Scoop of the Year

Martin, a hapless journalist on a weekly financial magazine in London, plods along in a job he can't afford to lose. But when he misses out on promotion to the well-heeled Tom he tries his utmost to bring his rival down a peg or two.

Yet nothing can stop Tom's effortless rise to the top. He soon leaves the magazine for a plum job in television, making Martin green with envy. Then disaster strikes when the magazine folds, bringing Martin's world crashing down. His wife leaves him, taking their children with her.

The inheritance of a rambling farmhouse from his recently departed father offers the only hope of financial salvation, but it's cruelly snatched away from both him and his sisters by the appearance of a mysterious long-lost uncle who is left the property.

Penniless and desperate, Martin decides to take matters into his own hands by employing the menacing Mr Jebb to find a solution to his inheritance problem.

But Martin unexpectedly gets a job in television and the playing fields with Tom are once again level. His financial worries become a thing of the past and his life is turned around completely. Then, by happenstance rather than pure journalistic endeavour, Martin gets a scoop on a major corporate scandal that would give him an opportunity to not only make a name for himself in television, but outshine all the achievements of his rival.

The only trouble is that life is not as straightforward as Martin thinks, and his extreme actions taken during his time of need come back to haunt him.