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The Big Spender
BBC 1966
The Soft Bribe
TX : 5th December 1965

Publicity : The Big Spender - A new six-part thriller serial by Margot Bennett begins tonight: The trouble starts for Inspector Masefield when he is investigating what seems to be a routine safebreaking job at the Lamarck plastic company's office. First he makes a shattering discovery about a girlfriend, Polly. Then, when he gets involved in a colleague's robbery case, because of what he has learned about Polly he unwittingly finds himself supporting the crook's alibi. When the alibi is cracked, Masefield himself comes under suspicion - and on the face of it, his superiors have good cause for their drastic action. The second of a new season of BBC-2 thriller serials, The Big Spender, has been written by a specialist in television crime fiction, Margot Bennett, who has to her credit ten books, two film scripts and over forty television plays, including eight Maigret stories. Margot Bennett's wide range of acquaintances was helpful when researching for The Big Spender, since she has friends both in the police force and on "the other side". A cosmopolitan childhood of which only seven years were spent at school, the rest of the time hectically commuting between Scotland, Europe and Australia, may explain the wide canvas of this serial - which includes big-time gambling, Arab oil fortunes, and a bizarre gang of international bank raiders. In the production directed by Richard Martin, John Bown plays Tom Masefield, the detective whose career is suddenly threatened. Only he can clear himself. Somehow he must find out who is gunning for him, and why; but time is short … (Radio Times, December 2, 1965).

Notes : Episodes were originally transmitted 10:10pm to 10:35pm on BBC 2. The series was designed by John Hurst.

The Hard Sell
TX : 12th December 1965

Synopsis : Tom Masefield, suspended from police duty on charges of corruption and at odds with his fiancée Tessa over his friendship with a young girl, returns to his flat to find a stranger who offers him ten thousand pounds for a week's work.

The Front Man
TX : 19th December 1965

Synopsis : Tom Masefield, desperate to protect Tessa, stumbles on a lead to a gambling club. Lamarck's bank-raid gang, preparing an ingenious diversion for the police, receives a mysterious visitor.
The Green Table
TX : 26th December 1965
The Snatch
TX : 2nd January 1966

Synopsis : Tom Masefield now knows that Lamarck - alias Schraaft - has a sinister hold over Hamud Faizi. Trevor forces Masefield to use his police rank to deceive the manager of the bank.
The Twist
TX 9th January 1966

Synopsis : With two men already inside the bank, the Lamarck gang wait for their diversion to draw off the police. Armed with the facts about Hamud Faizi, Tessa has made a desperate bid for freedom.
Characters
Portrayed By
Spiro
Peter Hawkins
Guido
Parick O'Connell
Kassell
Carl Jafe
Max
Tony Caunter
Josef
Kenton Moor
Masefield
John Brown
Polly
Sheila Fearn
Carson
Iain Fairburn
Nicholls
Dallas Cavell
Barney Simms
Henry Manning
Chief Superintendent
Eric Longworth
Tessa
Suzanne Neve
Trevor
Philip Madoc
Whelk-Stall Owner
Gerald Taylor
Amphicar Driver
Mort Hall
Lamarck
Vladek Sheybal
Policeman
Leslie Wilkinson
Passer-By
Paul Bogdan
George
Malcolm Rogers
Mac
John Maxim
O'Neill
Declan Mulholland
Mrs Winters
Nancy Nevinson
Man
John Brittany
Woman
Adrienne Finch
Girl
Patricia Hope
Hamud Faizi
Ian Thompson
Ambulance Man
Peter Mason
Plasterers
Michael Earle and John Scott
Police Constable
John Quayle
Desk Clerk
Richard Cox
Croupier
John Slavid
Chemmy Players
Bart Allison, Antoinette Galletti, Annette Hunt
Holman
Edward Kelsey
Bank Manager
Kevin Manser
Miss Lindsay
Pamela Binns
Copley
Corin Redgrave
Brown
James Locker
Mr Stewart
Richard McNeff
Mr Frederick
Peter Evans
Taxi Driver
Douglas Milvain
Sheikh Selim Faizi
Christopher Carlos
Rolandson
David Charlesworth
Weston
Bruce Purchase
Girl In The Car
Faith Hines
Mr Rogers
Carl Bernard
Supervisor
Leonard Woodrow

 



The machinations of the "money men" have always been rich fodder for the likes of television scriptwriters, and Margot Bennett's The Big Spender was certainly no exception to this tried-and-true rule of thumb. The six-part thriller serial concerned the activities of Inspector Masefield (John Bown), who investigates an ambitious safe breaking job conducted at Lamarck Plastics. He is shocked to discover that his close female friend, Polly (Sheila Fearn), is indirectly involved in the crime - her brother is the leading suspect in the safe breaking gang. When he joins a colleague's investigation into a robbery at an international bank in central London - a crime that bears all the hallmarks of the same gang, he is forced to provide the prime suspect with an alibi for the sake of Polly. However, his efforts to cover up for the party responsible come unhinged, and suspicion soon falls on Masefield himself, with his colleagues suspecting his involvement in the crimes.

Suspended from duty and in an attempt to clear his name, he becomes embroiled with the high-rollers and "big spenders" at a local gambling club. His investigations into the links between the criminal gang, the Lamarck family and the gambling fraternity draw him into another bank raid, the results of which will make him reassess his relationship with his fiancée, Tessa (Suzanne Neve). A complicated plot with a variety of twists and turns, this production was par for the course in terms of the thriller serials which came before and followed this serial. Notable appearances from Philip Madoc, Vladek Sheybal and Corin Redgrave raised the profile of the programme, but since its original transmission (and subsequent repeat amongst a collection of the "best" serials in the late 1960s), the serial has disappeared into relative obscurity. The series was produced by Alan Bromly and directed by Richard Martin. The series was commercially exported but never realised in either DVD or VHS formats.
Text © Matthew Lee 2004.

The series was written and created by Margot Bennett, produced by Alan Bromly and directed by Richard Martin.