The Troubleshooters - Season 5

In tonight's story, Zenith drop a bombshell into the world of Mogul. The repercussions will influence the company for a long time to come.

Street food stalls at night, teeming crowds, the great harbour, gleaming new hotels, wartime gun sites, and Changi jail itself.

How much is one man worth? When Ted Kihl is trapped in a Malaysian cave, Peter Thornton turns the huge resources of Mogul and his own skill as an oil man on to a rescue operation.

The lovely Mrs. Foss, wife of Mogul's founder, turns up in London in the middle of a take-over battle. Inevitably, she brings chaos and confusion-particularly to Alec Stewart.

Tonight, Stead's plans for expansion in Europe as part of his fight against Zenith take a knock when a French multi-millionaire marries a film starlet.

Tonight Troubleshooters penetrates the fascinating world of Japan. Stewart and Roz find themselves in the uncomfortable world between East and West, where the traditions of a thousand years conflict with life in the twentieth century.

Why should the manager of Mogul's Malaysian refinery insult the local sultan? Why does he not remember things? Why does he turn against Thornton, an old friend, when he tries to help?

Protests and demonstrations have recently become part of our way of life, as have mergers and takeovers. In tonight's story, Mogul faces the effects of both when a group of redundant employees occupy a distribution depot. A situation which starts as something small quickly develops into tension and danger.

'Blackmail, Mr. Stewart. Bribery and corruption.' Are Stewart and Stead trying to bribe their way to an important refinery project in Scotland? And what part does Zenith play in the attempts to corrupt a Scots official?

Angola spells trouble for Mogul when Thornton becomes a pawn in the struggle between African rebels and Portuguese authorities.

The life of an oilman is always tough. He must drill in gale-swept seas, baking deserts, steaming jungles. But the toughest location of all is the Arctic. There, one false move could mean certain death.
Thornton faces Incredible hardship this week in Alaska. But added to the dangers and difficulties is the knowledge that the whole future of Mogul could depend on his success or failure.

A remote island in the Indian Ocean may seem the perfect drilling location. No population, beautiful weather, not even a foreign government to deal with for it is British-owned. But-there's this bird, see ... and birds, feathered of course, spell trouble for Mogul.

The executives of Mogul's South African subsidiary think their office boy Zeke is only capable of 'toting barges and liftin' bales,' but Willy Izard has other ideas. Zeke has secret ambitions-and qualifications-which Willy decides to further. He expected to come up against apartheid but another completely unexpected obstacle crops up which calls for uncharacteristic forcefulness from the gentle Izard.

Eccentric individualists cannot successfully be absorbed into big organisations, but Brian Stead decides to take up the challenge. He realises that an inventor has got something Mogul needs. The big question is: what has Mogul got that the inventor needs?

Papuan headhunters are not a common danger to Mogul. But this week they are only one of the hazards which Peter Thornton has to face. Why does the Australian District Commissioner try to stop him going to see Dr. Liebling? And what is Dr. Liebling doing there anyway? It takes a terrifying experience to clear up the mystery.

Ghislaine Foss 's hand is sought by both Mogul and Zenith. Why? Because besides having a young and glamorous millionairess at the end of it, it contains a fistful of Mogul shares! Vital shares as the Mogul-Zenith battle nears its climax.
Everything seems to be coming to a head-and not only in the business sense. All along the line the female of the species is the catalyst. For Alec Stewart , this means trouble from all directions.

'Let's show the Yanks what it is to be British,' says Brian Stead. And to prove it he takes the entire board of Mogul International across the Atlantic on the Queen Elizabeth 2. But this is no empty gesture. The moment of decision has arrived in the Mogul-Zenith merger battle. For the crucial board meeting the directors must be away from outside interference.

Is Alec Stewart a spy? The Algerian authorities say yes, Mogul says no. It is possible: he travels all over the world, is accepted everywhere without question, and moves in the highest circles. But he has never expressed strong political opinions and he certainly doesn'need the money, so why should he spy? Stewart's close friends and colleagues think and think again while he is in captivity. Guilty or no, he can certainly never be regarded in exactly the same light again.

Olive McFarland is a member of The Century Theatre Company
Memories of 1945 come flooding back to Brian Stead when he revisits Berlin, where Mogul are drilling for natural gas. He served there at the end of the war as a Major organising petrol supplies for the Allied Forces and an incident twenty-four years old is dragged up now in an attempt to discredit him.

Brian Stead is the only man who would dare ask Peter Thornton to travel direct from Alaska to Western Australia—a temperature change of 134 degrees! What is more, Stead is the only man Thornton would do it for. Thornton questions his loyalty, though, when he is lost in the outback without radio or salt tablets. Struggling to survive he wonders whether Mogul's demands are too great ...

' Peter Thornton not interested in oil? That's like Laurence Olivier saying the theatre's a bore.' That's the reaction when Thornton, exhausted after being frozen in Alaska and fried in Australia, resigns from Mogul and turns his back on the world of oil.
Can Stead get his number one troubleshooter to change his mind? Thornton, lying peacefully on a beach in Fiji, says no. Willy Izard , lecturing hippies in California, has his doubts but agrees to try.
Exotic Fiji, peace, and a beautiful girl (of course) are powerful influences on a disillusioned Thornton. But Stead has a few tricks to pull before he will admit defeat.

Peter Thornton returns to the fold-straight into the thick of a row between the New Zealand government and Mogul over the shifting of a drilling rig from that country to Indonesia. Why should Thornton want to return to do Stead's dirty work? Because he wants to win a seat on the Mogul Board. Also, the man who is leading a mutiny on the rig is an old mate, Ed Ahu Riri.
Ultimately, the friendship proves to be a hindrance rather than a help and Thornton's loyalties are stretched to breaking point.

An important contract can be won in Ceylon. But Mogul's manager there, Henry Burton, does not seem to be trying. Thornton is on his own. He must not only find out why but also take the decisions needed to put things right. Including, if necessary, sacking Burton. His investigations give him an insight into the ways of the country and plenty of surprises-including a powerful astrologer.

Stead sends Peter Thornton to a Caribbean island paradise-where he is taken prisoner! 'King' George Watt is the benign but powerful ruler of the island and if he says he doesn'want a Mogul invasion, there won'be one. He is supported by a French woman anthropologist, Dr. Yvette Leduc, who is dangerously using the islanders in a sociological experiment. She doesn'want Mogul there either, and it is she who triggers off an explosive situation by helping Peter Thornton escape.

Alec Stewart is holidaying in Israel, in a bid to put the horror of his stay in an Algerian jail behind him. Incredibly, he hits another load of trouble and this time it's not only his reputation that is threatened, but his whole future.
This week's episode explores the war-torn Arab-Israeli border troubles and demonstrates the very delicate way in which both sides have now to be handled by big business in order to protect their interests.

Is Stead over the hill, about to die? Can Thornton really be sacked? Can Stewart survive in Mogul after his recent disasters? Will Izard retire when Stead goes?
The future of just about everybody is in jeopardy in this, the final episode of the current series.