Bad Seed

A missing husband and an artist's impression of a wanted man look, to Inspector Kate Longton's eye, very much like the same face. Bad Seed is one of those episodes where a single sharp observation opens a case that nobody else had noticed, and the show gives that observation all the weight it deserves. Broadcast in October 1983, in the middle of the fourth series, it is a good example of how Carteret's Longton had settled in: the hunch is hers, and the station moves on it.

The resemblance is the pivot. The husband has gone missing, the wanted man is on the loose, and if Longton is right, the two are one person living two lives. The investigation pulls in Sergeant Joseph Beck and Sergeant George Parrish, PC Danny Sparks and PC Brian Kelleher on the ground, and DS Bernie Duckworth working the detail beside Longton. The missing man's world supplies the complications: John Holden, Ellen Butler, Dr. Colin Butler and Maureen all have their place in the picture, and the more the officers learn, the clearer it becomes that this is no simple runaway husband. Hidden identities and old deceptions sit underneath the surface of the case.

John Foster wrote it, Marc Miller directed. Anna Carteret is Kate Longton, with David Ellison as Beck, Noel Collins as Parrish, Mark Botham as Sparks, C.J. Allen as Kelleher and Lloyd McGuire as DS Bernie Duckworth. Tom Georgeson plays John Holden, Jan Carey is Ellen Butler, Richard Kay is Dr. Colin Butler and Ann Penfold is Maureen.

The episode is built on the simplest of police instincts: the nagging feeling that two things belong together. From that single hunch, the story grows into a proper investigation of deception, and the show keeps the sense of place strong throughout.

It is a genuinely engaging hour, proof that a good crime story can start with nothing more than a long look at a picture. Sometimes the case is hiding in plain sight.