There is a reunion of police officers from Dock Green but no Andy Crawford.
Actually I don't recognise these coppers from Dock Green. The actors are familiar such as Glynn Edwards and Jack Watson. They just never appeared in the show as the characters they are portraying in this episode.
The reunion is a celebration of a collar they pulled 20 years earlier. That of Trunky Small who tried to steal some half a million pounds of silver bullion from the docks.
Trunky died in prison but it was a big collar for Bill Ashe (Watson) who got promoted to Commander. DS Ben Cope (Edwards) remains bitter. It was not without a high price.
One policeman died, he drowned and Ashe delayed calling for help in case the mission was aborted.
Back at the station the police deal with an elderly seaman Sam Platte who nearly drowned at the docks. The same place where the young policeman drowned some 20 years earlier.
Dixon of Dock Green ends with a bittersweet episode. Maybe in 1976 people were wondering how it would all work out.
Fifty years later we could figure out that Sam was the grass. He was linked to the policeman who died and the mysterious waitress at the pub. Everyone thought she looked familiar until her outburst towards Ashe.
So that is the end of Dixon of Dock Green. There was nothing big or celebratory. Yet it was a series full of surprises. Not as cosy as it reputation suggested particularly of the later shows.
