Careering down a criminal path

Crime doesn't pay. And Natural Born Killers hasn't taken over $50m at the box-office. And thousands of people didn't flood into Bethnal Green for the funeral of convicted murderer Ronnie Kray this week.

Now it's the turn of Bruce Reynolds to charge head-long into the spotlight. The lesser-known "mastermind" of the 1963 Great Train Robbery has broken his 30-year silence in the hope of cleaning up (both his act and his bank balance) with the forthcoming publication of his autobiography.

Tonight's Everyman, "Once a Thief" (10.30pm BBC1), follows the fortunes of Reynolds and his family, and ostensibly explores the issue of making crime pay. Is it legitimate for "ex-cons" to sell their stories and profit from their wrongdoings, or does Reynolds have a point when he claims he's providing "a very valuable asset to the community - how will you know about crime unless you read what criminals say?"

To ensure that he says it to his (and his publisher's) best advantage, the latter sends him on a media presentation course, to teach him not to answer questions like "Aren't you just exploiting your crime 30 years down the track [sic]?" with a simple, if honest, "Yes".

The irony is that for all its purported analysis of a very complex subject, "Once a Thief" is itself a 40-minute plug for Reynolds's book, coming to a bookshop near you, very soon.