Brett (BBC-1 1971, Patrick Allen, Hannah Gordon)

H. Thomas Brett is a businessman who thrives on getting exactly what he wants, until the day he gets a wake up call that causes him to reflect back upon his life.

Patrick Allen plays Brett in this over looked drama series. The central conceit is that, over the course of it’s 19 episodes, most of the story is traced in flashback.

Brett actually started out as a journalist on Welsh newspaper The Aberyswen Gazette before writing a novel that took him to Hollywood to work on the movie version. He quickly tires of the Hollywood machine though and decides to head to central America. It is here he meets and marries very wealthy American Carline Fleming whose father runs the Fleming Corporation.

Offered the chance to take of the running of the company Brett instead returns to Britain to start building his own fortune. By the end of the series Brett is heading for a fall.

This was a well made series whose writers included the fab Michael J. Bird, Elwyn Jones and Donald Bull. Guest stars included the likes of Peter Bowles, Fulton Mackay, Windsor Davies, Glyn Houston, Lynette Davies, Anthony Ainley, Stephanie Turner and Richard Vernon.

The Daily Mirror of Thursday 31 December 1970 offered up a short preview of the series: PATRICK ALLEN, is the star of ” Brett,” one of the BBC’s most ambitious drama projects. Brett—originally “Crowther” but changed to avoid confusion with comedian Leslie—is a tycoon of the Seventies and the nineteen-week series surveys his rise over the past fifteen years, with journalism and movies as stepping stones to power. Allen, who was ITV’s adventurer Crane in the Sixties, says it’s the best TV assignment he’s tackled. Brett starts on BBC-1 in March.

production details
UK | BBC One | 19×50 minutes | 1971

Creators: Compton Bennett, Derek Glynne
Script Editor: John Maynard
Producer: Royston Morley

cast
Patrick Allen as Brett
Robin Bailey as Nick Brunel
Hannah Gordon as Francoise
Jean McFarlane as Lois