This beautifully and cleverly researched series of three separate plays touched a sensitivity at the time; and history has proved that it was not too far from the mark. It was shown on BBC2 in 1978. THIS SHOULD BE RELEASED ON VIDEO/DVD before this magnificent 'tour de force' is lost forever.
Three stories; the Detective's Tale, The Villains Tale and the prisoner's Tale. Each character's situation, raison d'etre is explored ruthlessly by Newman and each character's flaws and mind sets contribute to a withering examination of the legal profession, the police and villainy in general.
The story was broadcast at the time of the notorious 'Countryman' country-wide police enquiry (mischevious timing perhaps) and made the whole country think again about the truth that some (very) few, police officers had become a law unto to themselves. Beautifully scripted with wry humour.
The actual story has three central characters Jack Lynn (villain), Alex Gladwell (lawyer) and the magnificent Inspector Pyle of the Met.Police, who produces the ultimate portrayal of a bent detective, a classic example of a good detective, gone wrong.
The background is an armed robbery that went wrong but had sufficient substance in it to enable Pyle to fit up Jack Lynn.
There are no heroes in this film.
This play will anger, frustrate, disturb and uncomfortably amuse.