Internal Affairs

Charges of harassment surface inside the Eastland force, and the force itself is on the receiving end of them. Emotions run high, as the official synopsis so calmly puts it, and the episode is about what that does to a department where everyone knows everyone. Professional boundaries fray, and the machinery that usually investigates crime finds itself being investigated. The stakes are personal in a way a normal case never is, because nobody here can go home and leave the job behind.

The drama comes from the collision of departmental politics and personal accusation. The usual rules of rank stop applying cleanly when the complaint is against one of your own, and the script enjoys watching senior officers squirm about it. Cade has to keep the force functioning while the allegations pull it apart, and the episode does not pretend there is a tidy line between protecting the institution and protecting the people inside it. Trust between colleagues is the real casualty, and it does not get restored in a single episode. Everyone involved knows the inquiry will outlast the feelings behind it, which is a chilling thought in itself.

Martin Shaw is Chief Constable Alan Cade, with Julian Glover as Andrew Blake and Bosco Hogan as Deputy Chief Constable Wes Morton. Gillian Bevan plays Det. Supt. Rose Penfold, Davyd Harries is Sam Lester and Brian Bovell is PC Charlie Webb. David Lyon appears as Councillor Tom Brewster, Greg Saunders as Jamie Brewster, David Kernan as Archive Camfield and Frederick Stuart as Simon Marriott. Jeffrey Caine and Susan Wilkins wrote it, and Tom Cotter directed.

But the episode earns its title. There is nothing glamorous about watching colleagues weigh each other up across a desk, and the show is honest about how much courage the accusers need. The inner workings of a police force make for grim, gripping television, and Internal Affairs leans into that without flinching.