Space Precinct – 17. Hate Street

Hate Street is another episode that took me by surprise! It’s a good one! Maybe not perfect, but definitely up towards the top of my list so far. I’m learning that Space Precinct is an absolute roller coaster of quality with spectacular summits and stomach-churning drops from week to week. I had anticipated more of a steady climb in quality, thinking that with each episode the production team would learn from their mistakes and make adjustments by the time the following installment went before the cameras. But the Space Precinct production line was forced to move at such a pace, and swap out directors and writers so haphazardly, that those course corrections seem to come through luck rather than judgement.

Fresh energy undoubtedly gives Hate Street its je ne sais quoi. Not only had the entire cast and crew just returned from a break of nearly 4 weeks for the Christmas holidays, but a new director had arrived in the form of Piers Haggard. Aged 55 at the time, Haggard was a young man by the standards of Space Precinct directors. However, he still came to the series with a heap of television experience under his belt including the series Pennies From Heaven (1978), Quatermass (1979), and Return To Treasure Island (1983). Also stepping into the gauntlet for the first time was Hate Street’s writer, Steve Brown. With writer and producer credits on Cagney & Lacey, Columbo, Murder She Wrote, and L.A. Law, Steve Brown was probably the most experienced American crime writer to ever work on Space Precinct – a qualification surprisingly lacking in previous contributors to the series. With today’s episode, Brown gets straight to the heart of the issue – space racism.

The impressive alien slot in the opening titles has been handed over to Mas Maharg from last week’s episode, The Witness. I do enjoy that permanent look of disgust and bewilderment etched on his face. It really sums up the Space Precinct viewing experience.

The ‘This Episode’ teaser is absolutely packed. Special effects galore! Alien characters aplenty! And who is that lady who keeps kissing everybody?

Aside from sounding like a rejected working title for Coronation Street, the name Hate Street is likely a reference to the Rodriguez song Hate Street Dialogue. The song is about the police harassment of the hippy subculture in the San Francisco neighbourhood of Haight-Ashbury.

In a continuing effort to make Demeter City look as much like New York City as possible, this episode is firmly set in the middle of winter with freezing snow everywhere. But, because there needs to be a space twist, the snow is green. And by thunder, it actually works! It gives the city a putrid look which especially fits the unpleasant themes of this episode. It’s a classic case of pathetic fallacy to have cold, harsh weather at play in a particularly cold, harsh story and I’m glad the production stepped up and made it happen in the confines of the studio. The snow itself is just tiny flecks of green and white paper which must have been a nightmare to clean up afterwards. Despite its snowy setting, Hate Street wasn’t selected to air on BBC2 at Christmas – that honour fell to the next episode, Friends. I suppose the theme of friendship is a bit more festive than the theme of hate…

Christopher Fairbank plays the villainous Burl Flak. A prolific character actor best known for playing Moxey in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Fairbank has recently been busy in Andor, 100 Nights of Hero, Eastenders, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and many more!

And entering from the other side of the street is Frances Barber as Erika Brandt. From Red Dwarf to Doctor Who and everything in between, Barber is probably one of the most recognisable guest actors from British television to appear in Space Precinct. And let’s just say that she’s been hired to play exactly the type of character she usually plays.

Meet the Tropek family – suppliers of fruit and veg to the people of Demeter. Actor Kiran Shah is back! Last week he was playing Fredo’s young daughter Estes in The Witness. Today he’s the excitable youngster, Tanni Tropek, complete with a mask that doesn’t quite look finished. Kate Harper also returns from The Witness to play the mother, Maya. Tanni’s older brother, Skog, is played by 5’2″ adult actor Peter O’Farrell – who like Shah made a career out of playing dwarves, creatures, and children on film and television. To round out the Tropek family, the father is played by Space Precinct regular, Rob Thirtle. The Tropeks are a family of Xyronites. If that alien species sounds familiar, it’s because we met a couple of Xyronites way back in Protect and Survive who were trafficked in from off-world and inadvertently infected Officer Took with Xyron fever. It’s a nice bit of continuity to use them in this week’s story about the struggles of migrants – though it probably went over the heads of most audience members.

Tropek feels that the streets of Demeter are not a safe place for Xyronites, wishing that the children would keep their heads down so that the family business can keep running quietly. Maya argues that the children should not be trapped indoors and living in fear. If the parallels with real-life immigrant families weren’t immediately obvious from the dialogue, the attempt at Yiddish accents should have made it all quite apparent.

Flak and his companions surround the stall and begin to question the freshness of the produce. Tropek insists that the veg is of the highest quality but Flak suggests that it carries disease. Xenophobes aren’t exactly known for their originality.

Sergeant Fredo actor David Quilter, plays the guest role of Sandoff. Fredo doesn’t have much to do this week so David was probably happy to take the extra paycheck.

Another thug uses the slur “zee-rite” which Tropek takes great offense to. The words may be different, but the situation is all too familiar for adult viewers at home.

Erika watches from a safe distance as tensions begin to rise. Tropek sends Maya inside to call the police, but Flak’s gang only step up the intimidation into unfiltered hatred and physical aggression. It’s a lot of clichés, but the identifiability of the scene is what makes it so effective.

A full-blown fight erupts as Tropek struggles to defend his stall from Flak’s thuggery. For a fight involving vegetables, it’s pretty tense.

Erika keeps watching, clearly disturbed, but not exactly leaping into action. We still don’t know whose side this mysterious woman is on.

Conversely, Flak’s gammon-faced demands for destruction and Xyronite cleansing are far from mysterious. He’s evil and there’s nothing ambiguous about it.

The Tropeks are very definitely losing the fight because what racists lack in logic they try to make up for with excessive force.

To that end, Flak decides to launch an explosive device into the shop. Erika finally raises a passionate objection but is quickly taken down by Sandoff.

The thugs flee, and Tropek makes a last ditch attempt to save the children he tried to protect by sending them indoors.

Maya takes action too, rushing to the door to save her husband.

The explosion is big and horrifying. Maya is thrown from the fireball while everything and everyone inside is totally destroyed. It’s the biggest pyrotechnic stunt the series has attempted so far on a live action set, and I’m glad it was reserved for a moment as impactful as this. It’s an incredibly bold way to kick off an episode. Hate crime may seem like a heavy topic for a family audience, but I would argue that a child can and should understand the fundamentals, while leaving the finer details of historical and social commentary for the adults to appreciate.

Maya (portrayed for this stunt by Sy Hollands) has survived, but it’s not looking good…

The confusing saga of which hospital is which in Demeter continues to rage. Demeter City Hospital is now back to looking exactly as it appeared in the episode Illegal… despite the fact that last week in The Witness the building had transformed into looking exactly like Demeter Memorial Hospital as seen in episodes like Divided We Stand.

The set for the hospital ward is thoroughly unremarkable. All the budget must have gone on blowing up the shop.

Wounded and in a state of considerable shock, Maya is unable to give Lieutenant Brogan and Officer Haldane any answers about the attackers. While she tearfully mourns the loss of her children, her husband, her livelihood, and her faith in others to do good, Haldane rather impatiently says, “Yes ma’am, we know.” Brogan’s bedside manner carries a little more warmth.

Elsewhere, Sally Brogan is trying to leave the hospital after another hard day at work. Dr. Eastman has taken a shine to Sally and tries asking her out for a drink. He’s fully aware that she’s married with children but couldn’t care less. He’s not even deterred when Sally calls him a worm to his face. Eastman is played by the delightful Jeff Harding – an actor with a penchant in the UK for playing comedy Americans, most famously Father Buzz Cagney in Father Ted.

Sally gives Eastman an absolute “nah” on the drinks invitation. She doesn’t even have to play the “my husband carries a gun for a living” card. She’s perfectly capable of shooting down creeps herself.

Back on the ward, the tone is a bit bleaker. In a hysterical fit Maya yells about needing to get home to her children, before being wheeled away by nurses. The physical and emotional trauma might be a bit much for children watching, but to be fair it could have gone a lot darker given the circumstances.

Meanwhile, Erika is making a big fuss in the next bed – perhaps a more fitting introduction to her character than the earlier scene.

Well, well, well. Brogan recognises Erika’s gardenia-scented perfume from long ago. Smells like trouble to me.

So, Sally, remember that affair we were going to talk about last week…

I think you’re up to speed now. Yes, Erika reacquaints herself with her old flame Patrick by diving straight in for a kiss. He does a pretty terrible job of avoiding it. Sally isn’t best pleased.

Patrick eventually tears himself away but does little to scold Erika for her impropriety. Sally watches quietly in the background with a mixture of disappointment and amusement, obviously trying to read the situation clearly before making rash judgements. For the benefit of the plot, it’s more interesting for Sally to stand back and seethe with jealousy, and I think it’s fitting for her character to choose a more subtle, intelligent approach than blustering in all guns blazing. Sure, the misunderstanding is frustrating, but it’s also rather entertaining if handled correctly. As with last week’s accusations of an affair from Iona Datch, we know deep down that Patrick Brogan isn’t an adulterer… which makes it all the more fun to construct improbable scenarios like this one with Erika. As comedy subplot fodder, a little disturbance in the Brogan marriage isn’t so difficult to take.

Frances Barber doesn’t hold back. It’s a hammy performance for a hammy character. According to Brogan, it seems unlikely that a human of Erika’s profession would find herself on Altor in the middle of a race riot. She tries to change the subject by stirring something in her ex-boyfriend’s loins to do with her bathtub. That won’t work on our Brogan. The man’s made of stone from head to toe.

Here’s a nice little moment. Officer Castle finds Haldane gazing mournfully into Podly’s office, clutching his copy of Guns & Lasers Magazine for comfort. He’s so lost in thought that he doesn’t even register that Jane is trying to be nice to him. She seems genuinely surprised to find him in this state. It’s not like Jack Haldane to… y’know… think.

Erika is attempting to charm Captain Podly in an animated fashion, while Haldane tells us all a little bit more about her from the pages of Guns & Lasers. It turns out she’s an amazing bounty hunter, and Haldane’s more than a little jealous that Brogan knew her back at the NYPD but never thought to mention it. Clearly, he’s feeling a little left out right now. First Sally’s heart gets broken and now Jack’s.

Castle exits in a little bit of a huff, seemingly unimpressed by Erika Brandt and Haldane’s insistence on drooling over her. “You just don’t appreciate fine literature,” Haldane quips, wielding his copy of Guns & Lasers like the mighty weapon of knowledge and wisdom that it is.

Erika walks us through Burl Flak’s record. Very straightforward stuff – he’s a murderous race-hating extremist who violated his parole and is now wanted by the police on planet Danae. We’ve heard about Danae previously in the episode, Deadline. The “Terrahawk District” is a lovely little nod to Gerry Anderson & Christopher Burr’s 1983 series Terrahawks.

Erika aims to capture Flak, take him back to Danae, and claim 20% of the bail as a reward. She’s therefore not really in the mood to help the DCPD with their own investigation since she wants Flak all to herself. Captain Podly gives her a stern talking to about ensuring Flak faces justice in Demeter for any crimes he may commit in the city. He also reminds Erika to behave herself, including not to “spit on the light-walk.” I assume a light-walk is supposed to be a space version of a sidewalk… except Demeter City clearly has fairly standard sidewalks anyway. Erika claims to be “pure as the driven sludge.” Steve Brown’s script for this episode is full of wonderful little lines like that. As she leaves, Erika follows up with “Well, it’s been just this side of paradise,” which is a reference to the Star Trek episode, This Side Of Paradise.

Once Erika’s out of the room, Podly’s orders are direct. Brogan needs to bring in Flak before Erika can get to him. Sounds like a fun challenge.

Haldane intercepts Erika on her way down that death trap of a spiral staircase. He tries to ask her out, and she’s quite taken with the lovely young man. It’s a definite maybe. Obviously we’re horrified at this point in the series that Jack would have eyes for anyone other than Jane. But at the same time, that Haldane/Castle relationship is still very loosey-goosey, and we know that Haldane is a man of absolutes. He’s a character who likes everything in black and white. So, when an attractive young lady calls him handsome and pokes his chin, it’s not too surprising that he’s like a moth to a flame. Is it possible that Erika can provide him with that uncomplicated candor that he wants?

Slomo has apparently become intimately familiar with Haldane’s system for rating women. Slomo puts Erika at a 9. Haldane corrects that to 11 because the nice lady touched him. Yeah, it’s icky but this rating stuff does turn around in a vaguely nice way later in the episode, I promise. Don’t get your hopes set too high though – it’s still the 90s so Haldane is far from becoming a radical feminist.

Castle overhears all this and rolls her eyes. She seems disappointed but not in the least bit surprised. That’s what makes her relationship with Jack so complicated. Jack’s behaviour is rarely surprising, so what would be the point in getting mad at him? He’s so reliably imperfect.

Remember when I used to absolutely dread seeing the suburbs space station and the Brogan family drama that it represented? Well, I have to say I’ve warmed to it. Maybe I’ve gone soft. Maybe it’s Stockholm syndrome.

In fact, I had a big ol’ smile on my face watching this scene unfold. The dialogue is snappy. Nancy Paul is on fire. Ted Shackelford is rushing to keep up. Where the Brogan family drama of old used to stop the stories dead, here in Hate Street it’s having the opposite effect. It’s a cheeky can of petrol tossed on the bonfire. A sprinkle of relatable, personal stakes delivered in good humour. Patrick doesn’t mention Erika in his rundown of the day’s events, so Sally sets the tasty trap and candidly, yet brutally, mentions that she saw them kissing.

“I just ran into her,” squirms Patrick.

“I saw. You just ran into her right on the lips,” bites Sally.

“Why should I care? I don’t care.” Nancy Paul’s choice to play this all off as light and breezy with only an undertone of bitterness is absolutely the right call. After all, Patrick almost certainly avoided bringing up the kiss to prevent a loud, emotional outburst from Sally. He kissed another woman, and regardless of the circumstances he knows that’s worthy of a major argument. And Sally is perfectly aware of her husband’s sense of right and wrong, which is why she subverts expectations and reacts with calm and logical precision. Like the audience at home, she knows that Patrick isn’t really interested in Erika and all the chaos she represents. The only thing Sally actually wants to punish her husband for is underestimating her. What better way to do that than demonstrating her intelligence and humour – the two things Patrick clearly thought she was lacking.

Patrick is left befuddled, but not necessarily hurting. Sally’s defining characteristic in the series, for better or worse, is that she’s there to support Patrick. That’s what the audience expects to see from her. At the beginning of the series, that was limited to housewifely duties. Fortunately, the writers have now developed the character into a medical professional who can advise on police matters so that the support Sally offers is more well-rounded. So, if Sally’s function is to provide support and she’s just been forced into a position where supporting her husband is challenging, it makes sense that the results would be unexpected and quite funny at times. The support is still there, and Patrick isn’t totally shattered, but it’s been messed around with and Patrick doesn’t know what to make of it yet.

Back at work, Brogan and Haldane are trying a little bit of good-cop-bad-cop with Dr. Taiko Chan. There’s no major setup for this new character – the audience is just trusted to pick up the jist of the scene as it plays out. We learn that Chan was a medical practitioner until he was struck off five years ago by the health department. Now he’s a drunk and an anti-Xyronite. The doctor explains his view that Xyronites brought Xyron fever to Altor, the disease that killed his two children. Now, this is where I wish the story delved a little more into the multiple health and political factors at play. Because of the events of Protect and Survive, we’ve seen Officer Took contract Xyron fever mere moments after encountering two undocumented Xyronite immigrants. So, we know that Xyron fever is a very real threat. With this information alone, one might believe that Dr. Chan has a point that Xyronites pose a real threat to the health of everyone on Altor. But obviously there’s more to it than that. How else would the Tropek family be running a vegetable stall without everyone dropping dead around them? So, we should at least establish that not all Xyronites carry Xyron fever, or, more robustly, establish that legal migrants are screened and/or decontaminated before arriving on Altor. That fact is brought up later but it’s rather glossed over and it’s a really important argument against Chan and Flak’s rampant xenophobia. For some reason it isn’t brought to the forefront of the plot.

Chan blames the Xyronites for destroying his whole life. Haldane responds, “Is that what made you a drunk, too?” Bingo. That’s the heart of it right there. Racists love to blame other people for all their problems, but can never quite account for the massive, personal character flaws that truly sit at the heart of their misery.

The officers ask whether Dr. Chan has treated anyone for blunt object injuries recently – presumably to test whether he’s connected with Burl Flak’s gang who got beaten up with vegetables yesterday. The pompous twerp denies any knowledge, of course.

Officer Orrin arrives to interrupt the interrogation. Dr. Chan’s wife has been phoning up and asking for him. I’m fairly sure that’s not a good enough reason to interrupt a police interrogation, but okay, fine. Chan reveals that his wife only knows of his whereabouts because he wears a tracking device. He’s prone to going walkabout during his drunken exploits and admits that the tracker has gotten him out of a few scrapes. Yikes. That is one seriously dysfunctional individual. Brogan lets Chan go about his day, but you can be sure that isn’t the last we’ll see of Chan and his handy-dandy locator.

Outside what remains of the Tropeks’ store, a man with the artistic capabilities of a two-year-old sprays “Z-Rites Go Home” on the wall. Ah, the persuasive rhetoric of the average racist. With such compelling arguments, I wonder why no-one listens to them…

A couple of young Xyronite lads spot the graffiti and decide to intervene. The racist thug starts pushing and shoving and ranting about disease, so a fight ensues.

There’s a quick chase down quite a small alley. Burl Flak is waiting with his goons and delights in watching the two Xyronites getting beaten to a pulp just for existing. Why? Oh why indeed…

In another part of the city, the model unit are having a great time playing with the green snow.

Erika is out shopping and finds herself enjoying the company of this lovely little critter. It’s another charming puppet creation from the Space Precinct workshop. An impressive beast for a single scene.

Erika’s reaction to the little fella is characteristically subtle.

At the back of the store, a character named Tate has retrieved a nice, chunky weapon and wants 2000 credits for it, contrary to his original quote which was 800. Tate isn’t exactly the most imaginatively designed alien we’ve seen in Space Precinct, but actor Robert Hamilton wears the make-up well. He suggests that if Erika can’t pay for the outlawed cryogun, there may be other ways to satisfy the debt… yuck.

There’s a nice little moment of tension when Tate appears to turn on Erika and she takes it just seriously enough to tread carefully. It elevates this fairly routine scene into something a little bit more interesting.

Ultimately, the victim of the gun’s test is Cony, the aforementioned critter in the cage. Yeah, innocent little rodent characters tend not to last too long in Space Precinct. The weapon stuns the animal with lightning bolts and then freezes it solid. Tate offers an evil cackle to really sell us on the nastiness of the situation.

Needless to say, Erika is satisfied with her new toy.

Podly expresses his disdain for the further Xyronite killings from three different altitudes of the station house set, so you know he means business.

Castle and Took have Flak’s file from the Danae police department and it presents a few questions. Flak’s bail adds up to 3,000,000 credits. Haldane of all people manages to do the math and figures that Erika stands to take 600,000 credits if she can claim the bounty. So she has an awful lot of motivation to do the job right. Took quips to Castle, “I guess you’ll have to stop calling her a cheap tramp.”

Little bit of jealousy there – I like that.

Castle says that Flak’s bail forfeits in 12 days, but Brogan does some math of his own and says that the journey between Altor and Danae takes two full weeks… which we’ll assume is 14 days but you never quite know with the weird timing on Altor. So, how will Erika get her money in time?

Pause the mystery there, because Fredo announces that Brogan’s receiving a call from Dr. Chan’s wife. She reveals that although her husband isn’t directly taking part in the hate crimes, he is involved with Burl Flak’s gang and she wants it stopped. Off-screen it would seem that the grieving Maya Tropek made an appearance on the television news and reminded Mrs. Chan of losing her own children, and so now she’s speaking up.

It’s another cold and snowy night on the dark streets of Demeter and folks are gathering in a back alley bar. Among them, Erika Brandt and her suspiciously large backpack. Piers Haggard really gets across the harsh and foreboding atmosphere of the streets with his use of wide shots.

A racist old couple who wouldn’t look out of place at a village fete have already taken their seats for Flak’s presentation. Erika’s choice of outfit immediately grabs Flak’s attention.

Erika’s undercover persona is just as understated as her usual self. Meet Veronica Wilson, a former landscape architect. Yes – she’s really dressed like someone who does a lot of gardening. She lost all of her clients to the Xyronites who came and took ‘er job and now she wants to be a card-carrying xenophobe. Oof, that kind of tale is like racist catnip.

Flak is thrilled to have the attention of someone who isn’t a middle-aged man reeking of erectile dysfunction.

Outside, Orrin and Romek are touching down in their cruiser in readiness to make a move. With comedy subplot duties falling to the various faux love triangles forming around Erika, our Creon officers don’t have a whole lot else to do this week.

Brogan crouches behind a car – the blue 1990 Mini MPV concept car last seen in Illegal to be precise. Apparently Haldane has a grand plan to get inside. Brace yourselves.

The guard is brought down by an unconvincing homeless man. It’s Jack Haldane from an alternate reality – albeit not a very distant one. He essentially stumbles up to the unsuspecting lookout and clobbers him. Brogan is impressed by his partner’s acting abilities, and gets a good giggle while Haldane begs for some lovely warm boots. Really great stuff. It’s funny without beating you over the head with jokes.

Flak addresses the gathering. Half of the crowd are in some kind of uniform which is a bit alarming. He addresses the facts which I mentioned earlier about Xyronite immigrants being subjected to quarantine screenings to reduce Xyron fever infection on Altor. According to Flak, it’s a big government cover-up. Flak holds a piece of paper claiming that 500 people have died of Xyron fever in the past year. Again, we need more information here. Assuming Flak’s figures are even accurate, then there’s one very obvious angle to be considered – if there’s still unauthorised Xyronite trafficking taking place on Altor like we saw at the beginning of Protect and Survive, then that’s probably how the fever is getting in. Making legal methods of immigration and quarantine more accessible would be the solution to that issue. But no, the racists wouldn’t like that either. I appreciate Steve Brown couldn’t cover all of these factors in one 45-minute action-adventure story aimed at a family audience, but I’m glad he dips his toe into it. It’s just a shame that as a result we only really hear the dumb, racist arguments… much like real-life media.

Flak asks “Veronica” to come up and share her story with the group. Erika isn’t too happy about making herself such an obvious target. Has Flak already got her figured out?

Is she about to burst into song?

There’ll be no singing on Patrick Brogan’s watch.

Arresting Flak doesn’t prove as easy as Brogan and Haldane were hoping because he immediately takes Erika hostage. Brogan isn’t flustered in the slightest that his ex-girlfriend is about to be shot by a knock-off Spike from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. After all, Brogan’s actual wife was held up by a crazed gunman in last week’s episode, and he kept his cool there.

With his cronies Sandoff and Barco clearing a path, Flak drags Erika towards the door. Tensions are high and something’s certainly about to happen…

Someone yells out for Flak to make a run for it, meaning that Erika gets shoved forward into the waiting arms of Haldane. It’s a bit awkwardly staged but it just about holds together.

Brogan shoots Sandoff dead so that David Quilter can have the rest of the week off.

Haldane manages to hit Flak in the shoulder which isn’t as much of an inconvenience to him as you might expect.

Flak responds by shooting in the general direction of Haldane and Erika. With the reflexes of a glacier, Haldane cack-handedly dodges the blasts while holding Erika up in mid-air on one arm. Why is he holding her like that? Wouldn’t dropping the poor woman and letting her find her own cover be much easier on everyone? I guess this is supposed to be an excuse for their sexual chemistry to brew.

Erika isn’t exactly grateful to her rescuers, insisting that she had the whole situation under control before they blundered in. And let’s be honest, they did blunder in. Upon entering the room it was very clear that Brogan and Haldane didn’t have much of a plan.

While Brogan and Haldane leave to give chase, Orrin and Romek arrive from the back entrance they were supposed to be covering.

Of course, Erika has something to say about their tardiness.

Outside, the snow is falling thick and fast to make for a really dramatic getaway. Well, it would be a dramatic getaway if Flak and Barco weren’t using that ruddy awful blue minivan that should have been cleared out of the studio months ago for looking too boring. Brogan yells for back-up down the multi-com, mentioning that the vehicle is a Humes Mark 4 – in reference to spaceship manufacturing magnate Alden Humes from Body & Soul.

The take-off of the police cruiser isn’t particularly impressive. The camera just moves lazily down the vehicle while the engine sound effect plays. Ain’t nobody believing that that thing has left the ground.

Gosh, it’s been a couple of weeks since we’ve had a standard-issue Space Precinct chase through the city! I’m actually excited for this one! The pace is terrific and neither the model unit nor the live action crew hold back on pelting as much fake snow as possible into the shots. Everything’s whizzing around at high speed and the translite city backdrops are used very effectively to create realistic reflections on the car windows.

The snow storm is already making the chase pretty hazardous, so let’s introduce another element into the mix and make it really nail-biting. Here’s an adorable Tarn couple on their way home from visiting mother. It sounds as though George here was more than willing to leave earlier before the snow got bad. Yes, apparently there’s always time for a quick mother-in-law joke in Space Precinct.

The slightly dim-witted Barco suggests that Flak needs a doctor. Flak fires back, “If you don’t get a move on we’re going to need an undertaker!” Everyone’s cracking jokes right now!

All the old favourites from the Space Precinct chase sequence repertoire are coming out to play today. Here’s the bit where they unnecessarily crash into a tall, mostly decorative, very flimsy thing that doesn’t do any real damage but still somehow explodes spectacularly.

“What was that?” asks Flak. “Nothing,” answers Barco. See! Even the characters know it isn’t important!

Brogan gives us the old, “Reduce your speed and descend to ground level,” line which never, ever, ever works.

A relatively new addition to the repertoire is, “Lock and load the cannons.” The cruiser’s cannons were only introduced a few episodes ago in Takeover. Alas, the special effects crew haven’t stop-motion animated the cannons to appear from the bottom of the craft on this occasion – probably because the snow would have made the shot pretty much impossible in the time available to shoot it. Instead, we just hear the sound effect while Haldane presses the button.

Elsewhere, George can’t get his car’s windscreen wipers to work. I’ll admit that the snow is starting to look an awful lot like green and white shreds of paper now.

To the surprise of absolutely no-one, George’s car gets hit by both Flak’s minivan and the police cruiser. The special effects team get to bang all their toys together.

With George and his wife heading for a crash, Flak and Barco use the distraction to slip away. Brogan, always the hero, decides to break off the chase and rush to the aid of the stricken hopper. That murderous space racist will get what’s coming to him, don’t you worry – we’ve still got half the episode to go.

One more classic from the chase sequence repertoire as the car crashes and slides for a really, really long time along an empty street. At least there’s snow and ice on the ground so the excessive sliding makes some sense for once.

Haldane calls paramedics to the scene. George’s wife is okay, but George looks to be in a bad way. Keep your fingers crossed for George… I’m kidding, we don’t see George again so don’t bother getting invested.

Back at Suburb Delta, Sally is taking the lesser-spotted Brogan children out somewhere. We’ve only had fleeting appearances from Matt and Liz recently. Again, it might be Stockholm syndrome talking but I kinda miss seeing them. What on Altor is wrong with me?

Erika just so happens to be waiting around the corner, primed to pay her ex a visit at the exact moment that the rest of the family leaves. Bit creepy.

Glass of milk already in hand, Brogan opens his fridge, then closes it again when the doorbell rings. Wouldn’t the fridge be open already as Patrick pops the milk bottle back on the shelf? I weep at the illogical way television characters choose to live their lives.

It looks like the doorbell speaker grille has been drawn on with a biro.

Apparently milk wasn’t Brogan’s drink of choice back in the day. I guess he used to be more of an orange squash kinda guy.

There’s a moment as Frances Barber hops on the bar stool when it looks like the whole thing is going to tip over. She styles it out like a pro.

Erika has another go at stirring something in Patrick’s loins and brings up that kiss from earlier. Very pointedly he states that his marriage, “is the luckiest thing that’s ever happened to me.” Hope someone got that on tape. It’s a nice little moment actually. Great to reassure the audience that despite all the fun and games, plus the rumour from the previous episode, Patrick and Sally’s marriage is solid as a rock.

So, with that firmly established we can switch back to the main plot. Brogan tries to find out how Erika is planning to collect her bounty on Flak when time has already run out. She deflects the question and offers to help Brogan… by cutting him in on the deal so he can join her in a little bit of private enterprise to the tune of 300,000 credits.

Well, Brogan the “boy scout” doesn’t like the sound of bribery at all. He chucks Erika out of his house and attacks her messy code of ethics in the process. Frances Barber relishes playing the old-fashioned femme fatale as she baits Brogan for being a goody-two-shoes. It’s like watching a performance from a whole other era in the best and worst ways.

Welcome to the Hotel Paracelsus. Demeter City apparently names its hotels after 16th century Swiss physicians.

Like an overprotective mother, Barco has defied Flak’s wishes and called Dr. Chan to take a look at his wounded arm. Haldane very clearly shot him in the shoulder earlier, but I guess the injury migrated to his tricep… as these things so often do. At least it’s on the correct arm.

Chan attempts to stick a glowy-sciency-thing in the infected wound, but his shaking hand has Flak worried.

Chan suggests that a drink from the standard-issue Space Precinct vending machine might calm his nerves. He insists on getting the drink himself while Barco and Flak move to the bed. As usual, the hotel room set is grotty and not at all futuristic. It’s an appropriate hideout for the horrible racists, but it doesn’t scream sci-fi.

Now, this is a slightly convoluted bit. Chan picks out a single bottle of booze. He then uses his Tarn telekinetic abilities to vend a second bottle in secret, and quietly floats the drink into his pocket for later. The point is that he’s a seriously troubled alcoholic. But we already knew that because his wife’s got a ruddy tracking device pinned to the guy. Of course, this is actually just a setup for later.

On the other side of the room, Piers Haggard tries a rather avant-garde shot (by Space Precinct standards, anyway) by having the silhouetted profiles of Flak and Barco discussing the permanent disposal of Dr. Chan. Nice and sinister.

Back at Brogan HQ, Sally, Matt, and Liz are home. Apparently they went to see something called “Light and Motion” (a movie?) which was “bright” and “fast” according to the kids, and more violent than they used to be according to Sally. It’s funny for the wrong reasons that Space Precinct of all things would once again crack a joke complaining about violence in modern media.

While Matt and Liz debate whether a man’s head coming off was awesome or gruesome, Sally smells something far more foul in her kitchen… the stench of infidelity… and gardenias.

Sally sends the kids off to watch their new favourite TV show – “Cyber Cowboys”… which doesn’t seem to have anything to do with cowboys since it’s actually just a clip from the Space Police: Star Laws pilot. Sally wafts a hand in front of her face to indicate that she’s smelled a smell. It was already pretty obvious that she’d smelled that particular smell but I guess it needed spelling out for the slower viewers at home. Patrick twigs that something’s up.

There are too many wonderful moments of mental gymnastics in this exchange to count. Sally’s obviously upset that Erika was in the house while she was gone. Patrick didn’t mention it because nothing happened, but swears he was going to mention it later. Sally questions whether he therefore would have told her immediately if something had actually happened, but because nothing did happen he didn’t want to tell her even though that just sounds more suspicious. Phew, I hope you’re keeping up. Patrick laughs at all the gravity-defying leaps in logic, eventually losing his place in the argument that Sally’s basically having with herself. The lovely thing about this is that neither of them are in the wrong so the whole thing can play out for comedy purposes alone. Even Liz’s ears perking up is a nice moment.

Then, Patrick gets to reverse the situation, claiming to have received a call from Dr. Eastman asking after Sally. Uh-oh! For a moment Patrick has the upper hand, but Sally catches herself and plays it off with dignity and feigned innocence, claiming that she may or may not be going for a drink with Eastman because he’s a new colleague.

Just before Patrick can call out the hypocrisy…

Wah, wah, wah! Rumbled. The children are judging the grown-ups for acting like children. I suppose you could take this more seriously and suggest that the kids are concerned for their parents’ marriage, but I can’t help but read this reaction as more of punchline of the joke, silencing the inane bickering because it’s all pointless anyway.

We follow up one hilarious scene with another. This time it’s Haldane grilling Brogan on his dating history with Erika and Sally. Haldane being Haldane, he needs the fundamentals of relationships explained to him to plain English. I adore the following exchange:

“Well, don’t get me wrong, I really like Sally…” Jack begins, speaking like a confused five-year-old boy who’s been told to stop pulling on a girl’s ponytail.

“So do I,” Patrick barks, seriously tired of pointing out the obvious to his emotionally stunted colleague.

“Yeah, she’s great…” Jack responds half-heartedly, letting everybody know that he actually thinks Sally is a dowdy old wench. “But, Erika…” he adds, like he’s changed the subject to a shiny red sports car.

Haldane desperately needs Brogan to explain why he chose Sally over Erika. For real. The poor boy cannot compute it. It’s rather pathetic, even by Haldane’s usual standards for emotional intelligence. So, Brogan answers the overgrown adolescent’s question by saying, “You don’t marry the person you want to live with. You marry the person you can’t live without.” Introducing the Patrick Brogan collection from Hallmark this Valentine’s Day.

For no particular reason, Officer Castle takes that as her cue to come up and pass a message on to the lads… and throw in a little bit of extra cuteness for good measure.

“With or without. You gotta decide.” Yup, it turns out Haldane probably doesn’t have anything against Sally at all – he’s just projecting her as an example in his own dilemma of lusting after Erika while knowing that deep down, Jane’s the wiser choice. I’m not saying that makes Haldane’s plight any more sympathetic. I mean, c’mon, what sort of inner conflict is that? But hey, the will-they-won’t-they thing between Jack and Jane has gone on for so long now I can appreciate him not knowing what instincts to trust. I’d put that down to inconsistent writing though, rather than complex character development.

Up in Podly’s office, the episode is ready to get back on a more serious track. Mrs. Chan is sobbing as it’s revealed that her husband was taken from the house last night and the tracking device now shows him…

… in the middle of Demeter Bay. And he probably hasn’t gone for a freezing cold midnight swim.

Gorgeous stuff from the special effects team. The infamous “Starsky & Hutch Submarine” last seen in Takeover makes another appearance here. All the little people composited into the shot look great, as does the mist hanging over the skyscrapers and the sun hanging low up above.

Here’s a very quick bit of outdoor filming, almost certainly on the Pinewood lot. Brogan checks Dr. Chan’s pocket and finds that extra bottle of Ferma from the Hotel Paracelsus. I guess sometimes police work really is that easy.

So, with the tried and tested Space Precinct method of blowing a massive great fireball through the door, Brogan and Haldane rush into the hotel room. But where is everybody?

Barco is passed out on the bed. Brogan either says he’s stunned or stoned, I can’t make out which. It works either way.

Brogan smells a smell. Maybe Barco really is stoned? Nah, it’s actually the familiar pong of gardenia-scented perfume. Haldane picks up the weapon. He doesn’t know what it is. In a deleted scene filmed for the episode, the original plan was to take the gun to general science man Officer Carson for an analysis. We don’t have time for that, so Carson’s only appearance this week is cut from the show, although Joseph Mydell still receives a credit on the end titles. So, instead of the Carson scene, Brogan’s “cargo bay!” line has been dubbed on in post-production to indicate where they’re going next. Fair enough – gotta keep the plot moving and we the audience are already well aware of what the gun does. I’m sure Haldane will figure it out. And I’m sure Joseph Mydell didn’t lose any sleep over losing his starring moment.

And here’s another glorious model from the special effects department! They’ve certainly been busy this week. I’m getting a bit of a Close Encounters of the Third Kind vibe from this one.

An extra spaceship flies past the camera because they really are just showing off now.

There can be no doubt that Steven Begg’s team had a much stronger vision for the overall aesthetic of Space Precinct than anyone else. Sure, the brief from the writers and producers might have been for New York in space, but Begg’s team really took every opportunity to throw that particular brief in the bin and do something more spectacular. So, with free reign to build a cargo facility beyond the confines of the city, the model makers deliver something that actually looks like it belongs in a show about space. But a decent model shot would be ruined if the live action elements on green screen looked pants, so those have been very well achieved too. If only the real live action sets looked anything close to this good, you might actually believe that Brogan and Haldane were really there. As it is, cutting from a crummy hotel room with cardboard walls to a massive, carefully textured cargo bay is just too much of a leap in production value to be believed.

For a nice extra touch, the planets featured on the departure board include Earth, Altor, Danae, Xyron, and even lesser-mentioned Space Precinct planets like Megalon 7 – the home of the Bag Lady from Double Duty, and Talos Three – Aleesha’s home planet, also from Double Duty.

The lads go for a wander around the cargo bay to try and find Erika and Flak. Jack looks so cute and little. I could put him in my pocket.

The downside to this green screen work is that Ted Shackelford and Rob Youngblood don’t really react to what’s happening on the model set. Brogan isn’t the least bit bothered by the giant cargo pod that’s swinging towards him. Lack of direction aside, the compositions are still very good indeed.

And we’re back on the live action set again. You can tell because the walls look like they’d fall over in a light breeze. From futuristic spaceport to trucker’s cafe in the blink of an eye.

Haldane reveals that they’ve found Erika’s cryogun… the thing he didn’t know the name of a minute ago. I told you he’d catch up.

To cut a bit of a long-winded game of cat and mouse short, Haldane offers to form an alliance with Erika and take 50% of the bounty in exchange for letting Erika’s transport go to Danae with Flak on board. They seal the deal with a kiss because the sexy saxophone solo on the soundtrack sends them in that direction.

Erika tries to take a blood sample from Haldane for reasons I’m not quite clear on. Everyone has their kinks I suppose. It might be a blaster or something I suppose and the blood test quip is just a ruse for trying to shoot him. That seems to be how the scene is played out but it’s not abundantly obvious.

Haldane suggests that Erika would be wiser to take the deal instead of blowing his head off, and even pops his own weapon on the table to prove he’s serious. Obviously, none of us at home are actually buying the idea that Haldane has sold out. Heck, Erika probably doesn’t really believe it either. I would need to see an awful lot more chemistry between Jack and Erika to really accept it as a serious plot development. Nope, this is just a game that’s being played here and both participants are making a gamble. Erika retrieves a 1990s TV remote from her bag and offers to show Haldane where Flak is.

Erika leads Haldane to a freighter where an enormous filing cabinet has been parked, apparently containing perishable goods. The freighter isn’t officially going to Danae but the crew have been persuaded by Erika to take a detour. Well, that bypasses any unwanted police attention, but what about that whole issue raised earlier about the journey to Danae taking far more time than Erika actually has to claim her bounty?

Haldane does the honours and unveils the tortured, frozen face of Burl Flak. The plastic dummy is only really distinguishable as Flak from his bright blue eyes. His icy body has been carefully packaged in bubble wrap so that no fingers snap off in transit.

Now that he has the body, Haldane turns right back to being a good guy and agrees with Captain Podly that Flak should stand trial for his crimes on Altor.

That doesn’t work for Erika, who has another weapon stashed on her person, and who still very much wants her money from Danae… even though we still don’t know how she’s going to claim the bounty before the bail is forfeit.

Brogan arrives just in time to surprise Erika, giving Haldane the opportunity to grab her weapon and generally call the whole thing off. Erika’s been stitched up like a kipper in lipstick.

Haldane borrowed one of Dr. Chan’s locator buttons so that Brogan could easily find them in the right freighter. Oh yes, very clever.

“TWO BOYS SCOUTS?! So how’s a gal like me supposed to make a living?!” I’d quite like to know that too. You still haven’t explained how you plan to collect your money and make a 14-day journey in less than 12 days. Why was that set up as a plot point and then completely disregarded?

Frances Barber winces at her own hammy delivery of the line as soon as she’s done saying it.

Podly reads off Erika Brandt’s list of crimes and says she’ll be spending a long time on The Rock. Yes! Remember Two Against The Rock? It’s nice to catch a reference to an earlier episode that was actually good. However, Podly is feeling uncharacteristically lenient today and agrees that for her services in capturing Burl Flak in the first place, she’s free to go. Blimey. The Captain’s gone really soft.

For a character who likes kissing so much, I wonder why Erika wears that stupid plastic golf visor that threatens to get in the way all the time.

The background artists really earn their paychecks with this reaction shot.

Jane is surprised to find that Jack has (temporarily at least) swapped Guns and Lasers magazine for some literature on the new “Widows Against Racism” movement. The Danae authorities were good enough to donate half of Burl Flak’s bail to Maya Tropek, and so she’s joined forces with Mrs. Chan to start this new anti-racism foundation. That’s really nice. Goodness knows those two characters needed a happy and meaningful ending more than anyone after the events of this episode.

Slomo pops over for an update on Haldane’s woman-rating scale. Slomo estimates that Castle must surely be another 11. Haldane puts her at 20. I assume the point is that Jane defies objectification and now makes him think totally differently about women. Either that or Jack’s invented a whole new scale that goes up higher than we thought. I hope he hasn’t.

Erika’s dropped by to see Brogan one last time. That speaker grille on the doorbell really is comically bad.

Oh I can’t even handle these two cuties. Patrick looks more stressed than I’ve ever seen him, and Sally can’t wait for another sparring match.

Erika, well aware of exactly what she’s stirring up, leaps on the opportunity to annoy Sally. Patrick looks like a wildfire is about to tear through his village.

“I’m Erika Brandt!”

“Yes.”

I’m sorry, when did Sally Brogan become my favourite person in the entire universe?

With plans to leave Altor for more bounty hunting antics, Erika says goodbye in her trademark style with just enough time for Sally to watch. But Sally’s already grabbed her coat. She’s already got a plan. Erika finishes her emotional assault on the Brogan household by reminding Sally to take good care of Patrick. I know Sally’s above smacking someone across the face, but you’ve got to admit it would have been a satisfying conclusion to this saga.

Patrick immediately steps up to red alert as soon as Erika is out the door. He insists that with Erika gone forever they can put the whole thing behind them. But Sally has one more ace up her sleeve. She’s off to see Dr. Eastman for that drink. “Might as well get the darn thing over with.” The drink or your marriage? Remember that wildfire I mentioned? It’s name is Sally Brogan and she’s handing out burns left, right, and centre!

“Don’t wait up.” Oh my. Is this it?

Oh heavens, the children. Would somebody please think of the children?!

Go after her you fool!

Oh Sally, you rascal! You had us all going there! The kids are relieved… but not as relieved as you might expect. Maybe they were in on the prank? If they were then this is thoroughly evil.

With the scent of gardenia still slapped all over his face, Patrick Brogan grabs his wife and runs into her lips with wild abandon. How else did you think this episode going to end?

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Hate Street is another high-ranking episode for me. It’s satisfying to find an episode constructed so that the main guest character can influence both the main crime plot, and mess with the lives of our heroes as a subplot. I was apprehensive at the thought of Space Precinct tackling racism as a big topic for the week. It could have been handled really clumsily. And while it’s true that the issue is only explored in broad strokes and might have benefited from more nuanced social commentary in support of immigration, overall a decent story gets told about good triumphing over evil. An issues-based story needs a solid plot to drive it forward, and introducing a rogue bounty hunter defying both the police and the racist gang was a great way to inject spontaneity. Add in other special treats like the unique winter setting and all the outstanding special effects work, and suddenly the big issue of racism feels well-integrated into an entertaining yarn, rather than presenting itself like a history lecture.

The character of Erika Brandt offers us something rather refreshing too. It’s a common trend in Space Precinct for a stranger to arrive, appear to be good, and then turn out to be bad. For the purposes of a crime drama, you usually need a twist like that to keep the audience on their toes. Space Precinct’s trouble with that stock premise is that it rarely has enough guest characters to set up a full-blown mystery like that. So, Hate Street forgoes setting up a mystery entirely. It establishes the bad guys and their hateful motivations right away, and introduces a self-serving character like Erika to keep the whole plot revolving around her. I’m not saying that approach would work every week, but it’s nice to know that the Space Precinct writing team weren’t against breaking the mold and trying new things every once in a while.