It seems to be all but forgotten now, and I suppose it didn't attract much notice at the time, but I have a fond remembrance of this series. Although it's impossible to avoid the clichés of detective drama, this had a good format that allowed for a variety of stories, while allowing some development of character. The background is that a good detective, Nick Lewis, has been unfairly and unwillingly taken off active duty and given a desk job in charge of "prisoners' property". He has two assistants, one an efficient female, Kate Burton, who resents being passed over for promotion for a job she can basically do single-handed and an easy-going male, Phil Strong, who is a whizz at technology and especially adept at hacking into the police computers - a fairly novel idea at the time. Stories arise out of unsolved crimes on file (the Enigma Files), returning prisoners' property, the activities of Nick's attractive daughter and repercussions from Nick's past. Strangely for a series, the regular character Kate hands in her notice in the first episode and leaves by the middle of the series (having made her peace with Nick), to be replaced by Sue Maxwell. My favourite episode was "Repeat after Me", which left Nick baffled while the other characters handled the case behind his back.
Review of The Enigma Files
