Written by Arthur Mackenzie, Directed by Roger Tucker
Bag thefts from cars are becoming more and more of a problem. Brownlow wants results, but he’s not prepared to authorise any overtime. This is the cue for a highly entertaining face-off between Burnside and Monroe (an implacable force meeting an immovable object).
Despite being a relative newcomer to the relief (having joined earlier in the year) Monroe isn’t at all cowed by Burnside. Fair to say on this evidence they’re never going to be the best of friends …
The clash between the rule-bending Burnside and the by-the-book Monroe and their inability to compromise means that we end up with a bare-bones, insufficiently manned operation. With the result that Tosh Lines is forced to give chase to a young bag-snatcher and ends up keeling over, clutching his chest. I mean, if you wanted to pick a member of the Sun Hill team to run for your life, you’d never pick poor Tosh …
Luckily there’s no long-term damage done, which means that Burnside is able to pay the recovering Tosh a visit and amuse himself greatly. As always, Christopher Ellison deadpans delightfully.
Monroe’s sticky relationship with the relief in general and Quinnan in particular is teased out here (and will be developed in future episodes). Later on the bag-snatchers are run to ground – thanks to Reg Hollis. The long-suffering Conway can barely disguise his amazement at this turn of events.
So it turns out to be a fairly nothing crime then, but that’s not really an issue as the episode revolves around office politics and who – out of Brownlow, Wray, Burnside and Monroe – is the canniest operator.
Archive Television Musings 
Both Quinnan and Monroe were both still relative newcomers to the Bill in the summer of 1990. Interestingly, I thought both of their characters changed over the 12 years they were in the programme. Quinnan was initially depicted as the cocky wide boy who was maybe brought in to fill the gap left by Pete Ramsey. But after the first year or so he became more of a straightforward reliable character with an easy charm. Monroe was depicted as a humourless ‘by the book’ Inspector who carried the air of authority with him. Again in later years, he became much more approachable and down-to-earth and was there to protect his team. Colin Tarrant was brilliant in the role of Munroe – such a tragedy he took his own life in 2012.
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