- [during the final chase, Halliday leaps onto the bonnet of the getaway car and stops it by smashing its windscreen with his truncheon; as it lurches to a halt, he falls off the bonnet onto the ground. Ward helps him up]
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: Are you all right, sir?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: I'll live, I think.
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: Nothing broken?
- [Halliday pauses and looks mortified]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Yes - a promise I made to let *other* people take the risks!
- [at the police station, Tom Halliday can be seen speaking with a name from the BBI, this is Creasey]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: BBI?
- Creasey: Bristol and Birmingham Insurance Company.
- [at the police station, Detective-Sergeant Ward can be seen in an office. As he's looking around, the door opens and someone else enters. This is Tom Halliday]
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: [stands up] Oh, sorry sir. My name's Ward.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: [hangs up his hat] I hope you're quite comfortable.
- [following the climactic confrontation, Detective-Sergeant Ward can be seen looking at Mrs. Gilson while the latter's being arrested]
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: You've used that trick once too often.
- [Mrs. Gilson glares at Ward before the latter turns to the policemen who are restraining her]
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: Take her away.
- [Mrs. Gilson continues glaring at Ward as the policemen who are restraining her begin to walk off with her]
- [Tom Halliday can be seen sitting in his compartment on a train. As he's relaxing, the door opens and Sergeant Ward enters]
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: Sorry, sir, there are no sleepers available.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: What? Not even one?
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: [smiles] Not even one.
- [Halliday looks surprised and somewhat dumbfounded as Ward proceeds to sit down]
- [Tom Halliday and Sergeant Ward can be seen on a train. At some point, they notice that the train has arrived at a station]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Where are we?
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: Birmingham. We stop here for ten minutes.
- [Ward proceeds to stand up as Halliday lays down on his seat]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Could you find some tea? And bring me back a cup.
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: Well, actually, I thought I'd just...
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Phone Jenny. Ah, you spoil that girl, Sergeant.
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: You haven't seen here. She's worth three shillings for three minutes.
- [Ward opens the door and begins to exit the train]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Bet you she's at the pictures with a soldier.
- [Ward laughs as he starts to leave]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Ward.
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: Sir?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Don't miss the train.
- [Ward smiles at Halliday again before he turns and exits the train]
- [Tom Halliday can be seen speaking in a telephone booth at the train station]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: [speaking into the telephone] Look, Mary, let's tell him...
- [a whistle can be heard blowing, signaling that the train is beginning to depart. Halliday turns around as he realizes what this means. He then quickly turns back towards the telephone]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: [yelling] Mary! Good lord!
- [Halliday hangs up the telephone and quickly exits the booth. He then rushes towards the train and gets on with some help from Sergeant Ward just as it begins pulling out of the station]
- [Tom Halliday can be seen at his home. At some point, the telephone rings. Upon hearing this, he heads over to the telephone to answer it]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Hello? Oh, hello, Ward.
- [Tom listens to what Ward says on the other end of the line]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Good work. Where?
- [Tom continues listening to Ward]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Never heard of it.
- [Tom continues to listen]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Find out where it is, how we get there, what train we catch, and ring me back.
- [Tom listens to Ward yet again]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Tomorrow night? Not a hope! Uh, tell her it's all my fault.
- [Tom hangs up the telephone]
- [Having just finished speaking with Ward on the telephone, Tom Halliday can be seen preparing to leave. As he's doing this, his wife, Mary, enters the room]
- Mary Halliday: Where are you off to?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: North Wales. Some place that Ward can't pronounce.
- Mary Halliday: [smiles] Join the police and see Britain!
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Oh, it won't be for more than a day or two.
- [Tom Halliday can be seen speaking with his wife as he prepares to head out on another investigation]
- Mary Halliday: How are you liking Sergeant Ward?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Oh, he's alright. He's a bit impulsive, but he'll grow out of that. Spends too much time thinking about his girl.
- Mary Halliday: That's another thing he'll grow out of if he sees much of you.
- [Mary begins to head up a flight of stairs as Tom looks up at her, surprised at what she just said]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Mary, did you mean that?
- Mary Halliday: [smiles] I'll pack your bag.
- [Ward and Halliday can be seen in a compartment on a train. Ward has just returned to mention that there are no sleepers available]
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: I'll call CRO in the morning and see if they've got anything under Gilson or Brotherton.
- [Halliday picks up his coat and places on the seat next to him]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: They won't have, but do it all the same.
- [Ward and Hawkins can be seen speaking to one another as they ride in a compartment of a train]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Quite a boy, this Gilson! Year after year, he turns out keys for Blenkinsop Safes, as honest as the day he was born. Then, suddenly, he gets it. A brand new idea. And so simple. An extra key for each safe. He pops it in his pocket, takes it home, ties a label on it, saying where the safe is going. Then, one fine day, when he's made a nice big collection of keys...
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: In the company's time!
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: ... he hands in his notice, retires to Shepperton for a year, and then dies. Comes to life again in North Wales as Brotherton. Takes out his keys and starts opening up the safes.
- [Halliday appears dumbstruck]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Why didn't you and I think of it?
- [Ward smiles]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Make yourself comfortable.
- [while on a train, Halliday can be seen speaking to Ward]
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: The way he made it look as if all the jobs were done by different people. Until he came to London, he never put a foot wrong.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Just so. Could you imagine a man like that being mug enough to kill.
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: No, I can't.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: I think he's picked up bad company since he came south.
- [Halliday takes a puff from a cigarette]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: When we get the man who drove that car...
- [Halliday turns and looks to see that the train has arrived at a station]
- [Tom Halliday can be seen eating dinner while his wife watches. She appears slightly concerned about something]
- Mary Halliday: You'll be sorry when he grows up thinking crime is romantic.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Well, let's worry about that one when it happens.
- Mary Halliday: Tom, don't fill his head with all these stories about crooks.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: I don't! Oh... what, that just now? I wanted to get his mind off the air display.
- Mary Halliday: Yes, but couldn't you have told him something else?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: [stops eating] What you're afraid of is he'll grow up thinking policemen are romantic. Isn't that it?
- Mary Halliday: [laughing] Well... yes!
- [Tom Halliday is seen eating dinner while his wife speaks with him]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: I'm sorry I'm not a stockbroker or a member of Parliament. I'm a policeman! I like being a policeman!
- Mary Halliday: I know. And I'd like one of you in a safer job. That's all.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: A test pilot for instance? That's the other job he fancies.
- [while having dinner, Tom Halliday can be seen speaking with his wife, who is concerned for his safety]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Mary, you said you'd stop all this. Can't you? Every time I'm a half an hour late, you have me on a mortuary slab.
- Mary Halliday: For the first five years of our marriage, that's where you very nearly were. About twice a week!
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: When we married, I was a keen, young detective sergeant trying to make my way up the ladder and provide for my family.
- [Mary laughs and walks over to her husband]
- Mary Halliday: Nonsense! You just like taking chances, you know you do.
- [Halliday shakes his head and smiles]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Oh, not anymore. Time marches on. I've got a keen, young detective sergeant under me now. He's walking out with a sweet young thing, trying to get on. It's his turn to take all the chances.
- [Halliday takes a drink as Mary smiles and kisses him]
- [following a conversation on the telephone, Tom Halliday can be seen speaking with his wife, who is in the dining room]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Sorry, darling, I've got to go.
- Mary Halliday: Well, at least have your coffee...
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: No thanks. No coffee, no time. Don't wait up.
- [Halliday walks over to his wife and kisses her]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: I may be late.
- Mary Halliday: Don't worry, I won't.
- [Halliday grabs his dessert before he exits]
- [as Tom Halliday is preparing to leave, his wife and son can be seen having breakfast in the kitchen]
- Tony Halliday: Dad? You haven't forgotten about the air display tomorrow, have you? We'll get there early, won't we?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: [smiles] We'll see the very first plane take off.
- [Halliday takes a drink before walking over to his wife and kissing her]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Bye-bye, my dear.
- Mary Halliday: Bye-bye.
- [Tom Halliday is in the kitchen of his home with his wife and son. As he's preparing for work, his family is having breakfast]
- Tony Halliday: I say, Dad... when are they gonna get the gang that stuck up that cinema?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Give them time.
- Tony Halliday: Are you on that case?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: No.
- Tony Halliday: [looks at his mother] He is! I bet he is! He didn't look me in the eye.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: [looks directly at his son] I am not on that case.
- Tony Halliday: Well, it's time they put you on!
- [Halliday smiles and exits the kitchen]
- Tony Halliday: Gosh, I wish you'd been there when it happened!
- [having finished a conversation with his father. Tony Halliday can be seen having breakfast with his mother]
- Mary Halliday: Tony.
- Tony Halliday: Yes?
- Mary Halliday: The policeman who was there was killed.
- Tony Halliday: I know he was. But I bet he wouldn't have been if Dad had been there.
- [as Tony and his mother continue talking, his father can be seen entering the view]
- Mary Halliday: It's ages since you've had a really decent case. You know, like Maltese Eddy!
- Mary Halliday: [somewhat annoyed] You are a horrible child!
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: [looks at his son] Listen you! The days when your father, trembling with fear...
- [Tony laughs]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: ... mixed with the elements of the underworld are passed. I'm glad to say! Today, he directs, controls, and administers from an office chair.
- [Mary begins laughing as Halliday gently rubs his sons head as he leaves]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Bye all.
- Tony Halliday: Goodbye.
- [at the police station, Tom Halliday can be seen speaking with a man sitting at a desk. This is Deputy Commander Harris]
- Deputy Commander: And what about the flat swindler?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: That's almost in the bag. The report's ready for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
- Deputy Commander: Let me see it before it goes off.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Yes.
- [Tom Halliday can be seen speaking with Deputy Commander Harris in the latter's office. Harris is sitting a desk]
- Deputy Commander: Well, what else have you got on the hob?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Plenty, though it's only simmering at present.
- [Harris stands up and walks over to the window next to the fireplace]
- Deputy Commander: You asked me for a new detective, Sergeant. To replace Beech.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Well, that's one way of putting it. I didn't want to lose Beech. I just got him used to my ways.
- Deputy Commander: You trained him so well, we promoted him. I found someone else for you. Name of Ward.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Yes, I saw it in orders.
- [Harris walks over to his desk as the telephone begins to ring]
- Deputy Commander: He was at West End Central. They think very highly of him.
- [in his office, Deputy Commander Harris can be seen speaking on the telephone while Tom Halliday can be seen waiting]
- Deputy Commander: Harris here.
- [Halliday waits patiently as Harris listens to the individual on the other end of the line]
- Deputy Commander: What?
- [Harris continues listening]
- Deputy Commander: Right. I'll put Mr. Halliday onto it.
- [Harris hangs up the telephone]
- [Tom Halliday can be seen in the office of Deputy Commander Harris, who has just finished speaking with someone on the telephone. Upon finishing his conversation, Harris hangs up the telephone before looking at Halliday]
- Deputy Commander: Safe in Long Acre. Done last night. Over 8,000 pounds in cash. There's something funny about it. The alarm went off but the Q car couldn't find anything wrong.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: [with confusion] What?
- Deputy Commander: A place called Stone and Company. Those feet are there already.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Right, sir.
- [Harris sits down at his desk as Halliday prepares to exit the office]
- [having finished a conversation with Deputy Commander Harris, Tom Halliday can be seen preparing to exit the former's office. As he reaches the door, it opens and someone else enters. This is Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm]
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: Oh, sorry sir.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: [grabs his coat and hat] No, come in, Malcolm. We've finished.
- Deputy Commander: You'll be taking Ward with you, no doubt. You'll find him in your office.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Very good, sir.
- [as Halliday exits the office, he smiles and winks at Malcom]
- [Tom Halliday can be seen sitting at his desk in his office. Standing next to him is Detective-Sergeant Ward, who has just finished speaking on the telephone]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: May you say what?
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: I was no end pleased when I heard I'd been posted to you.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Were you? Let's hope you'll still be no end pleased in six months' time.
- [Ward laughs]
- [Tom Halliday can be seen speaking with Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm in the police station]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: I've worked it out this way, Jim. Chummy knew that that safe was fitted with an automatic alarm and he thought he could beat it.
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: Beat it?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Get away in time, I mean. And don't forget, he had a key. He probably allowed himself, what, two minutes for the whole job.
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: And the car turned up in a minute and a half.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Exactly, so he had to think fast.
- [at the police station, Tom Halliday can be seen interacting with Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: He knew the nightwatchman was in hospital.
- [Malcolm nods in understanding]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: He knew it was worth trying, and he got away with it.
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: Well, he scores ten out of ten for nerve.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: I think he's an old hand, but... an old hand without any form, or he wouldn't have shown his face.
- [at the police station, Tom Halliday is shown speaking with Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm, the latter who is smoking a cigarette]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Now, look. Supposing he hadn't had an alarm to cope with, suppose nobody had seen him and he got clean away, how would that have looked?
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: Like an ordinary inside job, cashier or something.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: But Chummy would have still done it.
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: So he would.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: I think he's done it before. But not in London, or I'd remember. Only you can tell me about the rest of the country.
- [Tom Halliday can be seen at the police station. He is speaking with Chief Superintendent Jim Malcom]
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: Did you think that out all by yourself?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Funnily enough, it was something my boy said.
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: [smiles] Ah, that explains a lot.
- [Tom Halliday can be seen speaking with Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm as they stand in front of a file cabinet. Malcolm opens a drawer and pulls out a card]
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: Safe breaking. Your man hid off on the premises. Didn't he?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Oh, never mind that now.
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: Never mind the method of entry? It's one of the commonest ways a crook signs his name. That's all.
- [Malcolm smiles as he continues going through the drawer]
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: It's a good thing that I'm running this department and not you.
- [at the police station, Tom Halliday can be seen examining the contents of a file cabinet. With him is Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Just for the moment, I'm only after safes opened, we don't know how by we don't know who.
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: "Unknown Means" would be better English. Unknown means...
- [Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm and Tom Halliday can be seen examining a few files at the police station]
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: Wakefield, bank.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Doncaster, cinema.
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: I remember that one. I suspected the manager, but they couldn't make it stick.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: [looks at another file] Liverpool, shipping office.
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: Wolverhampton.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Warrington...
- [the two of them continue looking at the files as the camera fades to another scene]
- [at the police station, Tom Halliday and Jim Malcolm have just finished examining a series of files. The two of them can be seen sitting and resting]
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: Fourteen of them. Spread over two years.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Eleven of them in the North Midlands. Well, that supports my hunch, it's the same man.
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: [shakes his head] No. Look at the means of entry. Everything from skylights to tunneling.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Well, you can't stay they look like inside jobs.
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: That's just where you're wrong. I've known them to go to any length to put us off the scent. Chairs broken, windows left open, a bit of striped jersey caught on a nail.
- [Jim looks at the files in front of him]
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: And look, these aren't all the same line of business either. Cinema, post office, factories, a bank, a shipping office, and two jewelers.
- [Tom Halliday and Jim Malcolm can be seen examining some files at the police station]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Did you notice one thing? He never strikes and empty safe. He knows where to go for honey.
- [Halliday looks at a file]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: I still think it's one man.
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: [exhausted] Oh, Tom...
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: But what's the common factor? There must be one, he must have some trick.
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: [smiles] He's got a darn good one, he doesn't get nabbed.
- [Malcolm and Halliday both laughs at this]
- [Tom Halliday can be seen trying to understand a particular file. Jim Malcolm is sitting next to him as he examines the file in his hand]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Have you got anything filed under "magic?"
- [Malcolm stands up]
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: I've got something filed under "whiskey." I think you need it.
- [at the police station, Tom Halliday can be seen viewing a file. Standing nearby is Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm]
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: If they're not inside jobs. What's the alternative? You're asking me to believe in someone who's found a way of picking the lock of any make of safe you like to mention without so much as making a scratch.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: What made you say that?
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: Say what?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Any make of safe I like to mention.
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: I don't know, I just...
- [Malcolm walks over to the table that Halliday is sitting at]
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: What kind of safe is it, at Stone's?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Rock.
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: [sits down] It's a pretty common make, but...
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: [looks at a paper] 5th of February 1954, Liverpool. Make of safe... Rock. Limited Chester.
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: [shows a paper to Halliday] July, Wakefield. Make of safe... Rock.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: [looks at another paper] September, Wolverhampton. Rock. October, Warrington. Rock.
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: Doncaster, Rock. Sheffield, Rock.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Rock.
- Chief Superintendent Jim Malcolm: Rock.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Rock.
- [Tom Halliday and Detective-Sergeant Ward can be seen in a train station]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Chester couldn't dig up a thing. What did CRO say?
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: Nothing down against any of them.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Well, it's no good banging our heads against a brick wall. We'll have to go back to Stone and Company. How did you...
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: [interjects] But ten Rock Safes out of 14 jobs. It can't be a coincidence.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: I'm not sure that it is.
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: Then why are we dropping them. It was a real hunch.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: We're not dropping them. We're putting them on ice. We followed a line, it lead us nowhere. So, we'll try a new line. Anyhow, whose hunch was it?
- [Halliday exits toward a car that's waiting for him. Ward smiles for a few seconds before following him out]