Opportunity Knocks and Bruises

The deal is simple enough. Arthur needs room in his lock-up for sixty Russian telescopes, so he shifts some surplus stock to Alexie Nolan, who runs the fairground, and takes a fruit machine in return. It is the kind of transaction Arthur has done a thousand times, and the first sign of trouble is that the machine weighs more than it should.

But the reason it weighs more is that it is full of Irish money, the proceeds of the 1988 Dublin mint robbery, and Nolan has been laundering the haul through the funfair one coin at a time. Arthur, who can spot a pound note at fifty paces, works out what he is holding and does something rare for him: he gets the police involved. D.S. Morley, unaware that he is carrying the proceeds of a major robbery around with him, has taken the machine for use at a quiet charity event. That event turns into a meeting place for cops and robbers, and an operation is set up to bring Nolan and his associates to book.

Chris Kelly, Iain Roy and Leon Griffiths wrote it, Diarmuid Lawrence directed. George Cole is Arthur, Gary Webster is Ray and Glynn Edwards is Dave, with Nicholas Day as Morley, Jonty Stephens as Field, Sean McGinley as Nolan, Natalie Roles as Amanda, Eliza Buckingham as Mrs. Mitchell, Robert Blythe as Cllr. Griffiths and Brian McGrath as Mr. Fairchild.

There is a pleasing irony in the whole setup. Arthur takes a fruit machine to clear his lock-up, and the machine turns out to be the most dangerous thing he has ever owned. The funfair backdrop, the charity do, the sudden arrival of an entire robbery's proceeds in a quiet London hall: it all works, and it works because nobody in the story knows what they are carrying until it is far too late.