The Relief of Matty King

The Relief of Matty King runs two stories with one villain between them. The first begins in a magistrates' court, where the renewal of the Carrington Club's gaming licence is postponed after a man in the public gallery says he was cheated. The club's owner, Dick Vaughan, does not realise that the man is Rupert Cole, who runs a rival gambling club.

Vaughan hires Ken to find out whether any of his croupiers are cheating before the Gaming Board investigators arrive. Ken sees nothing on his first night and brings Helen the next. She spots that Jackie, one of the blackjack croupiers, is cheating.

Ken poses as a writer researching a psychology textbook on gambling, and gets Jackie to talk. She admits that Cole has made her cheat, and made sure she would be caught, so the Carrington would be blamed and lose its licence. She is a single mother with an old shoplifting conviction, and Cole has threatened to reveal it. Ken faces what the episode calls one of his conflicts of loyalty: Vaughan is his client, but Jackie is the one in trouble.

He sides with Jackie, and suggests that she set Cole up. She confronts him in his casino, demanding more money, while Ken records the conversation. The evidence is plain, and it is Cole, not Vaughan, who loses his licence.

At Woodcote Park, Matty King, a faded comedian played by Tim Healy, is staying while he performs in Nottingham. He gives Harry, Helen, Ken and Laura tickets for his show. A waitress named Susan, who seems to hate him, passes him a note before he goes on stage. His act falls flat, the audience does not laugh, and he collapses and is taken to hospital with nervous exhaustion.

He confesses to Harry that he is deep in debt to Rupert Cole, because he is a gambler and a drinker. He also admits that long ago he was in a double act with Jimmy Jester, and he will not say what became of him. Susan, it turns out, is Jester's daughter, and she accuses Matty of deserting her father when he was dying. Matty answers that he paid for Jester's hospital treatment, on the condition that Jester never told his family where the money came from.

Kieran Prendiville wrote the episode, and Graeme Harper directs. The two plots are tied together neatly by Cole, who appears in the first as the schemer and in the second as the creditor.

The strength is the first story, in which Ken's choice between a client and a frightened woman is made to cost him something. The weakness is the reveal in the second. Matty's secret generosity is explained in a speech, which tips the episode towards sentiment after a tight hour. It remains one of the better-built cases of the Nottingham series.