Look After Annie

Controversial evangelist Annie Irvine - self-proclaimed leader of the Workers' Christian Alliance - brings her tour back to the UK from America, with plans for a highly-charged public performance at a provincial theatre. Cowley enlists Bodie & Doyle to take care of her security - aware that two years' earlier she was the victim of a failed assassination attempt. It soon transpires that not only is she an old flame of Cowley's - but also that the threats to her life may come from a source closer to home than thought.

This episode is unusual in that it explores some aspects of Cowley's past and his love life, much to the amusement of a smirking Bodie and Doyle - providing some much-needed comic relief, & some of the story's most memorable moments.

A big drawback though are the scenes of rioters in the streets using rather obvious stock news footage (and also clips from the 1972 film 'All Coppers Are...'), and does require some suspension of disbelief on the part of the viewer!

But, that aside, it's not a bad episode, though maybe not exactly one of the 'classics'. It livens up considerably in the third act as Annie is left exposed and running for her life in the streets - with CI5 desperately trying to find and protect her.

It's interesting in that it's directed by veteran Charles Chrichton, & he does a serviceable job. Changes of course would soon be on the way for season two, with a more gritty, realistic and authentic approach that would take the whole series up a notch as it headed towards the 1980s.