The Little Rascals

Piet is on the trail of a dead comedian in "The Little Rascals," and the people around the victim are not making it easy. The dead man had a cult following and a circle of old friends who styled themselves, with a straight face, the little rascals. They are ex-hippies who never quite left the sixties behind, and they close ranks the moment Piet starts asking questions. Getting a straight answer out of any of them is like drawing water from a stone.

The murder sits inside that closed world, and Piet is shut out at every turn. What bothers him most is not the stonewalling but a young woman whose parents have been pulled into the mess. The case, for all its comic trappings, is about a girl being damaged by the adults sworn to protect her, and the script is careful to keep that thread in view even when the comedy tempts it elsewhere.

Barry Foster is Van der Valk, with Meg Davies as Arlette. The rascals themselves are Geoffrey Bayldon as Nicolas Meijers, Anna Cropper as Julie Meijers, Derek Fowlds as Johan Kieft, David Schofield as Toon Rosendaal, Kika Markham as Sion Beekvelt, Philip McGough as Bertus, Lizzy McInnerny as Bea Jongkind, and Gillian McCutcheon as Lies Jongkind. Nicolas Freeling and Peter Buckman wrote it; Alan Cooke directed.

This is one of the revival's odder entries, and I mean that as a compliment. The alternative scene is played for its absurdity without being mocked, and the murder is allowed to stay messy in a way these cases rarely do. The young woman's fate is left unsettled, which is honest if not wholly satisfying. Piet walks away with the killer but not with a clean answer, and the show is content to leave it there. Not every Van der Valk ends with the books balanced.