The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre - Five to One

Intelligently written, well acted, low budget crime drama. Watching this entry in the Edgar Wallace Mysteries series it s hard to believe that John Thaw was just 21 years old at the time. He plays a hard bitten, world-weary villain who s trying to steal the takings from a betting shop. He acts like someone a good ten years older than his years and gives a very impressive performance. An excellent supporting cast, believable dialogue and good use of locations make this a top notch minor crime thriller. All-in-all a very entertaining 55 minutes. Alan Roper (Thaw) tells Turf Accountant Larry Hart (Lee Montague) that he is planning to steal £60,000 and Hart offers to launder the money for him at his usual rate ( Five to one , ie £12,000). What Hart doesn t know is that it is actually his money Roper intends to steal, ie the £12,000 Hart will gather to pay him. Hart tells his clerk not to bank his takings that week because he will need at least £12,000 of ready cash for a business deal, in fact it is to cover his arrangement with Roper. Meanwhile Roper has set up his girlfriend Pat (Ingrid Hafner) to have a sexual liaison with married insurance broker Deighton (Ewan Roberts) at a flat where Pat is babysitting. Roper and his associate Len (Brian McDermott) pose as Pat s husband and a private detective threatening to site Deighton as a co-respondent in their divorce. Roper blackmails Deighton into revealing details of Hart s insurance policy at the shop which include security information and the safe combination. When they receive the policy details from Deighton they discover that his company have only overseen the insurance for his house, not his shop. So Roper and his gang engineer a complex plan. They break into Hart s home after drugging him and make copies of his house and shop keys. They then stage a dummy break-in at the betting shop but get away before they are caught. This forces Hart to put the £12,000 into his safe at home where Roper s gang plan to steal it. This all goes according to plan except Hart had his suspicions and had the combination of his safe changed after transferring the cash. However determined not to be outdone Roper and Len mess up the house and wait until Hart arrives home. When he opens the safe to check it they knock him out and steal the cash. However the plan fails because the house they chose to use for the babysitting/blackmail scam turned out to be the home of the detective investigating the case, Inspector Davis (Jack Watson). Deighton got cold feet and went back to the flat to confront Pat and upon learning the truth told the Inspector everything. So there s a neat twist in the tale which is one of the more intelligent and believable entries in the Edgar Wallace series. If you get a chance to see it, do so.