Nasty Boys

A gang's raid on a security depot fails spectacularly, and that failure is Bob Tate's way in. He joins the crew to take them apart from the inside, working on the getaway driver first. The driver becomes his informer, and the arrangement gives Tate his cover: he is the boyfriend. Nobody in the gang questions it, which is either a compliment to Tate or a worry about the company he keeps. The depot job was loud and came to nothing, and a crew lying low after a failure is the best kind to get close to.

The deeper he gets, the more the arrangement wobbles. The informer starts to bend under the weight of it, and every step closer to the gang's core puts the whole operation at risk. And every scene between Tate and the driver carries a double meaning, which is exactly what this show does well. Nobody can be trusted fully, least of all the man Tate is trying to turn.

Steve Griffiths wrote it, Colin Gregg directed, and it aired on 17 October 1996. Brendan Coyle's Tate is the engine of the episode, and Charlie De'Ath's Trevor Madeley gives the informer a believable, uncomfortable edge. Reece Dinsdale's Scott and Gary McDonald's Oxford hold the outside line. On the gang side: Douglas Henshall's Paul Valera, William Key's Ivan Robbins, Gilbert Martin's Chris Dixon, Michael McKell's Jones and Grant Masters's Daniel Grant, with Graham Kent as the depot supervisor whose bad day starts it all.

Nasty Boys works because it understands informers. A man who betrays one side ends up owing both, and the episode keeps that bill in view. There are plenty of moments where a character thinks they have the upper hand, and the pleasure is in watching the advantage dissolve. Tate's boyfriend act is the quiet joke underneath all the tension. It does not stay funny for long.