Abuse

Abuse begins with the kind of call every station dreads: anonymous, vague, and possibly the only warning anyone is going to give. It sends Inspector Kate Longton into a domestic situation that turns out to be about as hopeless as its reputation suggests, and the episode unfolds slowly, the way such cases do, with no quick resolution on offer. Whoever made the call may be the only person telling the truth, and that is a chilling thought. The door opens, and nothing in the episode is comfortable after that.

The McGowan household sits at the centre: Susannah Bunyan's Sharon and Martyn Hesford's Dave, with Linda Polan's Mrs. Proctor, Bob Mason's Michael Wilby and Fred Pearson's chairman circling the edges. Longton works the case with Sergeant Joseph Beck, Sergeant George Parrish, PC Danny Sparks and PC Brian Kelleher, treading carefully because the stakes are a child's welfare and the evidence is mostly locked inside someone else's front door. Every conversation has to be weighed twice: once for what is said, once for what is not. The McGowans' home gives nothing away, which is its own kind of answer.

Susan Pleat wrote it, Jan Sargeant 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. Susannah Bunyan plays Sharon McGowan, Martyn Hesford is Dave McGowan, Linda Polan is Mrs. Proctor, Bob Mason is Michael Wilby and Fred Pearson is the chairman.

The episode earns its title. The abuse is the subject. But the show keeps the camera on the investigation itself, on the gap between what can be proved and what can only be suspected. One anonymous call has already set the whole thing in motion. It is a grim, careful hour that treats the subject with the gravity it deserves, and Longton's quiet persistence is the best thing in it. There are no fireworks, and there should not be. It is the kind of episode that makes you glad the station has somebody like her.