Proof of Life

The Tromp family disappears and Piet is put in charge of finding them. Michael Tromp, a businessman, and his teenage son Rudi are taken, and at first it reads as a straightforward kidnapping for money. Then the shape of it turns cold. The wife, Greta, is said to be shopping in Germany, which is convenient and, to Piet's eye, far too convenient.

So the question stops being only where the hostages are. It becomes who wanted them gone, and whether the woman abroad is grieving or stage-managing. The episode keeps that doubt alive without wringing it dry, letting the suspicion sit in the room whenever the family's name comes up. Arlette, Samson and the others are drawn into the search, each small statement adding a layer to a puzzle that gets darker the longer it runs. Piet trusts the facts and distrusts the easy explanation, which is usually the right instinct in this line of work.

Barry Foster is Van der Valk, with Meg Davies as Arlette, Ronald Hines as Samson, and Richard Huw as Wim. Paul Freeman carries the case as Michael Tromp, with Emma Cunningham as Greta, Maggie Steed as Maria, Stephen Moore as Hensen, Ralph Brown as Inspector Rep, and Edward Judd as Alfred. Nicolas Freeling and Keith Dewhurst wrote it; Tom Clegg directed.

What stays with me is the chill of the premise. A kidnapping is frightening; a kidnapping with a suspect already inside the family is something worse, and the script is patient about it. Paul Freeman gives Tromp a brittle calm that makes you wonder which side of the truth he stands on. It is a tense, unsentimental hour, and the title is quietly pointed: proof of life is exactly what everyone here is fighting to establish, or to fake. The revival often preferred its crimes close to home, and this one keeps the threat inside the house.