Sergeant Cork - "File 2534: The Case of the Public Paragon"

by Mark Murton

Original Air Date: September 7, 1963

Directed by: Josephine Douglas

Synopsis: In another excellent episode of the police procedural series set in Victorian London, the redoubtable Sergeant Cork (John Barrie) is sent to investigate when respected MP Gerald Manley is killed in his living room, with his wife and their maid witnessing the killer fleeing the scene. What immediately grabs Cork’s attention in the fact that the killer was let in through the front door.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): Cork and his subordinate Bob Merritt (William Gaunt) learn that after leaving the house the man believed to have killed Manley took a cab to a rough area of town and so they start knocking on doors in the hope of finding him. One door they knock on is that of Mrs. Archer (Ann Tirard) who claims to live alone and blames the noises they hear in her house (actually her son, the man they are looking for) on her cat hunting rats. Later, a shocking discovery sees Merritt sent back to interview Mrs. Archer again and this time she sits clutching a tabby cat on her lap as she tells Merritt about the tragic fate of her daughter, at one point smishing the poor cat’s face against her bosom.