- 2 days 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.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00THE END
00:35THE END
01:11THE END
01:33THE END
01:34THE END
01:38The time in Britain is 12 noon, in Canada it's 6 a.m., in Australia it's 9 p.m., and
01:44in the Far East it's 6.30 p.m.
01:46Time, once again, for worldwide family favourites.
01:59Well, hello, and good morning, and I'll get straight on with it today,
02:02because we start with Canada, and you heard me say how early it is there.
02:05Hello. Come in.
02:07Oh, well. I heard voices. Oh, exactly.
02:10Oh, my goodness, sir. What are you doing in the office on a Sunday morning?
02:13Are we in the war? That's nice. Mondrian? Real or alleged?
02:17Well, by the price I paid for it, I was led to believe it was real.
02:20Ah, it's difficult to tell these days for that Swedish chap selling them all over the place before the paint's
02:24dry.
02:24It's been authenticated. Oh.
02:27I say, shouldn't you get some fellow to come up and do that for you?
02:30No. I like hanging pictures. My own pictures. It's a sort of, uh, sort of act of tribute.
02:35When you come to think about it, it's the only time you actually touch them after you've bought them.
02:39Looks like a year's salary to me. Hmm.
02:42You buy them like old cars, you know. You start with a clapped-out old Ford,
02:46and by trading it each year against another model, you finally end up with a Mercedes.
02:50You still can't afford it, but you do have it. You know, it's part of the affluent society.
02:56That, believe it or not, started out as a very small watercolour by Cotman.
03:00Oh, that's very nice. They said you were here. I ran.
03:03Why? Are you looking for me?
03:04Well, they said you were going to drinks with, uh, Mirabel Wentworth.
03:07Are you conning me for a lift, Jason?
03:10I wonder if it might look better over the fireplace.
03:11Oh, no. I always think the Queen's place is over the fireplace.
03:14Oh, do you? Oh, yes. Hearth and home and all that sort of thing, I suppose.
03:17Plastic coal and two kilowatt electric fire.
03:20Well, the symbols change. We have to cling to something.
03:23Oh, Jason, you do sound depressed.
03:26It's a perfectly lovely Sunday morning. All we have to do is go and drink somebody else's drinks and make
03:30ourselves amiable, so cheer up.
03:32Well, I find it all so difficult these days.
03:34Oh, it is, Jason. It is.
03:36Do you know, there was a time when I actually thought diplomacy was fun and I actually enjoyed it.
03:41I think it might catch a bit too much reflection from the window, yeah, don't you?
03:46You want to see me about something?
03:47From Dr. Zhivago, the James...
03:48Tell me, how'd you get on with Wilder?
03:51I'm thanking you in advance...
03:52Fine.
03:54Why?
03:56I say, are you expecting a message from a far-flung relative on that thing, or could we turn it
04:01off?
04:01Who's described as my...
04:123-4-9-2.
04:14Oh, good morning.
04:15Oh, good morning.
04:17Yes, I am.
04:19That's very kind of you.
04:21I was going on my own, Carl.
04:24Oh, thank you very much.
04:27We're in about ten minutes.
04:30Right.
04:40How do I look?
04:44Fine.
04:51You look very nice.
04:54No, drinks on Sunday can be very tricky.
04:57I mean, it being Sunday, you want to try and look casual and yet cope with the competition.
05:01And the competition at Mirabel Wentworth can be pretty fierce.
05:04Are you listening to this?
05:06Can you go in your car?
05:09On my own?
05:10Well, I have some people to pick up.
05:13Oh, you are marvellous, darling.
05:14In which case, I get the, oh, where's John bit again, do I?
05:18Oh.
05:19I may well be there before you.
05:21In which case, I get the, oh, where's she been bit.
05:24You know, it's going to be quite a day in the social calendar when you and I walk through
05:27a door together.
05:28Who are these people, anyway?
05:33Hmm.
05:33And what do you know about them?
05:34Very little, apart from the fact that I was at James and Files' cocktail party last night
05:38and they were there.
05:39Hmm.
05:40What do they say?
05:41Very little, apart from the fact that it didn't seem very enamoured of France.
05:44But you know how the Americans are about the French at the moment.
05:48I don't think the Americans will allow emotionalism to clutter up a fairly straightforward business deal.
05:53Don't you?
05:53A very great deal of American foreign policy is based on emotionalism.
05:57You know, when I was at the embassy...
05:58I think you may have got it all wrong, Jess.
06:03They're not supposed to arrive until next week.
06:06Well, I've got the feeling they were a kind of advance party, clearing the undergrowth.
06:10Of what?
06:10I don't know.
06:12I don't think the Americans will give us any trouble.
06:15I don't see what it's got to do with them, anyway.
06:17Neither can I.
06:18In fact, this whole deal has come about.
06:20Because nobody knows exactly what the new American foreign policy is going to be in Europe.
06:24So we all draw together and keep the Americans out of it.
06:27Hmm.
06:27That's the idea.
06:28As far as one can in Europe these days.
06:30Which is why I want it to be a Franco-British thing.
06:33Hmm.
06:34At least the French are trying to keep Europe European.
06:39I wonder if Dowling knows what Wilder's up to.
06:42Huh.
06:42If he'll say.
06:43Hmm.
06:44I think he might say.
06:46Yes, but you don't actually know that they are here to see Wilder.
06:49Well, you said they told you that they were going to see him and talk to him this week.
06:52No, no, no.
06:53I didn't actually say they told me.
06:55I overheard.
06:55It might have been about something quite other.
06:57But at this moment in time, I doubt it.
07:01Well, come on.
07:04We are going to give Lincoln Dowling a lift.
07:07Oh, yes, sir.
07:08Sure.
07:09Tell me, what do you think Wilder is up to?
07:12I think he's introducing an Ethiopian into the fuel supply.
07:17A what?
07:18A nigger in the woodpile.
07:21Did you ever see any W.C. Fields films when you were a lad, Jason?
07:27How are your rooms?
07:30They are excellent, Sir John.
07:32They always are.
07:33I'm surprised you didn't stay at the Hilton.
07:36I always think you stay at the Hilton.
07:37You don't feel you've been out of America.
07:38They'd prefer we did stay at the Hilton.
07:41Americans can be terribly chauvinistic.
07:43It's one of our worst faults.
07:44That?
07:44And being too apologetic about all things American.
07:47Mr. Papagay is somewhat chauvinistic.
07:50Mr. Little John wishes he'd been born European.
07:52Oh, and I admire the culture.
07:54It's an admirable culture, but dead.
07:57Mr. Papagay thinks European culture is dead.
08:00Does he?
08:01I never think it's very polite to tell people their culture is dead.
08:04Especially when it's an admirable culture.
08:06You're very kind, Mr. Little John.
08:08Well, I'm sure Sir John didn't infer that I intended any impoliteness.
08:11No, of course not.
08:12I'm sure he didn't.
08:13Mr. Little John always removes his hat in elevators.
08:17He means lifts.
08:18I take off my hat in lifts.
08:20I don't bother him.
08:21Mr. Little John does.
08:22We're not sure we agree with you about France.
08:25Why not?
08:26Well, French government attitudes are bound to change.
08:29You know the strength of the French Communist Party?
08:32A very conservative organization.
08:34Their part in the student riot showed that.
08:36Why would you rather do this deal with Germany?
08:40Reliability.
08:41That's an economic answer.
08:42Do you want a political one?
08:44It would help when we make our report.
08:46Well, you must remember that perhaps France's attitudes will change.
08:52And we don't know in which direction they will change.
08:55Now, Germany is set on a clear road for ten years.
08:58Well, I'll drink to that.
08:59All things being equal.
09:01Yes, yes.
09:01I was assuming that.
09:03You must find it very difficult, Sir John.
09:05What?
09:05You being so keen that this deal should be between your people and Germany.
09:09Well, it's while your minister, Mr. Kane, is so affected by everything French.
09:13Well, it needn't be.
09:15With your help.
09:16We're merely observers, Sir John.
09:17Now, why should we help?
09:19Because you know the point to which our people have brought the development of solar energy.
09:24Our space people have done a great deal of work on it in connection with our satellite programs.
09:28Yes, and Archimedes set the Roman fleet ablaze at Syracuse by using a burning glass.
09:32And we are developing solar power stations for sale to underdeveloped areas cheaply.
09:39So, we miniaturize to win the space race.
09:42You take our ideas to win trade.
09:45And bigger fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite them.
09:50Oh, we Americans have become resigned to that.
09:54Well, there's always Dr. Levinson.
09:56Yes, there's always Dr. Levinson.
10:01So, in which direction do you think your interests lie?
10:06Germany or France?
10:09We'll have to talk to a few people and think about it.
10:12Hmm.
10:19Oh, where's John?
10:21Er, well, he had to pick up some people.
10:24Oh, yes, those Americans.
10:25Oh, is that what they are?
10:26Yes, he asked me if he could bring them.
10:28Come on, my darling.
10:29Let's get you a drink.
10:30Please.
10:31Yes, lots of lovely, chubby people here.
10:33We must ingratiate ourselves.
10:36Now, there's a very pretty gentleman over there, for instance.
10:39Who is he, do you suppose?
10:41Excuse me.
10:42Oh, I see.
10:46You're very lovely.
10:49I'm drunk, you know.
10:50I've been drunk for the last hour.
10:53In fact, if we're being honest, I've been drunk for the past seven years.
11:00Do you know why I've been drunk for the past seven years?
11:04Oh, yes.
11:04Sorry, I'm afraid I don't.
11:06It's the drink.
11:07Oh, yes, it's the drink that makes you drunk, you know.
11:10Well, I think I can say that without any fear of contradiction.
11:15Contradiction.
11:16Now, there's an interesting word.
11:18It means opposite spoke, or speak, as the case may was.
11:24Well, it's been very nice meeting you.
11:27You'll have to excuse me, but the trouble is, once a week, I'd rather get drunk than read the Sunday
11:33paper.
11:33And it always turns out to be a Sunday.
11:37Yes, there are days like that.
11:41You won't be offended if I dash away, will you?
11:44I have an appointment for a head transplant.
11:49That is, of course, unless you'd be prepared to come down to Brighton with me.
11:54Could we make it some other time?
11:56I thought you'd say that.
11:58Yes, most days turn out like that.
12:07I thought you weren't going to make it.
12:08It's rather sweet.
12:10Asked me to go to Brighton with it.
12:11Source box.
12:12Well, it's better than reading the Sunday newspapers anyway.
12:15I'll find you a drink.
12:16Almost as good an idea as Brighton.
12:26The extraordinary way of spending a Sunday morning when one thinks of it.
12:29I mean, the weather's fine, the air's fresh.
12:32I can't imagine why one isn't going through war.
12:35No.
12:36Wilder going to be here, is he?
12:37I hope so, otherwise I don't have the slightest idea what I'm doing here.
12:40Opposite spoke.
12:42Now, there's an interesting word.
12:44A rather lovely lady over there explained it to me.
12:48Do you know what it means?
12:49No, no, no, I'm afraid not.
12:50I thought you wouldn't.
12:54Would it surprise you to learn?
12:57I'm a very lonely person.
12:59John, John!
13:01Pass off to your husband.
13:02And Guy.
13:03I introduce you.
13:05Mr. Little John.
13:05Mr. Papingay.
13:06Very nice of you to ask us.
13:07How are you?
13:08That's them.
13:10Yes, I thought it might be.
13:11Who?
13:12Little John and Papingay or something.
13:14My dear, I thought they were crosstalk comedians.
13:17Ah!
13:19Central Intelligence Agency, Jason, or you'll eat your house.
13:22CIA?
13:23Why CIA?
13:25Why indeed?
13:26Well, you are very kind.
13:27You can get your own, John.
13:29Well, I can only carry two.
13:30Little bit!
13:31They're over there, my love.
13:32Little bit!
13:33Hello, someone's calling me.
13:34I expect the man eating orchids got someone by the ankle again.
13:39Come and meet my minister.
13:41I'll get a drink on the way.
13:42Oh, here.
13:43Would you care for this one?
13:44Mr. Papingay only drinks fruit juice.
13:46Ugly fruit at that.
13:47He's the ugly American, you know.
13:48I think they are crosstalk comedians.
13:57Hello, Pamela.
13:58Hello, John.
13:59I see you got here all right.
14:00Oh, yes.
14:01It was quite easy, really.
14:02Once I got the wheels turning round, the car just went in the direction I pointed it.
14:05Would you like to meet my friends?
14:07Oh, I'd love to.
14:09Who are they, anyway?
14:10Some people would rather push themselves in on some deal John's interested in.
14:13What sort of deal?
14:14I've no idea.
14:16Oh, yes, you have.
14:17But if you're not going to say, you can get me another drink and then start shutting me up.
14:21Right.
14:21Then go away.
14:24And this is Sir Jason Faust.
14:27How do you do?
14:27Very nice to know you.
14:28How do you do?
14:29Sir.
14:29Well, now, what are you two gentlemen doing in Europe?
14:32Mr. Little John and Mr. Papagay are over here as observers at the Common Market Conference in Bonn next week.
14:39Oh.
14:40I didn't realise a man of many talents, John.
14:43You were also a ventriloquist.
14:51Hi.
14:54Are you looking for something?
14:55Oh, yes.
14:56The telephone.
15:00Oh, thank you.
15:04Do you want me to go?
15:05Well, er, yes.
15:07Oh, how rotten.
15:08Thought if I lay here reading Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, some dolly writer might come in and
15:13say, what a frightfully intellectual girl, and take me to lunch.
15:16Try Lolita.
15:17I've done that bit.
15:19You end up with middle-aged stockbrokers.
15:26I'd like to speak to Professor Mobs, please.
15:28Is he there?
15:29Do you know?
15:30Berkeley University.
15:31Oh, God.
15:31Don't talk to me about Berkeley.
15:33When I was about eight, my hopelessly unenlightened parents explained sex to me by telling me about the birds and
15:39the bees.
15:39Then I got stung by a bee.
15:41For six months, I thought I was pregnant.
15:44Are you a writer?
15:50Observers.
15:51Why not?
15:52Why not indeed.
15:54I think you're getting in deeper than you know.
15:57Do you think so?
15:58Why?
15:59Those boys will twist your arm until your ears light up.
16:03At the end of it, you still won't be any nearer moving that contract to Germany.
16:07Cheers.
16:09Cheers.
16:11It used to be so easy.
16:13Everything was so easy.
16:14People behaved with a fundamental courtesy.
16:17They had charm.
16:18There was none of this slap, bang, wallop, high-pressure business and conniving at every turn.
16:23It's all so wearying.
16:25Look, if it wearies you so much, Jason, why don't you have a nice lie down?
16:28You know, you shouldn't drink so much at your age.
16:30Oh, God, it's worse if I don't.
16:31I mean, what else is there but a bottle of brandy and who s'en les neiges d'entend?
16:36Are they CIA?
16:37I don't know.
16:38Cain seems to think they are.
16:39Yes, I think they are too.
16:42Now what we have to ask ourselves is why would the CIA be interested in a straightforward
16:45contract for a solar energy project?
16:47You know what I think?
16:48I think they're going to send a rocket to the sun, put a flag on it and charge us royalties
16:53on our suntans.
16:55Where would American intelligence come into it?
16:57Nobody tells me anything, Don.
16:59Absolutely nothing at all.
17:00And if they did, Honour wouldn't allow me to say.
17:02So what would be the point?
17:04I begin to doubt the whole concept of diplomacy and myself.
17:15You were a long time.
17:16Oh, somebody got hold of me by the year.
17:18I'm sorry.
17:19Actually, I've had two since you went.
17:21Somebody brings them round on a tray.
17:24They say if you sit here long enough, all the drinks you know will go fast.
17:27I had to get hold of the hostesses since they've run out of me.
17:29I want you to do something for me.
17:30Hello, John.
17:31Pass it to me.
17:32Oh, sorry, Pamela.
17:33I'm in the middle of something.
17:34I don't want those two Americans left on their own.
17:37Particularly if they're near Cain.
17:39If you see him making towards them, head them off.
17:42At least until I can get them away to lunch.
17:44You didn't tell me you were bringing them home for lunch?
17:48No, I shall have to lunch from somewhere else.
17:52Are you perhaps trying to tell me that you're not coming home to lunch either?
17:57No, I'm not coming home to lunch either.
17:59Keep an eye on them.
18:02Busy, busy, busy.
18:05In which case, I shall have two more drinks myself and decide whether I'm going home for lunch.
18:10As opposed to what?
18:13Suggest something.
18:14God!
18:17Do you think it's going all right?
18:20Nobody seems to be doing anything.
18:22I don't know why on earth one gives parties.
18:24All it gives one is absolute anguish.
18:26Oh, God!
18:27You do think it's going all right there, don't you?
18:29I think I may conscientiously say...
18:33He, he, he, he, he!
18:36With a butch fear of opposites...
18:42Oh!
18:46Poor Daddy!
18:52Do you know?
18:53I think it is going to be all right.
18:57He's taken them off to lunch.
18:59All right?
19:00Actually, I rang up and booked a table.
19:02I was very farsighted of you. When did you do that?
19:04About an hour ago.
19:05Very farsighted.
19:06Particularly as he hadn't said then he wasn't coming home for lunch.
19:09It's still Sunday?
19:11Afraid so.
19:11Oh, God.
19:13Once it starts being Sunday, it seems to go on being Sunday forever.
19:16Have they all gone?
19:17Most, and the rest are leaving.
19:19Is my father gone?
19:21I think he's upstairs having a little rest.
19:23I'd better get him home and get Harrison to give him a scrub down for me.
19:26He does love parties, sir.
19:28It's a pity he never sees the end of any.
19:31Well, I'll get my coat, do my face and see you in a minute.
19:47You're Sir John's assistant, I believe.
19:49Yes.
19:50I don't think I had the pleasure of meeting the lady.
19:52Sir John's wife.
19:53Oh, is that so?
19:54She's a very handsome woman.
19:55Most personable in every way.
19:57I'm sure she'd be delighted to learn of your admiration.
19:59Well, I hope someday to have the pleasure of telling her myself.
20:02If anyone ever introduces me, that is.
20:04Maybe if Sir John doesn't do it, you might.
20:06Yes, certainly.
20:08How's Professor Mobbs?
20:11I had hoped to see him this trip, but it doesn't seem very likely now.
20:15I hear there's been quite a lot of changes in MI6.
20:18Someone told me they're actually thinking of installing a computer,
20:21but only if it'll make tea as well.
20:23Who's Professor Mobbs?
20:25Just as you like.
20:27I must say, perfidious Albion gets more perfidious every time I come here.
20:32Must be ingrained into you.
20:33He thinks that.
20:34It's very difficult to work out who does what and with whom.
20:38You're Mr. Kane, whom I gather you don't like very much, pulling in one direction,
20:44and you're Sir John Wilder, whom you may or may not like, or whose family you may or may not
20:50like,
20:50pulling in the other, and you in the middle.
20:54I'd have thought if you stepped into that you could get your throat cut from here to just about where
20:58you're standing.
20:58You see it written everywhere in this country.
21:02Evil but him who evil thinks.
21:03Yes, we do read Latin, Mr. Darling.
21:06I understand they give you a very good education in case you're sent abroad where you might need it.
21:10And somewhere in the middle of this tug-of-war is British government policy.
21:13Well, somewhere off to the right stands American government policy.
21:15But what is British government policy?
21:18What is American government policy?
21:19Well, at least it's not decided by over-ambitious non-entities in pursuit of personal glory.
21:25Where did you get that information?
21:26Dallas, California, or Alabama?
21:27Look, Mr. I think we've had just about enough of this.
21:29Your friend seems to be coming unstitched.
21:32You'll have to put that in your personal report on him when you get back, won't you?
21:34We're merely trying to assess what will be the most hopeful channel to pursue.
21:38I hope you'll have that thought written on your calendar when the Pentagon decides Western Europe is an expendable military
21:42area,
21:43and the great war for the rights of what is left of man.
21:46We'll have it written in Russian as well.
21:47Mr. Dowling, I think you're reading into this more than is there.
21:50It's like the hippopotamus said to the other hippopotamus.
21:53I keep thinking it's Wednesday.
21:54Oh, good. Yes, I was looking for you.
21:56Oh, I'm sorry. You've been waiting for us?
21:58It's only that I have a table booked for two o'clock.
22:00Oh, right. Well, we'll go and get our coats, shall we?
22:02We'll see you down at the car, all right?
22:04Fine.
22:07I checked on them.
22:09Checked?
22:09I thought you might like to know more about them.
22:11What did you imagine that I didn't know?
22:13For instance, they are not U.S. Treasury officials as such.
22:16They're Foreign Economics Department of the CIA.
22:19The one thing I find about the British City Service, Lincoln,
22:23is that people's jobs are insufficiently defined.
22:26Yours, for example.
22:28It's defined as being your private secretary,
22:30the definition of which is someone who assists.
22:32And is that what you thought you were doing?
22:34I thought you should have all the relevant information.
22:36Yeah.
22:37Keep your nose out of it, Sonny.
22:39I knew who they were.
22:41You didn't.
22:42It was you who wanted to know.
22:45Because, not that you thought I should know,
22:48because you wanted to know.
22:49So you made a telephone call.
22:50The civil service is an instrument of government.
22:53It's not like industry,
22:53where all you're concerned with is at the end of the...
22:55Let me explain one basic fact about life in the industry to you.
23:00If a person is one's assistant, that's what he is.
23:04And he is that.
23:06Irrespective of what the opposition are doing,
23:09or what the subsidiaries are doing,
23:12he's subordinate.
23:13Therefore, he's subordinate.
23:15And if he's not, he's fired.
23:17What are you?
23:19How did you get here this morning?
23:21I was given a lift.
23:22By whom?
23:23If you didn't know, you wouldn't ask.
23:25Cain gave me a lift.
23:26Why?
23:27He rang me up and suggested it.
23:28I had the feeling he was trying to pump me.
23:30What did you tell him?
23:31What did you imagine I'd tell him?
23:33What do I know?
23:34What do you need to know in order to do your job?
23:37Do you imagine I've been running to Cain with every bit of tittle tattle?
23:40All I know about this job...
23:43is that it's like looking through a microscope to a pond amoeba,
23:48who are over-anxious to evolve into pensionable bipeds with knighthoods.
23:54I've no idea what you get up to.
23:56Fowler is Cain's toady.
23:58Why else do you think he keeps him in tow?
24:01Perhaps because he thinks he can rely on him.
24:03Perhaps he does.
24:03I must be nice for him.
24:06Well, I'm having some people in for drinks tonight.
24:08I want you to be there.
24:10Very graciously put.
24:11That's part of your job.
24:14About seven, all right.
24:15All right.
24:15Oh, there is one thing.
24:17Don't ever call me Sonny.
24:20Don't ever give me occasion to.
24:27I don't think it was terribly friendly of you, Sir John, to prevent us having a chat with Mr. Cain
24:31like that.
24:31Oh, sure.
24:32Well, every time we got near him, either Mr. Henderson or your Mr. Dowling came up to join in.
24:37Not that it mattered.
24:39We managed to have a long talk with Sir Jason Fowler, and that seemed much the same as talking to
24:44Cain, really.
24:50Bye, Don. See you tonight.
24:52All right.
24:53I think I'd better spend in the afternoon having my stomach relined.
24:56Bye-bye, Melissa.
24:56Bye-bye.
24:57Bye-bye.
24:58Well, your husband was gone.
25:01You all right for getting a lift back?
25:02Oh, yes, yes.
25:03I brought my own car.
25:04John had to take some people to lunch.
25:06Oh, if I'd known that, I'd advise you to have lunch with me.
25:08Pity, I don't think I can now.
25:10Well, never mind.
25:10I've been spoken for.
25:12Oh?
25:13By whom, may I ask?
25:15Oh, I see.
25:17Hmm.
25:18He does look cross.
25:20Does he think I'm going to steal you away?
25:22I shouldn't think so.
25:23He's probably rather fed up that John has asked him to take care of me.
25:26I'll see you this evening, I believe.
25:28Yes.
25:28Goodbye.
25:29Bye.
25:32What did he want, trying to persuade you to see his post-impressionist?
25:35Oh, don't be so cross.
25:37Darling, do you know what somebody's just said?
25:40They said those two Americans were spies.
25:43Spies, darling?
25:44In my house?
25:46Heavens, it must go on everywhere.
25:55You still cross?
25:57I wasn't cross.
25:58He just irritates me.
25:59Why?
26:00Because he's a smoothie.
26:02He's all phony sophistication.
26:03Oh, he's not so bad, really.
26:05Where do you think we'll get some lunch?
26:07Well, there is a place in the Fulham Road.
26:09I haven't done too badly today, really, have I?
26:12Two invitations to lunch, one to Brighton,
26:14a possible sight of expensive post-impressionists.
26:17That's pretty good.
26:19What do we do after lunch?
26:22Well, we could go for a drive or go to the pictures.
26:25Or go back to my place and watch an old film on television.
26:28What do you think?
26:30Better than the post-impressionists.
26:32Yes.
26:33Not as good as Brighton.
26:43Oh, it was like musical chairs, wasn't it?
26:46Was it?
26:47Didn't you think?
26:48Why was it?
26:49Oh, for God's sake, Justin.
26:50Well, I thought it was more like the way I presume people deep freeze smoked salmon these days.
26:54Perfectly honest, good smoked salmon, that should be eaten within a certain time of smoking,
26:59can now be preserved long past the point where there was any purpose in smoking it in the first place.
27:05Every time I move towards one of those yanks, Darling or Henderson leapt in.
27:09You know, the purpose these days seems to be to take the taste out of everything.
27:13People eat deep frozen smoked salmon, not because it's nice to eat,
27:18but because it's available cheaply and easily.
27:20People go to parties, not because they're nice to go to,
27:24but because people will keep on giving them.
27:27Jason, you are drunk.
27:31Do you know, I wish I'd had children.
27:34I might have had some influence on the future if I'd had children.
27:37It seems to be the only place where one can exert it anymore.
27:41Although I don't know.
27:43I suppose it's the same with children as with everyone else.
27:46Now look, I didn't take you to that function for you to indulge your dreary nostalgia.
27:50I know why you took me.
27:52I know why anyone takes me anywhere these days.
27:55If they take me.
27:56For God's sake, Jason, stop it!
28:01I'm sorry.
28:03You don't have to be sorry.
28:05You know, you should get your ears pricked up, you young, ambitious people,
28:09and learn something.
28:10Hmm?
28:10You want to get it all from the horse's mouth.
28:12We had to get our information from the first stable boy.
28:17And Wilder doesn't really care, you know,
28:19whether the contract goes to the French or the Germans.
28:22What he wants, as always, is that he shall be on the winning horse
28:25and you preferably on the loser.
28:30And he doesn't think the French will get it.
28:33Why not?
28:34Ah, now that's something you have to find out.
28:37Why intelligence?
28:39Why American intelligence?
28:40Neither Henderson nor I could work that one out.
28:43No, that's your horse.
28:45You find out at what price it's running.
28:55What do you know about Dowling and Wilder's wife?
29:01Nothing.
29:03I don't inquire into people's emotional relationships any more.
29:10Not for a long time now.
29:17Well then, you'll excuse me if I don't take you to lunch.
29:22Since it's my horse that's running.
29:36Oh, playing Sunday ministers, Jason?
29:38Hmm?
29:39I mean, this isn't your office.
29:42No, not your office at all.
29:44You have, if I remember rightly,
29:45souvenir pin-ups of past foreign secretaries on your wall.
29:48No, it's better than me.
29:49I've got government-issued lithographs on mine.
29:51I know it isn't customary to knock on doors in the Foreign Office,
29:55but I take it you didn't just pop in here to see the Mondrian.
29:57Mondrian? Is it? Genuine?
29:59Inevitably.
30:00Well, that's certainly not government issue.
30:01Oh, decidedly not.
30:03Can I help?
30:04Oh, in what way?
30:05Well, the purpose of your visit.
30:07Oh, that. Oh.
30:09Curiosity, really.
30:10Ah, killed the cat, amongst other things.
30:13All those weeks of grinding poor old Caswell into the ground,
30:16and I never did manage to penetrate his inner sanctum.
30:18Hmm.
30:19You know, they say you can always tell a man by the books he reads or the mistresses he keeps.
30:23Hmm.
30:24As far as I could find out, Caswell wasn't interested neither.
30:27So, this being Sunday, and me being too slightly sloshed to risk the breathalyser on the M4,
30:34and the guard dogs being away, I thought I'd have a look around at what used to be his office.
30:40What style would you write, sir?
30:41Ah, a contagious disease in this ever-changing world. Caswell didn't have Mondrianes on the wall.
30:47Oh, not his style.
30:48No, I gather they were more likely to be lining the walls of his bank vault.
30:52Are you passing a judgment, Jason?
30:54Oh, no. I've been a civil servant far too long to commit myself to anything so bold as a judgment.
31:00Well, we're in a bank vault or on the wall. It comes to the same thing in the end. It's
31:03still a Mondrian.
31:05How is it, Jason? Why is it that some people get richer and richer?
31:10No matter how much I earn, the less I seem to have.
31:12Because we make the wrong investments. You see, there was a time when you could tell a good investment,
31:16but now it's all so intangible.
31:20Forgive me asking, Jason, but what are you doing here?
31:23Well, I thought I was having lunch with Garfield Kane, but it appears that I'm not.
31:27Yeah, I thought I was lunching with John and I found out I wasn't.
31:31Because in the old days I might have been taking Pamela to lunch, but...
31:34Anyway, I'm not lunching with her either.
31:36You know, I might have thought that people only worked on Sundays if they were indispensable,
31:40but, you know, lately I'm beginning to wonder.
31:43I spent part of this morning with Garfield Kane trying to be indispensable,
31:47and I'm no wiser now about what's going on than if I'd stayed at home and pottered about in the
31:52garden.
31:54You hungry?
31:55Well, of course I am.
31:56Man cannot live by nibbly biscuits and salted peanuts alone.
32:00Well, look, if you've got the lunch and vouchers, I know quite a nice little place in Plimlico.
32:06God, what an extraordinary day Sunday is.
32:09And, Jason, if you're still looking for enlightenment about the present deal,
32:12I have to be in the office for John this afternoon.
32:14So, having spoken to Garfield Kane, you might find out if our ambassador can help a bit, hmm?
32:21After all, Jason, you are the deputy undersecretary.
32:25Yes.
32:26Do you know what one of the dictionary definitions of a deputy is?
32:30No.
32:30The manager of a doss house.
32:44Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
33:00That's why I used to answer phones on Sundays.
33:02The kettle won't be long boiling.
33:04There must have been other occasions when you haven't answered phones on Sundays.
33:08Occasionally?
33:09Less often, as a matter of fact, than you might think.
33:13There you are.
33:14I take the same attitude with telephones as the Duke of Wellington used to take with letters.
33:18If it's important, someone will come round.
33:20And if it isn't important, why are they ringing me up in the first place?
33:23Well, it might be just as well that they don't come round this afternoon.
33:26Yes.
33:28I suppose you're right.
33:29That's all right.
33:30Weren't no trouble, miss.
33:32Well, have a good time.
33:33For just a minute.
33:35I say what night you used to come out of your way.
33:37You won't be offended, will you?
33:39What were they like?
33:40Who?
33:41Those other occasions when you didn't answer the telephone.
33:44Various.
33:45So we could sum up your love life as being occasional and various.
33:48That sounds better than it was.
33:50Everything does.
33:51No.
33:51Not everything.
33:54How long have you lived here?
33:56About three years.
33:57Before that?
33:58St. John's Wood.
34:00I lived there with a girl for 18 months.
34:02I see.
34:03What happened to her?
34:04She went.
34:06Anyway, she was married.
34:07You seem to make a habit of it, married women.
34:10I don't live with you.
34:12Where was her husband?
34:14North Africa.
34:16He had a job there.
34:17She wouldn't go with him.
34:18They didn't get on, but they wouldn't divorce.
34:21I think they'd both use their marriage as an escape route
34:23when they wanted to get out of situations they'd had enough of.
34:25And had she had enough of you?
34:27Well, I can be very boring.
34:28Can you?
34:29When I don't try.
34:30Yes, it's easy when you don't try.
34:36Are you going to kiss me again?
35:00Never mind.
35:00Take me home, will you?
35:02Never mind.
35:10Look, in about three hours from now, I have to greet a lot of guests with my husband.
35:19And it's very important that I appear completely calm and collected.
35:23Is it important?
35:30I must be mad.
35:35The kettle!
35:36It's all right.
35:36The plug will come out if it boils down.
35:37No, you must turn it off.
35:39Please.
35:42Otherwise, we won't be able to think about anything else, will we?
35:55Look, you've got to answer that.
35:57Otherwise, they'll just keep on ringing.
36:00Oh, very well.
36:01I'll answer it and tell them you're not in.
36:05Hello, 3492.
36:07Hello, it's Lincoln Dowling there.
36:10I want to speak to him.
36:13Hello?
36:15Hello?
36:17Hello?
36:18I've been trying to get you all afternoon.
36:21Oh, yes, it's Dowling here.
36:24Yes, I'm sorry, I was out.
36:26Where do you keep that stuff on the CTI?
36:28Oh, yes, I know the file you mean.
36:29It's in the filing cabinet in my office.
36:31The second drawer marked Foreign Information.
36:35Yes.
36:36Oh, yes, of course.
36:38Oh, Wilder, there's a continuation file in the third drawer.
36:43Yes.
36:45Goodbye.
36:49Do you think he recognised your voice?
36:53I don't know.
36:59Something wrong?
37:01Oh?
37:03Hmm.
37:04Lincoln says that it's in his filing cabinet at the second drawer marked Foreign Information.
37:10Get it for me, would you?
37:14You said something?
37:15I was asking if there was anything wrong.
37:18Oh, no, no.
37:20I just wondered whether he'd read that file.
37:22Is there something in it that would make this whole thing a little more clear?
37:25Because if so, I could wish I'd read it.
37:29Oh, the matter is very unconfused, really.
37:33The confusion has been dragged in from outside.
37:36By you or by whom?
37:38Oh, by people who are going off half-cocked for their own personal aggrandizement.
37:45Which is not what you're doing.
37:48Now, let me explain something to you.
37:49Please, Bill.
37:50Mr. Seuss-Rier.
37:51Now, well, find out the stuff on a French firm called CTI, will you?
37:56Well, you were going to be so kind as to explain something to me.
38:02You see it as a battle between me and Cain.
38:06I, you imagine, want it to happen the way I want it to,
38:10and he wants it to happen the way he wants it to.
38:14Well, it has given that impression, yes.
38:16And that's all.
38:17That just, I want to get the better of him.
38:19It has been known to happen.
38:22Seldom.
38:23Have you found it there?
38:24Ah, he's just coming to it.
38:25Compagnie Technologie.
38:27Has it occurred to anybody to consider that it could be a choice between it happening the way I want
38:36it to happen, or it not happening at all?
38:38No, it hadn't, because nobody has ever told me that could be the choice.
38:42What do you do, Jason?
38:43Sit on your BTM out there, let other people do the work and make the decisions and come rushing to
38:50you with the glad tidings?
38:51I think I've always made the fundamental error that the aim was for the people in the department to work
38:56together in harmonious concord.
38:59This will make that fundamental error once too often, Jason, and you'll be out on your fundament.
39:06Nicely put.
39:08Has it occurred to anybody to consider why the Americans are so interested in this?
39:15Well, I have a feeling that it must have occurred to anyone who has raised a gin and tonic to
39:19their lips in the last four or five hours.
39:22Then ask yourself a question again, go to the relevant information and check.
39:27What do you want out of this, John?
39:28Is this the relevant information?
39:30Some of it.
39:31Is there a list of the directors of the company and heads of department?
39:36No.
39:45Oh, hello, Martha. Is Sir John at home?
39:48No, madam. He phoned during the afternoon to see if you were here. I told him you were out.
39:53I see.
39:54Well, I've laid out the glasses and the food for tonight, if you'd like to look at them.
39:57No, no. I'll have a look at them in a moment. Thank you, Martha.
40:00Very good, madam.
40:07Come in. It's open.
40:10Oh.
40:15You're leaving?
40:16Yes, I'm afraid so.
40:17We're going over to Paris tonight and then on to Cologne.
40:20We'll be back in London about the end of the week.
40:23With your minds made up.
40:25We don't make up minds, Sir John. We just make reports.
40:28Have you decided what to put in your report?
40:30Oh, we don't make just one report.
40:32No, that's right. I make mine and Mr. Papaguay makes his quite independently.
40:36Then someone else does the evaluation.
40:38That sounds very faceless.
40:40Well, I sometimes think we'll all end up being governed by the management of Reader's Digest.
40:43Well, I'm sorry. I was hoping that you'd be able to come over to my place for drinks this evening.
40:49Oh, that's very kind of you, Sir John.
40:50Still don't mind. Perhaps the end of the week.
40:53You might put in your report that by tonight we may be able to meet your price.
40:59Price? We don't have a price, Sir John.
41:02Well, say that we will probably be able to accommodate your interests.
41:07How will they react to that?
41:08Sir John, does this mean that your department won't be taking Mr. Kane's line?
41:13Almost certainly. Almost certainly.
41:16Most certainly.
41:19Then can I count on your people's backing?
41:22Well, let's say it'll probably cause them to reorientate their thinking in these areas.
41:27How will that do you?
41:29Yes, I've always thought that Winston Churchill was absolutely right when he said that he thought that our two countries
41:37had a different language in common.
41:40Well, I catch your drift.
41:45Are you going to Wilder's booze up this evening?
41:48Well, no, I haven't actually been invited.
41:50No, I suppose not.
41:51It's in the nature of things.
41:53Is it?
41:54Oh, I merely meant he'd want to keep as many of the opposition out as possible.
41:59All this shepherding of comic Americans around London merely means that Wilder himself isn't yet sure exactly what it is
42:05they want.
42:06Oh, I think he knows what it's all about.
42:08Otherwise, he played the most elaborate game with me this afternoon and I can't think for the life of me
42:12why.
42:14You saw Wilder this afternoon.
42:17And listened to him.
42:20Well, it might be of interest to me, Jason, to hear what was said.
42:26And, of course, of interest to the department.
42:30Yes, I had a hurried feeling you were going to say that.
42:32I couldn't tell you a thing about our conversation.
42:35For the most part, it was complete gibberish to me.
42:39Oh.
42:41I don't imagine Wilder gives many parties that are purely social functions.
42:46No, that had crossed my mind too.
42:49Look, are you sure you wouldn't like me to go with you this evening?
42:53No, you'd better not.
42:54I'd go along home now if I were you.
42:57Yes.
42:59I don't know why I came in.
43:01Well, in the first place, I suppose I was afraid I might miss something if I didn't.
43:07I'm not sure even now that I haven't.
43:10Well, I hope it'll all be clearer in the morning.
43:14I'm quite sure it will be, Jason.
43:17One way or the other.
43:20Yes.
43:30What are you doing here?
43:32He sent a message. He wanted to see me.
43:34Why?
43:35No idea.
43:37Has he said anything?
43:39No.
43:40No, I haven't seen him. He hasn't been home. Who gave you the message?
43:44Henderson rang me up.
43:45And he didn't say why?
43:47No. Nothing at all.
43:51Would you like something to drink?
43:53Are you having anything?
43:54I've already got one.
43:56Have a whiskey then, please.
44:03I, um, I don't think I said enough for him to recognize my voice.
44:09No.
44:10Well, what?
44:12Well, if he did, he did. And if he didn't, he didn't.
44:14And if he did?
44:15We just have to wait and see, won't we?
44:18Would you, um, like to sit down?
44:20Uh, no, thank you.
44:22It was, um, quite an innocent afternoon, really.
44:26All things considered.
44:28Depends whether you measure innocence by the act or the intent.
44:31How do you know what my intent was?
44:33No, I suppose I don't.
44:35Nor are yours, either, do I?
44:38I don't particularly want to be filed under occasional and various.
44:42I'd hoped you wouldn't be.
44:46Do you want to see him alone, or would you like me here with you?
44:49Alone, I think, if we're both together, one of us is sure to look guilty.
44:53The reason for which being, of course, that we are.
45:03So.
45:05Evening, Lincoln.
45:06Your master not at home, I gather.
45:08No, minister. It appears he's not here yet.
45:10Well, I was summoned to his presence.
45:12Since there isn't any presence, I think I'll have a drink.
45:15You think I might be allowed that?
45:17Let me get you one.
45:19All you like.
45:20Oh, brandy and server, I think.
45:23Well, now, Lincoln.
45:25Which side do you take up in our present battle?
45:28I'm not in a position to take sides, would you say, minister?
45:30Oh, come now, Lincoln. You know as well as I do that if all the civil servants in the department
45:33disagree with their minister,
45:35they can make it damn difficult for him to operate.
45:37I wouldn't have thought my vote counted for a great deal.
45:39All unpredictable votes count.
45:42I'm taking no sides.
45:43Can I depend on that?
45:45I think so.
45:46I hope so, Lincoln.
45:47Sorry I didn't give you a lift back from Mirabel Wentworth this morning.
45:51I was passing your flat this afternoon. Did Lady Wilder lend you her car?
45:55I noticed it outside.
46:01Ah, sorry I gotta hold up.
46:04You got drinks?
46:05You get double time for working on Sundays, John.
46:08If I did, your department couldn't afford me.
46:11Not sure we can now.
46:13No?
46:14Well, if it weren't for my Sunday efforts, this country wouldn't have a look in at this solar energy project.
46:21How do you mean wouldn't have done?
46:24Because now it does. It's all settled.
46:27Oh, I doubt that.
46:29Have you looked into this solar energy project?
46:31Well, of course I have.
46:32And you know that there are only two factories outside England capable of doing the development work.
46:38One in Germany and one in France.
46:40Certainly.
46:41And that the German one has American money involved and the French one hasn't.
46:45Exactly.
46:47And you also know that a man in this country called Levinson has developed the prototype from which a power
46:54station can be made,
46:56which will cost a fifth of what it would cost before.
47:01I know about Dr. Levinson.
47:03Then you must also know that the same photovoltaic cell that he has developed,
47:10with the motor that it drives at its present stage of development,
47:15is capable of driving a light tank at 48 miles an hour for five hours
47:21in any country which has in excess of four hours continuous sunshine,
47:26which means any emergent country within a few thousand miles of the equator.
47:34No. I didn't know that.
47:36So that's why American intelligence were here.
47:38Of course it was.
47:40The Americans want Levinson over there and he won't go.
47:43He'll stay in Europe.
47:45And the Americans will do anything to stamp on him moving to any place which would be a security risk,
47:52even to quoting NATO agreements at us.
47:55What security risk?
47:58Well, it's all in Lincoln's file.
48:01The CTI of France is principally owned by Monsieur Urel.
48:06Yes, I know Urel.
48:07Hmm.
48:08Lincoln, why is his name underlined in red on your file?
48:13Because he was suggested as a possible security risk.
48:16Urel?
48:17His eldest son is a member of the Communist Party.
48:20But that's ludicrous!
48:22Ludicrous to you.
48:24Not to me.
48:26But you try and convince the CIA of it.
48:29If your great-grandmother waved her hand at Karl Marx out of a bus, they'd underline your name in red.
48:36But they can't.
48:37They can and they will.
48:40It's a fait accompli.
48:41We either go their way, or the chances are we don't go at all.
48:46And even then, they have a price.
48:48What price?
48:50I don't want to disturb you all, but I think we have guests.
48:53Well, that's all right.
48:56I've finished, wouldn't you say?
48:59Possibly.
49:01What is their price, by the way?
49:03That America should have a say in which underdeveloped areas the power station should be built.
49:11They want jam on it.
49:13Don't we all?
49:15Even you, it seems.
49:17Even though Lincoln has a Sunday secretary, I rang him this afternoon and a gal answered.
49:26Really?
49:28Who was it?
49:30Just a friend.
49:30Darling, it's so cold outside, I can't tell you.
49:34Well, I must change.
49:36Just a minute.
49:39Why do they want to say in which underdeveloped areas?
49:42Well, it seems that their foreign policy is based on the fact that the Americans want to be loved.
49:53Don't we all?
49:56Darling!
49:58Lovely to see you.
50:26Lovely to see you.
50:37The End
51:02The End
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