King's Crystal

The King family firm has shattered, and its accountant has been found stabbed among the pieces. What looks at first like a business matter turns out to be a blood matter, and Barnaby finds himself unravelling rivalries that mix commerce and family history in roughly equal measure. DS Ben Jones, meanwhile, takes the other road, looking into the secret Masonic rites that the community would rather pretend do not exist. It is a classic double-track investigation, and the two lines keep tripping over each other nicely.

The King family is anchored by Charles King, played by John Castle, and Ian King, played by Sam Heughan, a good few years before he found fame in a time-travel romance on the other side of the Atlantic. His turn here is an early sighting of a star the show clearly enjoyed having. Around them circle Jack Tewson, played by Tony Haygarth, Peter Baxter, played by Ray Lonnen, and James Taylor, played by Joseph Rye. Joyce and Cully Barnaby provide the domestic counterpoint, and Dr George Bullard is on hand as always.

Steve Trafford and Caroline Graham wrote the episode, with Peter Smith directing. The blend of corporate collapse and secret society gives it a particular flavour, old money and fresh blood in the same glass. The accountant's death lands in the middle of the family's collapse, and the two events prove impossible to separate.

The show has always enjoyed digging into the established institutions of village life, and the Masons are a gift. But the Masons are only half of it; the family itself is the deeper mystery. Jones's thread is the sort of thing the show does well: a closed society, a shared oath, and a dozen men who would rather go to prison than talk. Barnaby's frustration with closed ranks and whispered loyalties is played with relish, and the mystery holds together right to the reveal. It is a fine entry, the kind that reminds you why the formula still works after all these years.