The Spoilt Ones

Career criminal Sid Stannish is in the frame for a run of minor break-ins, and the question hanging over the case is an odd one: would a man with his record really risk another conviction for such small hauls? It is the sort of puzzle that sends the CID out onto the streets, and Betty Donald draws the undercover assignment.

In a deprived corner of Thamesford, disguised as an ordinary housewife, she finds something worse than a few stolen goods. Two children, Molly and her brother, are living with neglect and abuse, and the team suddenly has two jobs at once: build the burglary case against Stannish and work out whether anyone can reach those children before they take another severe beating. She has come to watch a house; she finds a household. The second job is the one that stays with you.

Elwyn Jones and Allan Prior wrote it, Brian Parker directed. Frank Windsor is Watt, Norman Bowler Hawkins, and Susan Tebbs makes the most of her time as Betty Donald, who sees more than the case file allows. Terence Rigby is PC Henry Snow and Robin Lloyd plays Sgt. Marks. John Bennett is Sid Stannish, Sally Sanders his sister Jennie, Karen Williams plays Molly Stannish, Stephen Procter Mickey Stannish and Bernard Davies Ricks. A small cast, a tight patch of streets, and a case that keeps two sets of victims in view.

And the best episodes of this kind remember that the people behind the crime matter as much as the crime itself. The burglary is a puzzle; the children are not. Watching a policewoman in a borrowed housecoat decide what to do about what she has seen is worth more than any number of chase scenes, and the CID do their job without the episode pretending it is enough.