A Well Fashioned Fit-Up

Arthur tries to offload some fake dresses onto a fashion agent, which goes about as well as anyone might expect. The agent turns the merchandise down, but he does offer Terry a job guarding his warehouse overnight, where a fashion collection sits worth guarding. Terry has already given his word to a pub owner for that same night, so Arthur, never shy, volunteers to stand in. His willingness to cover for Terry is the only part of the night that goes as advertised.

The next morning the entire collection has vanished. Every last dress. Terry immediately suspects what Arthur would rather not examine too closely: that the whole business is a scam designed to cheat Zoe, the collection's designer. The title tells you which side of the ledger the truth sits on.

From there it is a proper little mystery in expensive clothes. A straight robbery and a staged disappearance look exactly alike from the outside, and the difference matters enormously to Zoe. Arthur's involvement guarantees the truth will be messier than a simple theft, and the world of fake labels and genuine suspicion gives the show room to do its favourite thing: watch a lie unravel politely. Zoe has everything to lose, and Sara Sugarman plays her with the right mixture of fury and bewilderment.

Barry Purchese and Leon Griffiths wrote it, Jim Hill directed. Dennis Waterman is Terry, George Cole is Arthur, Sara Sugarman plays Zoe, Stanley Meadows is Ronnie Shyvers, and the rest of the cast includes Christopher Fulford as Billy, Gerard Murphy as Kevin O'Hara, Sean Lawlor as Eddie, Oengus MacNamara as Colin, Bunny Reed as Giant and Glynn Edwards as Dave.

And there is a particular comfort in watching the glossy fashion world meet the scuffed reality of the local trade. Arthur's fake dresses, Terry's misplaced trust, a designer done out of her work. The clothes may be counterfeit, but the aggravation is genuine.