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This two-hour TV movie was the pilot for the adventure series Hardcastle and McCormick. The premise: Judge Milton C. Hardcastle (Brian Keith), incensed by civil-liberty laws that allow known criminals to escape imprisonment, becomes an erstwhile private detective, determined to bring "untouchable" crooks to justice. His assistant in this endeavor is Mark "Skid" McCormick (Daniel Hugh-Kelly) a reckless racecar driver. In exchange for exoneration on an auto-theft charge, McCormick agrees to work with Hardcastle in tracking down scofflaws. As a means of softening the two protagonists, it was made clear in the pilot episode that McCormick wasn't really a thief, and that Hardcastle was going after criminals only for their current crimes. Their first mission: to trap the industrialist (John Saxon) responsible for the death of Skid's closest friend. This inaugural Hardcastle and McCormick episode debuted September 18, 1983; the series itself ran until July 23, 1986.