"Those bastards who beat up the Birmingham Six. You've seen the pictures. They all "knew" they were guilty and now we "know" they weren't. No one, no one has the right to do that in a civilised society, least of all policemen...They think they have the right to be judge and jury. Well, you don't. You don't in South Africa, you don't in Chile, you don't in Romania and surely, for Christ's sakes, you don't here."
—Molly Cope
Station Under Investigation: Aigburth, as part of a wider investigation into the entire South Lancashire police force.
Tony investigates an officer accused of bending the rules to obtain a conviction.
Provides examples of:
- Ambiguous Situation: Was Kendrick telling the truth when he said that he didn't beat up Dicks and that he booked him in at 10pm? PC Alfreds' evidence suggests that he's lying about the booking time, and the prison doctor didn't rule out the outside possibility that the injuries were self-inflicted.
- Asshole Victim: Dicks, to the point where no one in the chain of command in the investigation into Kendrick really wants him to be exonerated even if he didn't commit the crime Dicks arrested him for in the first place.
- Book Ends: The episode starts with Kendrick threatening Dicks in a pub, saying that he'll have him for the post office robbery. It ends with Dicks having his conviction overturned and pointing a Finger Gun at Kendrick, suggesting that he intends to pursue Kendrick through the courts.
- Cooperation Gambit: Tony offers Kendrick an off-the-record deal where, if he agrees to admit to beating up Dicks and knowing that he was high at the time, he won't produce the evidence given by Alfreds that Kendrick brought him to Aigburth station two hours before he had previously claimed to have done so, meaning that Poynton and McPherson will be much less likely to be implicated in any criminal proceedings and keep their jobs. Kendrick refuses.
- Establishing Shot: There's a shot of Liverpool Cathedral when Tony, Harry and Mo first arrive at Huskisson St station.
- Framing the Guilty Party: Dicks alleges the Kendrick picked him up because he needed to find someone to arrest for multiple armed robberies that Dicks did not commit.
- Greasy Spoon: Frank's, the old-fashioned caff where Tony and Molly meet up for breakfast.
- Miscarriage of Justice: Tony, Harry and Mo are trying to ascertain whether or not Dicks' conviction should be overturned because of Kendrick's conduct when he arrested Dicks.
- Oop North: The team are sent to Liverpool to carry out the investigation.
- Profiling: Molly's evidently pretty cynical about racism in the police:"How's this for a heading: "Police Stop White Man in Car!" Now that is a scoop."
- The Informant: PC Seamas Alfreds is Molly's anonymous source.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Kendrick's justification for bringing in Dicks while he was still high, albeit possibly coming down a bit by the time Kendrick had walked him about.
- Internal Affairs: This episode in particular shows the conflicting interests inherent to being a police officer who investigates other cops. None of Tony's superiors actually want to see Kendrick go down for beating a conviction out of Dicks, and none of them want Dicks to get out on appeal. Although it's largely circumstantial, the evidence against Kendrick mounts up to a point where Tony decides to offer Kendrick a completely off-the-books deal to try and get the result his bosses want.
- Shout-Out:
- The post office Dicks robs is called Dalglish's, presumably after the Liverpool footballer, Kenny Dalglish.
- "Every Breath You Take" is playing in the pub where Kendrick shows up to try and intimidate Dicks.
- Dicks mentions watching Take the High Road on the day of his arrest.
- Harry says "Evening All" when he meets up with Tony and Mo at a pub.
- "There She Goes" by The La's plays while Tony and Molly have breakfast at Frank's.
- Molly mentions an investigation into the West Midlands Police, presumably in reference to the wrongful conviction of the Birmingham Six.
