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.
3 comments:
Rossiter was a favourite actor of mine; I remember seeing him on stage in Tartuffe; a terrific presence - he was much more than the comedy characters he was most famous for. He was a working class actor from Liverpool and served in Army Intelligence and the Army Education Corps; from being an insurance clerk he turned actor at the age of 27, and it is interesting that after a long career in rep. he made his mark playing Arturo Ui in 1969 (Mark Gatiss will be playing this impossible role for the RSC at Stratford next year, I'm booking my ticket asap!)
He had a long running role as a detective in Z Cars, and also did a string of Cinzano adverts with Joan Collins - all involving various ways to spill the wine over the lady! He also wrote two books and played King John in the BBC Shakespeare series. Ironically, he died waiting to go onstage...... a complete one-off talent, and much missed.
Yes, Liz, he was terrific. I never saw him on the stage, must have been a great experience.
Jack May was an extremely accomplished actor in many things but will always be known as Nelson Gabriel in The Archers.
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