There's None So Blind

Confidence tricksters are working the town, posing as official council representatives, and the people they are targeting are pensioners. There's None So Blind sees Inspector Kate Longton warning the most vulnerable members of the community about a fraud that depends on nothing more high-tech than a plausible manner and a borrowed title.

The episode is rooted in social observation as much as procedure. The tricksters know exactly how the system works and how to make it look official, and the officers on the ground have to warn a community that is both anxious and trusting, a combination the con artists rely on. Longton's work here is as much counsel as investigation, sitting with the elderly residents who have been targeted and unpicking where the trust went wrong. Sergeant Joseph Beck, Sergeant George Parrish, PC Brian Kelleher, PC Danny Sparks and DS Dick Maltby support the effort, and the town's side is populated by Hilda Shaw, Johnnie Purvis, Reggie Tripper and a Lady President, each with their own brush with the scam.

Tony Charles wrote it, Michael Custance directed. Anna Carteret is Kate Longton, with David Ellison as Beck, Noel Collins as Parrish, C.J. Allen as Kelleher, Mark Botham as Sparks and Sebastian Abineri as Detective Sergeant Dick Maltby. Anne Dyson plays Hilda Shaw, Alan Parnaby is Johnnie Purvis, Leslie Schofield is Reggie Tripper and Carol Reeve is the Lady President.

The episode's argument is that the low-tech crimes can do the deepest damage. A stolen wallet is replaced; a pensioner who has handed over their savings to a man in a badge will never trust a knock at the door again. The show treats that loss with the seriousness it deserves.

It is a commendable hour, sharp on the community's vulnerability and warm about its decency. The con artists rely on assumed authority; the show relies on the audience caring about the people they fleece.