UK / BBC One / 1×60 minute episode / Broadcast 29 February 1976
Writer: Eric Paice / Production Design: Myles Lang / Director: Timothy Combe
Series: The Brothers / Season 6 Episode 6
“Could we have some order please before this develops into the usual chimp’s tea party.”
In Tender there is some major business dealing to be done when one of Hammond’s rivals collapses and goes into liquidation giving Hammond Transport the opportunity (thanks to some quick thinking from Jennifer) to greatly expanding by going into the oil rig transportation business. This would be a major undertaking and would require lots of new machinery and trucks but the contract itself is worth at least two million pounds a year.
Meanwhile Don is in the doldrums having had his flying licence suspended and is forced to make the hardest decision of his life by leaving Jane behind once and for all. David is back from France having dealt with the IOU issue on his own terms.
After the lacklustre previous episode Eric Paice, one of the best writers on the series, is firing on all cylinders here. There are lots of big business moments but lots of small scale too, a strong moment between Brian and Jane Maxwell which goes a long way to explaining Brian new relaxed state of mind in which Brian says “money isn’t wealth, nobody makes money except a mint. All the rest of us do is push it around a bit trying to make sure that we get a little bit more than the next man. Wealth is enriching. Money is debillitating and leads to a sense of personal isolation.”
guest cast
CLIVE SWIFT as Trevelyan
