Drag Act

A gang of cold-blooded thieves lifts two lorries of brandy in two separate jobs. A driver ends up dead, a policeman is injured, and the Sweeney are left looking like the gang's supporting act. Wrong information from informants had the squad chasing its tail, and the gang had a head start both times. Regan does not do well with that. The rest of the episode is him scrabbling to look as if he was in control all along.

While the squad flails, two young uniformed cops go out on a limb. Julie Kingdom, Carter's new girlfriend, and her colleague Mike Seton chase a known fence and recover the brandy. It should be a clean win for everyone. It isn't. But the row that follows is the real meat of the episode; both men are right, which is what makes it stick. Regan is into damage limitation and wants the credit for himself, and that puts him squarely at odds with Carter, who knows Julie did the work. Carter is stuck between his girl and his governor, and the episode doesn't make the choice easy for him.

Kate Fahy's Julie and Albert Welling's Mike are the fresh faces, and the episode is quietly on their side: two rookies showing the veterans how it's done. They play it with the right mix of nerve and naivety. Benjamin Whitrow's Braithwaite, Patrick Malahide's Mason, Peter Kerrigan's Bowyer, Roger Hume's Lockhart, Derek Deadman's Curry and John Rolfe's Brookford fill out the ranks. Ted Childs and Ian Kennedy Martin wrote it, Tom Clegg directed.

The case is cracked by people who aren't supposed to be in the game, and the senior men spend the aftermath arguing about who gets the glory. It's a pleasing twist on the usual order of things, and the brandy's return only makes the argument louder. There is something satisfying about that, even if nobody on screen gets to enjoy it.