A decapitated body is found floating in a canal, someone has gone to great lengths to disguise the identity of the body.
It's a solid episode, it's a a clever mystery, it has some wonderful characters, if also benefits from a truly wonderful performance from John Thaw, he really is at his absolute best here, some great interplay between him and Lewis, he's quite amusing here too. Terrific production values as you'd expect, not just the idyllic countryside, that goes without saying, but the shots of both the High Street and busy train Station, they look impressive, and natural.
Two things spoil this episode for me, first, the performance of Michael Aldridge, I get that his character is supposed to be larger than life, but I would say he's overacting, it's too much. Secondly, without giving away any clues as to the identity of the murderer, I would say I struggled to believe in the killer's identity to physically carry out the murders, it takes a real stretch of the imagination.
I loved Sian Thomas in this, she defines the whole era here, wonderfully 1980's, so elegant, she is wonderful in this. Teniel Evans is excellent also.