Written by Phil Redmond. Tx 29th March 1978
After Doyle steals an antique flintlock pistol, loaned to the school for the upcoming festival, the boys and girls team up to recover it.
Tucker’s convinced that Doyle took it – but he has no evidence. Trisha overhears him confronting Doyle and decides to take action herself. The relationship between Tucker and Trisha is always a joy – particularly in this episode when they call an uneasy truce in order to find the pistol. But some of the girls aren’t necessarily convinced that Tucker’s telling the truth (Ann reminds him that he once claimed that the Headmaster had a wooden leg!). However, Trisha does believe him (as she doesn’t trust Doyle – she thinks his eyes are too close together).
Various ways are mooted by the boys and girls about how they can prise the truth out of Doyle. Sending him to Coventry is one idea, whilst Tucker naturally favours beating the truth out of him. Surprisingly, the goody-goody Ann Wilson doesn’t consider this to be a totally bad idea either. And it’s the highly sensible Ann who eventually saves the day – by suggesting that the pistol could be returned anonymously.
Plot-wise, this one is fairly thin, but it’s the performances, especially Todd Carty’s spot-on comic timing, which make it so memorable.
Archive Television Musings 
Although fairly straight forward plot-wise, I think this is a good early episode. By this stage, Tucker had emerged as one of the standout – and most popular -characters; with fairly consistent performances by Todd Carty throughout. Although he’d still often be the naughty school boy and indeed a downright bloody pain on occasion – witnessed a number of times more in Series 2 – it is pleasing that by this episode, we see that he does operate by some sort of code of conduct regarding ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, even if he is sometimes misguided with it. The toilet ambush of the thieving Doyle, complete with hidden reinforcements, is one of my favourite early scenes, and far more in the “rough justice” category than pretty much all of the more ‘cosy’ school dramas that had gone before it.
It is the ‘sensible’ Ann Wilson who comes up with the compromise of allowing the stolen antique pistols being returned anonymously; The character clearly morphed into Penny Lewis in Series 2, but with it became sometimes more fiery with it (or at least, very headstrong at times). I often wonder if Ann had continued in place of Penny, if she too would have developed those similar ‘very headstrong’ ways, or if she would have stayed as her more clam, methodical self.
We get another fine appearance from Carole Nimmons as Miss Mather (again, a shame she wasn’t destined to have much more of a run in the series), and “original teacher” Mr. Mitchell in many ways feels like the glue holding these early stories together.
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