Returning the Favour, by Grant Eustace
Grant Eustace - Returning the Favour
BBC Radio 4: Afternoon Theatre
Broadcast: Tuesday 17th January 1984
1936. It's been nearly twenty years since the First World War had ended as Peter Godfrey and David Wallis, two former RAF pilots, now
run a small air taxi business that is on its last legs.
One day, David has good news and bad news. The bad news is that David and Peter are now the only two members of their former
squadron who are still alive after they read in the newspaper that one of their old squadron mates, Roger Vale, is dead, flying into a hill in
Norfolk. For David, it sounds very suspicious as Roger was a brilliant pilot and the day was clear. The good news is that their fledgling
company may be saved as David tells Peter he received a telephone call from the Air Ministry who has hired them for at least a week. It's
an open-ended contract chartering a private airplane to fly one of their Accident Inspectors to Norfolk to investigate Roger's crash. The
man they send down for Peter to fly around is Kingsley Smith, a man both Peter and David knew well during the First World War as an
obnoxious officer.
But the flight does not go according to plan as they encounter a sudden thunderstorm on their way to Norfolk. Peter decides to land the
plane, but crashes. He is pulled out of the wreck by a local farmer but when Peter asks about Kingsley, the farmer says that there was no
one else on board the plane. Puzzled, Peter begins his search for Kingsley which leads to intrigue, adventure, and music-hall rustics as he
comes up against an espionage ring.
With Basil Moss [Peter Godfrey], Judy Franklin [Miss Pauline Lawrence], Ann Morrish [Mrs. Corbett], Margo Boyd [Lady Stanforth],
William Eedle [Kingsley Smith, Accident Inspector for the Air Ministry], Peter Tuddenham [Mr. Wrightson, Josie's Father / The
Undertaker], Moir Leslie [Josie Wrightson], John Strickland [David Wallis / A Yokel], and Mark Rolston [Jim, a Mechanic / Klaus / The
Innkeeper].
Directed by David Johnston.
60 minutes.
Jim
