Attack

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Perrin asks Inspector Kate Longton to do a delicate job: bring an important witness back on side. Attack opens the fifth season on the quietest of missions, no raid, no chase, just the hard work of persuading somebody to trust the police again after they stopped. It went out in September 1984, a year into the Longton era, and the return of Edward Peel's Perrin hands the opener a thread straight back to the previous season's finale.

The witness in question is tied to a case that needs their testimony, and Longton's task is to undo whatever damage has been done and coax them back into the fold. It is the kind of work the show excels at, because it is all conversation and judgement and reading a person's fears correctly. Stephen Yardley's Brian Adler and his wife Joan, played by Linda Gardner, are at the centre of the persuasion, with Susan Campbell adding her own angle to the case. Around Longton work the familiar ranks: Sergeant George Parrish, Sergeant Joseph Beck, PC Danny Sparks and PC Brian Kelleher, with DS Dick Maltby supporting Perrin's side of the operation.

Ewart Alexander wrote it, Marc Miller directed. Anna Carteret is Kate Longton, with Noel Collins as Parrish, David Ellison as Beck, Mark Botham as Sparks, C.J. Allen as Kelleher, Edward Peel as Perrin and Sebastian Abineri as Detective Sergeant Dick Maltby. Stephen Yardley plays Brian Adler, Linda Gardner is Joan Adler and Annette Farrant is Susan Campbell.

The episode gives its central persuasion room to breathe. The witness's reluctance is a human fact born of experience rather than a plot obstacle, and Longton's handling of it shows the character at her best: patient, honest, and unwilling to pressure somebody into a decision they will regret.

It is a strong, careful opener. Some attacks are loud. This one is the quiet kind, and it takes more nerve.