BBC Radio 7, 17 October 2010
Burglars' Bargains draws on the crime caper tradition most obviously
associated with the Boulting Brothers' films of the late 1950s and early 1960s - not least because its cast includes some
familiar faces (Peter Jones, Bernard Bresslaw, Charles Hawtrey) who were actually involved in them.
The plot is too complicated to describe at any great length - suffice to say it centres
round an ambitious scheme to rob a fictitious department store (with strong echoes of Selfridges) of their takings on the
first day of the winter sale, estimated at some four million pounds. Perhaps writer Daly spent too long trying to explain
it, with the result that the action sagged in places. However the plot culminated in a suitably chaotic finale involving
night club girls posing as salespeople taking their clothes off, a dotty prison governor (Donald Hewlett) being knocked out
while shopping for an escritoire, and the two criminal masterminds congratulating themselves on the supposed success of their
enterprise. However their joy proves premature: the play ends with an unexpected twist in which all the money is returned
to the store.
First broadcast in 1979, Burglars' Bargains is a period piece, recalling
an age when crime capers were box-office gold in Britain. Some of its attitudes have palpably dated: no one these days would
dream of casting a Euro actor (Danny Schiller) as an Indian, with an accent strongly reminiscent of Michael Bates in
It Ain't Half Hot, Mum; while the female characters are either housewives or secretaries, merely decorating the aural
scenery. However Burglars' Bargains has a certain nostalgic appeal, especially for listeners of a certain generation
with fond memories of the stars' performances on film and television.
