Vallance’s Liberty

A middle-aged couple, Terry and Gill Conroy, driving an expensive Jaguar, break down in a residential street, outside the house owned by George and Irene Boxall. The Boxalls offer them a cup of tea while the Conroys wait for the breakdown truck to arrive. In recompense, Terry Conroy invites the Boxalls to join him and Gill at a Tyrolean night.

But all is not as it seems. When the Conroys never turn up at the Tyrolean night (which is being held at Woodcote Park), George and Irene become suspicious and ask Ken for help.

A mysterious young woman, Meryl Spicer, turns up at Woodcote Park, looking for Helen. She claims to be Helen’s long-lost daughter whom Helen had given away for adoption.

It turns out that the Conroys used the Tyrolean invitation simply as an excuse to get the Boxalls out of their house, with Meryl at Woodcote Park to alert the Conroys as soon as the Boxalls leave to come home. The reason for this subterfuge is that Tom Vallance, a bank robber, had hidden some plans in the Boxalls’ house some years ago when he owned the house. Having just been released from prison, he wants the plans back. When subterfuge fails, Vallance and Conroy break into the house, terrifying the Boxalls, and Vallance attacks the walls with a sledgehammer until he finds the plans. He then takes George and Irene to a deserted farm. The police surround the farm and Vallance tries to escape. Harry is forced to reverse at high speed along the farm track, pursued by Vallance’s Land Rover, until the police can recapture Vallance.

Meryl Spicer’s claim to be Helen’s daughter is not properly explained. Either Helen really did give birth to a daughter and then had her adopted, in which case how did Meryl and Vallance know this closely-guarded secret? Or else Meryl is making it all up, in which case Helen (rather obviously) would know that she had never had a daughter.

Notes and episode list © Martin Underwood, 1999

Page last modified: 17 December 2008, 23:48