Rocky Eight and a Half

A pirate boxing match at the docks gives Arthur an idea, and nobody has ever profited from an Arthur idea. He watches two men batter each other in a makeshift ring and turns to Terry with a suggestion that he get back in there. The suggestion arrives with all the tact of a man selling a used car, because that is exactly what it is. Terry hasn't fought since the bout with Jackie Wilson seven years ago, the one he threw deliberately, the one that cost him his licence. It isn't a subject Terry likes to be reminded of, which is precisely why Arthur keeps raising it.

The fight gets arranged. But complications arrive in the shape of Brenda Wilson, Jackie's wife. She isn't there to cheer her husband on. She has doubts about his fitness to compete, and once she starts talking the tidy plan develops cracks in every direction. The more Brenda talks, the more the men look at the floor, which is how you know she's telling the truth. Terry's old grudge, Jackie's pride and Brenda's concern all pull at the same rope, and the ring itself becomes the least of their problems.

Leon Griffiths wrote it, Ian Toynton directed. George Innes plays Harry Lynch, Christine Kavanagh is Nicky, David Lodge plays Soldier Atkins, and Glynn Edwards and Peter Childs appear as Dave and Rycott. Ian McNeice is Eric Morgan, Anna Nygh plays Brenda Wilson and Peter Cheevers takes on Jackie Wilson, with Dennis Waterman and George Cole holding the corners.

There's a proper weight to the fight scenes, but the episode is really about the years of silence between two men who once shared a ring. Brenda is the one who refuses to let it stay buried. It's a boxing episode with the bruises kept off-screen and the feelings kept on, which is the right way round. The comeback is everything Arthur promised and rather more than Terry bargained for, and the title's wink at the Rocky films is well earned.