The action mostly takes place in the Paddington area of London and is set in July 1949, a few years after the end of the Second World War. PC George Dixon, a long-serving traditional "copper" who is due to retire shortly, supervises a new recruit, Andy Mitchell, introducing him to the night beat.

Dixon is a classic Ealing "ordinary" hero, but also anachronistic, unprepared and unable to answer the violence of Tom Riley. Called to the scene of a robbery at a local cinema, Dixon finds himself face-to-face with Riley, a desperate youth armed with a revolver. Dixon tries to talk Riley into surrendering the weapon, but Riley panics and fires. Dixon dies in hospital some hours later.

Riley is caught with the help of professional criminals and dog-track bookmakers who identify the murderer as he tries to hide in the crowd at White City greyhound track in north-west London. The kudos of arresting Riley falls to young Andy Mitchell.
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== osoby ==			== profese ==
	Michael Balcon		Producent

cena	festival	ročník	osoba	nominace/cena
Nejlepší britský film	BAFTA	4 (1950)	Michael Balcon	cena
Zlatý lev za nejlepší film	Benátský filmový festival	15 (1950)	Michael Balcon	nominace