Big Brother

"Big Brother" opens with Regan doing what he does best, which is also what gets him into trouble: losing his patience. He is questioning Andy Deacon about a wages snatch, and the lad collapses mid-interview. A doctor says the injuries came from an assault. Regan never laid a hand on him, but try telling anyone that. He is suspected of giving the boy a kicking, and the word goes round fast.

The consequences arrive from two directions at once. Andy's older brother Phil is the dangerous sort, and he puts a contract out on Regan's life. John Frewin, a muck-raking local journalist, starts digging for a police brutality story instead. Between a man paid to shoot him and a man paid to print him, Regan is properly squeezed. He and Carter have to find the person who really hospitalised Andy Deacon, and they have to do it before the money on Regan's head finds a taker.

Help comes from an unexpected quarter: Anne Knightly, a probation officer and Regan's new lady friend. She knows the family and she knows the system. And for once Jack Regan listens to a woman who isn't telling him to slow down.

Trevor Preston and Ian Kennedy Martin share the writing credit, with Tom Clegg directing. John Thaw is Regan and Dennis Waterman is Carter, with Garfield Morgan's Haskins keeping an eye on them. Michael Robbins plays Kevin Lee, Gwen Taylor is Anne Knightly, and Maurice Roëves gives Phil Deacon a quiet menace that never needs to raise its voice. David Dixon plays the hapless Andy, and John Clive does fine slimy work as Frewin.

It isn't the most elaborate Sweeney story. The squeeze is the point. Regan under attack from a gangster and a gossip columnist at once, with only his partner and a probation officer beside him, is Regan at his most appealing: outnumbered and outgunned, still certain he'll land on his feet. He usually does.