Double Exposure

Murders with no obvious connection except a possible racial link. That is the shape of the case in front of the team, and it keeps shifting. Taggart wonders whether the answer is something ugly and straightforward or something much quieter, hiding in plain sight. The question the whole episode keeps asking is whether this is racial violence or something more subtle, and it does not let the answer arrive too early. The audience shares the confusion, which is the honest way to run a mystery.

Jardine hatches a plan to bring Danny Lal in for questioning, and it goes about as well as these things usually do. Taggart has his suspicions about Barr, but Barr has the perfect alibi: he is caught on camera at the football. A perfect alibi is its own kind of clue, and Taggart knows it. And there is always another murder waiting to be investigated, just to keep everyone honest. Each new body sends the team back to the drawing board, and the pattern they are chasing refuses to settle.

Glenn Chandler and Stuart Hepburn wrote it, Gordon Flemyng directed. Mark McManus is Taggart, James MacPherson is Jardine, Blythe Duff is Jackie Reid. Jason Isaacs plays Barr, Deepak Verma plays Danny Lal, and the wider cast includes Andrew Barr as George Archer, Sandy McDade as Lisanne Archer, Patricia Kerrigan as Diane Johnstone, Tam Dean Burn as Phillip McLean and Maureen Beattie as Margaret McLean. It is a strong guest list, and the episode uses it without wasting anyone.

The pleasure here is in watching a case that refuses to sit still. Every time the team think they have it, the ground moves. The final reveal holds together because the clues were there all along, which is the best compliment a mystery can be paid. That is the job, and they do it without making it look easy.