Power Game, The

1 9 6 5 – 1 9 6 9 (UK)
39 x 60 minute episodes

When The Plane Makers came to an end after two years with the collapse of the Scott Furlong aircraft company, the character of Managing Director John Wilder (Patrick Wymark) was moved to a follow-on series, The Power Game.

Now knighted and placed on the board of a merchant bank, Sir John craves excitement and seizes the opportunity to get back into the action as soon as the opportunity arises.

Wilder’s bank backs a civil engineering firm (Bligh Construction) and he eventually becomes managing director of the company, despite the strong opposition of the firm’s equally ruthless founder, Sir Caswell Bligh (Clifford Evans) – who Wilder ousted from his own business – and his son Kenneth (Peter Barkworth).

Wilder’s talents, his ability to think on his feet, to stay one step ahead of the rest and his need for success were his passport through the corridors of power.

Both Barbara Murray and Ann Firbank starred as Wilder’s wife, Pamela (Lady Wilder) and the series was still top of the ratings in 1969 when it was brought to an abrupt end by the sudden death of its star.

By that time the Foreign Office had employed Sir John as Ambassador for Special Situations and Trade where his private secretary was Lincoln Dowling (Michael Jayston, pictured below).

Sir John Wilder 
Patrick Wymark
Sir Caswell Bligh 
Clifford Evans
Kenneth Bligh 
Peter Barkworth
Lady Pamela Wilder
Barbara Murray (1)
Ann Firbank (2)
Susan Weldon
Rosemary Leach
Lincoln Dowling
Michael Jayston

Audio