Make and Break (BBC-2 1987, Judi Dench, Robert Hardy)

Comedy drama Make and Break was about an overseas trade fair for a building components company (doors and louvres to be precise), company boss John Garrard is too caught up in trying to make a success of his business to realise that his long time secretary Mrs Rogers is carrying a major torch for him, once it is pointed out to him by a colleague he sets out to seduce her but a series of misunderstandings and misfires (even down to a suspected heart attack) conspires against it.

As is typical of Frayn’s work Make or Break packs in a huge amount of dialogue, much of it superb and really capturing the humdrum amongst the situation. The cast is of the first order too. Frayn’s play was original written for the stage, performed for the first time in 1980 with Leonard Rossiter in the lead.

production details
UK / BBC Two / 1×130 minute episode / Broadcast: 7 June 1987

Writer: Michael Frayn / Script Editor: Stuart Griffiths / Costumes: Odette Barrow / Production Design: David Myerscough-Jones / Producer: Shaun Sutton / Director: Michael Darlow

Series: Theatre Night Season 2 Episode 4

cast
ROBERT HARDY as John Garrard
JUDI DENCH as Mrs Rogers
FRANK WINDSOR as Ted Shaw
JON FINCH as Peter Davis
RONALD HINES as Tom Olley
STEFFANIE PITT as Anni
ANTHONY PEDLEY as Verhaeren
MARTIN JARVIS as Frank Prosser
AHMED EL-SHENAWI as Shariq
JOHN HUDSON as Colin Hewlett
ARNOLD LEE as Third Customer
DAVID GRAHAM as Dr Horvath
WOLF KAHLER as Doctor