Mac's latest job comes from an unexpected source - the police! They want him to keep London gangster 'Rufus Blake' ( George Sewell ) alive for 24 hours so that he can testify against his brothers - Lennie and Frank - in a murder trial at the Old Bailey. Tired of being treated like a dogsbody ( they refer to him constantly as 'Little Roof' ), he wishes to put them away, and help himself to the money they have stashed away in a Swiss bank. But 'Rudyard' ( Robin Bailey ), the Blake brothers' crooked lawyer, has hired hoods, such as 'Geordie' ( Sean Lynch ), to perform a job of murder. Rufus has refused police protection, which is how McGill comes to be his bodyguard. With all the hotels under surveillance, Mac takes Rufus to several locations in London, including a botanical gardens...
One of my favourite 'Suitcase' episodes, despite the absurdities in the plot. You would think Mac would take Rufus to the quietest part of London and keep him there for a day, but if that had happened it would have been a dull story, hence the pair behave more like tourists. The police tell Mac not to use his gun if attacked. "Use your fists!", says one copper. What are the attackers likely to be armed with - peashooters? 'Valerie' ( Lois Daine ) does not know Rufus is a villain ( she thinks he is director of a finance firm ) even though the Blake brothers' trial has been in all the papers. The brothers are loosely based on the Krays, who would have still been at large when this was made. I wonder if they ever saw it.
The urbane Robin Bailey is well cast as 'Rudyard' ( totally unrecognisable as 'Uncle Mort' from 'I Didn't Know You Cared' ), George Sewell's 'Rufus' surely must have been the inspiration for 'Frankie Abbott' from 'Please Sir!' ( he swaggers and brags about what a hard man he is, but as soon as a gun is pointed at him he crumples into a snivelling wreck ), future 'Sweeney' boss Garfield Morgan is 'Gilley', with James Grout as 'Franklin' and Mark Eden as 'Jackson'. 'Monty Python' fans will spot Carol Cleveland as 'Miss Dinsdale' ( now there's a Pythonesque name if ever I heard one! ), Rudyard's secretary.
Edmund Ward wrote several other episodes of this show as well as going on to create 'The Main Chance' with John Stride and 'The Hanged Man' starring Colin Blakely. The director, Gerry O'Hara, also worked on 'The Avengers' and 'The Professionals'.
There's an amusing moment when Mac and Rufus attend an afternoon concert in which two old age pensioners are singing. The woman ( Grace Arnold ) is so hopelessly off-key the only way she'd have sounded on were if Les Dawson were playing the piano.
The depiction of the police and London underworld is more 'Dixon Of Dock Green' than say 'The Sweeney' ( which was seven years away ), but it is still good entertainment, particularly if like me you adore watching anything featuring Swinging '60's London in all its glory.
One of my favourite 'Suitcase' episodes, despite the absurdities in the plot. You would think Mac would take Rufus to the quietest part of London and keep him there for a day, but if that had happened it would have been a dull story, hence the pair behave more like tourists. The police tell Mac not to use his gun if attacked. "Use your fists!", says one copper. What are the attackers likely to be armed with - peashooters? 'Valerie' ( Lois Daine ) does not know Rufus is a villain ( she thinks he is director of a finance firm ) even though the Blake brothers' trial has been in all the papers. The brothers are loosely based on the Krays, who would have still been at large when this was made. I wonder if they ever saw it.
The urbane Robin Bailey is well cast as 'Rudyard' ( totally unrecognisable as 'Uncle Mort' from 'I Didn't Know You Cared' ), George Sewell's 'Rufus' surely must have been the inspiration for 'Frankie Abbott' from 'Please Sir!' ( he swaggers and brags about what a hard man he is, but as soon as a gun is pointed at him he crumples into a snivelling wreck ), future 'Sweeney' boss Garfield Morgan is 'Gilley', with James Grout as 'Franklin' and Mark Eden as 'Jackson'. 'Monty Python' fans will spot Carol Cleveland as 'Miss Dinsdale' ( now there's a Pythonesque name if ever I heard one! ), Rudyard's secretary.
Edmund Ward wrote several other episodes of this show as well as going on to create 'The Main Chance' with John Stride and 'The Hanged Man' starring Colin Blakely. The director, Gerry O'Hara, also worked on 'The Avengers' and 'The Professionals'.
There's an amusing moment when Mac and Rufus attend an afternoon concert in which two old age pensioners are singing. The woman ( Grace Arnold ) is so hopelessly off-key the only way she'd have sounded on were if Les Dawson were playing the piano.
The depiction of the police and London underworld is more 'Dixon Of Dock Green' than say 'The Sweeney' ( which was seven years away ), but it is still good entertainment, particularly if like me you adore watching anything featuring Swinging '60's London in all its glory.
