A petty safebreaker, Frank Murray (Michael Coles), does a job at the Maple Photographic Company and gets away with £10,000 in fivers he finds in a proofs box. The secretary, Kay Simpson, reports the crime to the police much to the anger of her boss Mr Maple who seems very edgy and nervous and is keen to have the matter hushed up. He is also anxious that his secretary saw the money prior to it being stolen and tells her that he banked it. Therefore only the petty cash could have been taken and that is the story he tells to the police. He attempts to persuade them to drop the matter but to no avail and Kay suspects that something is very wrong. Later, after Kay has gone home, Maple telephones Helder (Paul Stassino), a master criminal and tells him that the money has been stolen. That night he murders Maple and Kay discovers his body the following morning. Det. Inspector Verity (Bernard Archard) believes the motive behind his murder is the stolen money and Murray is caught with it in his possession and duly arrested. But, he is not convinced that Murray murdered Maple because it is too easy and charges him only with the safebreaking. Helder, meanwhile, believes that he is in the clear since no mention of the robbery has been mentioned in the press nor of the murder. However, the police soon discover that the money is counterfeit currency. Maple's widow, Stella, has been having an affair with Helder and was involved in his counterfeiting racket. But, by chance, she overhears him tell a confederate that he is bored with her and plans to arrange for her demise too. She informs the police and it turns out that Helder has a record and is known to them. Fearing that she knows too much, Helder abducts Kay with the intention of killing her too. However, Verity used Murray as bait to trap Helder. He has him telephone him admitting to having the money and that Helder's name was on the proofs box. He has him demand blackmail money from him and a rendezvous is arranged at a warehouse. Murray goes in with Verity and his men close behind, but Helder still has Kay as bargaining power...
All in all, this is an unremarkable entry in the series with a formulaic plot that you could find in many other British second features of the era. The only thing is here it has been crafted with a bit more professionalism and it is certainly better directed (Robert Tronson), written (Richard Harris) and acted. As with most Edgar Wallaces more attention to detail has been paid to the set design, the locations and camerawork (the show's regular DP Bert Mason was a fine cameraman) giving it a sense of realism and a strong feeling for place and the early sixties period. All this ensures that it is very watchable and for someone who hasn't seen this kind of crime drama before it will do the business since there are much worse examples of this kind of thing around. For fans of the series, however, who are attracted to it because of the striking and unusual elements that were put into the better episodes it will disappoint. In closing, how many times have you seen a crime or action drama in which the baddies are such poor shots? You will think that here because the climatic chase sees Helder fire at the pursuing cops several times missing them when he could have easily hit them.
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