Over-the-hill Hollywood movie star Jeff Wheeler is sacked from the set of his newest movie. Then wife Lisa announces that she intends leaving him.
Depressed, he contemplates suicide, but cannot go through with it. He asks Dirk Brogan, his agent, to kill him, without telling him where or how the murder will take place.
Some time later, Jeff is almost run down in a busy street by a black Porsche. Then a lift door comes close to crushing him. A pleasant afternoon's golfing is spoilt when someone shoots at him.
Jeff survives, but finds he cannot locate Dirk to get him to call off the attacks. He no longer wishes to die...
Easily the worst episode of the series, mainly because it is so unbelievable. When Jeff tells his agent he wishes him to be his assassin, Dirk looks unsurprised as though it were an everyday occurrence. No showbiz agent would ever bump off one of his major sources of income. Dirk is such a wimp he looks to be incapable of swatting a fly, much less killing a human being. Jeff should have hired a professional hit-man if were genuinely serious about dying.
The plot bears a startling resemblance to 'The Odd Job Man' by Bernard McKenna, an episode of 'Six Dates With Barker' broadcast in 1971. In that, Ronnie Barker played the would-be suicidalist, with David Jason as his inept would-be executioner ( later made into a movie starring Monty Python's Graham Chapman ). It played the whole thing for laughs, but 'Do Me A Favour' takes itself very seriously indeed.
Joseph Cotten is 'Jeff', with future 'Man At The Top' star Kenneth Haigh as 'Dirk'. Also in the cast are Joyce Blair ( Lionel's sister ) and Monty Python babe Carol Cleveland.
Smooth direction from Gerry O'Hara, who also worked on 'The Avengers' and 'Man In A Suitcase'. Neat twist ending.
Depressed, he contemplates suicide, but cannot go through with it. He asks Dirk Brogan, his agent, to kill him, without telling him where or how the murder will take place.
Some time later, Jeff is almost run down in a busy street by a black Porsche. Then a lift door comes close to crushing him. A pleasant afternoon's golfing is spoilt when someone shoots at him.
Jeff survives, but finds he cannot locate Dirk to get him to call off the attacks. He no longer wishes to die...
Easily the worst episode of the series, mainly because it is so unbelievable. When Jeff tells his agent he wishes him to be his assassin, Dirk looks unsurprised as though it were an everyday occurrence. No showbiz agent would ever bump off one of his major sources of income. Dirk is such a wimp he looks to be incapable of swatting a fly, much less killing a human being. Jeff should have hired a professional hit-man if were genuinely serious about dying.
The plot bears a startling resemblance to 'The Odd Job Man' by Bernard McKenna, an episode of 'Six Dates With Barker' broadcast in 1971. In that, Ronnie Barker played the would-be suicidalist, with David Jason as his inept would-be executioner ( later made into a movie starring Monty Python's Graham Chapman ). It played the whole thing for laughs, but 'Do Me A Favour' takes itself very seriously indeed.
Joseph Cotten is 'Jeff', with future 'Man At The Top' star Kenneth Haigh as 'Dirk'. Also in the cast are Joyce Blair ( Lionel's sister ) and Monty Python babe Carol Cleveland.
Smooth direction from Gerry O'Hara, who also worked on 'The Avengers' and 'Man In A Suitcase'. Neat twist ending.
