The Human Jungle, season one (1963)

The Human Jungle is an intriguing drama series made by Britain’s ABC Television which ran for two seasons in 1963 and 1964. It follows the case histories of psychiatrist Dr Roger Corder (Herbert Lom). Psychiatry was a popular subject for movies from the 40s to the 60s but those movies almost invariably dealt with crazy and/or evil psychiatrists. Making a TV series about a skilful and dedicated psychiatrist was an ambitious idea and rather risky. It could easily have been dull or preachy or excessively contrived.

Herbert Lom is one of my all-time favourite actors and this was a rare opportunity for him to play a serious rôle as an entirely sympathetic character. Most of his serious rôles were as villains, cads, losers or otherwise sinister creepy characters.

The obvious temptations for such a series would have been to focus on stories related in some way to crime (in other words to make it a series about a psychiatrist crime-solver) and to focus on patients with severe and spectacular mental illnesses. Some of the stories do deal with such matters. Some deal with more everyday problems, but in an interesting way.

There are stories that involve the possibility of crime, either a crime that has been committed or might be about to be committed. Because it’s not actually a crime series you can’t be sure that there really is a crime, which makes things more interesting.The slightly unconventional nature of the series make it intriguingly unpredictable.

A series about a psychiatrist could hardly ignore the subject of sex, and in 1963 that meant having to walk on eggshells. The Human Jungle does confront this subject occasionally, and on the whole does so reasonably well.

It was an expensive and rather ambitious series. It was shot on film with hopes of making some inroads into the U.S. market and it was in fact syndicated in America.

Critics mostly disliked it, finding the stories to be somewhat unlikely and contrived. To some extent this is accurate but then the series was intended as entertainment and some melodrama had to be added. Had Dr Corder just stayed in his consulting rooms talking to patients the results would have been deadly dull so it was necessary to have him out and about getting involved in the lives of his patients. This is a bit unrealistic and melodramatic (and may be one of the reasons actual psychiatrists seemed to dislike the series) but it makes for much better television drama.

To some extent the series was always going to have to be somewhat contrived if they were to have some happy endings. The Human Jungle is not afraid to have some downbeat endings but they didn’t want to do this too often. No-one is going to want to watch a TV program about a psychiatrist if all of his patients end up killing themselves, in prison or on Skid Row.

Whatever critics may have thought of it the series gradually built a strong following with the viewing public over the course of its first season. In commercial terms it was a definite success and a second season was commissioned.

The other regular cast members are Michael Johnson as Corder’s young assistant Dr Jimmy Davis and Sally Smith as Corder’s teenaged daughter Jennifer (Dr Corder is a widower). Jennifer is fiery and she and her father squabble at times but on the whole their relationship is affectionate. She’s just a normal teenager.

Mary Yeomans appears in most episodes as Dr Corder’s secretary and Mary Steele appears in half a dozen episodes as therapist Jane Harris but most of the stories revolve around Dr Corder, Dr Davis and Jennifer Corder.

Network have released the complete series (two seasons) on DVD and it looks great.

Episode Guide

In the opening episode, The Vacant Chair, Dr Corder has been hired by a large industrial conglomerate to help them choose a new managing director for one of their key companies. The two candidates for the job represent wildly different approaches to management. Basil Phillips is a hard-driving autocrat with no apparent scruples. Geoffrey Hunter is a conciliator and a team player. Dr Corder interviews the two men’s families and colleagues and finds himself in a hair-raising world of backstabbing, deceit and all-round chicanery. Dr Corder’s daughter goes on a date with Geoffrey Hunter’s son, and gets rude awakening herself. At the same time Dr Corder is trying to deal with a difficult case involving a withdrawn and possibly suicidal young boy. There’s not much plot to speak of. The focus is entirely on personalities and interpersonal dynamics. Those interpersonal dynamics are rather entertaining. And the reasons for Dr Corder’s recommendation is interesting. Not a bad start to the series.

The Flip Side Man is pop singer Danny Pace (played by real-life pop singer Jess Conrad whose performance is actually pretty good) and his problem is that he’s being followed about by his double. This double of course exists only in his mind, but why? Corder is certainly worried by this case. Apart from seeing his double Danny is nervous and irritable. And he does not want to talk to a psychiatrist. There’s some suspense at the end as matters reach a crisis. A good episode.

In Run with the Devil a man wants Dr Corder’s help because he’s worried that it might be possible for a man to do something wrong without knowing it. Which immediately worries the doctor. The man is deeply religious and appears to have lost the use of his right arm although there’s nothing physically wrong with it. It’s the man’s wife that Dr Corder is worried about. It’s obvious that the man is troubled by guilt but also by issues with sex. This being 1963 the series has to tread carefully when it comes to sex but it makes its point clearly enough. It also manages to avoid being too anxious to leap to judgments. A good episode.

Thin Ice involves rising 14-year-old ice skating star Verity Clarke. After a very minor accident in which she sustained no permanent injury she can no longer skate and Roger Corder has to find out why. He has to find the psychological block that has destroyed her confidence. Perhaps she just can’t handle the pressure but that doesn’t quite seem to fit. There are no crimes in this story, or at least not in the usual sense. Quite a decent story.

The Lost Hours is a kind of detective story. There’s no crime but there is a mystery that has to be solved.  Dr Corder has to do some detecting, even going so far as to shadow a patient. It begins when Julia Gray freaks out at a party and accuses her husband Henry of seeing another woman. She then tries to kill herself. It turns out that she is obsessed by this idea. It’s clear the poor woman is suffering from a delusion. Or is she? It all hinges on those lost hours in her husband’s life. Dr Corder is not sure if she should be treating the wife or the husband. A very clever story.

A Friend of the Sergeant Major is over-the-top melodrama. It takes place in a British army base in Germany. Sergeant Major Bennett (a career soldier with a fine record but with an interesting past) is put on a charge for smashing up a bar. He has only six weeks to go before retirement and now faces the prospect of a dishonourable discharge. Dr Corder is brought in as an expert witness as the defence relies on proving that Bennett’s commanding officer is a paranoiac. Corder starts to suspect that he is being used by the army in a cynical public relations exercise. In fact there’s much more to the story which takes some surprising (and outrageous) twists. It’s an interesting case study of two flawed men. There’s a fine performance by Alfred Burke as the Sergeant Major. 

We also get some of Dr Corder’s backstory. He had been a British Army psychiatrist during the Second World War. When it comes to matters of army discipline and the ethics of the psychiatric profession I’m sure it’s all ludicrously unrealistic but it is original and entertaining.

In 14 Ghosts the wife of a High Court judge is arrested for shoplifting. She obviously doesn’t need to steal a scarf worth a few shillings. Dr Davis happens to be friends with the woman’s son-in-law and suggests that Dr Corder could help. Corder finds it’s a complicated family drama and as in The Lost Hours it’s by no means certain which member of the family has the real problem. A good episode.

Fine Feathers deals with a young couple living way beyond their means. The wife, Penny, has not only landed herself hopelessly in debt but in trouble with the police. Dr Corder has to find out why Penny feels compelled to present a front of genteel high living, and why she is so riddled with guilt and shame. A pretty good story of someone who has constructed a false identity for herself.

The Wall presents Dr Corder with six patients for the price of one. Young Jan Zapotski is arrested for throwing bottles at a window but the police can’t do anything - he was on his own property throwing bottles at his ow window. Dr Corder has to find out why. This means he has to find out what is going on with Jan’s wife Rita and with Jan’s parents and with Rita’s parents, all of whom live in the same house. This is a clash of cultures. The Zapotskis are Polish Jews and they want to live the way they did in the old country while Jan and Rita just want to be an ordinary English married couple. They’re all really nice people and they all want what is best for each other but Rita is going slowly crazy and Jan is going noisily crazy. This story features some actual psychiatric stuff - word association, dream interpretation, group therapy sessions, etc. It’s also a rather light-hearted episode, at times almost farcical. It’s a good change of pace and it’s amusing and entertaining.

A Woman with Scars presents Dr Corder with a patient who is every psychiatrist’s nightmare - a woman who makes a false allegation against him. She’s an MP’s wife and she really is out to get him. Dr Corder’s problem is that obviously he wants to defend himself but he is more worried about her mental state. His unwillingness to take the gloves off in a court case could cost him his career. A tricky story to deal with since it involves sex but a good episode that tries to be nuanced.

Time-Check is wildly far-fetched but it is clever. It involves a burglar who only burgles houses with gables, and is obsessed with clocks. Especially clocks that don’t work. By now we’re discovering that Dr Corder is extraordinarily stubborn when he thinks a matter of professional ethics is involved, even if this means risking trouble with the police. A good episode.

The Two Edged Sword presents us with two different stories. The stories are unconnected but as both stories develop it gradually becomes apparent that there are a couple of very important common themes. There’s a married woman who wants to put her baby up for adoption, and another married woman who is afraid of something but she’s not quite sure what it is. In this episode for the first time we see Dr Corder using hypnosis. A fine episode which deals with differing kinds of anxieties and does so quite sensitively.

Over and Out involves a mystery that has to be solved. An experimental aircraft crashes on a test flight. At this stage there’s no certainty as to whether it was a mechanical failure or pilot error. The pilot survived but is delirious and has no memory of the crash. The aircraft company hires Dr Corder. They very much hope he will prove that the pilot was suffering from some kind of mental problem which caused the accident - If he doesn’t then the company may have to cancel the test program and may lose a huge contract. There’s evidence that might point to the pilot’s having deliberately crashed the aircraft but the evidence is ambiguous to say the least. As Dr Corder discovers new facts the whole affair becomes even murkier. The ending is melodramatic but very tense and the viewer has no idea what the actual solution to the puzzle is going to be. A very goos season finale episode.

Final Thoughts

The Human Jungle sometimes stretches credibility just a little but on the whole it’s fine human drama and very entertaining. It’s melodramatic, but in a good way, and Herbert Lom is terrific. Sally Smith adds a much-needed touch of lightness as his exuberant but devoted daughter Jennifer. Highly recommended.

The Plane Makers season 3 (1964-65)

The third season of ATV’s The Plane Makers went to air in late 1964. The opening credit sequence immediately alerts us to the fact that something has changed. Instead of seeing  a Sovereign airliner being prepared for flight testing we see what is very obviously a military aircraft undergoing the same process. But Scott-Furlong, the mythical aircraft manufacturer that is the subject of the series, only makes civil aircraft. What has John Wilder been up to?

John Wilder (played by Patrick Wymark) is the hard-driving charismatic managing director of Scott-Furlong. There are a number of things that make The Plane Makers one of the best British TV series of the 1960s but the chief among them is John Wilder. Wilder could easily have been a mere caricature of the ambitious ruthless businessman who crushes anyone who gets in his way. Wilder is however much more than a caricature. His ambition and his ruthlessness are certainly monstrous but he is a man of vision and he has courage. He has made Scott-Furlong a success by taking risks. Carefully calculated risks. It’s all very well being ethical and honourable but those things don’t do you much good if your company goes broke. John Wilder does not intend for any company he controls to go broke. He believes in winning. He believes in winning for himself but he has made his company a winner as well. The people who work for Scott-Furlong are very much aware that the reason they have their jobs is that Wilder has made the company a success in a difficult and competitive field. Wilder’s methods are not always pleasant but they work.

All of which suggests that this is a series with a bit of subtlety, rather than being merely about the evils of capitalism. It certainly takes a jaundiced view of the world of big business, and the unsavoury links between big business and politics, but there is some nuance. John Wilder takes the world as he finds it. He did not invent the game but he knows how it’s played. If he didn’t take the opportunities that were offered somebody else would. And although Wilder is entirely selfish and consumed by the desire for power but it’s not as if he’s ever pretended otherwise. He can be accused of many things but hypocrisy is not one of them.

Ann Firbank plays Wilder’s wife Pamela (a rôle played in earlier seasons by Barbara Murray). Their marriage is not exactly a close one but it’s useful to both of them. Being married goes him respectability, and it gives her a very comfortable lifestyle. They both take it for granted that the other has affairs which are of no great concern as long as they’re kept discreet, although human nature being what it is there are tensions and there are jealousies.

The first two seasons concentrated on intrigues within the business world. Now that Wilder is involved in the production of military aircraft the focus has shifted. Military aircraft production is all about politics. It makes no difference how good your aircraft is, success depends on political decisions. If you are to have a chance it is useful to own a few politicians. Fortunately politicians are not all that expensive to buy (they cost a good deal less than a VTOL fighter). The problem is that since politicians are available on the open market one’s rivals may own some of their own. And politicians require delicate handling since they’re of little use if they’re openly corrupt. One has to own a politician who can be relied upon to be discreetly corrupt.

While the business world as depicted as being characterised by back-stabbing and dubious ethics the series is especially scathing when it comes to bureaucrats and even more scathing when it comes to politicians. Even John Wilder, who is almost unshockable, is at times shocked by the cravenness and lack of ethics of the politicians. 

When politics comes into the picture journalism inevitably follows. Journalists of course are cheaper to buy than politicians, but are even trickier to handle. When the journalist is young, female and beautiful the difficulties are increased. Especially if there’s some personal involvement, which has been known to happen between rich powerful men and ambitious beautiful women.

This was the final season of The Plane Makers but it was not the end. The story continues in the equally acclaimed follow-up series The Power Game which began airing at the end of 1965.

Episode Guide

Empires Have to Start Somewhere explains the new opening credits. Some of the production of Scott-Furlong’s successful Sovereign airliner is sub-contracted to the Ryan aircraft company but Ryan’s has been falling behind in deliveries. Since both Scott-Furlong and Ryan belong to the same group of companies it is of course unthinkable that the penalty clause in the sub-contract could be invoke but that’s exactly what John Wilder intends to do. He has his reasons. Ryan Airframes has been developing a new VTOL fighter for the R.A.F., the company’s managing director is old and ailing and the joint managing director, David Corbett, is a whizz-kid aircraft designer who knows nothing about business. It’s obvious to Wilder that the Ryan company needs to be run by someone who understands the business side of aviation. Someone like John Wilder. And that government contract for the VTOL fighter could be worth a lot of money.

Wilder has his plans to take control of Ryan Airframes and he puts them into operation with his usual shrewdness and ruthlessness.

John Wilder already has power within the aviation industry but he has larger ambitions, including political ambitions. Absorbing Ryan Airframes is the first step in the creation of a business empire.

Other People Own Our Jungles Now introduces Wilder to James Cameron-Grant MP (Peter Jeffrey), a man who actually has fewer ethics than Wilder himself. Wilder wants to put the government in a position which will force them to give him that government contract for the VTOL fighter. But could Cameron-Grant be a man who can out-manoeuvre Wilder in both the political and sexual spheres? Both men have an interest in a certain Laura Challis, a journalist now employed by the bank that controls both Scott-Furlong and Ryan. Laura is young and pretty and she has a taste for powerful men.

A Lesson for Corbett sees David Corbett trying to flex his muscles. He’s still managing director of Ryan Airframes but John Wilder is now overall managing director of both companies. Corbett wants to assert his independence. Corbett wants another year of testing before the VTOL fighter goes into production and he doesn’t want Wilder to get the glory of obtaining a production contract. Corbett is trying to play the sort of political power game that Wilder plays so well but does he have the ability to play in John Wilder’s league?

Both national and international politics start to intrude more openly in The Golden Silence. The French have obtained, from perhaps slightly irregular sources, some interesting information on the British VTOL fighter. And they have come up with a startling proposal, which has been leaked to the Press. The difficulty for the British politicians is that they now have to be seen to be acting in the national interest while of course their only concerns are party politics and their own personal interests. Sir Gordon Revidge, chairman of the bank which controls both Scott-Furlong and Ryan, is playing a political game as well but his objective, as always, is to destroy John Wilder (Wilder being from his point of view a most dangerous rival). And Laura Challis, ostensibly working for Sir Gordon, is playing her own games as well.

In The Island Game the feud between John Wilder and David Corbett is hotting up. There’s a problem with the VTOL fighter which may be trivial but that won’t stop Corbett from using it. By now Corbett seems more obsessed with his power struggle with Wilder than with anything else. Chief test pilot Henry Forbes (Robert Urquhart), works manager Arthur Sugden (Reginald Marsh) and sales manager Don Henderson (Jack Watling) are having to learn to play the political game as well.

Laura Challis doesn’t need any lessons in such games and she’s in her element.

In It's a Free Country: Isn't It? Wilder comes up against the Security services and discovers that as soon as they are involved it is definitely not a free country. Even more disheartening, he discovers that when the secret police become involved almost everybody becomes a coward. An exceptionally good episode.

In A Question of Supply there are problems with the VTOL’s radar. And David Corbett comes face to face with the cowardice of civil servants and the moral corruption of politicians. Even John Wilder is easier to deal with than these people. In fact the cheerfully and shamelessly amoral Wilder is a paragon of moral virtue by comparison. Another good episode.

In The Flying Frigates it seems that John Wilder has finally gone too far. His enemies are closing in on him and they now have the means of destroying him. Or at least that’s what his enemies think. Perhaps they should be worried by the fact that he isn’t the least bit concerned. An excellent episode.

Cost overruns are causing problems in Only a Few Millions. Scott-Furlong will have to find a great deal of money very quickly but what matters is who finds the money. If Wilder finds it it strengthens his position, if Corbett and Sir Gordon Revidge find it it weakens Wilder’s position. The money matters, but prestige matters more since prestige means power. Another good episode.

In The Salesmen bureaucratic and political manoeuvring is pushing John Wilder into a corner, but that’s when he’s most dangerous. His attempt to sell the VTOL to the Australians is ruffling feathers and hose feathers are likely to be even more ruffled when Wilder is through. A good episode.

Appointment in Brussels is an odd episode, at times almost whimsical. Wilder plans to take his wife to Brussels where he has a meeting arranged. He never ever takes his wife on business trips. Sir Gordon Revidge insists that Laura Challis should go along, and Wilder thereupon decides not to take his wife after all. It sounds like a setup for a dirty weekend but although there’s plenty of sexual and even romantic tension what transpires is rather different. Laura certainly sees a different side of John Wilder, one she’d never suspected. While Laura is enjoying herself flirting she’s also trying to find out what that meeting in Brussels is all about, and that’s another of this episode’s surprises. A very untypical but very good episode.

A Hoopla of Haloes sees Corbett once again plotting while Wilder is away. The crucial question is where Wilder is and why he has suddenly dropped out of sight. Corbett has his theories and senses an opportunity. Another episode that reveals hitherto unsuspected sides of John Wilder’s personality, and another fine episode.

The Firing Line provides an unexpected but fitting ending to the series and one that neatly sets up the successor series The Power Game. John Wilder really is full of surprises, as we will see when he and Corbett have their final showdown.

Final Thoughts

The Plane Makers tackles political, sociological and psychological themes with a high degree of subtlety. The characters are complex are fascinating. The obvious comparison is to another of the great British TV series of the 60s, The Troubleshooters (which started life in 1965 as Mogul).

The Plane Makers is intelligent television and it’s also very entertaining. The third season is highly recommended (and if this series sounds like your thing then grab the complete series boxed set). 

The Plane Makers, season two part two (1963-64)

The Plane Makers is a highly acclaimed 1963-1965 British ATV series chronicling the fortune of the Scott-Furlong aircraft company and its brilliant, charismatic, single-minded and ruthless managing director John Wilder (Patrick Wymark).

The initial DVD release from Network, which I reviewed some time ago, included the sole surviving first season episode plus the first half of season two (all of seasons two and three have survived).

John Wilder is still in control at Scott-Furlong, still under siege by his enemies and still displaying his uncanny ability to take insane risks and get away with them.

The Plane Makers is sometimes described as a boardroom drama but that’s a bit misleading. It’s a series that focuses not just on the activities of management but also on the goings on on the shop floor, and the devious activities of bureaucrats, bankers, politicians and union officials. And it’s surprisingly even-handed. The representatives of the working class are short-sighted and selfish, but then so are the representatives of the ruling class. Workers, managers, capitalists, union men and civil servants are all the same. A handful are visionaries. Most are blinkered and stupid. A handful are courageous. Most are timid if not overtly cowardly. A few are genuinely dedicated; most are self-serving. This was Britain in the 60s. Getting anything done was just about impossible. No-one wanted to take any responsibility, no-one wanted to take any risks, no-one wanted to look to the future.

John Wilder is ruthless, devious, unscrupulous, untrustworthy and thoroughly reprehensible but he gets things done. He is selfish but he is a visionary. He doesn’t care if people think he’s a nice guy, as long as they don’t get in his way. He is not however a villain. He is not a stereotyped evil capitalist. He intends to get to the top but he also intends to take the Scott-Furlong Aircraft Company to the top of the aviation industry and that’s going to benefit everybody who works for the company.

Patrick Wymark is able to make Wilder breathtakingly cynical and unscrupulous and still make him a heroic figure. You just can’t help hoping he wins. Although he’s a giant surrounded by pygmies in a perverse sort of way he’s the underdog - there isn’t anyone on whom he can truly depend except himself.

The second half of season two begins with How Do You Vote? and it’s the kind of boardroom battle (or boardroom bloodbath) at which John Wilder excels. Scott-Furlong need to sell forty-two of their new Sovereign short-haul jetliners. They’ve already had quite a few orders but Wilder wants to press ahead and build the whole forty-two right now, even without firm orders. His thinking is that this will give Scott-Furlong a major advantage over their French rivals - Scott-Furlong will be able to offer immediate delivery to future customers. It’s the kind of risky but bold thinking that has made Wilder a legend in the aviation industry but his board of directors is composed of men who are not noted for either boldness or risk-taking.

This episode perfectly illustrates the way Wilder’s mind works. He has risen far but he intends to rise much much further. To maintain his upward momentum it is essential that the Sovereign should be a spectacular success. A modest success or a partial success will not do. Therefore he intends to gamble that the aircraft will be a spectacular success. If his gamble fails he is lost but he doesn’t care. If you can’t reach the very top it’s better to crash and burn in the attempt than to play safe.

In One Out, All Out! John Wilder faces a crisis. His board of directors, and especially the chairman, are determined to cut him down to size and force him to do their bidding. They’re going to sabotage his plan to start immediate construction of twelve new Sovereigns. Scott-Furlong are also facing industrial problems with a major strike seeming like a virtual certainty, and that seems to be a result of another misjudgment by Wilder. John Wilder is on the ropes and is facing not just censure but the very real possibility of being sacked as managing director. Given all this the curious thing is that Wilder seems not only unconcerned, he actually seems to be very pleased with the way things are going.  Is it possible he’s going to be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat? Has he fatally over-reached himself or is he once again a step ahead of his enemies? And what of general manager Arthur Sugden, torn once again between his old union loyalties and his loyalty to Wilder. He seems to be caught between a rock and a hard place. And like Wilder he seems to be oddly unconcerned. There are some very devious power plays going on here, which is what this series is all about.

Loved He Not Honours More continues the power struggle between Wilder and Sir Gordon Revidge, the chairman of the board. He has his back to the wall but it’s unwise ever to assume that John Wilder is beaten.

A Bunch of Fives follows the mixed fortunes of a sales tour through southern Europe. Perhaps it should have been obvious that eight men and one woman was a dangerous mixture, especially if the woman is an attractive young widow. Sales manager Don Henderson has enough to worry about trying to sell aeroplanes without having to spend his time preventing the other men from killing each other over the young widow. An amusing little episode.

The Smiler is a young man with a bright future as a Scott-Furlong executive. The only problem is that he is perhaps too efficient and too keen. Too keen to know too much. Another good episode dealing with themes of loyalty, suspicion and professional jealousy.

A book on the history of the Scott-Furlong Aircraft Company puts the cat among the pigeons in the episode In the Book. General Works Manager Arthur Sugden is incensed by the chapter dealing with one of Scott-Furlong’s more successful aircraft of the 1930s. It’s all a matter of who should get the credit for that particular long-ago project. It would be merely an interesting historical argument except for the fact that the brother of one of the major players at that time is now a potential customer. He wants his brother to get all the credit for that 1930s triumph, and if that doesn’t happen then the projected sale of five Sovereigns worth millions of pounds could be in doubt. This is an intriguingly different business drama but there is a serious point to it. Sugden wants to make a stand for the truth. Wilder would prefer to sacrifice the truth in order to sell those five aircraft. It’s an episode that shows the strength of this series - a slightly offbeat story that has a lot to say about the characters of the men involved.

Miss Geraldine owns land that Scott-Furlong needs for their ambitious projects for the future, and in the short term for an accelerated production schedule for the Sovereign. Persuading Miss Geraldine to sell is however quite a challenge. She is extremely wealthy so money is not going to induce her to sell. Various underlings have been assigned the task of persuading her to sell, with a conspicuous lack of success. Finally John Wilder decides to take the matter in  hand himself.

A Condition of Sale is what causes a crisis at the works. An Italian airline is prepared to place a firm order for for Sovereigns but they insist on a demonstration flight with the new Mark VII engines. Unfortunately there’s no way the new engines can be ready in time but somehow Arthur Sugden has to perform a miracle and make sure they are available. In the process Sugden learns the John Wilder method of doing business and loses a few illusions. An excellent character-driven episode.

A Paper Transaction continues the fight-to-the-death struggle between Wilder and chairman of the board Sir Gordon Revidge. Sir Gordon has forced one of his relatives, a certain J. Ashley Pender, upon Wilder as chief accountant, the man’s actually job being of course to spy on Wilder and undermine his position. Wilder comes up with a remarkably ingenious scheme to get rid of Pender but the scheme is more risky than Wilder suspects. While there’s the usual tense struggle for power this is also a very clever and amusing episode.

A Job for the Major causes headaches for Arthur Sugden. Major Crabbe has been brought into the form to do some reorganisation of the works. John Wilder has made it clear that the Major can’t be fired (having an ex-military man in a senior position impresses the Ministry of Defence and could help in lading military contracts). The headache is that is Sugden can’t get rid of him then the Major is going to end up triggering mass resignations of key personnel who cannot tolerate the military discipline on which the Major insists. What makes this episode interesting is that while the Major is his own worst enemy he’s not a fool and in his own way he’s a very decent fellow. His greatest strengths are at the same time his greatest weaknesses. And although the people with whom he clashes do have some reason for resenting him they’re not entirely blameless either.

"A Matter of Priorities” lands Wilder in trouble with women. Lots of women. Including his wife who wants a divorce, which is of course out of the question. His mistress is being unreasonable as well, and then there’s Mrs Rossiter, the wife of a brilliant young Scott-Furlong technician. Wilder has no interest in her, except as a way of preventing her husband from leaving the company, but she still causes him no end of trouble. Oddly enough his mother-in-law is the least trouble of all. But the big problem is his wife and the question is how high a price will he pay to keep her?

In "The Homecoming” Arthur Sugden is giving serious thought to his future and he has to confront some awkward questions of loyalty.

In "Sauce for the Goose” Wilder and his wife Pamela are in Paris. Wilder is busy trying to sell aeroplanes. Pamela is bored and she attracts the attentions of a young American gigolo. It’s her chance to get back at Wilder for his infidelities, but will she take it?

The final episode of the second season is How Can You Win If You Haven't Bought a Ticket? and it involves a power struggle between WIlder and Arthur Sugden. The odds are stacked very heavily against Sugden but he has no intention of going down without a fight. And he has a few surprising allies.

The Plane Makers achieves a perfect balance, focusing enough on the personal lives of the characters to make them three-dimensional but keeping enough emphasis on the professional side to avoid the danger of becoming a soap opera.

John Wilder is a marvellous creation, a man who is equally worthy of both admiration and contempt. This is the tycoon as hero, but as flawed hero. Flawed, sometimes appalling, but sometimes magnificent. Patrick Wymark is superb.

While Arthur Sugden is a very different type of character he’s just as complex and Reginald Marsh’s performance is just as impressive. Barbara Murray as Pamela Wilder and Robert Urquhart as the fussy but hyper-competent chief test pilot Henry Forbes are also exceptionally good.

The Plane Makers is a product of the “everything shot live in the studio” era of British television. At its worst this style can seem clunky and stilted but at its best it can achieve a degree of immediacy and drama that puts to shame the products of later and supposedly more sophisticated eras of television. The Plane Makers is an outstanding example of the style at its best, with everything depending on the writers and the actors.

The Plane Makers is intelligent provocative and rather subtle television. Very highly recommended.

My review of the first half of season two can be found here.