This episode of Taggart was like many other crime dramas in that we are quickly given an obvious suspect and somebody who seems too good to be true. When a member of the local neighbourhood watch is murdered suspicion immediately falls on a local criminal and his son who had been driven off the estate by the watch, they deny it but when one of them is seen at the site of a second murder it looks like an open and shut case; except that he has no blood on his clothes as would be expected. Jackie takes a liking to the leader of the watch and gets very defensive when Burke says that he should be treated as a suspect too as it is known that the murder victims had been planning to oust him from his leadership position. Rather recklessly Jackie accepts a dinner invitation from him and ends up staying the night, after which she is shocked when he tells her that he isn't who she thinks he is and that he spent time in prison for manslaughter; this leaves her in a difficult position; does she trust him or tell her superiors.
While it was fairly obvious that the main suspect would turn out to be innocent and equally likely that the 'good man' would also be cleared I still enjoyed this episode. It was nice to see Jackie take centre stage for once; Blythe Duff is great in the role and has been by favourite character for some time. Phil McKee also put in a good performance as Harry Wallace; the suspect she fell for.