Once a Big Man, Always a Big Man

In a small harbour in Devon, preparations are being made for a salvage operation on a ship, the Miss Ellen, that sank during the war. The news of this distresses Albert Watt (Bernard Archard), a local man of some wealth, who intends to use all his influence to stop it. The aim of the salvage operation is to recover a safe from the ship, and Callan is sent down to Devon to bring the safe back to Hunter.

He first calls on Lonely, telling him to go down to Devon and find out all he can about the local ‘big-wigs’. When Callan gets down there, he speaks to Captain West (Michael Beint) who is leading the recovery, and learns that the safe has yet to be located. Lonely learns from Ted (Mark Moss), the barman of a small hotel, that Watt has been retired since the war, and was once an important MP who was interned in a special camp during the war for political reasons.

Watt’s daughter Eva (Jacqueline Pearce) is not so concerned about the list, feeling that it can do less harm than her father believes. As she criticises her father for being spineless, they are interrupted by Clive (Michael Forrest) who informs them that a man from London (Callan) has arrived. Watt sees this as the beginning of the end.

While Callan and Lonely discuss what they have learned, they hear a loud explosion. The salvage tender has been blown up. Meres is sent down to Devon to assist Callan, bringing with him the information that Watt was a Nazi sympathiser during the war, and had been detained under the Defence Regulations. The safe contains a list of all the collaborators and puppets that Hitler was relying on to run Britain after his invasion.

Eva believes she knows how to solve their problems, and proceeds by inviting Callan to dinner. Over their meal, Callan tells Watt that he is a scrap metal merchant, so his interest in the salvage is purely professional, but Watt goes on to hint that he will be willing to offer Callan a large bribe. Meres has discovered that the salvage vessel was blown up by a retired fisherman, the only survivor from the Miss Ellen, and that he had been paid by Watt to do it. However, the ploy has set the operation back only a few hours.

After Callan has left the Watts’ home, Eva criticises her father again for the way he handled Callan. Later that night, Lonely calls on Callan to tell him that someone has been shot at the Watts’ house. They go to the house to find that Watt has committed suicide, and while Callan comes across a copy of the feared list in Watt’s study, Eva and Clive escape. The following morning, Meres has loaded the safe on the back of a jeep in which he and Callan start the drive back to London.

On the way they are ambushed by Eva and Clive, and in an exchange of gun-fire, Meres is wounded, and Eva is shot dead by Callan. Back in London, the safe is found to be empty, but Callan reveals he has a copy of the list, obtained at the price of two lives.