Old Pals

Harry Vincent, an old schoolmate of Danny and Carol, turns up with a property investment in an African holiday village that sounds too good to be true. It is. But Harry has a sideline in gun running, and Danny has been conned into funding it, ending up at the wrong end of a gangster's gun before he can work out what happened.

Meanwhile Frank is holding a drag queen night at the club, and the evening brings him into contact with Geraldine, a call girl badly beaten by a client. Frank takes her under his wing, and it turns out that is how Harry Vincent gets his kicks. The two halves of the story meet there: Danny was fleeced by charm, and Frank was supposed to look the other way. The drag queen night is the sort of detail the series loved, a bit of Soho glamour that goes wrong in a very Soho way.

The episode is at its best when the two brothers compare notes. Danny's investment has gone bad in the most spectacular way, and Frank's charity case has turned into a criminal complaint. Between them they have the whole mess covered, which is their usual arrangement.

The ending is a proper scramble of car chases around south London and a bit of bargaining between DS Jack Nesbit and Frank, before a chase across a river bank hands Danny his money back. The chase scenes are shot with more energy than the show usually spares, and the river bank showdown gives everyone a reason to be out of breath.

Susan Boyd and Murray Smith wrote it, Renny Rye directed. Don Henderson, Leslie Grantham, Barbara Wilshere, Peter Gowen, Leon Herbert, Jack Galloway, Anthony Allen, John Cater, Kelly Lawrence and Angela Clarke make up the cast.

Old Pals is a warning about school reunions dressed as a crime caper, and it moves well. Nobody here is quite as friendly as they first appear. It is also a good hour for the brothers working different ends of the same case.