Death is a Good Living - 1966 BBC TV serial - review

Death is a Good Living is an extremely obscure BBC crime serial in four parts, dating from 1966. It was co-written by Brian Degas and Tudor Gates, both of whom were established screenwriters, and is said to be based on a novel by Philip Jones, but I can't trace the book at all. There seems to be no mention of it on the internet. I stumbled across the serial on YouTube, on the excellent 'Classic British Telly' subscription and I was drawn to it by the fact that the cast was led by the late, great Leonard Rossiter.

I'm a long-time fan of Rossiter. He was superb in Rising Damp and The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin; in both these comedy series he brought a melancholy edge to the character he played, and the same is true here. He plays a man called Lynch and he is - remarkably - a hit man. Yep, Leonard Rossiter as a gun for hire. An unexpected piece of casting to say the least but it works - just about.

The story isn't brilliant but it's ok. An exiled foreign political figure called Ramon travels to London, knowing that his enemies want him dead. The British security services set out to protect him and Jack May (known to me from Adam Adamant Lives!) is in charge of their efforts. In a playful bit of writing, he is given the name Major T. Gates (like the co-writer).  

Rossiter is sick of his work as an assassin, working under cover for a tour company whose boss asks him to do 'one last job', mentoring a new recruit, a killer from Finland, who it must be said is pretty useless at his job. His acting isn't great, either. Rossiter is a bachelor who lives with his elderly mother and promises to take her off to a new life in...Bournemouth once his last mission is complete.

Needless to say, things don't go to plan. This is quite a cheaply made show, and quite talky at times, but there are enough plot twists to hold the attention and I felt the last episode was the best. It's definitely not a classic, and not - for instance - in the same league as a Francis Durbridge serial, the standard which the writers were probably aiming for.  A curiosity, and not Rossiter's finest hour by any means, but worth watching.