McManus returned to the UK in 1971, and was known to a wider audience when he played roles such as Harry Carter in "The Brothers" and Sam Wilson, a coal miner in the 1973 TV series "Sam". McManus appeared opposite Peter O'Toole in the 1976 TV movie "Rogue Male", and starred as a dour Scots police officer, Jack Lambie, in "Strangers", a role he reprised as a guest star in the spin-off, "Bulman". McManus also had roles in productions at the National Theatre and the Royal Court Theatre.