Black Run (1)

This one starts with a letter from prison. Eddie Vine, once a police officer, now serving life for murdering his friend and fellow officer Tom Pallisser, invites Boyd in for a visit. Eight years ago Boyd put him there, on a conviction that smelled of dirty cop from the start. Now Vine wants to talk, and Boyd walks in half expecting the confession he never got.

He doesn't get it. What he gets instead is the news that Vine is dying of cancer, which changes the arithmetic entirely. A confession from a man with nothing left to lose is one thing; a dying man who still won't say what happened to Tom Pallisser is another altogether. David Hayman plays Vine as a man rationing out the truth one spoonful at a time, and Trevor Eve meets him with that flinty patience Boyd does so well. Two old adversaries, both keeping score, neither sure what winning looks like any more.

Around the visits, the old case reopens properly. Sheryl Palliser is drawn back into things, DI Stan Gulley and DC Stella Goodman work their ends, and Dr Felix Gibson starts picking at whatever the forensics missed the first time round. The team also crosses paths with Dominic Parks and Dr Donald McNeill along the way.

Raymond Khoury and Barbara Machin wrote it, Ben Bolt directed, first shown in September 2005. Trevor Eve leads as Det Supt Peter Boyd, with Sue Johnston as Dr Grace Foley, Wil Johnson as DI Spencer Jordan, Esther Hall as Dr Felix Gibson and Félicité Du Jeu as DC Stella Goodman. David Hayman takes the guest lead as Eddie Vine, joined by Diane Parish as Sheryl Palliser, Connor McIntyre as DI Stan Gulley, Peter Polycarpou as Dominic Parks and Geff Francis as Dr Donald McNeill.

A dying informer is an old device, but this episode uses it honestly. Boyd came for a confession and found a countdown instead.