Something about a Soldier

It starts at London Airport with two children running riot in the luggage department. The chaos mixes up passengers' baggage, and out of the mix-up falls a secret nobody was meant to see. Two children and a baggage carousel have opened a window into a closed world. From there it is a short step to Craven and Haggerty investigating two army officers, Major Hallett and Sergeant Crockett, and whatever it is they are carrying between them.

Michael J. Bird wrote it, William Brayne directed. Garfield Morgan is Major Hallett, who would turn up years later as the testy DCI Haskins in The Sweeney, and Godfrey James is Sergeant Crockett. Morgan brings the right mix of bluster and unease to a man whose career is suddenly being examined from the wrong end. Frederick Jaeger is Commander Fletcher, Rula Lenska is Lydia, Ivan Beavis is Bannister, Patricia Haines is Mrs. Lane, Paul Antrim is Detective Sergeant Maguire and Sheila Brownrigg is Mrs. Hallett.

The structure is one of the show's favourites and one of its best: an ordinary incident that opens a door onto something much larger. The airport chaos does its damage early, and the consequences run for the rest of the episode. The army closes ranks around its own, which gives the investigation its shape: every question answered with another question, every door opened revealing another door.

But secrets about professional reputations and private lives are the real subject, and the uniforms are mostly window dressing. The wives, the neighbours, the sergeants and the staff officers all have versions of the truth, and the episode is patient about sorting them. It is tidy, professional television, and the airport set-up stays with you after the rest of the plot has faded. The title, with its vague 'something', turns out to be exactly as precise as the investigation.