Written by Patrick Harkin, Directed by Julian Aymes

Watch My Lips is that rarest of beasts – a story where WPC Ford (Vicki Gee-Dare) takes centre stage. The Private Sponge of Sun Hill, Ford is someone who from time to time would haunt the periphery of stories (occasionally being gifted a line or two). Gee-Dare’s earliest Bill appearance was as far back as 1.2 (A Friend In Need) although she wouldn’t be credited until 4.17 (Runaround). In total she clocked up 87 episodes between 1984 and 1992 (so not really a regular, but certainly a familiar face).

Jim Carver spots a suspicious figure lurking by a cashpoint. He gives chase, but the man doesn’t respond to his repeated shouts. The man reacts with sudden violence when Jim finally catches up with him and a chase ensues. Caught and brought into custody, the man – identified as James Doyle – remains uncommunicative until Penny works it out. He is profoundly deaf …

Ford’s skills with sign language are therefore key to the episode, as she slowly wins Doyle’s trust. As she later explains to Carver, the deaf community aren’t a breed apart (“you get really nice deaf people and some real villains. They eat, sleep, work and live just like you and me”). So maybe a lesson is learned today – although there’s an ironic twist in the tale at the end which not only pleases Carver, but proves Ford’s point.

Since Vicki Gee-Dare would later use her sign language skills on films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral (acting as a consultant) this presumably was a skill she already had prior to the episode. If so, then it’s nice to see that the programme makers fashioned this story around her ability.