Amateur Night

Somebody in Hartley is having a lovely time stealing things, and Inspector Jean Darblay is determined to spoil the fun. Amateur Night is about a series of petty thefts that turn out to be the work of a practical joker, the sort of case that could be filed away as minor mischief but gets under the inspector's skin instead.

The puzzle demands patience and observation rather than forensic genius. Darblay works the ground with Sergeant Joseph Beck and Sergeant George Parrish, PC Peter Sims and PC Martin Helmshore doing the legwork, and Detective Chief Inspector Jim Logan keeping an eye on the bigger picture from above. The community side of the inquiry brings in Ted and Helen Grimshaw, Ronnie Gore and Rob Parsons, each with a theory about who is behind the pranks and why. Nobody confesses easily, because the whole point of a practical joker is that the joke is on everybody, including the police.

Brian Finch wrote it, David Maloney directed. Stephanie Turner is Jean Darblay, with David Ellison as Beck, Noel Collins as Parrish, David Gillies as Peter Sims, David Straun as PC Martin Helmshore and Tony Caunter as Logan. Kenneth Farrington plays Ted Grimshaw, Diana Davies is Helen Grimshaw, John Savident, years before he became Coronation Street's Fred Elliott, is Ronnie Gore, and Graham Seed is Rob Parsons.

The episode finds real charm in the mismatch between the seriousness of the investigation and the silliness of the crime. The officers have to keep straight faces while treating a string of schoolboy tricks with full professional gravity, and the show milks that tension without ever mocking the work.

It is a light, contained hour. Even the smallest mischief can drive a full investigation, and watching the machinery of the station grind over a prank is its own quiet pleasure.