#4.3 High Drains Pilferer

Arthur is offering very dubious insurance policies via a friend he claims he has in Jersey and is being pestered by a Mr Mikabwe about a claim. Meanwhile, Terry is driving for local villain and hard-nut Mickey (The Fish) Metcalfe and the story begins when Terry drops Mickey off at Mickey's girlfriend Susie Blake. When Mickey asks Terry to drive around the block, Terry spots one of his old prison pals Eddie Venables, who has just robbed some of Suzie's jewellery. When Terry finds out that Mickey has been robbed, Terry informs Arthur of his suspicions regarding Eddie. With Arthur aware that Terry suspects Eddie, he sees a money making opportunity working as a middle man between Eddie, Terry and Mickey's insurance company for part of an insurance reward. Arthur approaches the Mandeville Singer company, an insurance broker in the city to find out if such a scheme is possible, although is promptly sent away when Mr Mandeville suspects Arthur is up to no good. Mandeville then contacts the police and informs Chisholm of Arthur's intentions.

With the value of the stolen jewellery totalling £30,000, Mickey is determined to track down those who have stolen from him. When Mr Harbot, the ex-policeman now working as the loss adjuster on Mickey's jewellery claim reminds Mickey of Terry's and Arthur's pasts, Mickey immediately becomes suspicious of Arthur and Terry. Chisholm catches up with Arthur and tells him he knows he is up to something and would be more than happy to inform Mickey about his reward plans. Meanwhile, loss adjuster, Mr Harbot is also pleased to tell Chisholm that he has discovered that Terry and Eddie once shared a cell together. When Terry finally meets up with Eddie at the snooker club to innocently inform him about returning the gear to Mickey, it is already too late - Mickey has turned up with his heavies and believes that Terry is part of it. A big scrap at the snooker club ensues followed by a lot of arrests!

In the meantime, Mr Mikabwe, who has still not been able to contact Arthur about his insurance problem, sees the only way Arthur will listen is if he drives into the back of Arthur's car himself.

Cast: David Calder as Mickey (the Fish) Metcalfe, Sheila Ruskin as Susie Blake, Patrick Malahide as Ds Chisholm, Glynn Edwards as Dave, Chris Matthews as Eddie Venables, Paul Brooke as Hamster, Jeremy Child as Mandeville, Hugh Sullivan as Harbot, Michael Povey as DC Jones, Richard Caldicot as Ernie Kestle, Keith Smith as Morris, Amanda Kemp as Laura, Tayloe McAuley as Tucker, Thomas Baptiste as Mr Mikabwe

Filming Dates: Monday 15th August 1983 to Friday 26th August 1983 (likely, but unconfirmed).

Double Take: Mickey's lawyer Hamster played by Paul Brooke would later appear in 4 episodes of brand new Minder (series 11) as Archie Daley's lawyer and semi-regular character Dickie Mint.

Title: A reference to the film 'High Plains Drifter', a 1973 Western starring Clint Eastwood.

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