Hijack

Silver bullion does not usually make for the most exciting crime, but this shipment is different. It is being moved through London on its way from the Iron Curtain, and a foreign diplomat called Josef Merhart tips off a villain named Harry Walter about the route to Tilbury docks. The hijack goes off, and CI5 are left holding a case with a leak at its heart. The stolen silver is only half the story; the leak is the part that matters.

The leak points somewhere awkward. Mandy, the woman who first introduced Cowley and Doyle to each other, has gone into hiding on Josef's advice, and her flatmate Debbie happens to be Doyle's girlfriend. That connection gives CI5 the thread they need, and it gives the case a personal edge. Walter, meanwhile, has decided the loose end needs cutting: he sends a gunman to kill Mandy, and Doyle and Bodie are in a race to reach her first.

Brian Clemens and Roger Marshall wrote it, Martin Campbell directed. Dave King is Harry Walter, Jill Baker is Amanda, Denis Lill is Josef Merhart, Rachel Davies is Deborah, Stephen Yardley is Swetman, Richard Murdoch is Sir Alan Sternfield and Robert Rietty is the Ambassador.

The double edge is what keeps it interesting: a hijack that is really about trust, with Doyle's girlfriend caught in the middle of it. The show rarely let the lads' private lives drive the plot this directly, and the change of focus suits it. A diplomat passing secrets to a criminal, a woman hiding on his advice, and a hitman on his way to tidy things up all feed the same machine.

A solid, workmanlike hour with a decent twist in the middle, and a reminder that in this world the people closest to you are often the ones with something to hide.