Special Branch: The Pleasure of Your Company (ITV 16 Sep 1970, with Bruce Boa)

In The Pleasure of Your Company the C.I.A. have a new man in town, Ed Potter, who will be replacing their old London man Lester Swift. Inman and Swift have a decent working relationship but Inman is unsure about Potter.

Meanwhile there is a shock in store for Jordan when Christine Morris (or whatever her actual Russian name is) turns up again in London. The last time they met they spent the night together and almost ruined Jordan’s career in the process. Morris is in the country as the wife of high ranking Russian official Anatoli Golovin who is negotiating an important trade deal with the UK.

Jordan already has a black mark over him over his dealings with Christine (something that is made plain at the start of the episode when Inman gives him his annual performance report) but Moxon wants him to be Golovin’s SB liason whilst he is in London. Events get murkier when Morris is seen having clandestine meetings with CIA man Potter.

The reality is that Russia are playing games with the USA and Special Branch are caught in the middle. They want Potter gone over a previous tangle they had with him in Vienna.

Bruce Boa plays Lester Swift. Boa, a bit like Ed Bishop was the go to man in the 1970’s and 1980’s if a production needed an American accent.

production details
UK / ITV – Thames / 1×50 minute episode / Broadcast Wednesday 16 September 1970 at 9.00pm

Writer: George Markstein / Production Design: Colin Andrews / Director: William G. Stewart

Series: Special Branch Season 2 Episode 6

cast
Derren Nesbitt as Jordan
Fulton Mackay as Inman
Morris Perry as Moxon
Bruce Boa as Lester Swift
Daniel Moynihan as Ed Potter
Sandra Bryant as Christine Morris
Colin Cunningham as The Carver
Bill Horsley as Shoe salesman
Lane Meddick as Hall Porter
Denis de Marne as Plainclothes man
Peter Arne as Anatoli Golovin
Derek Murcott as U.S. Air Force colonel