4-06. None of Your Business.

Callan is caught at a disadvantage.

Air Date: Apr. 5, 1972. Written by: Trevor Preston. Directed by: Voytek. Produced by: Reginald Collin.


THE PLOT:

Callan has been relieved of his duties as Hunter. Bishop places him on "special leave" (aka, suspension), and strongly hints that Callan's days with The Section are numbered.

Callan decides to go on holiday abroad, requesting his passport for a trip to Spain. When his request is denied, he leans on Lonely to help him acquire a fake passport. This leads him to Lucas (Tony Selby), a small-time crook with a sideline in forged passports.

Lucas's passports are good... too good for such a minor operator. His "silent partners," who work out of an art gallery, have ended up on The Section's radar, after similar forged documents were found on a KGB assassin who died in a car accident. Meres is investigating the forgery operation, with the somewhat befuddled backing of Bishop, who is acting as Hunter during the transition.

Inevitably, Callan's pursuit of a passport leads him right into the middle of Meres's investigation - and leads both of them to the true mastermind of the operation!

Meres has to walk Bishop through
the latest developments in his investigation.

CHARACTERS:

Callan: Callan's neither naive nor an idiot: He fully comprehends that he's not going to be allowed to leave the country immediately after being removed as the head of an intelligence division. However, he still feels the need to push, in part to test his freedom and in part to rebel against the very authority that coerced him into taking the job of Hunter in the first place. Add paranoia to the mix particularly after Bishop behaves too high-handedly in his dismissal. If he is no longer with The Section, then he'll have no protection... not to mention the potential danger from The Section itself. Another fine performance by Edward Woodward, who thus far is doing his best acting of the series this season. Note a scene in which he loses his temper and strikes Lonely: You can see the rage that drives him to it, followed an instant later by clear regret in both his face and posture.

Bishop: During his brief stint in the big chair, he proves to be at least as poor a Hunter as Callan. Meres has to patiently explain why the death of the KGB spy isn't simply "a lucky break" and "case closed" - an explanation none of the previous Hunters would have required. One might at least think that, unlike Callan, Bishop has the right temperament for the job... except his aloofness is less a lack of emotion than an egotistical attitude of being above it all. When Callan shows disrespect for him, Bishop becomes annoyed, snaps that he finds Callan's attitude offensive, and then indicates (falsely) that Callan's days with The Section are numbered. This annoys the previous Hunter when he learns of it, and with good reason: Bishop's own attitude unnecessarily sets off Callan's paranoia.

Hunter: Checks in with Callan after he is put on "special leave." Attempts to be friendly, but he stands firm on the issue of the passport, warning him not to attempt to leave the country. Later, he fills in for Bishop when the administrator comes down with a convenient case of food poisoning. I can't help but wonder if that food poisoning was arranged, given that it occurs after Hunter learned of Bishop's professional lapse. When Hunter returns to the office, he shows how perfectly suited he is to the job, instantly ready to defuse internal tensions and issue orders. The correct orders, at that.

Meres: He returned to The Section because he saw an opportunity to become Hunter. Now the position is vacant, and he's eagerly taking the leadership role upon himself. Truthfully, he seems like he'd be a decent fit. He's intelligent, not emotional, and understands the job. He sees himself as the logical next in line... and when the previous Hunter returns to "fill in" for Bishop, the way Meres' face freezes is perfect. In an instant, he recognizes that if the previous Hunter is filling in, then he is himself not seen as a replacement, whether Hunter's return ends up being temporary or not. Great nonverbal acting from Anthony Valentine, in a beat that director Voytek wisely lingers on before moving on with the scene.

Liz: Is clearly distraught in the wake of Cross's death. She was unable to make herself go to the funeral, and she is on the verge of tears even at the office. When Callan asks why she doesn't just take a few days off, she replies that she wouldn't know what to do with herself. As A Village Called 'G' made clear, The Section is her life.

Hunter (William Squire) comes to Callan as a friend
- but also warns him not to leave the country.

THOUGHTS:

None of Your Business is a transitional entry, tasked with cleaning up after the mess left by the previous episode.  A sense of uncertainty hangs over much of the action: Callan is suspended and left to wonder what his future may be; Meres believes he knows what his future is; and The Section itself is in turmoil. Cross also gets a mention, and we see that his death had a genuine impact on Liz and Callan, at least.

The character material is excellent. Callan's anger and paranoia push him to be harsh first with Lonely, then with Hunter, and even (to a much lesser degree) with Liz... the very people who are on his side. We also see both sides of Callan's dynamic with Meres. First we see the rivalry, as Meres emerges from Hunter's office - acting in all but name as the new boss - to ask why Callan is late. Then we see their partnership, with them falling fully and wordlessly into sync during the final operation. No one has to say anything about how perfectly the two work together - It's clear. Callan can trust Meres to make good decisions in the moment and to have his back... unlike Cross, whose lapses tended to complicate missions.

There isn't much dead space, with both the Callan and Meres plots moving along briskly. The major guest characters are well-written and well-played. Tony Selby is appropriately smarmy as the small-time criminal who doesn't realize just how far over his head he is, both with Callan and his "associates." There's also a good turn by the actor playing the real villain, who is physically unassuming - right up until he decides to act.

There's so much that's good in None of Your Business that it's all the more aggravating that the merging plotlines hang on an implausibly big coincidence. Callan is seeking a forged passport... and he just so happens to hit up the very forgery ring that Meres is investigating. Not to put too fine a point on it, but London is a very large city, to put it mildly, and it seems unlikely that Lonely would just happen to take Callan to the exact same forger.

There were ways around this. Had Meres's investigation progressed to the point of linking Lucas to the gallery, then you could have Callan secretly working under orders to try to get into the ring as a customer.  Alternatively, Lonely could have been given orders to steer Callan in that direction; after all, warning Callan not to get a passport amounts to the same thing as asking him to please get one, something Hunter at least would realize, so Callan's next move would have been obvious. But no; Callan going to the same forger Meres was investigating actually is just a giant coincidence, and that harms the episode's internal credibility.

The episode is still entertaining, and it's boosted by good performances and some fine character moments. But it comes so close to being very good that it's annoying that it settles for being merely decent.


Overall Rating: 6/10. Almost a "7," but that central coincidence is just a little too much for me.

Previous Episode: If He Can, So Could I
Next Episode: Charlie Says It's Goodbye

Review Index

To receive new review updates, follow me on Twitter:
Follow @RandomMusings09