The Main Chance: First You Eat, Later We Ruin You (ITV 28 Sep 1970, Peter Jeffrey)

In First You Eat, Later We Ruin You David has the chance to make some really serious money. His latest client, Kenneth Manmer, property tycoon based in the Bahamas wants to invest £600,000 in a property investment deal. For a share of the profits and a directorship Main has to come up with an investor who is willing to invest a million pounds in the project.

It all sounds too good to be true and it may very well be. Manmer is not at all keen to reveal who is putting up the original 600,000 thousand. After discovering the money is as clean as he would like it to be David decides to back out of the deal and things get very murky indeed. Manmer then reveals that he has been planning the deal for a long time and has opened a secret bank account in Switzerland in David’s name and has been paying money into it.

On the personal front David, who has been sleeping in the office, returns to his empty house to pick up the mail and gets a phone call from Edie Semple, an old friend of Julia’s who very quickly makes it known that she always preferred David to Julia anyway. Edie, who wears a dreadfully obvious wig throughout, has a short lived fling with David.

There are a couple of top guest appearances, one from Peter Jeffrey as the dodgy Manmer and Bernard Hepton as a sinister tax man (but possibly secret service) out to get him.

Henry isn’t in the episode. Margaret is but may as well not be as she is given nothing to do.

production details
UK / ITV – Yorkshire / 1×50 minute episode / Broadcast Monday 28 September 1970 at 8.30pm

Writer: David Weir / Production Design: Ton Carter / Director: John Frankau

Series: The Main Chance Season 2 Episode 3

cast
John Stride as David Main
Anna Palk as Sarah Courtney
Margaret Ashcroft as Margaret Castleton
Georgina Ward as Edie Semple
Peter Jeffrey as Kenneth Manmer
Valerie Sarruf as Meriel Manmer
David Hutcheson as Sir George More-Litton
Vladek Sheybal as Otto Zobel
Bernard Hepton as Bridges
Tom Kempinski as Doran
Kathleen St John as Lily