Air Date: Mar. 19, 1969. Written by: Lee Dunne. Directed by: Bill Bain. Produced by: Reginald Collin.
MISSING, PRESUMED WIPED. This review is based on the rehearsal script, available in the .pdf archive on Disc Three of the Callan: This Man Alone DVD set.
THE PLOT:
A Navy salvage vessel is in Devon harbor, preparing to bring up a fishing boat that sank during the war. A matter of relatively little consequence... Except that for some reason, Hunter has been asked to send an agent to escort a safe back from the wreckage, assuming it ends up being recovered. Much to Callan's annoyance, he is selected for the task, one that he thinks would be a better fit for the British rail service.
Albert Watt (Bernard Archard), who was a Member of Parliament before the war, until his Nazi sympathies led to disgrace and imprisonment, has attempted to use his remaining influence to stop the salvage operation... something Callan soon learns. The prize is apparently a list of British politicians from the era who were aligned with the Germans, and Watt is certain his name is at the top of the list. The old man has largely resigned himself to disgrace if it is recovered. However, his spoiled daughter (Jacqueline Pearce) isn't willing to surrender her life of privilege without a fight...
CHARACTERS:
Callan: Is frustrated when Hunter can't tell him exactly what is meant to be in the safe the Navy's hoping to recover. Still, he does his job dutifully, and it doesn't take long for him to figure out that Watt is the man with the most to lose. When the Navy's work is delayed by sabotage, Callan knows he's dealing with "amateurs." He doesn't actually think that Watt had anything to do with the explosion, but it doesn't stop him from taking the opportunity to increase pressure on his target.
Hunter: Isn't any happier with this assignment than Callan, as he flatly states at both the beginning and end of the episode. When Callan fumes about hating taking a job without knowing details, Hunter admits that he would prefer to give those details; it's just that, this time, he has no idea why this sunken safe is considered important. "Callan, I'm told to do things; you're told to do things. We both get on with them... Get on with it.".
Lonely: Is enlisted to go down to Devon ahead of Callan, to learn the local gossip. Much like Callan with Hunter, he protests, but then does his job well. He's able to effortlessly pump a barman for information about Watt, which tells Callan where to focus his investigation once he arrives.
Meres: Late in the episode, Meres encounters an exhausted Lonely, feet already sore from a long day of trekking around the area. Meres briefly dangles the prospect of a ride - only to refuse to grant it, on the grounds that "it's too draughty to have all the windows open, at this time of night." A brief but effective reminder of Meres' casual cruelty toward those weaker than himself, and the pleasure he draws from indulging in it.
THOUGHTS:
An odd case among Callan's missing episodes, Once a Big Man, Always a Big Man had a full audio recording recovered in 2019. Unfortunately, with the exception of Doctor Who, audio recordings of missing television shows are a tough sell at best. Kaleidoscope has announced plans to animate Once a Big Man after other projects are completed, but until (unless) that happens, a performed version of this episode is every bit as inaccessible as the other missing installments.
Since both the rehearsal and camera scripts are available, this does provide an interesting look at how a script can evolve even quite late in production. This is an enjoyable installment in either form, and for the most part the two drafts differ only in some polishing of dialogue and a handful of cases in which Callan refers to Hunter as "John" rather than "Sir." There is one big difference between the two versions, however: The ending.
In both versions, Callan and Meres are ambushed at the end in a last-ditch effort to recover the safe. In the rehearsal script, this ends with nobody hurt and with the assailant arrested; this is followed by a tag in which Callan is able to deliver evidence to Hunter. In the camera script, however, the ambush leaves Meres injured and the attacker killed. The tag, now a much longer scene, has Callan bitterly complaining about being "mixed up with bloody amateurs." There's no evidence to deliver in this draft, and the entire affair is left as a pointless, wasteful mess. It's much more dramatic - and it feels more like a true Callan episode.
I hope that Kaleidoscope is able to realize its plans to animate this episode, as I found the script a generally enjoyable piece. The seaside setting gives it a different tone than most episodes of the series, and the conflict between Albert Watt and his daughter provides a subcurrent of generational conflict, with the old man largely resigned to things taking their course while his headstrong daughter insists they should take action. Given the casting of Bernard Archard and Jacqueline Pearce, I have no doubt this conflict played out very well in the actual episode.
In any case, a good script - particularly the camera script version - and an episode I hope to be able to enjoy in animated form someday.
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