The Good Thief

Esme Murray discovers that young Frankie Bryce sings like an angel, and suddenly the annual singing contest between the Stag Bar and the Dunbracken Arms matters to every soul in Lochdubh. The bets go down, the hopes go up, and the trophy, whether you call it the Willie McGraw or the Willie McPhee depending on whose account you trust, looks destined for the village at last. Esme has made the discovery, and it is the best present the village has had in years. The contest is for treble singing, a category that exists precisely so that villages can argue about it, and the rivalry with Dunbracken runs deep.

But then Tusker Gray arrives. He is Frankie's best friend from Glasgow and a bad influence with a talent for disruption, and his presence threatens to sabotage the whole contest and Frankie's will to perform along with it. Hamish needs to find out what Tusker is hiding, because until he does, the show cannot go on. Tusker's secret turns out to be the key to everything, and Hamish's patience with the boy is one of the episode's quiet pleasures. James Young plays Tusker with the right blend of menace and mischief, and Stephen Henderson's Frankie carries the weight of a village on his shoulders.

Daniel Boyle wrote it, Jonas Grimås directed, and it aired in April 1997. Robert Carlyle works the quiet angles, Sandy McDade's Jean Foley keeps an eye on her nephew, and the regulars, Billy Riddoch, Stuart McGugan, Stuart Davids, Brian Pettifer, Barbara Rafferty and Anne Lacey, are out in force for the big night.

There is something lovely about a village staking its pride on a boy's voice. The contest is the whole world to Lochdubh for an evening, and the episode treats that seriousness with exactly the right amount of respect. It is one of those episodes where the whole village gets a proper part to play, and Frankie gets the night of his life.