Seasons & episodes

Stamp and Page attend a break at the home of Barton Street PC Steve Bennett, who returns after a night out with Quinnan to find his daughter's bedroom has been vandalised. He enlists the help of Stanton to investigate what Bennett's wife claims has been an ongoing campaign of harassment. Bennett points Quinnan in the direction of an ex-lover, but it proves to be a non-starter. Attention then turns to local villain Dougie Davis, who has history for a similar campaign of harassment against another Barton Street PC, however he is incarcerated. Attention then turns to an unlikely source, but events take a dramatic turn when Bennett is injured in a hit and run. Meanwhile, Jenny has a frosty encounter with uniform at Stamp's birthday party, dampening her relationship with Quinnan.

DCI Meadows and DC Skase are furious when PC Jim Carver turns up drunk to give evidence in a court case - evidence which is so unreliable the judge throws the case out of court. As his colleagues begin to realise the extent of Carver's problems, Insp. Monroe decides to put him on an easy task - escorting a convoy of confiscated drugs to a Home Office depot for destruction. As Carver enjoys a sly drink with depot floorman Vernon Liggett, he accidentally mentions the convoy's destination. The next day, he and Stamp drop behind as Carver dashes out to be sick. When they catch up, the convoy is under attack from four armed men. With little regard for his own safety, Carver dashes forward and tackles one of the men, who abandon their assault, although an SO19 officer is shot during the raid. Despite his heroics that day, Carver is in trouble for breaking procedure, and it could be far worse as there could be an inquiry into how the convoy route was known.

DCI Scanlon from Kent Constabulary arrives to investigate the attack on the Home Office convoy. PC Jim Carver pays Vernon Liggett a visit, but he denies any involvment. Scanlon and Meadows interview the warehouse staff, with Liggett high on their list of suspects, but when DC Lennox goes to his flat, Liggett has disappeared. One of Liggett's colleagues mentions him drinking with a copper named Jim, and Lennox confronts Carver and demands he admit his mistake to Meadows. Insp. Monroe makes Carver go on leave, but when Carver returns to the station he is so drunk he passes out in the yard. Sgt. Ackland and hide him in the FME's room and a van, but he ends up in the Elcott Arms where Lennox drags him out and forces him to confess. Tracing a call Liggett made from the pub to a hotel, Lennox poses as a taxi driver to drive their suspect to a nightclub where he and his associates are arrested in an SO19 raid.

On a romantic night with her new boyfriend Steve, Ackland's neighbour interrupts after revealing she has found a gun in her tenant's room. Beech is determined to set up an OBBO at her flat, but Deakin warns him off. Ackland is determined to avoid it, not just because of her past, but because she wants another night in with Steve. However, when no suitable OP is found, Ackland reluctantly agrees to let Beech and Lennox have the OBBO in her flat. The situation gets compromised when Ackland clashes with her neighbour after finding a spliff in her house, but they get back on track and arrest their suspect. When he is alibied, Beech and Lennox realise they’ve been looking at the wrong person.

Daly leads a raid on the home of a violent pimp who has been recruiting teenage girls. However, the prime suspect vanishes after attacking Proctor during the raid, with Holmes distracted by a car driven by Rita Davis almost hitting her, Davis a prison inmate with Holmes when she went undercover at a woman's jail (Follow Through). Davis tracks Holmes and asks for help; the pimp has been trying to recruit her 14-year-old daughter, but the info she provides for two potential leads go nowhere. Events take a sinister turn when one of the girls rescued from the brothel is subjected to an acid attack, while Daly's informant turns up dead. When Davis and her pimp report that their suspect has abducted Davis' daughter, Holmes gets personally involved, however Proctor threatens to undermine her efforts.

Carver is assaulted before his shift and mugged, and as he wanders the streets dazed and confused, he befriends a group of homeless drunks. When they point Carver in the direction of a local pub that sells out of hours, Carver bribes his way in to get free drinks. At the pub, he begins talking to a petty thief, who after robbing a local off license for booze, takes him back to his home to meet his wife. Realising the man prostitutes his wife, she discovers Carver is a copper, but rather than tell her husband they bond and she tells Carver he needs to get his life sorted out before it's too late. However, as he tries to come to terms with his problem, he gets a horrendous shock that threatens to sidetrack any hopes of getting his life back on track.

Jim Carver wakes up to find himself in bed lying next to the dead body of Clare Sullivan, an aged prostitute. He is utterly distraught, and, not knowing what to do, he takes JohnJo's clothes and leaves the scene. Vicky Hagen and Reg Hollis discover the body while searching for Jim. Jim's warrant card is found at the scene, and Jim's tie is around Clare's neck. Ex-Sun Hill DCI Frank Burnside is assigned to the case - something he does not relish as he is also Jim Carver's best friend. Jim meanwhile, is suicidal, considering throwing himself in the Thames, and then falling at the knees of a priest, confessing to his ""crime"". Eventually he finds himself eating a discarded pizza from a skip. He takes a swig from a bottle of wine, then catches a glimpse of his reflection. He regards his reflection for a moment, shaking his head - then tips the rest of the wine away. Frank eventually locates Jim at a hostel. He is arrested on suspicion of murder and taken back to Sun Hill.

Boyden leads a dog racing syndicate with Klein, Stamp, Rickman and Quinnan. He is keen to keep it secret from fiancee Jenny, however she ends up finding out, and joins in to help boost the wedding fund. Things only get worse when he falls victim to an ATM scam that drains his account, leaving Boulton liaising with OCG to track down the gang of scammers responsible. The first race fails, but they soon uncover an elaborate scam that gets them a windfall on the second race. However, it's inevitable that they’ll be found out, leaving them in hot water with Brownlow. When they track down the ATM scammers off duty, they jump at the chance to earn some brownie points.

As Dave Quinnan's stag night begins, an old friend turns up - Steve Loxton. A newly sober Jim Carver faces temptation and ridicule from his colleagues as the night wears on. Jenny and her friends rope DC Procter into helping them investigate a stripper who is indecently assaulting the patrons of the strip club they attend, but Vicky Hagen is forced to take matters into her own hands. Insp. Monroe waits desperately for the duty inspector to relieve him, but he is delayed for most of the night. Paranoid that the lads have hired a stripper, Quinnan takes refuge at Polly Page's flat, where she drops a bombshell that she is in love with him. Dave returns to the party, but falls on a bottle, injuring his hand. Arriving at St Hugh's, he is alarmed when his 'doctor' removes her clothes and tells him he's been a very naughty boy and will need to be punished!

Dave Quinnan wakes up on the day of his wedding with a splitting headache and bleached eyebrows. Despite the incompetence of his best man, Reg Hollis, the actual wedding goes ahead with only a few minor hitches - including the attendance of a known fugitive arrested by Tony Stamp and Polly Page, and the unexpected appearance of George Garfield. As Hollis hasn't organised any transport to the reception on a boat, Dave and Jenny hitch a ride in a police transit van. As Steve Loxton gives the other PCs a lift to the pier, he is pulled over by Stafford Row police for speeding, and it turns out his car is flagged by Manchester Drug Squad. Meanwhile, the reception turns out to be a disaster as they run out of food and drink, and one of Jenny's aunts falls into the river, only to be rescued by the extremely sober Jim Carver.

DC Liz Rawton arrives at the station to find an envelope on her desk containing cut-up lingerie and rose petals. After the action-packed arrest of Joseph Anderson, a man suspected of organising lorry hijackings, Rawton receives a phone call asking if she liked her 'gift'. DC Duncan Lennox offers to let her stay at his house, and the two end up nearly kissing after a few drinks. Anderson abducts Rawton when she stops at a cash machine, and reveals that he is an associate of Brian Hill, a man she put away while she was with SO10. Anderson hands Rawton over to Hill, who is obsessed with her and takes her to a hotel room. An interview with another of Hill's associates reveals the name of the hotel, and CID and SO19 storm the room - but Hill jumps to his death rather than go to prison again.

DS Stanton, DC Lennox and DC Proctor are on an obbo at a spooky old building called the Old Pumping Station, which is supposed to be haunted. The trio tell each other ghost stories: back in his uniform days, Proctor was assigned to watch the house of a serial murderer. Investigating a noise, he meets a young woman called Cathy, who turns out to have been on of the killer's victims. A skeptical Stanton reveals how a psychic's assistance with a case she worked on turned out to be a hoax. Lennox, when he was in the Glasgow police, meets a dying crime boss who promises revenge from beyond the grave.

A young runaway waiting for his foster parents, a bickering Russian barbershop quartet and a drunk and disorderly elf from the North Pole are all part of the job for the Sun Hill night shift on Christmas Eve.

On a night out with her friend Lynn, Cass Rickman meets two men, Jamie and Ben, who offer her some dope which she refuses. To her horror, Ben is arrested the next day by DS Boulton for possession of drugs, a charge which Ben manages to drop onto Rickman when he insists the drugs are hers. Rickman is investigated by CIB, and things look bad for her when her friend Lynn makes a statement that Cass took drugs the previous night. DS Beech and DS Boulton follow Lynn and discover that she is the drug dealer, and she is linked to another dealer, Cairns, whom Boulton has been after for a long time.

It's New Year's Eve 2000, all police leave has been cancelled and even CID officers are back in uniform for the night. Chief Insp Conway and DCI Meadows just want to enjoy a drink of whiskey, but their plans are dashed at every turn. An obsessed DS Boulton drags PC Hollis around the city in pursuit of a suspect. PCs Quinnan and Page are trapped in a lift, and DC Lennox and PC Stamp have a wager going on who can make the first arrest.