Francis Durbridge Presents: A Man Called Harry Brent (BBC-2 1965, Gerald Harper)

In A Man Called Harry Brent Carol Vyner is planning to leave her job as personal assistant to Mr Fielding to marry travel agent Harry Brent. Things get murky though when Fielding is found murdered and Detective Inspector Alan Milton thinks there is much more to Harry Brent than meets the eye.

Gerald Harper, who plays Inspector Milton, would go on to appear in the next Durbridge thriller A Game of Murder, playing another Detective Inspector.

Original radio times publicity 16 March 1965… A Man Called Harry Brent: The name of Francis Durbridge, that prolific thriller-writer, is synonymous with complex criminal conundrums, teasing suspense, sudden incredible revelations, and a total mastery of the art of the cliff-hanger. A Man Called Harry Brent, which begins tonight, is his twelfth serial for television. His round dozen includes the three fast-moving Tim Frazer stories and the baffling Melissa, seen recently on BBC-2. Much of the plot of that thriller hinged on the real nature of Melissa, in this new serial the enigma is Harry Brent, a travel agent. He comes into Carol Vyner’s (Jennifer Daniel) life in slightly unusual circumstances. She is engaged to Detective Inspector Alan Milton (Gerald Harper) when she meets Brent. She is attracted by him and eventually breaks off her engagement. But her involvement with the equivocal Brent leads to steadily more alarming adventures.

In the first episode we see her trying to help her boss, the kindly Mr Fielding (Gerald Young) to find a secretary to replace her when she gets married. A Miss Barbara Smith (Audine Leith) is one of the applicants, and her interview with Fielding produces a vintage Durbridge surprise. The director of this six-part serial is Alan Bromly, who was in charge of Melissa and who has directed eight other Durbridge thrillers. Inspector Milton, Carol’s ex-fiance, is played by Gerald Harper, who was last seen on BBC Television in another Bromley-directed serial, The Sleeper. The part of Carol is played by Jennifer Daniel, who has a role in the recently released film The High Bright Sun. In the title role is Edward Brayshaw.

Series: Francis Durbridge Presents Season 4 Episodes 1-6.

production details
UK | BBC Two | 6×25 minutes | Broadcast 22 March – 26 April 1965.

Writer: Francis Durbridge
Story editor: John Wiles
Production design: Evan Hercules
Producer and Director: Alan Bromly

cast
Edward Brayshaw as Harry Brent
Gerald Harper as D.I. Alan Milton
Jennifer Daniel as Carol Vyner
Bernard Brown as Eric Vyner
Brian Wilde as Harold Tolly
Peter Ducrow as D.S. Roy Philips
Judy Parfitt as Jacqueline Dawson
John Horsley as Reg Bryer
Alan Hockey as Kevin Jason