Adam tries to help a convicted killer…

Roy Gill’s second story in this box set maintains the high level of the previous story, with John Dorney’s Adam Dean separated from Louise Jameson’s Anne Reynolds for the majority of the tale. He’s undercover in a prison where there’s been a mysterious death and it quickly becomes clear that there’s far more to this than a simple falling-out between prisoner officers and inmates.

The majority of Dorney’s scenes are with Alan Francis’ Alasdair Reiver, and there’s a really theatrical feel to these – in fact, with just a few tweaks, this would work very well as a stage show. Jameson has strong interaction with both the governor of the prison and the mother of a murder victim – all parts played with utter conviction, even when the subject strays far from the conventional. There’s another scene guaranteed to put a shiver up your spine, no matter how nice it may be in the world outside this.

There’s a big bad involved with this entire box set, but the creative team – producer David Richardson, script editor Matt Fitton and director Ken Bentley as well as the writers of the various episodes – allow things to come out at a realistic pace, as various people inveigle their way into Department 7’s good books.

Verdict: Although there are a couple of moments where scenes in the “real” world strain credulity – and by that I mean things that aren’t connected to the supernatural – this is another terrific continuation of the original show. 9/10

Paul Simpson