Trial

The trial is the episode, and the episode is the trial. Hawkins and Snow take the stand to give evidence in the Herbert Andrews robbery case, and the whole case leans on forensic evidence, which means the defence is coming for the two of them with everything it has. There is no better arena for this series than a courtroom, because the show has always understood that police work only counts if it survives contact with lawyers. The courtroom brings out its best self, serious and formal, allergic to shortcuts. Evidence is only as good as the people who carry it into court.

Anthony Woodruff's Mr Bricknell and Nick Brimble's Mr Dodge set about the officers' testimony the way good counsel should, politely and without mercy. Esmond Knight's Mr Justice Ruddy presides with the weight of a man who has heard it all, and David Weston's Andrews sits and watches his own case being fought for him. Jestyn Phillips' Professor Welton supplies the expert evidence the whole thing turns on. But for a police show, it is remarkably short on police, and all the better for it.

Elwyn Jones wrote it alone, Leonard Lewis directed. It is a contained, talky hour, and it works, because the talk is all about whether the officers' word will hold. Norman Bowler's Hawkins is at his best under pressure, and Terence Rigby's Snow has the good policeman's horror of the witness box, the sense that every honest answer can be bent into a lie. Behind the two men in the box stands the whole force, and the episode feels that weight. The barrister's courtesy makes the attack all the sharper, and the script knows it.

Robberies are exciting. Trials are where they get decided. This episode knows which one matters more, and it is quietly gripping in a way that car chases never are.