The MD was taking his leave with Daisy now, clapping Charlie on the back with great effusion, the two men looking not so much like the cats that had got the cream as the cats who’d gorged themselves until they were fit to burst. I sprang up from my desk just as my phone rang again. Sally swept up the receiver.

‘Maggie Warren’s office,’ she winked at me. But her face quickly fell again, the torrent of abuse audible even from my position by the door. ‘It’s Alex, I think.’ She thrust the phone at me like it was too hot to hold.

I considered the lesser of two evils and made a run for it. ‘I’ll call him back, thanks.’ I pulled my door open. ‘Charlie? I need a word.’

Charlie rolled his unlit cigar between two fingers and considered me carefully. Then he checked his Rolex. ‘You’ve got five minutes before my conference call with HBO.’

‘That’s ample.’ I followed him into his den. He’d stopped short of writhing women on the walls here but still it was all leather, dark wood and a furry rug that screamed ‘lie naked on me’.

‘There are a couple of things actually.’ I cleared my throat bravely.

Charlie poured two glasses of whisky from the crystal decanter on the desk. ‘I know what you’re going to say, Maggie. You can’t do this any more, ya da ya da ya.’ He yawned widely – so widely I saw all the gold in his mouth. ‘Well, I’m here to tell you, you can. One more month, darling, just while we get the ratings back up there – and then I’ll keep my end of the bargain.’ He picked up the bronze desk-lighter, so heavy it looked like it was an effort to lift, and lit his horrible cigar.

‘But, Charlie –’

‘One more month, just to the end of the season – and one more show from you.’

‘I don’t understand –’

‘The crash show was a huge success – you know that. You and Fay being reunited – it melted hearts nationwide! Lyons is over the moon. It’s even been nominated for a Viewers’ Weepie Award. If we can net one more hit like that, then he secures the American series, and all our dreams come true. You produce the You’re Dumped show, plus a Survivors’ Reunion with your pretty little friend Fay et al, and then you’re free to do your doco. That’s a promise, my darling.’

‘I can’t, Charlie. I’m never appearing on TV again. It was hideous.’

‘Don’t be so wet.’ He puffed smoke at me like an old dragon. ‘I mean, granted, you were hardly an on-screen natural, but I don’t know – there was something about you. The viewers love all that doe-eyed vulnerability.’