24 March 1964

'Sauce for the Goose'. Writer David Weir. Director Eric Price.

“It’s Paris in the Spring, John” Pamela Wilder

Pamela accompanies Wilder to the Paris air show, but quickly finds herself abandoned as Wilder concentrates on negotiating with Scott Furlong’s French rivals. Her old friend Laura (Georgina Cookson) introduces her to Al Bonner (Murray Hayne), a handsome young American with no visible means of support.

David Weir's concluding script gives Barbara Murray a chance to explore Pamela Wilder's frustrated desperation. We learn that she came from a "county" background where "nobody ever lost their temper. Thank goodness I've married out of that." She denies that Wilder meets the stereotype of the businessman with ulcers, saying he loves what he does too much to suffer. For his part, Wilder sees Pamela as part of his compartmentalised life, saying"I can't cope with you" when she arrives at the airshow and asking Henry Forbes to take her (and her friends) up on a Sovereign flight. It's only when Forbes later repeats some gossip about Bonner being a gigolo, that Wilder becomes jealous. Pamela, who has accepted a night on the town with Bonner, has moved from trying to rekindle the romance in her marriage, to retaliation. "I wanted to pay you back," she says. "What for?" Wilder demands. "For not knowing 'What for'" she replies. Pamela ultimately denies Wilder's accusation that Bonner is a gigolo telling Wilder that, "He was too nice to use. If he had been any less of a good person, I WOULD have slept with him."

Don Henderson (Jack Watling) and Henry Forbes (Robert Urquhart) are both present at the airshow, but mainly on the sidelines. Wilder is intent on cementing a relationship with Scott Furlong's French rivals

"(The French)must have jumped for joy when old 'Morality' Merle suggested a solution to their problems" Wilder says, recalling the twist from 'The Trouble with Auntie'. Wilder reminds us that the deal involves the French getting out of the civil market, leaving it open for Scott Furlong, in exchange for the French getting a NATO contract for their military plane.

Weir nudges matters in Wilder's favour when one of the French airline executives confirms that his gamble in 'How Do You Vote?' was justified. "Building that extra dozen aircraft gave you a lead we could not afford."

Although Sir Gerald Merle was depicted as a Labour MP, the idea of collaboration with the French aviation industry had also been welcome to Conservative governments. Ironically, it was viewed as a way of easing into the Common Market.

Murray Hayne (playing Al Bonner) was the real life son-in-law of Douglas Muir (Tom Bancroft). Georgina Cookson, as his companion Laura, was the occupant of Patrick McGoohan's old flat in 'The Chimes of Big Ben' episode of 'The Prisoner'.

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