Special Branch: Care of Her Majesty (ITV 3 Dec 1969, with Hilary Dwyer)

In Care of her Majesty Jordan is sent to a British Embassy in Eastern Europe to investigate the theft of £10,000 from the Embassy strongroom. He catches the Ambassador and his team by surprise by arriving a day early. Prime suspect would, on the surface, seem to be the commercial attache Ansell, who on a trip to the UK went via Switzerland and is believed to have banked a large sum of money.

Ansell though has actually been taking bribes to ensure building developments go to the “right” people and it turns the robbery is just a cover to find out who is giving information to the other side.

A departure from the norm type of episode, Jordan, Inman and Moxon are the only series regulars. Not that the episode really ventured abroad of course and only briefly ventured outside the confines of the studio.

It was a busy week for Hilary Dwyer, on Saturday evening she also appeared in ITV play The Comic. She’s very good here as the teasing Sarah Landring who very quickly catches Jordan’s eye but may just know more than she is letting on.

Robert Banks Stewart who wrote this episode was also responsible for  a couple of classic crime drama series in Shoestring and Bergerac.

production details
UK / ITV – Thames / 1×50 minute episode / Broadcast Wednesday 3 December 1969 at 9.10pm

Writer: Robert Banks Stewart / Production Design: Roger Allan / Director: Jonathan Alwyn

Series: Special Branch Season 1 Episode 12

cast
Derren Nesbitt as Jordan
John Franklyn-Robbins as Reddon
Hilary Dwyer as Sarah Landring
Robert Mill as Stroud
Geoffrey Lumsden as Sir Pearce Challis
Lindsay Campbell as Colonel Dysart
Donal Cox as Corporal Doyle
Angela East as Cellist
Michael Reeves as Painist
Anthony Dawes as Warmby
Daniel Moynihan as King
John Bryans as Ansell
Fulton Mackay as Inman
Morris Perry as Moxon