Trial & Retribution XIX: Tracks (2)

Andy Harper hangs himself. That's where the second half of "Tracks" begins, and Ray Harper finding his son does more damage in a minute than the whole of part one managed with its chalk pits and charge sheets. Whatever Andy knew about Maria Cole's death goes with him.

The truth comes out anyway, just not the one anyone was prosecuting. Darren admits that he and Andy were a couple, gay, and hiding it from both families. Once that's on record the case against him collapses; the lies he told were never about murder, they were about survival, and he walks free into a world that hasn't got much use for either kind of truth. Jason Maza plays the confession without a note of self-pity, which is exactly right. A boy who spent months lying to protect something this simple doesn't perform his grief for a police station.

The episode keeps its eye in elsewhere too. Walker is wrestling with troubles of his own involving his teenage son, and there's an obvious but effective rhyme between a father who can't reach his boy at home and a father who has just lost his entirely. The episode is smart enough not to underline the parallel, which is why it lands. And Roisin decides to pay Darren a friendly visit at his flat, expecting a straightforward check-in. She gets a shock instead. The episode stops right there, which feels like cheating until you admit it worked on you. Leanne Rowe appears as Becky.

No writer or director takes credit on this one, according to the listings, which is unusual for a show this well-organised.

What "Tracks" leaves you with is sourer than most two-parters manage. The system needed someone guilty, took two boys who were merely ashamed, and only let go once one of them was dead. It is a tragedy with no villain in the dock, which is harder to watch than one with.