Last updated : 1st August 2016



Operation Susie
Lawson's Last Stand


Episode 'You'll be Alright'
Story Synopsis The leader of a criminal gang offers to surrender in exchange for protecting his family. Writer Gerry O'Hara
Guest Stars Derek Francis, Derrick O'Connor, Malcolm Storry DirectorJohn Crome
Production Order
& Filming Dates		 Block 4, Episode 7
8th to 23rd September 1980Main shoot, notably extended due to reshoots for unspecified reasons.
14th October 1980Additional scenes in the Stone house due to episode underrunning. Jack's initial phonecall to Doyle also added to script and shot.
21st October 1980Doyle's side of the initial phonecall with Jack Stone.
Original UK Transmission Season 5, Episode 3
21st November 1982
Dave's Comment
Story
Action
Pace
Humour
Violence

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Hardly a case for CI5! Obviously running out of ideas again!

A very lame story indeed by Professionals standards – I'm amazed this was one of the stories to be novelised. About the only redeeming feature is seeing Bodie having a great time as the games teacher for the day!

Little humour and the action scenes are all pretty routine stuff. Murphy has little more than a cameo appearance. (Interestingly, though, we discover his ID is 6-2 – though I'm certain this is never used in any other episode and, in fact that "number" had been used for other agents in other episodes.) In his place as primary sidekick this week is agent Liz, nicely played by Hazel McBride.

Like one or two other stories, I wonder if this was never originally intended for the series. An exchange between Cowley and Doyle – "It's not really our bag." / "I know I should have involved the locals [the police] but.... well, they're nice kids." – seems to be a desperate attempt to "excuse" the story.

Doyle goes to visit some of Stone's ex-colleagues – all to no avail but it helps to make the ep last the regulation fifty minutes! <G>

One of the CI5 ops dozes off while he is supposed to be watching the house – I'm not surprised!

What else is bad? Oh, yeah – the Stone's hideous wallpaper!!! Difficult to believe we all had stuff like that all those years ago!

It isn't made clear in the script why Stone leaves the house on the night of the attempted killing. I assume the idea is, with CI5 covertly watching, to draw out the killer.

The story's "message", such as it is, seems to be that even armed criminals can have nice, ordinary families.
Dialogue

Prisoner Barney Moss: "You were in the regular force. Limehouse, wasn't it?"

Doyle: "Yeah, I did a bit down there."

Moss: "So now you're with the Derring-Do! Hope you're well-paid for it!"

Doyle: "It's a living.

Moss: "So is feeding pigs!"

Small-time villain: "Haven't seen you in a long time - copper aren't you?"

Doyle: "Was."

Villain: "What are you doing now?"

Doyle: "Making a living."

Villain: "Haven't crossed sides, have you?!"

Doyle laughs: "Not exactly!

Doyle: "Rat poison? In a high-rise flat?!"

Bodie: "Maybe they use the lifts!"

Hatch, worried about reprisals on his family: "Listen, Cowley, this can't go on! I'm not staying cooped up like this while my lot's in danger!"

Cowley: "But you agreed to co-operate, Mr Hatch!"

Hatch: "You didn't give me much option! Where are they? I want to speak to my daughter."

Cowley: "I'm afraid that's out of the question..."

Hatch, interrupting: "No it is not out of the question! If you have them in safe custody there is no reason I can't talk to my girl - she's done nothing wrong!"

Cowley: "Their safety is a matter for the authorities. Your being 'cooped up' as you say is for their safety. I must insist that they remain incommunicado. You'll be kept informed, as I promised you - but for the moment I must ask that you keep to our arrangement."

Hatch, now furious: "By God, you'd better be right about this! If they come to any harm, you'll know what a bloody vendetta is!"
Bloopers

When Jack Stone telephones Doyle, the latter's wristwatch is clearly visible: the time jumps from 09:30 to 10:00 in a matter of seconds!

The white Mercedes used in an attempt to run down young Nick Stone wears two different number plates! Thanks to Robert Moubert's eagle eyes! The production documentation seems to indicate that the scene needed partially re-filming for some reason, with the second attempt being twelve days later. This would probably account for somebody forgetting to change the plates.

And another one: Bodie's Capri bears the licence plate of Cowley's Granada following the betting shop scene.

Gordon Jackson refers to imprisoned villain Barney Moss as "Barnet" - but this is due to a misprint in the script.
Sidenotes

This episode was one of the first drama pieces for director John Crome, whose previous career had concentrated on commercials. He didn't find life easy on the set! Interviewed by author Bob Rocca, he claimed that series producer Ray Menmiur told him to "keep Martin and Lewis away from each other" as there was some sort of rift between them and "they were barely talking to each other". On a series that constantly struggled to keep production on schedule and needed flexibility from cast and crew, Crome's problems were exacerbated by the two stars' insistence that they remain on set for no longer than necessary. For reasons that aren't clear - possibly due to Crome's inexperience at the time - much of his work ended up being picked up by the 2nd Unit and/or re-shot by series editor John S Smith.

From fan Sophie Ross:

"The majority of this episode was filmed in my family house! Brook Avenue in Wembley. We moved in just after filming had been completed and number 1 task was to get rid of that wallpaper! The supposed attic was actually a huge shed in the rear garden (where there is also a brook you can see them running along), part of which still exists. "
Deja Vu

Derrick O'Connor (Jack Stone) guested in cop and 'tec shows such as The Sweeney and Hazell. Played one of the leads in LWT's 1980 series about a villainous family feuding with each other, Fox. Starred as Bob Hoskins' plumbers mate in Brazil, Terry Gilliam's spoof of Orwell's 1984. Went to Hollywood in the 90s for small parts in Lethal Weapon 2, Deep Rising and End of Days.

Melissa Wilks (young Linda Stone) will always be remembered as Jackie Wright in mid-80s Grange Hill.

Malcolm Storry (prisoner Ned Turner) played an MI5 'spook' in the wonderful Beiderbecke Tapes and then went on to Customs & Excise drama The Knock.
Locations
Fugitive Jack Stone is hiding in his own home! The Stones' house is 21 Brook Avenue, Wembley. Doyle's place is documented as having used the same.
However somebody else seems to be aware of his presence and death threats force Jack to contact ex-Detective Ray Doyle. Cowley and Doyle discuss the situation outside St Paul's Cathedral.
With the death threats seemingly aimed at Jack's family, Bodie ropes in CI5 op Liz Spalding to pose as schoolteachers, picking her up from Dale Court, Park Road, Crouch End.
The schools that the Stone kids attend are the adjacent Rokesly Junior Schools, Crouch End. There has been a lot of construction work on the site in recent years making it difficult to get a clear shot from Google Street View, however the nearby houses are recognisable.
Nick Stone and his friend Lou get impatient waiting to be picked up from school and decide to run home, firstly crossing Tottenham Lane, Crouch End...
... then down Ferme Park Road, Crouch End...
... and then annoy some builders, still on Ferme Park Road.
The mystery would-be assassin attempts to mow the kids down in Bourne Road, Hornsey Vale.
After the attempted killings, Cowley starts to take the case more seriously. CI5 HQ this week is documented as Kienzle Data Systems, 224 Bath Road, Slough, though it is has since been replaced by a car dealership.
In an effort to identify the would-be killer, Doyle is dispatched to a couple of prisons to interview former associates of Stone. The documentation indicates that both prisons were filmed at the Territorial Army Centre, Elmgrove Road, Harrow.
Cowley's car is being serviced at what is documented as 175 Bath Road, Slough. Unusually no business name is given in the notes. The area has been redeveloped almost beyond recognition since.
Jack and his wife Chrissie decide to take the children to safety. Chrissie sneaks away from the house with the kids along Alexandra Park Road, Wood Green...
... In the next shot, however, she's driving along the same road but in the opposite direction!...
... Next to the eastern end of Alexandra Park Road.
Alerted to Chrissie absconding, Doyle tears along Long Furlong Drive, Britwell, Slough.
Chiding fellow CI5 op Rod for not watching the Stones closely enough, Doyle continues down Long Furlong Drive.
Doyle continues to race after Chrissie along Long Furlong Drive...
... But now the would-be killer takes up the chase as well, on Alexandra Park Road.
Chrissie is still on Alexandra Park Road.
Chrissie notices the black car following her at the eastern end of Alexandra Park Road. The house in the background has since modified its arched porch design but otherwise appears to be that seen on-screen.
Doyle rockets through the roundabout joining Farnham Road and Northborough Road, Manor Park, Slough.
The mystery man starts to close in on Chrissie, whose old car is still trundling down Alexandra Park Road!
The kids, hidden in the back of the car, start to get restless, continuing along Alexandra Park Road.
Chrissie is forced off the road and crashes the car on Bedford Road, Wood Green, albeit the greenery that has grown around it since makes it almost unrecognisable now.
Cowley informs Chrissie's parents, Ros and Len Hatch, of the accident. They live at 33 Astons Road, Moor Park, Northwood. The house appears to have been extended on both sides but, incredibly, it still has its bizarre, lurid green roof tiles!
On discussing Jack's involvement with the infamous Maiden Lane blag, Cowley comes to suspect that fellow criminal Pat Weaver may be the mystery man with the vendetta. The lads are dispatched to track down Weaver, first trying what's documented as The Hustler snooker club, 159a Tottenham Lane, Hornsey. Admittedly this is now difficult to positively identify!
Next the lads check out a betting shop, A R Dennis Bookmakers, 167 Priory Road, Hornsey - though it's now a Japanese food shop.
En route to Weaver's garden allotment, via what's documented as Dagmar Avenue, Wembley. The roof of the house on the left in the screenshot appears to match Google Street View. Note that Bodie has nicked Cowley's number plate!
Still en route to the allotment but this street isn't documented.
Weaver's allotment is documented as that a few yards east of Woodfield Avenue, North Wembley. In the screenshot the short terrace of houses in the background can be seen in the satellite view.
No sign of Weaver at the allotment, so the lads try his girlfriend's highrise, Ilex House, Crouch Hill, Stroud Green. (It's ridiculously difficult to get a useful angle on this with Google Street View!!)


Operation Susie
Lawson's Last Stand

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