Seasons & episodes

S16 · E73On The Hook: Part I 2000-11-03＋

The new CID team arrives at Sun Hill, led by the new station commander, Supt Tom Chandler. His pally attitude with the relief doesn't go down well, with the likes of Cryer, Smith and Meadows skeptical. Meadows feels the pressure of facing a disciplinary board hearing following the Beech scandal. New DI Alex Cullen is assigned to head the investigation of an apparently racially motivated harassment of a local family, along with cocky DC Paul Riley and hard-faced DS Debbie McAllister, after complainant Frank Griffiths says Meadows had history with Helen Freeley, whose sons are suspected of racially abusing Griffiths and his family. As facts become apparent, events take a dramatic turn. Meanwhile, new arrival DS Vik Singh dishes the dirt immediately by warning his new colleagues that McAllister is overcompensating for a recent promotion to DS, whilst telling them that Cullen in Chandler's pocket.

Meadows is furious when Chandler demands he replace Cullen as Senior Investigating Officer following the murder of Darren Freeley. Meadows is desperate to make the breakthrough as quickly as possible, aware that Chandler will be coming to his discipline board later in the week. Meadows questions the prime suspects, two friends of Melody Griffiths who were seen leaving the scene, KJ Leonard and Oz Benson. Traces of Leonard's skin are found on Darren Freeley's knuckles, and although Oz Benson admits they were there and were angry with Freeley, they didn't kill him. When Rickman finds the murder weapon, the forensic evidence points to an unlikely killer.

Quinnan finds the body of Dennis Quigley, a man who has died of a heart attack in his car. Whilst delivering the man's personal effects to his wife, Quinnan is mortified to find they include a gift to the man's mistress, a woman named Alice. Trying to do a good deed, Quinnan resolves to deliver the gift to its intended recipient, and manages to locate Alice and give her the gift. However, things become much more complicated when his wife Jenny discovers the gift and thinks he's having an affair, while CID discover that the dead man is wanted by Interpol for diamond smuggling. Suspecting the package that Quinnan handed over may well be a shipment of uncut diamonds smuggled in from Antwerp, Cullen is left dismayed after realising the evidence has been lost.

Glaze is sent undercover to attempt to infiltrate a drugs ring when they become involved with a high-flying player, Bunny Small, who has been a target of the area drugs squad for some time. Meadows seizes the opportunity to try and win some brownie points for Sun Hill by nailing not only three small-time local dealers, but finally getting evidence to put Small away. During an obbo, Glaze and McCann end up at loggerheads over each other's attitudes to policing, but decide they must work together to get the best result. When Small is murdered during the obbo, NCS arrive to crucify Glaze, McCann and Meadows over their conduct. Glaze does back undercover, but has a brush with death during St Pauls Carnival.

Whilst out on a crime prevention sweep, Spears visits a local building society, only to be caught up in an armed robbery. Smithy tries to stop the robbers as they make their escape and is also taken hostage. As SO19 units surround the building, Conway and Chandler arrive to negotiate with the two robbers, Dwight and Rollo. A tense stand-off ensues, and Smith realises the men are ex-soldiers, and that they had help from one of the bank employees. When Rollo shoots Dwight during an argument, Chandler orders SO19 to storm the building despite Conway's objections, putting Spears at further risk.

Smith and McCann investigate a robbery involving local youth Lennie Cox. When they arrive at his flat, they find him liaising with Jurgen Holz, a Neo-Nazi criminal wanted by Interpol for drug trafficking charges. Holz manages to escape, but Smith catches up with Cox, and he is cornered by a group of black youths. As the pair catch up with Holz, they give chase, but Smith finds himself in a radio deadspot. He is then is suspected of having a racist motive when he fails to respond to an urgent assistance call from McCann, who is badly beaten by a gang of neo-Nazi skinheads. Determined to clear his name, Smith veers dangerously close to compromising an SO10 undercover operation to arrest Holz.

S16 · E79Sorted 2000-11-24＋

Klein spends all night DJing at a local nightclub, and lies to Cryer when he skips work the next day. When his car is broken into, his possessions are handed in at the station, with Cryer soon finding out what really happened. Smith has a touch of toothache and gets Rickman to take him to A+E. Klein, forced to come by an angry Cryer, is paired with Rickman. Klein finds his day is getting worse by the minute as Singh and McAllister investigate an abduction and extortion case involving two people who were at the club the night before. When both accuse Klein of using drugs at the club, he battles to clear his name and find the missing girl before it is too late.

Spears and Worrell chase a suspect from the scene of a violent assault. They discover that the victim, Donna Elliot, is the sister of Frank and Peter Elliot, two insurance brokers suspected of being the ringleaders of a post-match fight that has been arranged between two rival gangs of football fans. With Sun Hill as the venue, Chandler assigns Cullen to the case, but Meadows is determined to show him up by cracking the case himself using a teenage assault suspect and member of the Larkmead Crew as an informant. When Cullen and Lennox discover Meadows' informant has lied to him about the gang's intentions, CID and uniform rush to head off the mob before they attack an Asian marketplace.

Webb and Spears investigate when a house fire traps two young girls, who end up in hospital in a critical condition. Meadows is later assigned to lead the investigation when suspicion soon falls on a loan shark who was seen outside the house just before the fire. When witnesses place him elsewhere at the time of the fire, suspicion then falls on the girls' father, however questioning him is delayed when one of his daughters succumbs to her injuries. With Webb convinced of his guilt, Spears clashes with him when she suspects the mother is to blame. After cracking the case, Webb and Spears grow closer.

Boyden spearheads a raid on a brothel, which uncovers several illegal immigrants from Croatia being forced to work as prostitutes. The owner of the premises, Carson, agrees to reveal who is bringing the girls into England in exchange for a lesser charge. However, on the way to court, the police van is ambushed and Carson is kidnapped. After the car used in the ambush is found with blood stained seats, it is suspected Carson has been killed. Carson's lawyer, Doyle, eventually agrees to set up a meeting with Luca, and Boyden sets up a surveillance operation on a locker. Meanwhile, McCann agonises as he waits for word on a transfer that hinges on the result of his Sergeant's exams.

Page and Hayward attend a disturbance at a pub and find the landlord and one of his regulars being beaten up by three masked men. Meanwhile, Stamp, Quinnan and Klein attend the scene of a second beating, another three masked men attacking local villain Frank McBride outside the back of his club. Realising the incidents could be connected, Hayward investigates, and discovers a turf war between two rival gangs of cigarette smugglers. As the evidence against the two rival firms stacks up, Klein finds himself in trouble when he tries to buy a mixing desk from his favourite DJ, Johnny Margolis, and ends up abducted by the McBride gang, but a freak accident leaves Tony McBride dead and Klein seriously injured.

After noting Klein missing from morning parade, Quinnan and Stamp find him unconscious and badly injured in the back of the crashed van belonging to the now-deceased Tony McBride and his cigarette smuggling gang. With McAllister determined to prove that Klein is corrupt, Boyden and the relief race to find evidence to clear his name. As Klein continues to recover in hospital, Hayward suspects that missing DJ Johnny Margolis may seem to be the key to the whole mystery, and he is found trying to escape from three thugs. Boyden searches McBride's house, and an obbo is soon set up to catch the cigarette smugglers red-handed. Boyden is stunned when he works out who is responsible for the smuggling ring.

Smithy becomes a knight in shining armour for a shop assistant when he and Rickman apprehend a shoplifter, with a little help from Santa! The shoplifter is suspected of brutally assaulting a shop assistant in the same store. Lennox bonds with the suspect due to the boy being from Glasgow, but Webb's hatred for Christmas leads to him refusing to help the boy out, although he attempts to track down a reported accomplice to the theft. Meanwhile, McAllister maliciously ruins Hollis's plans for the Sun Hill Christmas Party, by getting the pub landlord's son arrested on drugs charges. When they reschedule at a nightclub, the party turns sour and a fight breaks out. Quinnan, having argued with Jenny about her hopes of moving to Colchester, acts on his feelings for Page after Hagen's teasing about Page and Stamp being close.

Sun Hill returns to normal after the Christmas break, although Quinnan and Page act suspiciously after their pre-Christmas encounter. As the pair try to rekindle their affair, Lennox and Webb continue investigating the assault on the shop assistant, and discover that the story concocted by the pair of crooked security guards is completely phony, who may be responsible for the attack. Monroe attempts to build bridges with the landlord of the Elcott Arms, while Riley nearly lets slip that McAllister was responsible for the sabotage. Meanwhile, Hagen and Page have a minor PolAcc in the yard, and Hagen later catches Quinnan and Page getting intimate in the back of the arrest van.