The Big Client Explained

Director:James Upshaw
Country:Australia
Language:English
Runtime:75 mins
Company:ABC
Network:ABC
Released: (Sydney)
Released2: (Melbourne)[1]
Released3: (Brisbane)[2]

The Big Client is a 1961 Australian television play. It was directed by James Upshaw.[3] It screened "live" on the ABC on 19 July 1961 and was recorded in Sydney[4] Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.[5]

Plot

In London, Henderson is an American millionaire launching a brand of tranquillisers. Fred Cooper, head of a London advertising firm JCB, tries to get Henderson to sign with them. Fred is ruthless, more so than three directors of JCB, Sam Bloomberg, Philip Comely and Peter Jones.

Cast

Production

The play by British writers Eric Paice and Michael Hulke had been filmed on British TV in 1959 directed by Ted Kotcheff.[6] Geoffrey Wedlock did the sets.[2]

Reception

The TV critic from the Sydney Morning Herald thought an advertising executive would have.been hard put to clarify the curious dramatic direction—embracing shifts of meaning and emphasis" in the play, adding "it was a fault of the play_, not, generally speaking, of the actors or of James Upshaw's compact though not very imaginative production."[7]

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: The Age. TV Guide. 30 August 1961. 20.
  2. TV Ties. 7 September 1963. 16. The Big Client.
  3. Filmink. Forgotten Australian TV Plays: The Big Client. Stephen . Vagg. May 14, 2021.
  4. News: Sydney Morning Herald. Advertising Intrigue. 17 July 1961. 11.
  5. Stephen. Vagg. 60 Australian TV Plays of the 1950s & '60s. Filmink. February 18, 2019.
  6. https://web.archive.org/web/20200428193326/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6afce58f 1959 British TV drama
  7. News: Sydney Morning Herald. "The Big Client" On TV. 20 July 1961. 11.