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THE
TROUBLESHOOTERS
SERIES OVERVIEW
©
Matthew Lee, 2003. |
Mogul had
essentially set the platform for the seasons which were to follow. Across thirteen
episodes, the programme had portrayed the exciting world of oilmen set against
a background of corporate back-biting and the desire to make Mogul Oil
an international success. The primary cast of Geoffrey Keen (Brian Stead),
Ray Barrett (Peter Thornton) and Philip Latham (Willy Izard) were
potent and strong in their performances, yet their characters were mere caricatures
and lacked any substance (though Stead's character was gradually attaining flesh,
and Thornton's determined personality had started to emerge). The Troubleshooters
premiered in April 1966 as a re-titled continuation of the same serial, but substantial
changes had been put into effect which would enhance and consolidate the dramatic
drive of the programme and thus ensure its success for another six series.
 | Two
important storylines had emerged from the first series: the delicate nature of
Brian Stead's health, and the delicate threads which held Peter Thornton's marriage
together. The former would form a crucial basis for the entire series, whilst
the latter would form the feed line from which the extended twenty-six episode
season would grow. Thornton had grown increasingly detached from his wife across
the course of Mogul, as he was deloyed as a troubleshooting weapon by Stead
to stem crises across the world and ensure the corporation's profitability. His
wife, having grown tired of his prolonged absences and holding Mogul responsible
for the deterioration of the marriage, sought solace in the arms of another man
and, as The Troubleshooters opened, Thornton was faced with his wife's
affair with a professional diver. Unable to extricate himself from Mogul's
expanded operations in the Caribbean, he chose professional loyalty over a last-ditch
effort to save his marriage and was left with the consequences of what he would
later consider an ill-advised choice. Brian Stead, having so triumphantly recovered
from a heart attack to once again wrestle for control of Mogul Oil,
was immediately faced with the prospect of a young, dynamic rival in the shape
of Alec Stewart, a man as equally ruthless as himself and with a keen eye on the
main chance. Determined to maintain his position of power, Stead - across the
course of the twenty-six episodes - sent Stewart on overseas missions to test
the mettle of the pretender to his crown, and was sorely disappointed when Stewart
emerged victorious. |
The theme of the power struggle between these two men would prove slow-burning
throughout the duration of the series, and would culminate in a final confrontation
in at the end of the final season. The best episodes during the first twenty-six
episodes of The Troubleshooters were When You Gotta Go, Do Your Best
For The Lads (which prompted a sequel in the following season, A Damn Great
Lump Of Iron), Happy Landings and No Such Thing As Luck. Peter
Graham Scott established a theme at the end of the first series which would
not only be recurrent throughout, but would also influence other programmes: the
series would conclude on a cliffhanger which would remain unresolved until the
new season premiered. At the end of the first twenty-six episode run, Mogul
is endeavouring to strike oil in the North Sea. Alec Stewart and Peter Thornton
are sent to expedite the process, with Brian Stead anxiously coordinating affairs
from the London Heaquarters as they endeavour to stave off their rivals and make
the first strike. The season concluded with Stead awaiting word of the success
of Mogul's efforts, and when The Troubleshooters returned to air
three months later, Mogul had successfully made the strike, but hazardous
weather conditions were threatening the corporations new-found prosperity. However,
Stead's attention was drawn to a vacant seat on the board of directors, and the
presence of his son at Mogul Oil saw Thornton believe his own position
and capacity to rise within the firm seriously threatened.
| The
third season saw the focus of the series shift from merely oil exploitation to
a serious power struggle and ultimate showdown between two of the corporation's
most determined men: Brian Stead and Alec Stewart. Over the course of thirteen
episodes, Stewart would be seen to succeed one week (and be the flavour of the
month with the Mogul board), and then spectacularly fail the next (and
be on the verge of leaving the company in disgrace). Stead was portrayed as steadily
gaining the upper hand in their struggle, but at the cost of his health. The series
culminated in a classic piece of drama delivered by David Weir. There's
Always A Next Time, an appropriate epitaph for the end of a long and often
bitter battle to the top, saw Stead and Stewart pitted against each other for
the final time. Stead, having endured his second heart attack of the series, was
struggling to maintain his grip on power whilst Stewart shored up support for
a vote of no confidence. His successful exploitation of North Sea gas and assistance
with the acquisition of a German rival corporation put him in favour with the
board, he claims Stead is "past it" and should be retired, but Stead
rallied support and rapidly recovered to retain his mantle as Managing Director.
Unable to work along Stead, Stewart accepted a post in New York, cleared his desk
and seemingly disappeared from the limelight. Weir would return to script a sequel
to this storyline, Thanks For Nothing, in the following season, in which
an embittered Stewart would reflect upon his first defeat at the hands of Brian
Stead and decide to pursue the Managing Directorship once again. |  |
Notable
episodes from season three include Home And Dry and John Elliot's
Think Big. This particular season was much more elaborate than its counterparts,
with Mogul's worldwide expansion involving the creation of supertankers,
acquisitions and mergers all reflecting the corporatised nature of the central
premise. However, the prevalent theme throughout was the cost of success in the
corporate world: the deterioration of one's health (Stead), one's marriage (Thorton),
one's loved one's health (Izard) and the lives of those around oneself (Stewart).
This season in particular delivered a perfectly balanced measure of both, much
to the credit of the writers responsible. The fourth season opened spectacularly
in October 1967 with Dragon By The Tail, with Anthony Read (heir
apparent to Peter Graham Scott, who announced he would leave the programme
at the end of that series) scripting the story of Thornton's attempts to help
a top oil scientist escape from China to work for Mogul Oil. This season
would, as never before, inject a wonderfully international flair to the programme,
with episodes set in China, the Sahara, Saudi Arabia, The Sudan, New York, Morocco,
Bihar, Iraq, Singapore, Africa, Scotland, Venezuela, Russia and Thailand. The
stories themselves were as rich and varied as their locales: power-boat racing
(shades of Howards' Way), political intrigue, the white slave trade and
leaked confidential secrets amongst the most notable. The season also saw the
emergence of Mogul Oil's strongest rival corporation - Zenith. The
introduction of this rival would enable Brian Stead to become less of a boardroom
leader and more pro-active in his attempts to stave off Zenith's corporate
gains at Mogul's expense through risky operations and a determination to
strike oil first. The series saw Peter Thornton brush with death of numerous occasions
as Stead pushed his supporting staff to their very limits, the reopening of old
wounds for Stead in the Middle East and the marking of territory between himself
and Stewart as the latter was accepted back into the fold. The season culminated
in Mogul coming under threat from a senior Cabinet Minister, and Stewart
and Stead having to put their personal differences and attempts to rally board
support against one another to one side to jointly fight against a much larger
threat to the corporation.
| Season
Four concluded with the outcome of their joint efforts uncertain, but the hostilities
between the two firmly simmering. Notable episodes during this run of twenty-six
programmes were Mr Know-How, Thanks For Nothing and The Day The Sea
Caught Fire. The fourth season is also notable for the introduction of Isobel
Black as Eileen O'Rourke, Mogul's feisty Scottish Public Relations
Officer. Whilst female supporting characters were nothing out of the ordinary
for The Troubleshooters, the casting of Isobel Black in a role which
featured a determined young woman with her own opinions and ways of conducting
business enabled the writing team to actively employ this character in the seemingly
male-dominated world of oil was inspired (and perhaps advanced the cause of female
emancipation that little bit further, though by no means as far as Diana Rigg
propelled the cause as Emma Peel in The Avengers). |  |
Returning
in January 1969 under the production stewardship of Anthony Read, The
Troubleshooters opened its fifth series with A Dirty Old Man And A Rare
Bird by David Weir. Whilst Mogul Oil has emerged from a potential
political scandal, there are stormy waters ahead as their greatest rival, Zenith,
announces plans to execute a merger with Mogul as soon as possible. For
Brian Stead, Peter Thornton and Willy Izard, this implies that a changing of the
guard in the boardroom may soon transpire, and the fight is on not only for their
own survival but the survival of the corporation itself. This opening episode
introduced two recurring characters to the programme: Zenith Troubleshooter
Bill Douglas (portrayed by Bruce Boa) and Zenith President Harry
Mayne (Bernard Hepton). Dora Reisser reprised her occasional role
as Mrs Ghislaine Foss (the wife of Mogul's founder), this time playing
a pivotal role in the unfolding events at Mogul Oil. Over the course of
seventeen episodes, the power struggle and attempts to seize control of Mrs Foss'
Mogul vital shares was played out against a backdrop of intrigue and mistrust
both within and outside of the corporation. Brian Stead became increasingly frustrated
as his endeavours to ensure Mogul's increased profitability and expansion
were blocked by Zenith's attempts to destabilize both his power base and
the trust he was afforded by the board. Takeover bids, internal fraud investigations,
diplomatic incidents, striking employees, corruption, bribery, and indigenous
opposition to drilling operations were but some of the hurdles Mogul encountered
en route to the crucial board meeting in New York which would decide the future
of one of the two rival corporations.
| Really.
She Did, She Really Did by David Weir saw the endgame in this power
struggle, with Mogul narrowly emerging victorious. Midway through this
power struggle, the series delivered one of its most powerful episodes in They've
More Than Their Assets Frozen by long-term Troubleshooters writer,
John Lucarotti, in a story which was to sew the seeds for a strong trilogy
featuring Peter Thornton. The episode itself demonstrated Brian Stead's ruthless
capacity to exploit his workers for the Mogul cause. Sending Thornton into
the Arctic to investigate possible oil concessions, the corporation's most successful
troubleshooter nearly froze to death before successfully turning the situation
to Mogul's advantage - Stead greeted the success with his customary disdain
and issued Thornton with fresh orders soon thereafter. Pushed to his limits, this
was the first time that Peter Thornton wondered if it was time to get out of the
oil business altogether. The film work undertaken for this episode was exquisite,
and earned the programme-makers considerable industry esteem.
Following
Mogul's successful recovery in New York, the remaining nine episodes of the
series engaged in profound character development for the primary three performers.
Alec Stewart, arrested as a spy in Algeria, expects Mogul to bail him out
and, whilst the corporation eventually does, he is not entirely regarded as sound
thereafter, and he knows that the support he once expected from his colleagues
no longer exists. Brian Stead returns to Berlin for the first time since 1945
where Mogul are drilling for natural gas, and is faced with the resurrection
of an incident which happened just prior to his departure in an attempt to discredit
him. He finds little or no support from his colleagues, and his ruthless and ambitious
ways have resulted in few, if any, friends.
John Lucarotti delivered
arguably the best three episodes the programme was able to deliver in the shape
of And One Wise Man Came Out From The East, Let's All Drop Out Together
and She'll Be Right Mate. When Stead orders Thornton to travel directly
from Alaska to Western Australia to salvage a deal, Thornton accepts out of loyalty
to the corporation - loyalty which is sorely tested when he is lost in the outback.
On the verge of death, Thornton re-evaluates his life. Mogul Oil cost him
his marriage, countless relationships, the work has nearly killed him on numerous
occasions and for what? Certainly not the coveted position on the board he has
sought in the early days at Mogul. When he is eventually found and nursed
back to health, he resigns from the corporation and hastily distances himself
from the oil industry. Stead's characteristic reaction of "Peter Thornton
not interested in oil? That's like Lawrence Olivier saying the theatre's
a bore" underlines his inability to accept he was the root cause of the very
situation he now seeks to resolve, and sending Willy Izard to Fiji to lure Thornton
back to Mogul is his idea of a solution. However, the peace of Fiji and
the company of a beautiful woman are not enough to keep the firm's expert troubleshooter
away from oil for long, and in the final episode of the trilogy, Thornton returns
to Mogul and agrees to do Stead's bidding, providing there is a confirmed
seat for him on the board. Plunged into a row between the New Zealand Government
and Mogul over the transfer of a drilling rig to Indonesia, Thornton has
to quell a near-rebellion from local workers, lead by his close friend Ed Ahu
Riri (played by Maori opera star Inia Te Wiata). The next two episodes
saw Thornton coming into conflict with an old friend and Ceylon Mogul Manager
who is disinterested in securing a lucrative contract for the company and whom
Stead sends Thornton to dismiss, and he was taken prisoner on in the Caribbean
whilst endeavouring to procure drilling rights on an island. The final two episodes,
They Call Me Israel and Over The Hill, written by David Weir
and John Elliot, respectively, drew the series to a dramatic conclusion.
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The first episode portrayed a disillusioned Alec Stewart holidaying in Israel,
and coming face-to-face with the delicate and diplomatic means by which big business
must be handled in the war-torn state, whilst the final episode was summed up
in its title. Brian Stead, his health failing and his grip on power slipping once
again, appears to be on the verge of being forced from the board. Struggling to
keep his position, in a fit of pique he fires Peter Thornton for refusing to pursue
another extraordinary mission. Shortly thereafter, he suffers a heart attack and
his life hangs in the balance. Alec Stewart capitalizes on the situation and makes
a bid for the managing directorship, whilst Willy Izard is determined to leave
Mogul Oil if Stead is forced to resign. The entire episode is set in and
around Mogul International's London Headquarters, and is the only story
to feature no supporting cast or guest stars. The story itself is pervaded by
the theme that after all the battles have been fought, the victories won and the
casualties counted, was the war really worth fighting at the cost of their own
souls? The season concluded on a cliffhanger, with all of these questions unanswered
as viewers were left on tenterhooks for ten months before the programme would
resume in May 1970.
| Series
6, the first in colour, saw The Troubleshooters return as potent as ever
before. Alec Stewart, defeated in his bid to become Managing Director, has taken
enforced exile to the Caribbean as offered by the now fully-recovered Stead to
distance himself from his rival. Thornton has been restored to Mogul as
the corporations troubleshooter-in-chief, whilst Stead has appointed Willy Izard
as his right-hand-man to ensure he has a friend to protect him from further attack
(Stead now recognizes his own mortality and believes he could not withstand another
challenge to his leadership). As a back-to-basics reworking of the series, the
programme shifted focus from the boardroom and bedroom machinations to the purely
lucrative wheeler-dealer activities which would secure Mogul International's
future prosperity. Willy Izard performed a more active role in this season, venturing
from Mogul's headquarters to become involved in the securing of deals worldwide,
though his personal life was to become strained as a result. Peter Thornton was
often deployed to quell unrest at the various Mogul rigs and stations,
ranging from Africa to South America and the Sudan. Mogul entered into
the world of the providence of fuel for Concorde (which was almost stymied by
industrial action in France) and submarine tankers for the mass transportation
of oil. Alec Stewart returned for one episode, A Truly Exotic Development,
in which Stead sent Thornton to deal with sabotage on a Caribbean rig and to covertly
investigate if Stewart was involved as a means of exacting revenge against him
for his thwarted coup attempt. The season drew to a close in September 1970 after
seventeen episodes with a highly dramatic storyline in Injury To The Nation,
deftly-scripted by John Elliot. The story saw Willy Izard and Peter Thornton
held on trial after state secrets are leaked to a foreign power. The Ministry
of Defence deems that only Mogul International could have leaked the information,
and the future of all three men hangs in the balance. |
Anthony
Read announced that the seventh season of The Troubleshooters would
be the last prior to its premiere in September 1971 with a two-part story entitled
Pig In The Sea. This final series saw the introduction of James Langley
as the Deputy Chairman of Mogul International, a more powerful rival for
Brian Stead to face (having finally relegated Alec Stewart to the Caribbean),
but also a more reasonable man who could calculate the human cost of Stead's ruthless
business plans and block them when he considered the outcome not to be in the
best interests of the corporation. The power struggle between the two board members
had a direct impact on Peter Thornton and Willy Izard, who were pushed to far
greater extremes than ever before as the right hand fought the left for the most
profitable and reasonable ends. Thornton favoured Langley's more liberal mode
of business acumen, whilst Izard, so closely allied to Stead for so long, is torn
between loyally supporting an old friend and tending to his dangerously ill wife.
The season still boasted international flair and colour, travelling
from Scandinavia to Australia, from the Bay of Biscay to New Zealand, and amidst
the power struggle Mogul has to tackle such obstacles as rescuing a stricken
supertanker and an expansion into chemical engineering. The entire series sustained
the theme of the corporate world versus the demands of familial life, with Izard
in particular forced to make harsh decisions about his future. John Elliot scripted
the final episode, Whatever Became Of The Year 2000?, in which Brian Stead
is forced by James Langley to make the hardest decision of his life - to hand
over the reigns of power to a successor. An obsolete dinosaur in a world in which
the interests of indigenous people must be taken into account before operations
can proceed, Stead is determined to fight on and prove that his ways and means
of conducting business are ultimately the right way for Mogul International.
However, Langley provides him with no option and he is forced to find a moderate
man to succeed him. |  |
Since
the conclusion of the programme, there have been only two attempts to recapture
the public's imagination in the lucrative oil industry: Oil Strike North
and Roughnecks, both BBC Television productions. The former, hailed by
the Radio Times as a series portraying the hardships involved for the people drilling
for oil, featured Nigel Davenport as Operations Manager Jim Fraser and
was the brainchild of Gerard Glaister and N J Crisp. Glaister
was at great pains to distance himself from The Troubleshooters and cited
the programme bore more similarity to Colditz than John Elliot's
effort, but unlike that hugely popular transatlantic effort, the series failed
to capture the public's imagination (coming a mere three years after the demise
of its highly-regarded predecessor). Roughnecks, a First Choice Productions
drama serial by Kieran Prendiville (Ballykissangel, Badger), was
hailed by The Times on the merits of its opening title sequence: "As soon
as the opening titles roll up, with a soapy theme tune and shots of the leading
actors looking nice and human, you know where you are, or at least where the programme
wants to put you" (The Times, June 16, 1994). The series portrayed the trials
and tribulations of the crew of Osprey Explorer, a North Sea oil rig. Where
The Troubleshooters had featured boardroom battles, the harsh life of field
agents and the bedroom solace they sought, Roughnecks was basically a soap
opera with an oil rig setting. The cast, lead by Teresa Banham as Tessa,
Colum Convey as Ceefax and Paul Copley as Ian, failed to draw the
series above mediocre, and it was only via the pedigree of Prendiville's
name associated with the production that a second series premiered in November
1995. The series was not the ratings-buster that BBC Television had desired, and
the series was put to rest after an eighty-minute pilot episode and twelve-fifty
minute stories. Both productions were short-lived (the latter at least achieving
a second series), and failed to capture the public imagination despite a promising
premise.
 | It
was Gerard Glaister and Allan Prior's Howards' Way (which
premiered on BBC-1 in 1985, midway between the two) which would prove to be the
natural successor to The Troubleshooters in terms of style and ratings
appeal. Boardroom battles and bedroom dalliances were order of the day throughout
the majority of the series, and Howards' Way utilized these themes to considerable
effect. The glamour of the world of oilmen would be replaced by the glamour of
the fashion industry and boat building, but the central premise of powerful corporations
(in this instance, two companies, Frere Holdings and Relton Marine), often tested
by lowly competitors (Ken Masters' Leisure Cruise), vying for control of powerboat
designs and lucrative business deals, whilst Jan Howard would establish the House
Of Howard fashion label in Tarrant (as Alec Stewart's wife nearly achieved in
her boutique in Chelsea, but succeeded in achieving whilst in the Caribbean),
all set against the backdrop of romantic entanglements which would directly impact
the success and profitability of the corporations so portrayed. It is a grandiose
claim, as the series is now regarded as something as a cheap soap opera rather
than a programme with genuine dramatic capabilities, yet there can be no mistaking
the similarities between the two productions.
John Elliot bestowed
upon British Television a legacy which has long-since been honed and tweaked to
provide audiences with gripping, addictive and highly-entertaining programmes.
Mogul, and then The Troubleshooters, drew the nation into a world
of high-powered oilmen in the boardroom, the bedroom, out in the field and in
the most politically-sensitive of situations. The foresight of the script writers,
often predicting events before they transpired in reality, further consolidated
the programme's position and underlined Elliot's credentials as a brilliant
creative mind. His abilities as a documentary-maker, often derided by Elliot
himself, proved to be an important part in the heart and soul of the programme,
which was often cited as a documentary-drama-stylised production which had one
foot firmly planted in reality whilst entertaining the masses with soap trimmings.
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The programme was commercially exploited in over sixty countries worldwide, but
VHS and DVD releases for the programme have been non-existent. Whilst the entire
programme does not remain in the BBC Archives, episodes from this series which
do still exist should be released as a reflection of BBC Television's occasional
capacity to meet ITV head-on in programming and content - and succeed beyond its
wildest dreams.
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Production
Notes /