The Mouse in the Corner: Part Two

Part two keeps the hunt for Tom Peterlee's killer going, with Wexford and Burden working the case through the family's guarded silences. But before Mike can give the investigation his full attention, he has to deal with something closer to home: the letter he received, and the conversation he owes his daughter Pat. The episode balances the murder enquiry against that private reckoning, and the two threads play off each other neatly.

The Peterlee family stays as impenetrable as ever. Eva remains brisk, Heather remains numb, and the brother and sister-in-law remain evasive, and Wexford's certainty that the killer is inside the cottages has to carry the hour while the evidence catches up with his instinct. The family friend's alibi for Heather gets tested, the ramraids keep the town on edge, and through it all the investigation moves at the deliberate pace the story needs.

George Baker and Ruth Rendell shared the writing, and Rob Walker directed, and the cast is in fine working order. Elizabeth Spriggs' Eva Peterlee, Victoria Fairbrother's Heather, Ken Kitson's Sgt Martin, John Burgess' Dr Len Crocker, Emma Smith's Pat Burden and Katrina Levon's Arlene Heddon all return, with Louie Ramsay's Dora and Diane Keen's Jenny keeping the home front visible. Broadcast on the 25th of October 1992, it is the middle of a two-part story, and a middle chapter has its own job: to hold the tension without spending it.

The most interesting thing in the hour is Burden's private story. A letter about his daughter, a married man, a conversation he is dreading: the episode gives Christopher Ravenscroft real material to work with, and the father's discomfort quietly outshines the detective's competence. The murder case and the family drama are both waiting on answers, and part two ends with neither delivered, which is exactly the right state for a middle chapter.