Willesden Suite

Arthur gets himself invited to speak at the Rotary Club, an occasion that happens to coincide with Terry working the door as security guard. Arthur being Arthur, the speech is only the appetiser. The main course is a deal to provide the catering for a local hotel, a scheme he regards as bettering himself and everyone else can see coming from a mile off. It is the kind of deal agreed in a handshake and vague on every detail except the commission.

Terry's afternoon is taken up by a young girl from Liverpool with her heart set on modelling. A photographer has ripped her off, which is a polite way of saying he has taken her dreams and her money. She came south chasing a chance and found the usual welcome. Terry helps her deal with the fallout, and there is something quietly decent about the way he goes about it, no lecture, no payment required.

The two stories never quite meet, and that is fine. The episode is comfortable in its own scale. No empires fall, no vaults get cracked. A girl is cheated by a man with a camera, and a hotel gets provisions it may live to regret ordering. Arthur's scheme runs on over-promise and under-deliver, and the neighbourhood absorbs the mess.

Andrew Payne and Leon Griffiths wrote it, Francis Megahy directed. Dennis Waterman is Terry, George Cole is Arthur, and the supporting cast makes the place feel lived-in: Toby Robins as Norma Bates, Bernard Kay as Charles Riding, Glynn Edwards as Dave, Sally Jane Jackson as Karen Bradly, William Simons as Pongo Harris, Susan Kyd as Sue, Michael Maloney as Father Andrew and John Malcolm as Father Michael.

But the episode's quietest pleasure is its title. A suite in Willesden. Arthur would happily call it a suite, given half a chance, and charge extra for the view.