The Main Chance: Acting For Self (ITV 21 June 1972)

In Acting For Self David gets something of a crisis of conscience when Sandy McGoggie is cheated out the house that he wants to buy on a new build housing estate. He is forced to pay extra for a different house on the same estate and then the developer puts the price up by five hundred pounds – money McGoggie just doesn’t have. Main doesn’t like the fact that the developer Buckley is trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes with his pricing and genuinely feels sorry that McGoggie, who has a wife and child and another on the way, is simply trying to secure a future for his family.

A strong episode set in the Leeds office. David’s dealings with the McGoggies also serving to make him realise what he is missing in living the single life.

One of the real strong plus points of The Main Chance is the calibre of guest stars it brings in, this episode for example features David Saville as the dodgy developer Buckley, Patrick Troughton as a fellow developer and a young Bob Hoskins as a workman. There is also a role for Maev Alexander who plays the Castleton’s secretary here and is perhaps best known for her role as Christine Russell on BBC-1 drama series Sutherland’s Law.

production details
UK / ITV – Yorkshire / 1×50 minute episode / Broadcast Wednesday 21 June 1972

Writer: Ray Jenkins / Production Design: Vic Symonds / Director: Marc Miller

The Main Chance Season 3 Episode 3

cast
John Stride as David Main
Estelle Kohler as Hilary Nash
Donald Webster as Crump
Tom Watson as Sandy McGoggie
Matthew Guiness as Morton
Maev Alexander as Miss Bush
Margaret Ashcroft as Margaret Castleton
Brian Hawksley as Welborn
David Savile as Buckley
Jan Carey as Mary McGoggie
Joseph McKenna as Keir McGoggie
Patrick Troughton as Frederick Owen
John Wentworth as Henry Castleton
Bob Hoskins as Workman
Andrew Laurence as Harris