The Flying Club

Being pushed out of an aeroplane is an emphatic way to die, and it is how the owner of Finchmere airfield meets his end. The question of who dropped him splits the investigation two ways. There are the campaigners who want the airfield closed down, and then there is the older possibility, something reaching back to a Second World War mission that has been waiting years for a reckoning.

Barnaby and Nelson work both strands, and Michael Aitkens' script, with Caroline Graham, keeps the two theories breathing down each other's necks. Luke Watson directs, and he makes the most of the sky above the airfield, which is a proper backdrop for a story about flying. Robert Bathurst's Perry Darnley and Olly Rix's Alex Darnley sit at the centre of the family side of things. Lex Shrapnel's Gavin Hopkirk, Chris Nightingale's Bernard King, and the Rayner siblings, Phil Cornwell's Eddie and Scarlett Alice Johnson's Jessie, fill in the rest of the picture. Bernard Cribbins turns up as Duggie Wingate, which is a pleasure in itself, and Tamzin Malleson's Kate Wilding keeps the official side honest.

The best thing about the episode is that it doesn't cheat. The airfield carries the story as much as anyone in it. The wartime angle gives the case a weight that a simple row over noise complaints would not have, and the ending earns the setup rather than dodging it. Nobody here is a stranger to the airfield, and that is exactly the problem. The club closes ranks the way clubs do, and Barnaby knows that means someone is hiding something.

But it is the everyday detail that stays with you: the hangars, the clubhouse, the whole small world of people who love machines that should not leave the ground. Old grudges, a good location, and a man falling out of the sky. The formula, working.