This week, I am discussing the fifth episode of the final series of Dixon of Dock Green. Entitled Alice, it has just aired on Talking Pictures TV. Alice was originally broadcast on BBC One on 10th April 1976.
The Story…
Things this week centre mostly around a house which consists of an office downstairs and flats above. The episode is named after the young woman who lives on the top floor, named Alice (Angela Pleasence). She is a student of music who is very serious about playing the violin and is determined to be the finest in the world.
When we are introduced to dodgy dealer Keeley (Harry Landis), we are supposed to believe him to be the villain of the piece. Then we meet another of his neighbours, Alfie Tredwin (Paul Luty). The suspicion that he may be in league with Keeley is suggested. But it is quickly disproven as we find out he is a professional wrestler.
Eventually, things become clear. Keeley is a small-time dealer-cum-smuggler. He occasionally crosses paths with another such law-bender named Mohinder Singh (Renu Setna). Singh has taken money from acquaintances in exchange for safe passage across the channel for their family members. He intends to profit by this scheme. But he still owes five thousand pounds to his associate in Ostend for his assistance. Keeley tries to pay his secretary Samantha to smuggle the money abroad. When she refuses, he sweet-talks Alice. She is lured by the money as she wants it to advance her violin career.
During the scene where Clayton (Ben Howard) and Bruton (Richard Heffer) are tailing her at the train station, it is revealed that she is not as innocent as those around her believe. She shows her shrewdness when she makes off with the money, sure in the knowledge that Singh cannot touch her for it as otherwise he will be at risk himself.
Dixon’s closing monologue finishes off with rather a sour note. He destroys the triumph on which we left Alice, essentially telling us that she didn’t get what she really wanted after all.
My Impressions…
I haven’t touched much on the police side of things as they were honestly completely superfluous in this episode. Again, Alice felt like a stand-alone play. It did not need to be part of Dixon of Dock Green. The two elements had no business being combined together. And the police side of the story felt completely unconnected. There are a few scenes of the Dock Green team bumbling about and coming to all the wrong conclusions. But it adds nothing to the story whatsoever.
In fact, during several scenes I found myself rooting for the characters acting outside the law rather than the police. In a show which had been a police procedural for twenty years, that is almost a disgrace. When Clayton and Bruton jump to the conclusion that Alice must be smuggling drugs, commenting that legal punishment is what she deserves, I felt angry for her.
So poor was the police showing in this episode that Keeley himself, alongside the known-to-the-constabulary Tredwin, showed more scruple and character than the CID officers. Unfortunately, George Dixon (Jack Warner)’s contribution to this episode was unneeded, as well-acted as it may be. And although Wills’ (Nicholas Donnelly) apparent promotion to desk sergeant is well deserved, it is a shame to see him stuck behind the desk rather than out on active duty.
The non-police element of Alice was quite compelling in its own way. But for an episode of the once mighty Dixon of Dock Green, it is rather poor.
The acting from the guest artists in this episode is strong. The supporting cast are all great in their parts. Their dialogue and situations are well-written. Oddly they seem very well defined. We know very quickly who they are and what their motivation is. But there is none of that real human familiarity inside Dock Green police station, where it should be in plenty. As ever, the portrayal of Clayton and Bruton feel as if they belong to a completely different programme.
In Conclusion…
I found Alice to be interesting and I wanted to find out what was going to happen to the supposed villains of the piece. However, beyond that, it doesn’t have a great deal to offer sadly.
I await the last three episodes with interest and hoping to be pleasantly surprised. But as ever, I miss Andy Crawford (Peter Byrne) and Laudie (Geoffrey Adams) and I think so does the show.
