Losers, Weepers (2)

The second half of the season opener picks up where 'Finders, Keepers' left off, with the squad chasing forged bank notes that have drifted into too many wrong hands. Counterfeit money is a strange crime to dramatise because the victims barely know they are victims; a forged note passes from pocket to pocket doing quiet damage. The notes are good enough to fool the casual eye, which is how they got this far. The episode is about following the paper trail before it goes cold. Alice Fairbrother's place in the chain is the kind of detail the show is good at.

William Marlowe and Terence Feely wrote it, Gerry Mill directed, and it went out on 8 September 1984. Lynda Bellingham, by then already the nation's Oxo mum, plays Alice Fairbrother, and she gives the case a face the audience will recognise. Michael Darby's Dodger Coombes settles into the squad nicely, and the regulars do what they do best: Russell steering, Barratt and Phillips working the ground, George Taylor, Steve, Auntie Win and Eskimo keeping the world around the case recognisable. The episode spreads the work around the squad, which gives the regulars a chance to breathe.

The title completes the rhyme from the previous week, and it is the sort of joke British television can never resist, which is part of its charm. The episode itself is less of a joke. Forgery cases are grinding, unglamorous things, full of interviews and bank records, and the show resists the temptation to tart the story up. It is the rare episode where the heroics are paperwork and patience.

It is a workmanlike conclusion to a two-part opener, which is fair enough. The series had bigger things to come, and it knew it. For now, catching the printers and rounding up the cash was the job, and the job got done. And that is fine, because not every week needs a bang.