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Acting on a tip from Benno (Tim Richards) Will has invested heavily in Brex Pharmaceuticals. Will’s new girlfriend Tory is acting for New Century, a company interested in taking over Brex. Tory has inadvertently mentioned a new drug that Brex is developing for diabetes. Without her knowledge, Will (Matthew Newton) and his ambitious colleague Nick (Anthony Harkin) go to work to find out what the drug does. Having failed to get the information by impersonating reporters, they get a real journalist (played by scriptwriter Caroline Gerard) to chase the story. When her story hits the front page, the price of Brex shares goes up. Benno warns Will to be careful.
Curator’s notes
The script is convincing about the ways in which information can be acquired and traded in the stock market, and the shades of illegality involved in insider trading. Benno has probably committed two offences in telling Will to buy Brex, and encouraging him to snoop on Tory’s connection to New Century. Will returns the favour by telling Benno when to buy Brex shares. Both Will and Nick have no qualms about impersonating a journalist, or about leaking the name of the wonder drug to a real journalist, thus manipulating the price of Brex shares to their advantage.
