Working in concert with FBI agent Tom Ashford (Douglas Kennedy), Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) inaugurate an intensive search for a bank robber. The most valuable clues are provided by bank guard Leon Gibson (Ben Morris), despite his being the target of several condescending remarks from his pompous boss Clifton Allen (Jonathan Hale). Nor is Mr. Allen the only unwitting impediment to the the investigation: Friday and Smith must also endure the eccentric behavior of "armchair detective" Mabel Hartford (Dorothy Adams), a neighbor of one of the suspects. One of the most accessible of the original black-and-white Dragnet episodes thanks to its current public-domain status, "The Big Number" is adapted from the Dragnet radio broadcast of October 26, 1952.
by Hal Erickson
synopsis
