In Hell is a City , Stanley Baker plays Inspector Martineau, a detective with the City of Manchester police. Martineau was responsible for putting a notorious criminal, Don Starling (John Crawford), behind bars. As a result, when Starling was imprisoned he swore revenge on Martineau. When news comes that Starling has broken out of jail, Martineau is convinced that he's hiding somewhere in the city and wants to drop everything to bring him in. But first Martineau has to deal with a robbery from a bookmakers run by Gus Hawkins (Donald Pleasence). The robbery led to the loss of £4,000 and the accidental death of a young woman, one of Hawkins's employees. As Martineau investigates the crime, he comes to suspect that Don Starling may in fact be responsible. Luckily, the cash from the bookmakers was stained with green dye, something that helps the police to gradually home in on the criminals. One by one, Martineau starts to track down Starling's accomplices, bending the rules a