In To Pay Paul elderly Peter Taylor, a retired railway clerk, has given away his life savings of £300 to Phyllis Sturt. She has been stringing him along claiming to be widowed and with a son in a sanatorium.
As Gamble and Hicks look into the matter it’s clear that although she has been lying to old Taylor she is very much out of her depth too. She has borrowed a lot of money to pay for her house from driving instructor/loan shark Paul Wylie and he is now demanding excessive interest. Hicks discovers that there are several other women Wylie has loaned money to. Tragically one of them, widowed schoolteacher Mrs Hill, kills herself over the business.
Dandy Nichols of Till Death Us Do Part fame had a plum role as Phyllis’ mother, speaking in the TV Times about the possibility of being typecast she said “I don’t mind if I play this sort of part for the rest of my life.” Meanwhile Arthur Brough, who plays Mr Taylor, is best known for his long running role in Are You Being Served.
production details
UK / ITV – ATV / 1×50 minute episode / Broadcast Saturday 3 October 1970 at 9.00pm
Writer: Alun Falconer / Production Design: Anthony Waller / Director: Paul Annett
Series: Fraud Squad Season 2 Episode 3
cast
Patrick O’Connell as Gamble
Joanna Van Gyseghem as Vicky Hicks
Ralph Nossek as Proud
Dandy Nichols as Mrs Brody
Arthur Brough as Peter Taylor
Dilys Laye as Phyllis Sturt
Robert Russell as Arthur Sturt
Trisha Noble as Liz Paterson
Richard Gale as Paul Wylie
Piers Rogers as Policeman
Hilary Mason as Mrs Hill