A Matter of WHO (1961)

Honor Blackman: Sister Bryan

Quotes 

• Sister Bryan : Oh yes, Mr Kennedy, I'm sorry but the passenger you're meeting is ill. He'll be brought here as soon as the plane has landed.

  Kennedy : Sick? What's wrong with him?

  Sister Bryan : I can't say.

  Kennedy : You mean you don't know or you won't tell me?

  Sister Bryan : Well...

  Archibald Bannister : A matter of policy, my dear Sir. Aircrew are discouraged from making medical diagnoses. For example, only last week we were alerted that a foreign passenger, a plumpish woman, was suffering from severe cramp and to have a stomach pump at the ready. An hour after the plane landed she gave birth to twins. Most embarrassing, but there you are.

  Kennedy : I'm no doctor but I don't think he's having twins.

  Archibald Bannister : Hmm. Touché, Mr Kennedy. It appears that your friend has collapsed.

  Kennedy : Collapsed?

  Archibald Bannister : Well, er, drunk.

  Kennedy : Are we talking about the same guy?

  Archibald Bannister : Steven Cooper, an American.

  Kennedy : That doesn't make sense. Cooper's been my partner for twelve years. He's strictly a milk drinker.

  Archibald Bannister : Well, there's our aeroplane. We'll soon get a doctor's opinion. Maybe he can make sense...

  Kennedy : What are you selling?

  Archibald Bannister : Hm? Oh, nothing. I'm a detective. But not for Scotland Yard. My criminals are far more dangerous than human beings. Dainty, little killers.

  [he points to a map of the world] 

  Archibald Bannister : White for cholera, red for small pox, black for plague. The pins mark the scene of the crime.

  Archibald Bannister : Would it surprise you to know that if World Health Regulations were relaxed for even a month, we'd be ridden by plagues that would put the Middle Ages to Shame? 'Course it would.

  Archibald Bannister : Germs are much smarter than people. They never bother with passports or borders. They know it's one world, even if we don't.

  Kennedy : Bully for them.