Workforce

Workforce opens with a confession that nobody asked for. The manager of a dry-cleaning establishment admits to a previous conviction for fraud, and the truth costs him his job on the spot. Nobody steals anything on screen; the theft is all in the past, and the present is where the bill comes due. The episode is less a whodunit than a quiet study in what a documented past does to a man's standing in a small town.

Inspector Kate Longton and her team observe the fallout rather than drive it: Sergeant Joseph Beck, Sergeant George Parrish and PC Danny Sparks move through the story, with Alan Lake's Grogan and Jeremy Nicholas's Vernon circling the action. The supporting cast fills out the town: Barbara Keogh's Barbara Bastin, Elizabeth Proud's Miss Ashdown, Marc Anwar's Mr. Wilson and Derek Benfield's Mr. Darcy. Everyone in town seems to have an opinion, and most of them are passing the man in the street without meeting his eye. The police presence is deliberate and low-key, because the crime, such as it is, has already happened.

Tony Parker wrote it, Paul Ciappessoni directed. Anna Carteret is Kate Longton, with David Ellison as Beck, Noel Collins as Parrish, Mark Botham as Sparks and C.J. Allen as Kelleher. Alan Lake plays Grogan, Jeremy Nicholas is Vernon, Barbara Keogh is Barbara Bastin, Elizabeth Proud is Miss Ashdown, Marc Anwar is Mr. Wilson and Derek Benfield is Mr. Darcy.

There is something almost Greek about the setup. The man's own honesty undoes him. The episode does not pretend the fraud was nothing. But it does notice how quickly a community can discard someone once the paperwork says they are damaged goods. In a small town, a conviction is a public fact, and the manager learns that the hard way. There is no villain to catch, which makes it harder to watch than most. It is the sort of episode that makes you check your own paperwork.