User Reviews

It opens with a rescued fisherman landing on dry land. He was the only survivor of a shipwreck that killed five men.

The fishing trawler was owned by Roy Lawrence (Kenneth Cranham) who is regarded as a local hero for bringing jobs to the Yorkshire fishing town of Stainmouth. His son was one of the dead fishermen.

Lawrence is arrested for operating an unseaworthy vessel. Kavanagh is assigned as the prosecuting counsel.

A mysterious man from the Defence ministry suggests that a Russian submarine could have caused the ship to capsize. However that is something that should remain under the sonar.

Kavanagh takes a cynical view of Lawrence. He thinks that Lawrence ran a shoestring outfit and wanted to make money from a government scheme that gives compensation for those leaving the fishing industry.

It starts off with Kavanagh antagonising the locals for daring to prosecute Lawrence. A man who is grieving in a town that is reeling.

It does slowly unravel Lawrence's true motives. Someone who might not be the nice guy he made out to be. At times the storytelling was rather dry with the technical aspects of maritime life.

Along with Memento Mori, this is my favourite episode of the 4th series. Intelligently and beautifully written, the writing is wonderful here. So is the scenery, direction and music. And while Valerie Edmund, Oliver Ford Davies, Nicolas Jones and Cliff Parisi give great support, as does Kenneth Cranham, the acting honours go to John Thaw. He is outstanding in every episode, not only that but in pretty much everything he was in, but here especially in the final courtroom scene, Thaw is a revelation as the hard working lawyer. The story concerns of Kavanagh prosecuting against a man accused of causing the death of five men(including his own son) as the boat they were on sank, and it is gripping right up to the end. Overall, this is a brilliant episode, elevated by Thaw's equally brilliant performance. 10/10 Bethany Cox