Users and Losers

A dead gambler with thousands of pounds hidden in his flat is a contradiction the team has to unpick. Cash in a flat, a wife killed out riding, a trail of bets that were never just bets. The money says the gambling was the least of it, and the suspicion lands on an illegal betting scam. Then the owner's wife is killed out riding, and the case turns towards something more organised than debts. Two bodies, one trail of cash.

The interesting half of the episode sits with Burke. He is convinced that a former heroin addict and petty criminal has genuinely turned his life around, and he is willing to believe it against the evidence of the job. The man has a history, and Burke has watched too many histories repeat themselves to take the good news on trust. Then the job hands him a choice: arrest a man he thinks has changed, or make a deal with him to catch someone bigger. It is the oldest question in policing, dressed up as a Tuesday. The episode does not pretend there is a comfortable answer.

Glenn Chandler and Mike Cullen wrote it, Ian Madden directed. Alex Norton's Burke carries the moral weight, with Blythe Duff's DS Jackie Reid, John Michie's DI Robbie Ross and Colin McCredie's DC Stuart Fraser on the main case. Garry Sweeney is Panda Ramage, Mark McDonnell is Terry Deans, Pandora Clifford and Ronan Vibert are the Forsyths, Jason Harvey is Paul Cooley and John Kay Steel is Raymond Carney.

The betting scam gives the story its shape, but the Burke thread gives it its heart. Watching a senior officer weigh redemption against duty, with a killer in one hand and a bigger fish in the other, is the kind of thing Taggart does when it is paying attention. And the show is paying attention here.