14:36Pity.
14:37Even Fowler knows you're no security risk.
14:42He's discussed it with you.
14:43And others.
14:45No, he thinks you're out to line your pockets on some Polish deal.
14:53Does he?
14:54So it seems does Lord Bly.
15:00The information's not from me.
15:02Lincoln.
15:05Now you've done it.
15:07Isn't it rather odd the way you address my husband?
15:10Hmm?
15:10Wilder?
15:12Oh, in the Foreign Office we're meant to address superiors by their surname.
15:15Even if they are knights of the realm.
15:16And senior officials' ambassadors called people like me by their first names.
15:20Lincoln?
15:21How sweet.
15:22How should you address me?
15:24As you like.
15:25I insist on Pamela.
15:28Novak.
15:29It's Wilder here.
15:30I think there may be something in that idea of yours.
15:33After all, how soon can we leave for Warsaw?
15:38Make it sooner.
15:40Tomorrow.
15:42Good night, Novak.
15:47You'll come too, Lincoln.
15:49And you can call me John.
15:52In the office it'll have to be Wilder.
15:55You're a born conservative, aren't you?
15:57Oh, there was one other thing.
15:59Oh, to hell with them, Lincoln.
16:01Let them snoop till their long ears drop off.
16:04I met Novak myself.
16:05Hope you inform security.
16:08I'm partial to a rare-ish tokai.
16:10Oh, Lincoln.
16:11Not that Hungarian hooch.
16:12I'd chance to mention this to Novak.
16:14He sent me a whole crate of it.
16:17What should I do with it?
16:18We're not supposed to receive gifts.
16:20O'Farlow suggests I send it back.
16:22It's awfully tricky.
16:23Oh, for God's sake, Lincoln.
16:24Just drink the damn stuff.
16:26Tokai should be kept at 55 degrees.
16:29Lincoln, I'll buy you a thermostat for your cellar.
16:31I haven't got a cellar.
16:32Oh, we'll build you one.
16:35Won't we, darling?
16:42I'm seeing your stockbroker.
16:44Ours.
16:46Seeing him.
16:47Hence my collecting you in this.
16:49No one deny the job has its perks.
16:52I'd have thought you'd have find it a bit showy.
16:54No, not the rolls.
16:56Travelling with you.
16:58Anyway, you must have been misinformed.
17:01John hasn't actually seen our stockbrokers, and so is.
17:05I know, if he had been in the city with Keith,
17:07he'd still have had to have come west past our house
17:09to get to the airport.
17:11Well, we're meeting Novak at the airport.
17:12So John thought we ought to put in an appearance
17:14in case he's late.
17:15Now, does that make sense?
17:17Yes.
17:19Look, John wouldn't fret about keeping the Prime Minister waiting,
17:22let alone Novak.
17:23It still makes sense.
17:24Oh?
17:25If he misses the flight, we'll go on.
17:28John said that?
17:29No.
17:31But it's an idea that grows on me.
17:34I thought only men made journeys to places like Warsaw
17:38with foreign office bachelors.
17:40Oh, you've been reading the Sunday Supplements.
17:46Lincoln, what made John change his mind about Novak
17:48and going to Warsaw?
17:49Bloody mind in this, I should think.
17:51Not John.
17:52Oh, he'd make the gesture, but he'd soon find something to stop him going
17:55if it suited his book.
17:58Is it a big deal?
18:00Politically? Commercially?
18:01In John's terms, millions?
18:03Dollars, sterling or zloty?
18:06Zloty.
18:07That's Polish money.
18:11Lincoln, whose side are you on?
18:13I said all offenses.
18:16Not you.
18:17John's or the Department's.
18:19Neither.
18:20Yours.
18:40Lady Wilder.
18:42Darling, you look after the bags, won't you?
18:45Let me have your passport, Lady Wilder.
18:46I will sprint through immigration and wait in comfort.
18:51Where do the English go in winter?
18:58Well?
18:59Which of those two?
19:01Oh, damn it, John.
19:01I'm only halfway through the second.
19:03Remind me to buy you a course in Quick Reading.
19:06It's like taking coals to Newcastle anywhere.
19:08Look, you keep your mind on those specifications.
19:11Leave the politics to me.
19:13I mean, the Russians aren't exactly novices
19:15as a manufacturing way of making it different.
19:17Which we hope, for reasons which might even be obvious to you, Don,
19:20the Poles don't want.
19:22I don't see why they should have to buy a British.
19:25It's up to us to make it clear they should.
19:29Yes, well, this will need higher maintenance costs.
19:34Will you make a salesman of you yet?
19:36Now, see what you make of that one.
19:39Now?
19:40Well, we're not in a Dodgeham car.
19:42All you need is a steady hand.
19:44And patience, John.
19:47If anybody should ask how many British models
19:51we're offering the Poles, say only one.
19:55Who's anybody?
19:57What, the resident British ambassador?
20:00Or darling?
20:03Yes, but you're an ambassador too, John.
20:06Only of the roving kind.
20:08So?
20:08So you shouldn't represent just one British product
20:11when there are others on the market.
20:13Spoken like a civil servant.
20:17Albeit of the temporary kind.
20:29It took you long enough, Lincoln.
20:31Or were you picked up as a suspected courier carrying that?
20:34I just couldn't find the damn place.
20:35Shouldn't you know it, Lincoln?
20:37Shouldn't you as a commie, even a westernized one,
20:39think twice before using VIP facilities denied the common people?
20:43Dry French with a hint of gin.
20:46I remembered.
20:47I'd be flattered Lady Wilder if you knew as much about me.
20:49You're a full-time flatterer yourself, dear.
20:52When I flatter, it's not to deceive.
20:54Flatterers look like friends as wolves like dogs.
20:57Lincoln, how clever.
20:59It was, when stated 300 years ago by a Frenchman.
21:03Don, come in and have a drink.
21:06John's waiting.
21:06The flight's not been called yet.
21:08It will be any second.
21:09John's gone straight to the aircraft.
21:10He's waiting for us all to get down to some work.
21:14Bolting cocktails is bad for you.
21:16In capitalist Britain, Jan, we're never in such a hurry
21:18that we have to swig in one gulp.
21:30This isn't a holiday excursion.
21:33I need Darling and Henderson here to analyze this stuff.
21:36How is Keith?
21:38Fat and pompous.
21:39Are we buying or selling, and if so, what?
21:43Neither. Darling.
21:47You're cool, Lady Wilder.
21:54Why do Englishmen always imagine that the first-class section of an aeroplane is for men only?
22:01Now, you'll need to take in these specifications.
22:04I shall start now.
22:06Listons did a good job getting that out in 24 hours, with a copy in Polish.
22:14If you've forgotten your razor, Lincoln, you can always grow a beard.
22:18We're only taking Listons species. No competing models.
22:22We offer them the best.
22:26We always do best with a single commodity, don't we, Don?
22:30Yes, John.
22:35I always carry it when flying.
22:37My father carried it all the way through the wall.
22:40No, let me show you.
22:44It helps concentration.
22:46It banishes fear.
22:47It's also lucky.
22:49I never knew you were superstitious, Jan.
22:52I'm lucky today.
22:54Try it again.
22:58You've got it.
22:59No, no, no, no.
23:00Keep it.
23:04Let me fasten your belt.
23:22I appreciate that you would prefer to stay where you are, Novae.
23:27Don't run away.
23:28I'll be back to tell you all about Chester Korpska.
23:30Where's that?
23:31Well, it's not where, but a she.
23:34The patron saint of Poland.
23:41It's good to be back in civilized society.
23:45Do you think you should have come back to work for him, Don?
23:49Yes and no.
23:51This mood is just bloody unbearable.
23:53I'll get off this airplane now.
23:55Well, don't forget your parachute.
23:59Takai.
24:00Takai?
24:02Hungarian hooch.
24:04I don't mind opposition, Novak.
24:07Just tell me where it's coming from.
24:09The Italians or the French?
24:10Why won't you believe me, Sir John?
24:11This is a straight bilateral exercise in Anglo-Polish trade.
24:15A salesman like you should tie it up in two days.
24:19You must be a man of influence.
24:21Well, no, a hell of a lot less than you seem to.
24:25I hope I didn't insult you by calling you a salesman.
24:28I prefer that title to a peerage.
24:31Have no fear, Sir John.
24:32The contract is yours.
24:35Whose signature is on it?
24:37Yours?
24:38The Minister's.
24:40Corziel will sign.
24:47I think your wife will enjoy Warsaw.
24:50What matters is that I do.
24:53Oh, you will, Sir John.
24:54Tonight, you and Lady Wilder had dinner with Corziel.
24:57I fixed it personally, myself.
25:01It will all be very personal and private.
25:04Cheers.
25:13Our Minister of Trade, Mr. Corziel, Madam Corziel, Sir John and Lady Wilder.
25:18How do you know?
25:19Welcome to Warsaw, Sir John.
25:20Mr. Dowling and Mr. Henderson.
25:22We'll try to make it not all business, Lady Wilder.
25:26Now do come through and meet some of our friends.
25:46The resident British ambassador, Sir Holford Bagginall and Lady Bagginall, you know already, of course.
25:51No.
25:52We were met on arrival by a third secretary, weren't we, Bagginall?
25:55I know half my people are on holiday. It's a damned use.
25:58The Soviet ambassador, Comrade Norov and Madame Norovar.
26:02Delighty.
26:05I had no idea that this was such an occasion, Minister.
26:08It shows the importance we attach to your visit, Sir John.
26:13Nobody of any importance here, eh?
26:15Only the British and Soviet ambassador.
26:17Your information wasn't exactly a gem of accuracy.
26:19Dress formal, black tie...
26:21I was misled by my people at the embassy.
26:23But I buy mine at the Ministry.
26:24Well, take a tip, Novank.
26:26Keep out of Wilder's way.
26:42I want you to meet a very dear friend of mine, Lady Wilder.
26:45Gloria?
26:46Yes.
26:47Sorry about the rather low level of your reception of the airport, Wilder, but my senior chaps were busy and
26:54the best cars in for servicing.
26:56And, Sir John, it was rather sprang at us, wasn't it?
26:58You and your Moscow chums were rather sprung on me.
27:04I understood this was to be a formal dinner.
27:06Dress suits for those interested in the road machinery deal.
27:10You mustn't think you have a monopoly here in selling, British.
27:13Whatever you sold, Sir Holford, other than your grandmother's shares.
27:20We've got some fires.
27:31I see you.
27:32I see you.
27:38I know it's a little in this one.
27:40I see you.
27:41I see you.
27:48Well, that's all for you.
27:49When you and your husband have been in diplomacy a little longer, Lady Wilder,
27:53we'll find it full of ironies.
27:55I suppose you imagine these people, being communists,
27:58might try and impress and dress for dinner.
28:01Not at all, Lady Pagnell.
28:03I think all the communists look quite delightful.
28:12Now, listen, Wilder.
28:14You'll soon grow accustomed to this kind of exercise.
28:19In fact, you're no more than a decoy.
28:22They're merely reminding the Russians not to take things for granted again,
28:25as they did for the time of the checks.
28:27I'm here to sell, and you're going to help me more than you have.
28:31I'm sorry to sound a note of realism, Wilder,
28:33but I assure you it's all cut and dry.
28:36The contract is going to the Russians.
28:39Mm-hmm.
28:55Simon, Wilder is all barred.
28:57Tomorrow he'll be back in Whitehall with his tail between his legs.
29:01I've just been checking the dining plan, Your Excellency.
29:02Indeed, on whose authority.
29:04Simon here is our protocol expert.
29:06And the expert's boobed.
29:08Now, just admit it.
29:09Don't forget that I am the Queen's representative here.
29:11Not your tuppany-apenny, very temporary ambassador on Landrum Industries.
29:16I wasn't suggesting he should sit immediately to the right of the minister.
29:18You'd have been a bloody fool to suggest any such thing.
29:21The place on the left has a more important occupant, too.
29:25The Russian ambassador accredited here.
29:27All the same, Sir John and Lady Wilder should have more important places.
29:30Well, clearly the Poles are less mesmerised by your master than you are.
29:34Well, you must have been consulted.
29:36Of course it would.
29:37Now, try not to sour relations, Doug.
29:40We're on the most cordial terms with our host.
29:47Trades should never be on the plate, Minister.
29:49So you do not mind the competition?
29:52Competitors exist for only one reason.
29:53Oh?
29:54Be pounded into the ground.
29:57Are you all right, Lincoln?
29:58Yes.
29:59You don't look it, are you, Minister?
30:01Well, he's hungry, Sir John, and so am I.
30:03Okay.
30:04Let's eat and drink and tomorrow we'll do business.
30:09Sarasaras.
30:37Oh, come see you.
30:38Oh, come see you.
30:41Aw.
30:48Aw.
31:30Good morning, Sir John.
31:32Mr. Henderson, we asked you in second because the Soviet ambassador has to go on to a meeting
31:38of the Warsaw Pact, and you will appreciate how important that is for all of us.
31:53Only the two of you, Sir John.
31:54Any more would be a waste of time.
31:56I thought perhaps you may have been joined by your resident ambassador.
32:02Resident ambassadors should reside, and he has his own work to do.
32:08Well, Wilder made it clear beyond doubt that if I attended this morning, he'd take the
32:12first flight back to London.
32:13He's a solo performer, Your Excellency.
32:15Hell with his performance.
32:17It's not the backstage that concerns me.
32:21And which I suggest should concern you.
32:24You hardly gave him calls last night to welcome you today.
32:27I'm not the only one shut out, am I?
32:29No, he frequently keeps me at a distance.
32:30Dammit, man, you are his private secretary.
32:33And he's John Wilder.
32:35But why should he keep us both out on this one?
32:38I doubt if anyone can explain the working of Wilder's mind.
32:41Oh, well, let me have a try.
32:44Lincoln, isn't it a fact that he bought specifications from only one company's product list?
32:51I frankly don't know.
32:52Oh, now, come on, don't sell out, Lincoln.
32:55You're far too promising a diplomatic service officer to lose to the Wilder's.
32:59Anyway, if you're so sure all this is some facade and the Russians will land the job.
33:02I doubt, chap, there is always a chance, and especially in communist countries going through
33:07the change of life, there's always a chance that some outsider will bring off the unexpected.
33:12I mean, oh, damn this central bloody heating.
33:18Don't understand you.
33:20Does that even slightly irritate you, that Wilder should keep going out today?
33:25Yes, it does.
33:26Oh, well, that's something.
33:28Here's another thing.
33:29Should Wilder allow his, um, his appetite for profit to outweigh his public responsibilities?
33:36One would expect you...
33:37Oh, so Fowler's been in touch.
33:38Did he send in a cipher?
33:40I mean, it could be libelous.
33:41I was saying, Lincoln, should Wilder allow his acquisitive instinct to get the better of him...
33:45You would expect me to...
33:46How does the old Etonian put it?
33:48Sneak?
33:49Well, if you prefer another word, it's Whisper.
33:52I suppose there are some people on whom it wouldn't be quite the thing to sneak.
33:56Depends on their old school.
33:58Doesn't it, Lincoln?
34:01One hears from personnel that your career reports are first class, and this year's from Fowler
34:07one might almost describe as glowing.
34:11You could perhaps one day be one of our youngest ambassadors, if you keep on the right track.
34:18And my ears to the nick in the door.
34:21Yes.
34:21Good morning, Your Excellency.
34:23Good morning, Your Excellency.
34:38Saunders, see if the American ambassador has a moment.
34:41I'd like to see him right away, if possible.
34:50Take it, Sir John, that you have your own views about which of these three products of your country is
34:56the best.
34:56I'd sooner leave the choice to your distinguished technical assessors.
35:00From the questions they've just asked, they obviously are in their business.
35:05But you were for a time in civil engineering.
35:08Well, Listons will give you three metres an hour more road.
35:12Steadleys appear to need less maintenance, and Boltons have the best after-service of the three.
35:18Well, I know all three companies and all three products.
35:21You're not going far wrong with any of them.
35:23Now, Sir John, for the crunch, as your people say.
35:27Oh, no, not us, the Americans.
35:29Delivery.
35:30Delivery.
35:30Well, I'll personally put a bomb under whichever management you offer the contract to.
35:34A figure of speech, I hope.
35:36Well, the real bombs would help some managements, I know, but not the firms that we're concerned with.
35:42We'll give you our decision at the weekend, Sir John.
35:45If you like, I'll ship all three models out for trial against the Russian equipment.
35:51We already know about the Soviet equipment, Sir John.
35:54So do I.
35:56I studied it in the Middle East last year.
36:06I didn't know you were in the Middle East last year, John.
36:09Are you doubting my word?
36:10I'm not guilty.
36:12My brain's washed.
36:16What are our chances, John?
36:19Less than 50-50.
36:24Don, as Pamela is otherwise occupied, I wonder if you do something for her.
36:28You know her stockbroker, Keith, what's his name?
36:31Isn't he yours, too?
36:32Well, call or cable him on Pamela's behalf and tell him to buy 20,000 Listons.
36:42Buddhist monks soak themselves in petrol and set themselves alive.
36:46I couldn't stand having my head shaved.
36:50You think Listons won't get it?
36:52You know what I mean, John.
36:55Corruption in high places.
36:59Fowler and Bagginal are career diplomats
37:05who see the Foreign Service as the private preserve
37:09of a few silver spoon families whose untalented sons
37:16have a birthright to the plum jobs.
37:19They bring back the stocks in Whitehall for you, John.
37:23They're getting all strung up with their old school ties.
37:26I believe the word is knotted.
37:28You sound like Dowling.
37:32Mark that young man, Don.
37:34He's a high flyer.
37:36I should consult him
37:37about how we should contact Keith on Pamela's behalf.
37:43There's some rule that all our communication should go via the embassy.
37:48This one,
37:49not being mine,
37:50but Pamela's and private probably needn't.
37:53Sound out, Dowling, about procedure.
37:56I'll do nothing of the sort.
37:58I came back to you, John,
38:00on one condition,
38:01and I have my say in your interests.
38:03You've said it.
38:05Don't argue.
38:06Don't protest.
38:09Consult Dowling.
38:11You can't do it.
38:13The message is Pamela's.
38:15And she's with Novak.
38:16God knows where.
38:17Does the cable go via the embassy or privately?
38:19Either way, it's trouble.
38:23Wilder expects your advice.
38:26Since we're in a communist country,
38:28it would be advisable to send via the embassy.
38:31I wish to send a cable.
38:33Telegram.
38:36Telegram.
38:37I never took him for a bloody fool.
38:39Yes.
38:39It's to Keith Coe, London,
38:42and reads,
38:43By 20,000 Listons.
38:47Signed, Pamela Wilder.
38:51Yes.
38:52I'll repeat.
38:56Keep going.
38:57And I'll send for oxygen.
39:10I'm sorry.
39:11I'm afraid we have to get back.
39:12Oh, but I was just beginning to enjoy myself.
39:15I'm sorry.
39:15I want to blow myself a great big brandy glass.
39:17Oh, save your pub, sweet Pamela.
39:21No, Pamela.
39:24If we can't come back here,
39:26I'll buy you a wholesale.
39:37Well, there it is.
39:39Read it for yourself.
39:42Isn't that good?
39:43I can't say that I'm sorry you're going, Wilder.
39:47I happen to be old-fashioned enough to believe that diplomacy should be conducted by diplomats.
39:53From the right schools.
39:54Well, at a rate of the right quality.
39:58Immune to corruption.
40:01Incidentally, I hear you're not the old one on the carpet.
40:04Your industrious young friend, Novak, has apparently displeased his own hierarchy by rather overplaying your interests here.
40:12His misfortune.
40:14And perhaps yours.
40:15Oh, God, no.
40:16You don't need any help from him in fouling up your own cause.
40:20I mean it.
40:21It was a shade naive, wasn't it, to send a personal telegram via the embassy.
40:28Nothing on that net can be strictly private.
40:31I have the right to see all out for telegrams.
40:33And London sees them all anyway.
40:37Should you be in the job long enough to have the opportunity to telegram...
40:41File it with your other mini-messages, Paganel.
40:45When you've had your little gloat.
40:48You look as if you pulled the wings off butterflies when you were a boy.
40:52And now, to keep yourself in office, you'd crucify your own grandmother and get some pipsqueak to put up the
40:59cross.
41:00Very well.
41:02I never knew Lincoln had the guts.
41:12Saunders, I want to know why Wilder's telegram was not disclosed to us by Darling.
41:39But for a mere 20,000 miserable shares in Liston's, peanuts!
41:44If I knew what you were on about...
41:45I shall have to explain your conduct to the Foreign Secretary.
41:48Now, we could be faced with your resignation,
41:50which I shouldn't favour for obvious reasons having personally brought you in,
41:53or with a big scandal released to the press later.
41:57By you, or Fowler.
41:59Mind how you tread, Caswell.
42:00It's slippery in the pigsty.
42:02Even if they are in Pamela's name, the shares are clearly yours.
42:07What shares?
42:09I am prepared to help you.
42:12Look, you want me here, Caswell, to ride me.
42:14Now, don't come the old hypocrite.
42:16What shares?
42:18I can call evidence.
42:20Fine, Caswell.
42:21Get Fowler in.
42:24Fowler?
42:25Sir Jason himself, your highly misinformed, grossly overpaid deputy undersecretary.
42:31Buzz him.
42:33Go on, buzz him, or I go to the Foreign Secretary.
42:37I am prepared to hush it up, John.
42:41Have me crawling in your debt forevermore.
42:44No.
42:45Get Fowler in.
42:47Now.
42:49When I was building pipelines across the Syrian desert, John,
42:53I played poker every night with a man like you.
42:56Now, he always developed an imperative air when he's nothing in his hand.
43:01Fowler here, Minister.
43:02Fowler, come in here at the double.
43:06I'd hoped that we'd be able to work together for a while.
43:10In the public interest, for Britain, with a bent ambassador.
43:16Where are your scruples, Caswell?
43:19You're bent on self-destruction.
43:23Survival is my game.
43:24I'll be around long after Fowler or Bagginow.
43:28Bagginow?
43:30I assumed our distinguished ambassador to Warsaw had been in contact.
43:35Longer even than Dowling.
43:37Dowling?
43:39Our young genius.
43:41Lincoln himself.
43:48Wilder seems to think I blabbed or gave misleading advice about your telegram.
43:52Well, then Wilder knows more about it than I do.
43:54What telegram?
43:56From Warsaw to your stockbroker.
43:59Look, when John asks Keith to sell my shares, Keith knows better.
44:03It doesn't.
44:04But to buy.
44:05When John buys for me, he buys wisely.
44:08He bought Listons, 20,000 in your name.
44:11Listons?
44:12What are they, heavyweight boxers?
44:14They make road-making equipment.
44:16Well, he has to motorways.
44:18You could say you sent a telegram without his knowing.
44:21I say anything, any time, to help John.
44:24It will help him.
44:25And me.
44:26Well, then I'll say it, Lincoln.
44:28To him.
44:32We'll, um, not keep you, Jason.
44:35No more than all night and day.
44:39Ambulance?
44:41Tell him, Jason.
44:42The office ought to have been told, Wilder, that Listons are getting the Polish road contract.
44:46It's news to me that they were.
44:48We have reason to believe they are.
44:50Our information.
44:52Your information?
44:53What information?
44:56Faganel's?
44:58His?
44:59Bluster won't do, Wilder.
45:00Let's stick to fact.
45:01Facts?
45:02You're in Disneyland, Fowler.
45:0420,000 shares in Listons isn't fantasy.
45:09Yes, sir?
45:11Will you get me city 5880, please?
45:15So, you've uncovered some grubby scandal.
45:20The outsider up to his elbows in graft.
45:25What are you going to do when they sling you out of this sinecure?
45:29John, remember that Sir Jason is a respected civil servant.
45:34Respected.
45:36But how respectable?
45:41Keith, will you explain to the gentleman that I'm putting on whether either I or Pamela bought
45:4920,000 or indeed any shares in Listons recently?
45:57Sir Jason Fowler, here.
46:01The order was from Warsaw yesterday afternoon.
46:06I see.
46:09Keith, would you, uh, explain again?
46:16Ah, forget it, Keith.
46:17He's got his fingers in his ears.
46:19You can't deny that you sent the buying order.
46:21Only for Faganel's beady little eyes, Fowler, and yours.
46:25So you'd come rushing to Caswell with your muck spreader.
46:29If Listons get that contract...
46:31They won't!
46:32The British favourites are Steadleys, if Britain gets it at all.
46:35We don't know that.
46:37And you think I don't?
46:47Yes, I'll speak to him.
46:52Lord Bly.
46:56Yes, Foreign Secretary.
47:02Mm-hmm.
47:06And, uh, there's nothing whatever we can do.
47:10Mm-hmm.
47:11We, we can't, uh, protest.
47:14I see.
47:17Thank you, Arthur.
47:21It appears that none of our British firms will get the contract.
47:26Moves are afoot by the Americans to invoke the NATO Agreement,
47:30which prohibits member countries from selling strategic equipment to communist countries.
47:35They say that road-making equipment can be regarded as strategic as it could lead to improved mobility of communist
47:42forces.
47:44And who's been working on the Americans?
47:47Moves?
47:48Oh, that's an unworthy thought, John.
47:52I'm sure you'd like to apologise to Sir John for your mistake.
47:58Yes, I do.
48:00Will you leave it with me, John?
48:02He needs more than a finger pointing at him.
48:06But if you stay, don't collect mud to sling.
48:13You'll only end up flat on your face in it.
48:21I warned you.
48:25You're not big enough to tangle with Wilder on your own.
48:30I don't want him resigning.
48:34I don't mind if he suffers a little in the national interest.
48:37But any future Wilder discomforts will be by courtesy of me.
48:45Now, you go it alone.
48:49Just once more, Father.
48:52And your pension will go up in smoke.
48:58Stop worrying, Lincoln.
49:00Learn to live with a cyclone.
49:01I'll make it clear to John.
49:08Jan, darling!
49:10I thought you were a disgrace.
49:12For a labour camp?
49:13You hoped.
49:14They realised I'm too useful in Britain.
49:16I'll bet.
49:17A moment.
49:25For me?
49:31Jan, darling!
49:41I'm sorry.
49:49I'm sorry.
50:05I thought you were a sacrifices.
50:12THE END
Comments