Do Not Forsake Me

Robert Messener employs Ken to act as his bodyguard and chauffeur, and to run various errands associated with the sale of his house and his nightclub, in preparation for a hasty departure to Cyprus. Messener’s previous minder, Freddy Tucker, had walked out on him after being beaten up.

Ken is suspicious. He wonders why Messener is leaving so suddenly and why everyone hates him. When Messener’s dogs are shot, he tells Ken that he suspects Sammy Robinson, a “madman” who used to work for him but who is now in prison for manslaughter, for which he blames Messener. Ken traces Sammy’s ex-wife, Natalie, who tells him that Sammy accused Messener of having an affair with her. Messener had got Sammy to beat up a rival night-club owner – who later died.

It is Sammy’s brothers who are responsible for killing the dogs and for crushing Messener’s car. Sammy is due out of prison in a few days and his brothers think he will want Messener disposed of.

Messener completes a deal with Douglas Cruikshank for the sale of his club and is due to leave by train. But Cruikshank tips off the Robinson brothers. Sammy is waiting for Messener and chases him through the station and onto the railway line, eventually cornering him in a disused tunnel. Messener cowers and grovels on the floor. But Sammy, whom everyone thinks of as “a psycho”, is more angry with his brothers for taking matters into their own hands. He tells Messener that he forgives him and simply wants his share of the proceeds from the night-club sale – and never to see Messener again.

Harry has troubles of his own. Huge oily patches keep appearing on Woodcote Park’s golf course and tennis courts. The hotel is beginning to smell of sewage. Harry eventually traces the source: leaking drums of pesticide from a neighbouring farm owned by Ditton, a belligerent farmer. Helen and Ken bring in the Health and Safety investigators. Ditton is to be prosecuted and will also face a large compensation claim for the damage that he has caused to Woodcote.

The railway line and tunnel where Sammy Robinson eventually corners Robert Messener are at Thrumpton Power Station near Ratcliffe-on-Soar, about ten miles from Nottingham Railway Station where the chase began!

Notes and episode list © Martin Underwood, 1997

Page last modified: 17 December 2008, 23:48