The Kazimiriov Affair

A manuscript smuggled into Britain is supposed to be the work of a Russian author, and the question of whether it is genuine could discredit the Government. That is the official line, anyway. A manuscript is an odd thing to smuggle; the fuss it causes is odder still. Someone tells Jordan the work is a forgery, and the sensible move is to leave the matter alone. But Jordan goes against orders and investigates. For a security service, a book makes an unusual enemy; for a government, a familiar one.

There is something pleasingly small about the object at the centre of it all: a piece of paper, however dangerous. The case drags in Peter Brovnik and his wife Elena, a professor called Crowther, a man named Douglas Lifford and a housekeeper called Mabel, ordinary people suddenly carrying the weight of a national scandal. Jordan's hunch is the only lead in the file, and he treats it like one. Whether the manuscript is a clever fake or the genuine, damaging article, his refusal to stay in his lane is what makes the episode go. His superiors would rather he let it lie. He would rather know. The Brovniks are simply the people standing closest to the fire.

Emanuel Litvinoff wrote it, Mike Vardy directed. Derren Nesbitt is Det. Chief Insp. Jordan, Wensley Pithey Det. Supt. Eden and Keith Washington Det. Con. Morrissey. John Bailey plays Peter Brovnik, Patricia Lawrence Elena Brovnik, Ray Smith Det. Chief Insp. Jeffries, David Garth the Deputy Commander, Gerald Sim Douglas Lifford, Edward Burnham Professor Crowther and Athene Fielding Mabel.

'The Kazimiriov Affair' is a story about a book, which makes it sound tame. It is not. A forged page can be worth more than a gun, and the people who decide which is which are not always the ones in uniform. In this episode, the ink is the ammunition.