S3E12 "Triangles". Colour version. 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
01:33Good morning. Good morning, sir.
01:43Excuse me, sir.
01:44© BF-WATCH TV 2021
01:59Are we opening a Chinese restaurant upstairs?
02:03Oh, I see.
02:05You obviously know they're here.
02:07Who?
02:08Oh, you're afraid of Mao Flu.
02:10You can get injections, you know.
02:12I think they're going to take the world over.
02:16I mean, you see a Chinese waiter a couple of times,
02:18you think it's the same chap.
02:20Actually, I'm absolutely convinced it's a different one every time,
02:22and they're slowly filling the world up.
02:25One of these days, we'll look around and every third person will be Chinese,
02:28which is what statistics in the mornings are about for ages.
02:32Then, when every second restaurant is Chinese,
02:35they'll slowly start poisoning us and take the country over.
02:39The only ones who'll survive will be the eaters of Yorkshire pudding chips.
02:43What?
02:45Survival of the fattest.
02:47Well, didn't somebody say the way to Whitehall was up the Yellow River?
02:50They've already filled up the lifts.
02:52What are you talking about?
02:54The place is full of westernised oriental gentlemen.
02:58W-O-G's, wogs.
03:00That's where the word comes from, did you know?
03:02Didn't you have any breakfast or are you hysterical?
03:06You got a cold?
03:07No.
03:08Oh, why are you gargling?
03:09I gargle every morning.
03:11It's just that you're usually not in early enough to see it.
03:15I think you've started reading those books on how to be briller, although middle-aged again.
03:20Is it true that the word wog derives from the phrase westernised oriental gentlemen?
03:26Yes.
03:28What are they here for?
03:30Well, they've come to see Cain.
03:32How do you know?
03:33I asked the lift man.
03:35Did you?
03:37Did you?
03:38Well, we also serve who only stand and wait for lifts.
03:42You know what this entails, Garfield?
03:45Yes, I know what it entails, Camdenford.
03:47I'm not asking you to do anything to your disadvantage.
03:49Surely articles on the strategic list are there as a matter of agreement between ourselves and our allies.
03:55Some of the articles are there simply because nobody ever got round to thinking about them.
03:59In much the same way as an Englishman could still be fined a farthing for not practising archery on Sundays.
04:05Of course, that list is designed to prevent goods that might be used in the event of war being sold to a potential enemy.
04:12We couldn't take unilateral action to have anything removed from it without the agreement of the Americans.
04:17No, I know that, and we don't intend taking unilateral action.
04:21We simply want to create a climate of opinion.
04:24It would be good for trade, Camdenford.
04:26Well, I don't know.
04:28You don't know what?
04:30It's all very well having a crack at the government of the day.
04:32That doesn't do one any harm at all.
04:34But once you get involved in the larger issues, people can turn on you.
04:38Yes, well, you haven't got into a larger issue in your whole bloody career, have you?
04:41Might put a bit of fizz into your image.
04:43My image is doing very nicely, thank you, Minister.
04:46Oh, come off it, Camdenford.
04:47The last attention gaining device you tried ended in complete disaster.
04:50And your constituents hadn't heard a peep out of you for 18 months before that.
04:54I carry out my constitutional duties with as much...
04:57You need an issue, Camdenford.
04:59They're going to ask what you went back for soon.
05:02Well, I don't see this.
05:04All you have to do is to ask several questions in the House...
05:08as to why certain strategic articles are still on the strategic list...
05:12when they've ceased to have any useful purpose there.
05:14And by being there, are constipating Britain's trade outlets.
05:18It's the sort of thing papers would soon take up.
05:21Yes, I suppose they might.
05:23Just you repeat the success you had with badgering them about income tax.
05:27Never came to anything, but at least people knew you were about.
05:30Which articles do you want?
05:32Well, you make your own list.
05:34But make sure optical goods are on it.
05:36They're the top.
05:38Optical goods?
05:39Yes, lenses, binoculars, microscopes, telescopes, all that sort of thing.
05:44I see.
05:46And if I should...
05:48Oh, don't worry, Camdenford.
05:50You'll be looked after.
05:52Chinese?
05:53Yes, Don says the place is overrun with them.
05:56Well, it is the foreign office.
05:57They came here to see Cain, apparently.
05:59Oh, well, I'm afraid I know nothing about it.
06:01Probably some deputation. Why?
06:03I'd just like to know how things are developing in the department, don't you?
06:07No doubt one will be told.
06:09You don't have, do you?
06:11Don't what?
06:12Any doubt that you'll be told.
06:14If necessary.
06:15You know, there are people, Wilder, who are beginning to despair...
06:18that this department is being run like a race between you and Cain...
06:22to put one over on each other.
06:24I hope you're keeping score.
06:28Do you agree that we approve those allocations or not?
06:31Certainly.
06:32Will you initial them then?
06:33Yes.
06:34Is Cain in his office?
06:36He was. I believe he's gone over to the house.
06:38Oh.
06:39Yes, well, if you see him, would you tell him I'd like a word with him this afternoon?
06:44He's going over to Paris this afternoon.
06:47Why?
06:49I'm afraid he didn't tell me.
06:52I'll bet he didn't.
06:55All right, Jill.
06:57I'll be back in the office in ten minutes.
07:03He's treading on my toes.
07:05Cain?
07:06Mm.
07:07Well, the pain is probably mutual.
07:09He wants me out.
07:11And, by association, you also.
07:14I know.
07:15Doesn't it worry you?
07:17Established civil servants are harder to get rid of than that.
07:20He could have you moved.
07:22It depends on the form the move would take, wouldn't it?
07:25Don't you object to sweating out the rest of your career in some dusty backwater?
07:30What have you got in mind?
07:32Well, every time he gets something over on me, he gets something over on you.
07:36He nibbles away at the foundations till he can make us both topple.
07:40And?
07:41Do you know why he's going to Paris?
07:43No.
07:44No.
07:45Oh, nobody does.
07:48Where are you going now?
07:50I've got to go down to Holborn, then lunch.
07:53Could you get somebody to pop over to Paris for us this afternoon?
07:57To do what?
07:58Just to look around.
08:00Someone who Cain doesn't know.
08:02Yes, I think I can.
08:04Well, you'll have to catch the 2.30 plane.
08:07I've already had a seat booked on it.
08:09Have you?
08:11OK, I'll fix it up.
08:14What are you doing in Holborn?
08:16Nothing much. Just routine.
08:21I want out.
08:23Don't let them hustle you, Lincoln. You have a brain. Use it.
08:27I'm sick of being caught in the crossfire between your husband and your friend Cain.
08:31He's not my friend. Not in the sense you mean, anyway.
08:34Well, our friend Cain, then.
08:36Doesn't matter which of them wins, it won't advance me one inch.
08:39So what are you going to do?
08:41I haven't really decided.
08:43Kenneth Bly offered me a directorship with his firm.
08:46I've been talking to him about it this morning. They're doing very well.
08:49You going to take it?
08:51I don't know.
08:53It means herring off on a completely new path rather sooner than I'd planned.
08:57Still.
08:59You don't really want to go, do you?
09:01No, not really.
09:03Still, if it's a choice between that and ending up like Jason,
09:06Oh, you won't, for God's sake, tell John I saw Kenneth, will you?
09:09How in the world should I know? No, of course I won't.
09:15Where, um...
09:17Where would this job be that Kenneth is offering you?
09:20Well, the first two years would be in Canada.
09:23Oh.
09:25And that's another thing, isn't it?
09:27What?
09:29I'm also sick of sneaking out to meet you in obreptitious little corners.
09:33That's a good word. What does it mean?
09:35As if I didn't know.
09:37Aren't you sick of it?
09:39Yes.
09:41It frightens me, Lincoln.
09:43I don't know why, but it frightens me.
09:45If I took Kenneth's job.
09:47I know.
09:49We are coming very rapidly to a decision.
09:53Yes, I know we are.
09:55That frightens me, too.
09:57Yes, I know we are.
09:59That frightens me, too.
10:03Well, it looks as though our table's ready.
10:07Nobody met him at Orly.
10:09I assumed the trip was unofficial.
10:11There was a car waiting, but not an embassy car.
10:13Where did he go?
10:15278 Rue Jacques O'Hara.
10:17Who lives there?
10:19It's a pied-Ã -terre. Nobody actually lives there.
10:22The servants, man and wife, come in when it's in use.
10:25Who does it belong to?
10:27Hard to say who it belongs to.
10:29We suspect the title is held by the D.D.E.C.E.
10:32Who?
10:34Département de Documentation Exterieure et Contre-Espionage.
10:37Espionage.
10:39That doesn't make it all that suspect.
10:41On the whole, it seems to be used overnight by out-of-town deputies
10:44who haven't anywhere else to go.
10:46Who was using it?
10:48Well, that's what was interesting.
10:50It wasn't an out-of-town anybody.
10:52M. Sangler.
10:54Albert Sangler.
10:56Really?
10:57Who is Albert Sangler?
10:59Was anybody else with him?
11:01Yes.
11:03About half an hour after Mr. Kane arrived, Henri Mamiel turned up.
11:08If you wouldn't mind, Lincoln.
11:10Vietnam Solidarity Front.
11:12Vietnam?
11:14It needn't be directly Vietnam.
11:16Mamiel is a pretty solid Maoist.
11:18He has other connections.
11:20Can you explain to me what's going on?
11:22Sangler and Mamiel.
11:24It could only be a commercial connection.
11:26Sangler wouldn't smudge his position with doubtful political deals.
11:29No, I wouldn't have thought so.
11:31When he left, he went along to the Fantasie with Sangler.
11:34They had a couple of drinks and were joined by a man called Malune.
11:37Now, he's something in the Department of Posts and Telegraphs.
11:40Whatever that might mean.
11:42He was with a chap called Seung Tae.
11:44Lives in Hong Kong.
11:46Has a factory there assembling binoculars, microscopes.
11:49He's lived there all his life, but he's a Han Chinese.
11:52Another chap whose name I didn't know,
11:54but I gather he's from the Chinese mainland.
11:56Someone thought Heilongjiang.
11:58And something to do with the Department of Industry.
12:01Good. Thank you.
12:03That's it?
12:04That's it.
12:06Well, thank you, Mr...
12:07Thank you.
12:08I'll have to list it, you know.
12:10Why?
12:11They know you asked for me. They'll want a 17A at least.
12:13Oh, I give them a 17A and list it as external.
12:16I doubt if they'll wear it, not if I don't detail it.
12:18List it as external. Foreign office supplementary.
12:20All right. I can expect you to OK it?
12:23Yes, we'll OK it.
12:24OK. Good night.
12:26Good night.
12:29Good night.
12:30Good night.
12:34All right, Lincoln. Translate.
12:36We just asked him to get information.
12:38Who knows what it means?
12:39What do you think it means?
12:41Well, the obvious assumption is that Cain's up to something.
12:44Not quite on the level, eh?
12:46Otherwise, why all this cloak and dagger?
12:49Well, he wasn't really cloak and daggering, was he?
12:51We were the ones who were doing that.
12:53Well, let's say he's making unscheduled visits to Paris,
12:57seeing Maoists in houses belonging to the CDCD, whatever.
13:02DEDC.
13:03Chinese industrialists, Peking politicians and God knows what else.
13:08I wouldn't jump in feet first.
13:10I'm not going to.
13:11Good.
13:12But you are.
13:14I want you to find out what's happening.
13:16If I might hazard a guess...
13:19Do.
13:20He's quite probably opening up contacts for something that may come along later.
13:23In fact, if I had to describe it, I'd say he's probably doing a John Wilder.
13:28Really?
13:29Well, that's certainly something that has to be stopped.
13:32Anyway, find out what you can.
13:33All right.
13:34Oh, you realise, having used our friend today,
13:36we may well have security sniffing around to see what it's all about.
13:40Good.
13:41Good?
13:42Yes, Lincoln.
13:43Good.
13:49I just thought of something.
13:51What?
13:52He couldn't have met any of those people without the French knowing about it.
13:54In fact, he used a house belonging to them.
13:56So if we put a man on to him, what's to say they didn't put a man on our man?
14:08Thank you.
14:09Thank you.
14:12John.
14:13If you don't get out of my hair, I may break your back.
14:18Ah.
14:19Did you have a good trip?
14:20Mmm.
14:21Aerosmith's flyover was jammed.
14:24I'm still going to find out what you're up to.
14:27John, I'm warning you.
14:28Keep your nose out of it or I'll break your back.
14:33Try it.
14:34I'll break your heart.
14:38Meaning?
14:39All right, what the hell do you think you're doing?
14:41In what sense, Minister?
14:42One thing I know about Wyler, he doesn't have access.
14:44Never in a million years will they allow him access.
14:46Now you, you're a different kettle of fish, aren't you?
14:48And the fish is beginning to stink.
14:50I don't know what you're talking about.
14:51Oh, yes, you do.
14:52For God's sake, don't talk to me as if I was cabbage green around the ears.
14:54I know you were recruited.
14:55I can almost tell you the day you were recruited.
14:57Someone's been giving you inaccurate, albeit classified information.
15:00You were pretty sure I wouldn't recognize your chap, weren't you?
15:02But what you didn't think of was that another agent might recognize him.
15:05You should have got someone with deeper cover.
15:07Or wouldn't have let you have anyone like that without asking questions.
15:10I do wish you'd explain this to me, Minister.
15:12Well, I couldn't have got someone like that, not from that department.
15:14But you are in that department, aren't you?
15:16One of our sniveling teacher's pets, creeping to the headmaster, is what the big boys are up to.
15:21I'm not prepared to take this sort of thing.
15:22No?
15:23Not even from someone in your position.
15:24Aren't you?
15:25Then where do you want me to put you so that you don't have to?
15:27Now you listen to me, Lincoln.
15:28We can get along very well if we have to get along.
15:31Just you declare your neutrality like a good, dedicated civil servant should.
15:35It may have escaped your notice, but in fact,
15:37I am the minister responsible for this department.
15:40And you know the saying,
15:41it's better to know the judge than to know the law.
15:46Jason Fowler's nanny made him say it every night instead of prayers.
15:49Yes, well, I didn't have a nanny.
15:51I had a supervisor coming round every night at nine o'clock,
15:53threatening to beat hell out of us if we were still talking after lights out,
15:56and we'd be chucked out of the orphanage.
15:57And then where would we be?
15:58Politicians in Her Majesty's government at five and a half thousand a year.
16:01I didn't have a nanny either.
16:02They're pretty rare in council houses.
16:04I wonder where all the other lads who were at school with us are now.
16:07All right, Lincoln, your sleeve isn't full of trump cards.
16:10I'm just telling you.
16:12Oh, no, the etiquette here is one doesn't tell,
16:14one suggests in an amiable spirit of concord.
16:18We've both learned that.
16:19It's how we got out of our class.
16:21Yeah.
16:22Well, contrary to the spirit of the service, Lincoln,
16:26I am telling you.
16:28What?
16:31You declare your neutrality.
16:33Or if you can't declare it, abide by it.
16:36Or?
16:38Or I'll break your back too.
16:40One could hurt one's hand doing that, you know.
16:52I didn't know you were a drinker of darkness, Lincoln.
16:55I was looking for you.
16:56Someone said you might be here.
16:58That sort of news shouldn't travel.
17:00I do all I can to see that it doesn't.
17:03It's a very minor lunchtime sin
17:05for which I'm sure one won't lose one's place in heaven.
17:09Why did you want to see me and not in the office?
17:12I thought we might have a chat.
17:14Oh.
17:16That's very nice.
17:18I wonder if one might lose one's place in heaven.
17:22We need to be led, don't we?
17:25To be told so much.
17:27Who's to tell us?
17:29Too many people seem to be telling too many things too often.
17:32Do you think so?
17:33You know what those two are going to do, don't you?
17:35They're going to destroy the department.
17:37They might.
17:38And yet we could prevent it or determine who is going to win.
17:41Oh, God, what does it matter
17:43which of their infantile ambitions wins or doesn't win?
17:46I'm sorry.
17:48Of course it matters, the department.
17:50Sorry, I didn't mean that.
17:52Wouldn't you prefer to win too?
17:54To win?
17:56Oh, yes.
17:57I think I'd prefer that more than anything.
17:59One has other responsibilities than just to one's pension.
18:02I always think it's so silly of them
18:04to try and give this impression of spurious eroticism.
18:07Quite sure there isn't a man here who believes it.
18:11Beauty is in repose.
18:13I think women never know when they're being beautiful or desirable.
18:18They never know, and we're never able to tell them.
18:22The great uncrossable barrier
18:24between what men need and what women are.
18:29I sometimes think it would take a language without words
18:33to be able to speak about it.
18:36Is that perhaps what sex is?
18:41I'm not well, Lincoln.
18:44Incurably not well.
18:48Oh, no, not immediately.
18:51Some little time, but foreseeably so.
18:53Sufficiently for them to advise one
18:55that one should put one's house in order.
18:58One's house.
19:02Eight leather-bound First Editions of the Waverley Novels.
19:06A hundred minor First Editions,
19:08and a good lady, Mrs Hatley,
19:10who prepares my food, my bed,
19:12and cleans my bath every morning.
19:18It always seems to be dark in my house when I get home.
19:21I have to switch the lights on.
19:24It's just as if she were saving up all the electricity somewhere in a box
19:28for some great, bright day
19:32when all the lights of the world will go on.
19:34Yes.
19:35No.
19:39I don't know why one's body should treat one like this
19:41when one's always tried to be kind to it.
19:47Still, there's no point in...
19:51I think he...
19:53said it was an irreversible process.
19:57Rather like politics.
20:00Jason, I...
20:01Honestly, I...
20:02Yes, I know.
20:04One can only think of clichés.
20:07When one's driven into a corner, all one can say is,
20:12Mummy, help me.
20:14Something equally ridiculous.
20:17I wish I could go up to her and say,
20:23I don't know what I want.
20:24A wife, a mistress, or a daughter.
20:28It's so stupid to have missed all three.
20:34Oh, by the way, congratulations.
20:37On what?
20:38On your promotion.
20:40Why, didn't you know?
20:43You're being sent to Jakarta.
20:44As First Secretary.
20:46It's quite a useful place to serve.
20:50Didn't you know?
20:52I don't know.
20:54Not really.
21:00Moving you out, is he?
21:02Looks like it.
21:04Doesn't it worry you?
21:05It is a promotion.
21:07Don't you want it?
21:08No?
21:11Oh.
21:13Oh.
21:14Why not?
21:15I had other ideas of what I wanted to do.
21:17Did you?
21:18You know, we don't always get the things we want the way we want them, do we?
21:22You seem to.
21:24Do I?
21:26Well, if you don't want it, what are you going to do about it?
21:28What are you going to do about it?
21:30Why should I do anything about it?
21:32You want your allies depleted.
21:34Oh.
21:35Allies.
21:37So we've progressed through
21:39What just is it that Lincoln Dowling does?
21:41Is he on my side or their side?
21:43Through, I'm your assistant.
21:45That's one who assists.
21:46To being an ally.
21:49You don't even take down shorthand, Lincoln.
21:52But you seem to be very good at entertaining my wife.
21:56I...
21:57Well, aren't you?
21:58We have a common interest in the arts, in the humanities.
22:01It's perfectly natural.
22:03One meets too few people who seem as absorbed in the things that interest one oneself.
22:11And when one does, one tends to cling on to them.
22:15I've always wished that I could have met more such people.
22:19So, I'm to take it you're going to do nothing about this posting.
22:22For one reason or another.
22:23Just as you wish.
22:24What about Cain and his oriental friends?
22:26Don't you want me to go on helping you with that?
22:28How long is it before your posting takes effect?
22:31Two, three weeks?
22:32Months.
22:33Unless, of course, this is an emergency replacement.
22:36Is it?
22:37I don't think so.
22:38Well, nothing's changed, has it?
22:40We still have at least two or three weeks to get things tied up.
22:46Now, if you'll excuse me.
22:59At the most.
23:01I see.
23:02It could be a month.
23:03Or, if he really wants to be bloody minded about it,
23:05he could arrange to have me flown out in two or three days.
23:07Two or three days?
23:08Emergency replacement.
23:12Oh, would you like another drink?
23:14No.
23:15No, I've still got one.
23:16You have one.
23:17No, mine's all right, thanks.
23:18No, OK.
23:22So, what are you going to do?
23:23It doesn't give me much time to do anything, does it?
23:26If I can't get out of it.
23:27Do you think you might be able to get out of it?
23:29I doubt it.
23:30He's got me tied up so tight, if I try and struggle, I'll strangle myself.
23:33So, you'll have to go?
23:34No.
23:35Well, not to Jakarta, anyway.
23:37I'm damned if I'm going to take that dusty road to the top.
23:40If I can't wriggle out of it, I'll take up Kenneth's offer in Canada.
23:47Oh, yes, yes, of course.
23:50So, whatever happens, you'll have to go?
23:53Looks like it.
23:54It also looks as though we've come to the time for that decision.
24:05John Wilder!
24:06Sir John Wilder!
24:08As I live and breathe here, we didn't think you'd manage to make it.
24:12Here, Bayek, success looks to agree with you, lad.
24:15How are you, Walter?
24:16Do you remember Don Hennessy?
24:18Donald Wilder!
24:19How are you, Walter?
24:20You're putting on a show, aren't you?
24:22How are you, Walter?
24:23Yeah, you're putting on weight.
24:25And Frank? And Harry?
24:27Oh, I know these two. I meet them about once a month, and that's too often.
24:31Well, are you going to have a drink, then?
24:32You will bet I am. I'm on committee this year. I can do what I damn well like.
24:36Well, well. So, you're an ambassador now, are you?
24:40No wonder countries go into the dons.
24:43It's nice to see you, Walter.
24:45Oh, don't think I'm talking to you because I like the look of your face.
24:49No, I've been detailed to look after the celebrities tonight.
24:53I suppose you can wonder that, Eddie.
24:55Yeah, I've got to go to the MP somewhere.
24:58I suppose he's wandering round sucking up to the poor voters.
25:03How's Mary?
25:05Oh, she's fine, fine.
25:07She well?
25:08Oh, she's... Well, we're all knocking on a bit, you know, John.
25:12I mean, an engine's only got a certain number of running hours, has it?
25:16She's as well as I am, whatever that means.
25:18Good.
25:21Are you still at Hamilton's?
25:23Oh, no, I left there about three years ago, no.
25:27I'm back at Farnborough now.
25:30Oh, I don't believe you, John.
25:32I mean, is there an aircraft industry or isn't there?
25:35Nobody seems to want to make up their mind.
25:37It's boom one minute and redundancy the next.
25:41You are very wise to get your backside out of it, John.
25:46I'm not so sure about that.
25:48Ladies and gentlemen, dinner is served.
25:51Oh, I'd better go and find my bloody MP and see he knows which knife to use first.
25:56We'll get speeches over and then we'll have a jar and a natter, eh?
26:00I'd like that very much, Walter.
26:02Well, now I must get on with my ceremonial duties.
26:07You were sir and me on committee.
26:10We haven't done so badly, have we, lad?
26:16No.
26:21Time is the only thing I really have.
26:23I'm damned if I'm going to put up with other people telling me how I should spend it.
26:27No? No.
26:29Well, that's nice for you, isn't it?
26:31What's the matter?
26:32It's raining.
26:34Thing is, I don't really see where it gets him.
26:36That's what's so bloody stupid about it.
26:38You've got a light.
26:41Something occurred to me this evening.
26:46When?
26:47This evening.
26:49When did it occur to you this evening?
26:54What were you doing when this whatever-it-was occurred to you?
26:59How do you mean?
27:01All right.
27:03What was it that occurred to you?
27:06What do you think John knows about us?
27:10I don't know. Nothing, I think.
27:13He might.
27:15He might.
27:17Are you all right?
27:19Yeah, sure. Of course I am.
27:24Don't worry.
27:30What was it that occurred to you then?
27:33Well, that it needn't have been Cain who arranged my transfer.
27:37It could have been your husband.
27:40Yeah. I suppose that's possible, yes.
27:43Do you think he knows something?
27:46I don't know. He hasn't said anything.
27:49No, but he might, mightn't he?
27:51He might.
27:52Couldn't be easier for him, could it, if he wanted me out of the way?
27:56Just listen to him.
27:59Didn't even bring an umbrella.
28:01Do you think he does suspect?
28:04What does it matter if he does? You're not being transferred because you're resigning.
28:08I'd just like to know.
28:10If I'm going to Canada with you,
28:13I know.
28:18Put this out for me, will you?
28:23Quickly, Lincoln.
28:25Please.
28:35Old Francis don't half-natter on, does he?
28:38Only time anyone ever listens to him is at one of these duels.
28:42Cheers.
28:43Cheers, Walter.
28:45All that tripe about long-haired youth.
28:47I've got one at my office, hair right down to his shoulders.
28:50Lady Godiva, I call him.
28:52He just laughs.
28:53You're jealous, Walter.
28:55Grass can't grow on a busy street.
28:57I see you managed to keep yours all right.
29:00But I'll tell you one thing.
29:02If I want a fast stress analysis that I can lean on,
29:05it's Godiva I go to every time.
29:07So you mean grass can grow on a busy street?
29:10He can grow any damn where except on my lawn.
29:13Clover, yes, but grass, no.
29:15Here, I wonder where my bloody MP is.
29:18I suppose I'd better find him and get him a drink or something.
29:21I suppose you're used to drinking with politicians, John.
29:24Well, I can swallow my pride for once.
29:26Here he is. Oh, he looks all right to it,
29:28but we'd better have him off, would you mind?
29:30Mr. Candleford.
29:32Ah, hello. There you are.
29:34Can I get you a drink?
29:36Oh, brandy, thank you.
29:37You know Sir John Wilder and Mr. Henderson?
29:40Yes, of course, we've met.
29:42Have we?
29:43A very warm personality he is, Mr. Candleford.
29:48Warm, just like Wasserman knew us warm.
29:52Here you are, Mr. Candleford.
29:54Must keep our representative stocked up.
29:56Or anesthetised.
29:59Splendid speech of Sir Francis, I thought.
30:02Yes?
30:03Excellent. Glad to see him having a go
30:05at all these long-haired young layabouts.
30:08Ah, you're out of sympathy with hairy youth, then.
30:12Perhaps he thinks a pulse belongs to the middle-aged, John.
30:15I always say one has to earn one's whiskers.
30:18Do you? Where did you get yours from?
30:21My dear fellow, with 20,000 a year,
30:23you can do as you damn well please.
30:25Nearly.
30:26Is that another thing you're always saying?
30:29You know, Donald, it isn't as being an impure object to,
30:33but it's in spite of it. He's got a home.
30:36Hope you've been following my efforts
30:38on behalf of your department, Wilder.
30:40My department?
30:41Yours and your minister's.
30:43What have you been doing
30:46on behalf of our department, Mr. Candleford?
30:49Haven't you read my speeches?
30:51I think I can say we're beginning
30:53to make their skin itch.
30:55Really?
30:56Cain was right.
30:57The papers are beginning to take it up.
30:59Had a couple of chappies round this afternoon.
31:01I just thought...
31:02Whatever, Sir Francis, excuse me.
31:04I'd better just have a word with him.
31:06John.
31:07Get hold of a copy of Hansard.
31:09Find out what that idiot has been saying.
31:1220,000 a year, and he can do as he damn well likes.
31:16And on that medieval philosophy,
31:19he has the votes of thousands of poor, bloody voters.
31:24After seeing him, you know,
31:26I'd grow me hair right down to my blasted boots.
31:29If I could.
31:41Morning, Lincoln.
31:43Your name is Lee Hulse, you remember?
31:45Morning.
31:46Why did you want to meet me here?
31:48Well, as if you didn't know.
31:50All right.
31:51What are you saying?
31:52Oh, we're interested. We want to know more.
31:54There isn't any more. I put it all in the report.
31:57Don't slip your zip, lad.
31:59You called for one of our people.
32:01We had a very non-committal 17A.
32:03Now, was it about this?
32:05Yes.
32:06Are we going to put in a report about that?
32:08I mean, after all, using one of our chaps...
32:10It became necessary.
32:11Now you think it is necessary?
32:13Yes.
32:14Why now and not earlier?
32:16I'm only evaluating, Lincoln. It is my department.
32:21Why not, then?
32:22I wasn't sure.
32:23Now you are sure.
32:24Yes.
32:25Something happened to make you sure?
32:26Yes.
32:27I see.
32:31It's a walloping great charge, lad.
32:35A minister of the crown, secret meetings in Paris
32:37with members of a foreign communist power.
32:40A hell of a charge, lad.
32:42Well, that's what he did.
32:45Possibly.
32:47Now, what we want to know is,
32:49do we blast in and ask him what he's up to
32:51and risk a perfectly explicable answer,
32:53or do we merge quietly into the background
32:55and see if there's an answer which isn't quite so explicable?
32:59Well, that's up to you, isn't it?
33:01How very truly.
33:04What's happened to make you sure?
33:06I think he knows I'm on to him.
33:07Why?
33:08Because he's had me posted abroad, to Jakarta.
33:11Has he now?
33:12Do you want to go?
33:13Yes, very much.
33:14I just thought you ought to know.
33:16Quite.
33:18Does he know you're with us?
33:20Yes.
33:22Trying to winkle you out, is he?
33:24What do you think you'll do?
33:26Me? Well, I should just put in a report, Lincoln.
33:28That's my function in life.
33:30But no doubt someone will take a second look at our Mr. Kane.
33:35We're very grateful to you, Lincoln.
33:37Not at all.
33:40Very grateful indeed.
33:43Here lies the bones of Elizabeth Charlotte.
33:46Born a virgin, but died a harlot.
33:48She was still a virgin at 17.
33:50A remarkable thing in Aberdeen.
33:52You know, that's supposed to be carved on a stone in an Aberdeen churchyard.
33:56I doubt it. I think it's just part of the Great British myth-making.
33:59Yes, I'm sorry John's late.
34:02No, thank you.
34:03He said he'd be back at two o'clock.
34:05That's OK, Mr. Henderson. I'm in no rush.
34:07Do you happen to know what Sir John wants to talk to me about?
34:10I'm afraid not, no.
34:11Oh, well, never mind.
34:13Now, I like this one.
34:14It's not an epitaph, but it has a kind of a period flavour about it.
34:18There was an old man from Darjeeling who travelled from London to Ealing.
34:23It said on the door, please don't spit on the floor.
34:26So he carefully spat on the ceiling.
34:28No, I've not heard that.
34:31Ah, here's John.
34:32Ah, Mr. Edmund.
34:34Oh, the Minister?
34:35He's out, I'm afraid.
34:36Oh, I'll come back later.
34:37Well, Lincoln, could I have a word with you?
34:39Yeah, sure.
34:40Well, I just wanted to say I'd be very grateful if you wouldn't mention
34:43what we were talking about the other day.
34:45You know, my...
34:46Oh, no, well, of course not.
34:47Well, it's no concern of anybody else if you'll just keep it to yourself.
34:50Yes, certainly.
34:51Well, I'll come back when the Minister's in.
34:53I gather you were looking forward to going to Jakarta.
34:55Oh, yes.
34:56Well, I'm sure you were.
34:57Well, I'm sure you were.
34:58Well, I'm sure you were.
34:59Well, I'm sure you were.
35:00Well, I'm sure you were.
35:01You were looking forward to going to Jakarta.
35:02Oh, yes.
35:04Why, what's happened?
35:05You seem to be the last to hear about everything.
35:07Your posting's been cancelled.
35:09Why?
35:11Well, I don't know.
35:12Word came through that on no account were you to be posted.
35:16It's bad luck if you were looking forward to it.
35:18What did the Minister say?
35:19Well, I haven't spoken to him, but never mind.
35:21One door closes, another door opens.
35:24How do you mean?
35:25Well, in my annual report, I put that I thought you were exceptional.
35:28And I hear they agree with me.
35:30me. Where am I going? Well nowhere as humidly romantic as Jakarta I'm afraid.
35:34It'll mean you'll be remaining in London. To do what? Well you'll be getting
35:39official words so I don't think I'd better say too much. It's quite a lift
35:43for you. I see. I just wondered what you thought the attitude of your government
35:52would be towards these articles. Well I think you know what that would be Sir
35:56John. We feel that all the articles at present on the strategic list are there
36:01because they are actually of some strategic value to our enemies. But if
36:06the situation changed in the far east in the foreseeable future would your
36:11attitude change towards these articles? Whatever changes take place
36:17over the next two or three years. At the moment whatever the rights and wrongs we
36:21do have a very deep commitment in Vietnam. Now my own attitude and that of
36:26many of my colleagues is even if one is doing it for the wrong reasons which is
36:30disputable. Even to send one battalion of men into a combat area and then to
36:35undermine their security at home and without their knowledge would be an
36:39inexcusable breach of faith. We can discuss it Sir John. They have to fight
36:44it. So you would be opposed? Why does Mr. Kane feel this way? Well I merely think
36:51he's trying to open up other trading areas. There's nothing more sinister than
36:55that. You tell me he's bringing pressure to get backing. Yes. Do you think he has
37:00any chances? I think he might have. Might have had. Something's happening. Mr. Edmonds
37:06to be honest I don't entirely disagree with him. The optical goods on the list
37:11that he's concerned with are not immediately strategic. If they didn't get
37:15them from us they could get them elsewhere. They are. We are not the only
37:19people that make them. Nevertheless. Now things have come off the strategic list
37:23which your country have been quite happy to sell. I must say that on your
37:29behalf I've been trying to slow up this exercise and in two or three weeks I may
37:33be able to stamp it in altogether. But you must understand that it is to my
37:37country's disadvantage and I may be told so. I quite see that Sir John. It does
37:42mean an area of trade closed to you. Exactly. But suppose other areas were
37:48opened up and it might save my neck and save you a lot of bother. Quite. Have you
37:55got anything in mind? Well for instance if I went to my people with a possible
38:02agreement on say space instrumentation which would be to the advantage of my
38:08country I have no doubt that they would be willing to swap one for another. Well
38:15I think maybe a little reorientation with the powers that be might be
38:19coordinated to that end. Yeah well it would be a step in the right direction.
38:25Now how about that Jake? Fine.
38:32Just a minute. Oh sorry. Thank you Lincoln. Ground? No sir I'm going to visit you.
38:42Well you're not leaving us after all eh? No apparently not. Father told me. Really?
38:48Getting promotion I hear. Yes so it seems. Well that's very nice for you. I'm sure you
38:53deserve it. Mind you I had hoped if you'd been going abroad we wouldn't be quite
38:58so pestered by those friends of yours from security. Every time I came I had
39:02two or three fall out. I used to think it was dandruff but I can assure you... No no no
39:06don't Lincoln don't. I might have to believe you. By the way it wasn't me who
39:12arranged you to be posted. I don't really care whether you're here or not.
39:25Did you put him on to me? Put who on to you? Come off it Johnny. You know what I'm talking
39:29about. Lincoln Darling and his gang of witch hunters. He wouldn't have had the
39:32guts to start this on his own that's for sure. I had a very oily gentleman named
39:35mobs waiting for me in my office just now suggesting what I should and
39:39shouldn't do for the benefit of the crown. I have no idea what you're talking
39:43about. No? No I merely asked darling if he could find out what your interests
39:49were in Paris that was all. I asked you very specifically to stay out of this
39:53one. You told me very rudely. As is usual you took it as a slight on your
39:58commercial virility and decided to stick your own oar in to what end I really
40:01can't imagine. This absurd scheme had no chance of ever getting off the ground.
40:07Do you imagine for one moment that the Americans would allow to be taken off
40:12the strategic list anything that they thought even remotely might not be to
40:18their advantage. Well they won't. Strategically or commercially. They're not only a
40:23military power they're a commercial power. You have to deal with them like
40:29any other competitor in business. Oh your mind is jammed up in business isn't it?
40:33You're like one of these halfwits who say the country we better run if we had a
40:36government made up of businessmen. Well? Wouldn't it possibly be? Oh forget about
40:43it they tried that in Germany didn't they? Romance and big business. That ends
40:48up turning people into soap. I asked you to stay out of this. You told me. Well I'm
40:55sorry I should have asked you. Oh this would present a scene of some beauty to
41:02a passing citizen wouldn't it? Minister of the crown and ambassador in a slag
41:08match. If any passing citizen imagined that it doesn't happen they better grow
41:14up before the next elections. I was told to do it you know. Asked or told or
41:19whatever. We've decided that certain articles were on the strategic list not
41:24because they had a strategic purpose but because they'd always been there. We
41:27are trying in this country to be both a political and a commercial power but if
41:31you take away our commercial potential we cease to be a political one. You know
41:36this this is why you go herring off after every business opening like a sex
41:40maniac when the whorehouse lights go on. Very pretty report. They wanted the whole
41:45list reviewed and they're quite right. And you think about it you could probably
41:49draw up a strategic list that prohibited the export of chewing gum. So? So you've
41:55sodded the whole thing up. I agree it's probably bad communications and bad
42:01communications seem to be the nature of the way we set things up. But now we've
42:06got security we've got the Americans you name it and we've got it trampling all
42:10over us. Wouldn't it have been easier if you'd have just let me know? Well I
42:16suppose so but they wanted it doing with the minimum of exposure. Well I suppose
42:23we'll just have to wait for a year or so and then start all over again. I didn't
42:27put security on to you even over that Paris thing. I thought it would be just
42:32someone from this office. Oh. Well they'll crawl back into their holes as soon as
42:41somebody gives them an official hot foot. They're not so frightening. Things could
42:45be worse couldn't they? What? Well what I mean is if we don't open up in China we do have
42:52the beginnings of a new agreement with America. Have we? Yes. Yes we have. On space
43:00instrumentation. Snap. Many Americans asked us if we'd soft-pedal it. The
43:08Foreign Secretary and I said we would if we could talk about a civil engineering
43:13project. Very good health. By the way was it you that had Lincoln
43:26Darling transferred? No. Wasn't it you? No.
43:34Hell don't tell me there's someone else in here that wants to get rid of him.
43:43Oh hello Jason I was even there for the Minister. Oh Lincoln I was just wondering.
43:47I was just wondering if you had nothing particular to do this evening. Well I was
43:52just wondering if you'd care to have a meal with me somewhere. Well that's very
43:55kind of you Jason. Well it was just I well if you had nothing to do
44:00particularly. Well actually Jason I have something quite important on tonight. I
44:06would have liked. Oh no no that's all right. No no I just suddenly thought of
44:11it. We can do it again. You're going out are you? It's just that it's different now.
44:22You're not going to Jakarta. No. Nor to Canada. No. So it's different now. I
44:30didn't say that. Which that do you mean? The that of my not coming to Canada with
44:36you or the that of my coming up here to see you whenever you feel it might be
44:40nice. Don't be ridiculous. Suddenly everything's different. Which that have
44:45we given up? Simply that I'm not now going abroad.
44:50Lincoln I was about to alter my entire life for you. You asked me to and I I
45:00might just have been prepared to do so. In two weeks I would have had to
45:06reorganize my whole life. All you had to do was to buy two tickets to Canada and
45:10alter your job and suddenly it's different. I didn't say that. Because
45:15you've been offered a new job you're not going to buy those tickets. You tell me
45:22this evening but you knew this morning at any time I might have spoken to John.
45:29You didn't. No. No I didn't. All I said was we'd have to be careful. Because it
45:36might endanger your new job. I didn't mean it to sound like that. Of course you
45:40didn't. You didn't mean to go on talking about yourself and your problems at that
45:45night when I was up here with you. You did. Oh I know you. I married you. No. Pamela.
45:54You must not be silly about it. It's all been a terrible mistake. You're afraid that I I might
46:00be embarrassment to you in your new job. That's unfair. And I'm afraid that in five
46:04years from now I shan't be able to tell the difference between you and John Wilder.
46:08Pamela.
46:12Pamela.
46:24You have it wrong you know. Canada yes. Even Jakarta. But not London. Hell look
46:37where I live. Look where you live. Well this promotion doesn't make me rich. I've
46:45got to work things out. I need a day or two to think.
46:54Yes.
46:57Take all the time you want Lincoln.
47:02Mrs. Hadley. Are you up there Mrs. Hadley.
47:57Are you going to Scarborough Fair.
48:03Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
48:07Are you going to Scarborough Fair. Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
48:28I had a meal with Walter Hallib this evening. Did you? I think it was the most pleasant thing that's happened
48:36to me this week seeing him again. Was it? Made me want to go back into aircraft.
48:45Why don't you?
48:53What did you do tonight? Went to a show. Any good?
49:02Average.