The fourth episode in the final series of Dixon of Dock Green has just been broadcast on Talking Pictures TV. Everybody’s Business originally aired on BBC One on 3rd April 1976.
Mr. Fielding (Roger Lloyd Pack) procures a room in a boarding house. It is next door to the house which he has just visited in the guise of advising the owner about insuring her valuable painting. The painting has been reported on in the newspaper.
The Dock Green police are concerned that local criminals may be making plans to steal the painting. While they are looking into it, they are telephoned by Mrs Hooker, the landlady of the boarding house. She has overheard one of the tenants, Rita Batty (Cheryl Hall) making silly claims about extorting money when she sees Mrs Hooker eavesdropping.
When Sgt Wills (Nicholas Donnelly) takes her call, it turns out that Mrs Hooker is known to them – she often calls them for little reason.
It is clear from Fielding’s insistence on having a particular room that he is up to no good. Later we see him conferring with his criminal colleague about robbing Mrs Collins of her painting.
The police advise Mrs Collins to get proper protection against robbery. Meanwhile, Miss Batty is conspiring with a fellow resident to get their own back on Mrs Hooker for spying on them. They plant phoney robbery plans in their rubbish which Mrs Hooker duly takes to Dock Green police station.
Fielding and his friend wait for Miss Batty to go out and then use her room to gain access to Mrs Collins’ house next door. They manage it but Miss Batty comes back before they are finished and Fielding’s friend ties her up.
The next morning, DS Bruton (Richard Heffer) and DC Clayton (Ben Howard) cannot work out how Mrs Collins’ painting went missing as there are no signs of a break-in. News quickly reaches them of the break-in and Miss Batty’s detention next door.
There is confusion about the perpetrator. By a series of coincidences, Dock Green police find the thieves and their buyer at the moment of exchange.
A light-hearted closing statement from George Dixon (Jack Warner) finishes off proceedings.
My Impressions…
This plot, although interesting enough, is somewhat tired and cliched. The acting is good as always, but even this cannot save Everybody’s Business from its tedium. Unfortunately, the episodes in this final series of Dixon are lacklustre and just not compelling. It is clear that all involved are doing their best. But it doesn’t feel like there is anything left for them to say by this point. And sadly we have so few long-running characters left that, even when they are trying to make a point, we just don’t really care about it because we don’t know them well enough. There is no trust, so the connection between the characters and the audience isn’t strong enough to withstand the slightly tired plot lines.
It feels like the makers were trying to make the show grittier. It feels dirtier, but clumsily and unnecessarily so. The villains smoke cigarettes a lot all of a sudden, in comparison to previous years. Everything is unremarkable. It is the same as every other crime show of its time now. There is sadly no point to it. With an aging Jack Warner at the helm, it could never compete with shows fronted by much younger actors. It used to get away with it because it had so much more to offer than just excitement and violence. Unfortunately all those other elements have fallen away now.
It was nice to see George Dixon out of the station and interacting with civilian characters, if slightly incongruous now that he has a fully-fledged desk job. My favourite moment of the episode is as Fielding and his associate are making their exit from Miss Batty’s room after the robbery. He is decent about it, trying to reassure her and apologise for leaving her tied up.
I didn’t think very highly of Bruton’s rough treatment of Miss Batty. I think it was unnecessary and played into a stereotype of the time. The implication from some Police shows of the era seemed to be that the rules and conventions didn’t matter much as long as they “got their man”. I don’t think this fits Dixon and it doesn’t make for very satisfying viewing.
In Conclusion…
Halfway through the final series of Dixon of Dock Green, unfortunately Everybody’s Business was not a particularly strong episode. We have four more to go and hopefully they will offer a bit more satisfaction and entertainment.
