A Horse of a Different Colour

"A Horse of a Different Colour" brings Philippa Vale back for a story that is more comedy than crime — a stolen racehorse, a ransom note, and a thief who has decided to help the police whether they want it or not. Champion stallion Crimson Cavalier is taken from his stable in the night, two sets of footprints leading him away. The owner, Chester Ackerman, is knocked out; the vet finds a ransom note demanding three million pounds; and Bergerac, who has been trying to keep his relationship with Susan alive, is suddenly in the middle of a kidnapping case with an equine victim.

The twist, when it comes, is a good one. The horse's racing days are over, and its value is in breeding — a fortune the insurance covers. Bergerac works out that Ackerman and the vet Blake conspired to make it look like the stallion died a natural death and claim the money, and that the stable lad Terry and his girlfriend Cheryl — who work for the rival owner Cockburn — took the horse before they could. The identical-looking Make Your Mind Up, same sire, different markings, is the key: the plan was to race him at twenty-five to one and clean up on the betting. Rod Beacham's script, directed by Matthew Robinson, plays this with a light touch, and the series enjoys watching Bergerac be wrong: the markings, it turns out, are genuine.

Into all of this walks Philippa Vale, freshly paroled, who replaces Bergerac's waitress at lunch, claims she has escaped from prison, and offers to help find the horse. Joanna Lumley is at her most feline, and the episode is really a two-hander about a detective and a thief who cannot quite stay away from each other. Susan, arriving at their dinner with a client, walks out after an argument; Philippa, riding a filly in season, tracks the hidden stallion by accident of nature; and the two of them end up keeping watch in a hay loft together.

The finale is pure farce with a sting. Ackerman and Blake try to inject the horse with enough adrenaline to cause a heart attack; Bergerac stops them; Philippa stabs Ackerman with an empty syringe, and he admits the other one was loaded. She then announces Ackerman has agreed to sell her Crimson Cavalier — which is how she ends the episode respectable, paying Cockburn to stable the horse, while Bergerac reflects that he has condoned two crimes and she has gone straight. A charming, funny hour, and proof that the sixth series knew exactly how to use its best guest star.