Golden Fleece

The episode where the guvnor is the one in the dock. "Golden Fleece" puts Haskins in genuine trouble, framed for corruption, while Regan and Carter chase a spate of break-ins that don't seem to connect. The two cases do connect, of course. That's the point.

The villains are two Australians, Colin McGruder and Ray Stackpole, working to a theme they've coined themselves: nice 'n' easy does it. Eleven armed robberies, and every haul is Kruger Rands bought from the same financial firm, with the managing director's secretary tipping them off as to where the coins are kept. It's a tidy scheme, and it gets personal when they decide to take Haskins out of the picture. An informant is paid to swear the chief inspector takes bribes. And a bit of money planted in his greenhouse finishes the job. Haskins is suspended, and Regan and Carter have to clear the guvnor while hunting the men who fitted him up.

Regan eventually traces the Kruger Rand connection. But the villains are slippery and get clean away. The kicker is that the lack of witnesses works in Haskins's favour: he's exonerated and reinstated. Justice of a sort, though not the sort anyone wanted.

Roger Marshall and Ian Kennedy Martin wrote it, and David Wickes directed. Patrick Mower and George Layton make an enjoyably flashy pair of villains, all charm and no conscience. John Thaw and Dennis Waterman do the chasing, Garfield Morgan does the suffering with quiet dignity, and Anne Stallybrass as Doreen Haskins reminds us the guvnor has a home life too. Philip Madoc pops up as Det. Supt. Pettiford, and Cheryl Kennedy plays Judy Collier.

It's the rare Sweeney story where the villains win and the decent man gets his job back. There's a slightly sour taste to that, and the episode knows it.