Out of the Cold

Written by Len Collin, produced by Pippa Brill and directed by Roberto Bangura

See - when a watercooler isn't available the man can lean on anything with grace and elan,

not to mention indescribable coolness and ineffable mystery.

All images on thii page were supplied by the lovely Matt and come from TBAU

This was yet another 'pleasant surprise' episode - I was expecting Polly-and-Dave trash, and instead I got quite a pleasant amount of our Alex ;-) The focus of the ep was an illegal immigrant scheme. We came at it from a couple of angles - a dead body fished out of the river - which the ep starts with Debbie viewing at the morgue - and an overturned truck with a missing driver and a load of empty but complete with airholes etc whitegoods. Cass, Sam and Matt are first on the scene for that but as the Dave - Polly storyline continues through the story we also see plenty of Dave sulking like a particularly repulsive two year old, Tony apologising again and again (clouting Dave good and hard might have been more to the point) and plenty of pouting Polly. Still, it could have been much worse.

Dave and Tony, in between sniping, pick up an escapee from the van. He turns out to be an undercover immigration officer - but before we find that out my lounge room echoed to *WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSHH!!!! as a certain ruby-haired gentleman popped up on screen ;-)

Detective Inspector Alex Cullen is in his office, perched on his desk, examining a Polaroid snap of Debbie's dead body (no, I don't mean that literally - unfortunately ;-)) when Reg interrupts him to sell him raffle tickets for the Terry Knowles Dependents' Fund. Alex only has a tenner and, while I suspect he wants change, he gets instead to be very generous - and insulted. Reg adds, while handing over the tickets:

The dress code is - significant look up and down - 1950s.

Alex merely smiles the smile of a forbearing man but I do have to say that, while Reg has got a nerve picking on anyone's dress sense, the DI is wearing a singularly ghastly tie. It's a faded dull green with darker spots and sufficiently wide that it folds coming out of the knot. This is worn with his perfectly - to my eyes -acceptable grey suit and the pale lemon shirt he normally wears with his lime-green-and-slated-for-ceremonial-burning tie.

As Reg goes, Debbie comes in with the PM report. They discuss the likelihood of him being an illegal, the inconclusive PM, the presence of alcohol in his blood and how this could relate to him being a Muslim. (Lord knows that there are plenty of lapsed or merely sloppy Christians in the world - why on earth is it received wisdom that all Muslims must be vigilantly and devotedly practising?)

Whatever. But if he was dead before he hit the river he couldn't have thrown himself in, could he?

We next see Alex walking down the stairs - Conway catches him up to inquire about his progress in ID-ing the body as Area are getting edgy and as Conway says,

If they get edgy, the superintendent gets even edgier and Jack and I have to take the flack.

The look on poor Alex's face seems to say 'Do tell! And I don't get any pressure?'

****

Debbie and Alex are getting out of a car in front of a local mosque (Alex now has his leather jacket on.). Debbie starts to whinge that she won't take her shoes off, as they're expensive. Alex answers with that beautiful simplicity that is so much a part of him,

Yeah? And this is a place of worship.

Alex shows Mr Siddiqui a set of beads they found on the man and asks about them. Mr Siddiqui explains how they are used in prayer.

A man of God, then? [Can't replicate the simple sincerity and lack of selfconsciousness with which he says it, unfortunately.]

Cass and Sam pick up the driver of the overturned lorry, Polly and Craig discuss wedding dresses, Cass and Matt start to interview the driver, Dave tells Tony that he got his divorce papers the previous night and Craig talks Polly into coming to the Benefit night.

Alex is next seen in an interview room with Conway, Petrit Peshcopi and his boss, Bob Nicholson.He identifies our dead body as an Albanian he's met in a refugee camp.

The story then constantly cuts between Matt and Cass interviewing the lorry driver as he spills his guts and Alex et al getting the lowdown on illegal smuggling from Petrit.

Naturally - said with heavy sarcasm - both groups leave their interview rooms at the same moment and cross paths so they can do deeply significant looks.

Alex is next seen in CID having a bit of a case conference with Petrit, Conway, Nicholson, Debbie etc. Alex thinks it is worth trying to find out if the driver, Redmond, knows what the destination was - and to find out more about a man named Berisha, who keeps coming up as the big baddy so Alex and Matt interview the driver. While this is going on Debbie takes Petrit down to the morgue where he identifies the body and alleges that he has been murdered. Back at the office there is another case conference where a joint undercover operation is suggested and planned. Our Alex comes up with the idea of setting up a hotel of our own.

Dekka and Alex go to see Tom about the op. He's concerned about cost and logistics but after a straight-to-Alex,

You really think this is worth doing, yeah?

which Alex answers with the air of a man who knows his Tom -

Could be a big coup, sir.

There's a brief scene later on in which Alex is convincing John Redmond to introduce Tony as a replacement driver and then a little bit later we see Alex approach Tony about it. I like this because I like to see Cullen and Stamp together. They're a lovely pair of matching bookends and they're both down to earth and somewhat impatient of jargon, fuss and smooth-talking. Alex tells him with a very cute smile,

You're the first man we thought of.

You mean I'm the only bloke in the nick with a HGV licence.

No - quick grin - yes.

The rest of the ep is the 50s party for the Terry Knowles Dependents' Fund and I regret to say that we don't get to see our Alex ala Fonz ;-) Such a shame.

Tie rating