Plot[]
Alfie Mullins, an "old-school" safe cracker, is on short-term release from prison. As he's returning to prison, he is approached by a group of young, inexperienced robbers who have stolen a safe and need Alfie's expertise to open it. During this encounter, Alfie is accidentally killed. CID at Sun Hill are already on the trail of Mullins, mistakenly believing he has escaped from prison rather than simply not returned. Upon discovering his death, they initiate an investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding it. D.I. Galloway initially suspects a rival criminal, believing Alfie may have been killed over a stash of money. However, Sgt. Cryer, with his deeper understanding of Alfie's character, suspects otherwise, knowing Alfie's history of bad luck and not holding out on his cohorts. The stolen safe is recovered by uniform officers, but unknown to them, it's rigged with a remote control explosive device. P.C. Carver, while in the vicinity of the safe, accidentally triggers the device using his police radio, setting off the explosion.
Cast[]
Regular cast[]
- Det. Insp. Galloway - John Salthouse
- Sgt. Cryer - Eric Richard
- P.C. Edwards - Colin Blumenau
- W.P.C. Ackland - Trudie Goodwin
- P.C. Litten - Gary Olsen
- Det. Sgt. Roach - Tony Scannell
- Det. Con. Dashwood - Jon Iles
- P.C. Carver - Mark Wingett
- Sgt. Penny - Roger Leach
- Sgt. Peters - Larry Dann
- P.C. Smith - Robert Hudson
- P.C. Frank - Ashley Gunstock
Guest cast[]
- Eddie - Lawrence Lambert
- Alan - Alan Polonsky
- Colin - Richard McCabe
- Mrs. Mullins - Kate Williams
- Alfie Mullins - Paddy Joyce
- Mrs. Draper - Pam Ferris
- Factory Manager - Ian Lindsey
- Reg Atkins - Mike Hayward
- Harry - Ron Pember
- Stan - Jim Carter
- Bernie - Alfie Curtis
- Detective Constable - Simeon Andrews
- Jimmy Draper - Ben Davis
- Cyril - Luke Kelly
- Warders - Jeremy Pearce and Paul Kelly
- Stallholders - Colin Spaull, Graham Chinn and Clive Corner
Commercial releases[]
- The episode was released on the Series 1 DVD Boxset released as follows:
- The episode has also been included in a number of compilation releases, noted as follows:
- In Australia, as part of a Season 1-3 DVD set released on 10th May 2006; followed later by a Series 1-4 set, released by Shock Entertainment on 1st February 2012 and later re-released by ViaVision on 16th September 2020. Shock Entertainment also released an 80s collection box set on 3rd April 2013 containing this episode, plus all others broadcast in the 1980s.