Poppy

Vic Labbett is a violent robber who skipped the country after a job. Now he's back, though only for a visit. His plan is simple and a bit desperate: collect the cash from the old heist, turn the bulk of it into diamonds, and fly out again before anyone catches on. Criminals who come back for one last score rarely do it calmly. Labbett is no exception. He wants the diamonds in his hand and a plane ticket in his pocket, and the whole episode has the feel of a man running on borrowed time.

Regan is on to him from the start. Labbett dodges the net for a while and enjoys a few days of thinking he's got away with coming home. But it doesn't last. The chase ends in the best possible Sweeney fashion: a muddy car chase across an airfield, cars sliding and spraying, ending with Labbett cornered and finished. There's no clever scheme to unpick, just a man and a car in a lot of mud. It's the kind of sequence that reminds you how physical this work was, back before every chase got tidied up with computers.

Tom Clegg directed, from a script by Trevor Preston and Ian Kennedy Martin. James Booth makes a fine, nervy Vic Labbett, a man who knows his luck can't hold. John Thaw is Regan and Dennis Waterman is Carter, with Garfield Morgan as Haskins. Veronica Lang is Sally Labbett, John Rhys-Davies turns up as Ron Brett, and Frank Middlemass brings proper weight to Sterndale. Helen Gill, John D. Collins and John Alkin complete the list.

The plot is a straight line: man comes back for the money, man gets caught. Sometimes that's all you need, and the airfield chase earns its keep. It doesn't overreach, and the show never feels the need to apologise for that.