The Bill (series 16)

Part One: Northumbria Police arrest Frank Bentley with a boot full of drugs and a handgun, after a high-speed car chase through Newcastle. Bentley and his lawyer, Liz McAuley, are actually Burnside and Rawton on an undercover assignment to investigate corrupt CID officers in Newcastle. Their target is DCI Bonnet, who seems to be in collusion with local gangster Saul Anderson. Despite Burnside being threatened by Anderson, and Rawton's cover nearly being blown when she runs into her cousin Cheryl at a bar, Burnside manages to gain Bonnet's trust. When Bonnet and Burnside meet at a private club, they are shocked when the police raid the place, but manage to escape without being spotted or arrested.

Part One: Still haunted by the memories of his stabbing, Quinnan returns to the Jasmine Allen Estate to face his past when Brownlow organizes a new community initiative scheme in an attempt to win back the trust of some of the estate's residents, following the death of student Donna Hunter from a drug overdose. However, Boulton threatens to undermine the initiative in his pursuit of a suspected drug dealer, Mick Glover, who has just been released from prison. Worrell offers to work with a women's drug group, while Quinnan volunteers to work with the youth centre on the estate. On his first day, a video camera that the youths are using to make a real-to-life film is stolen, and one of the youths is shot.

Part Two: Investigating Donna Hunter's death, Boulton is convinced that Glover is the source of the uncut heroin which is doing the rounds on the estate. However, as uniform struggle to gain control of the Jasmine Allen estate, Quinnan becomes concerned when Donna's brother Robbie disappears without trace. Boulton is suspicious when former rivals Hall and Newman team up in an attempt to protect themselves from Glover. Quinnan's search for the missing boy comes to a head when he is beaten up and locked inside a church crypt with the dying boy. As the relief search for the missing Quinnan, Boyden comes across a burnt body dumped in the basement of a disused factory.

Part One: Santini tries to convince his lover, Jess Orton, to set him up with some drug dealers - he wants out of Sun Hill, and DS Timpney, his friend in Area Drugs, has promised him a place in the squad if Santini can get him evidence on them. However, before he has the chance, the Ortons' club is firebombed, and Santini is shocked when one of the officers assigned by AMIP to investigate the explosion is his old nemesis, DS Rosie Fox. Fox is convinced that Santini is linked to the events in question, but her AMIP DCI, Richard Pallister, believes otherwise. When Santini manages to locate Jess Orton, he persuades her to make a false confession to bombing the club in order to gain the trust of the suspected drug dealers. (This episode is a condensed rebroadcast of the episodes Lone Ranger and Old Flame from 1999 and does not appear on the Series 16 DVD box set.)

Part Two: Santini is determined to find out if Jess Orton has grassed on him, and when he breaks into her home to challenge her, events spiral out of control. Fox is ordered off the case by DCI Pallister and warned that if her actions directly resulted in her death, then she could be facing criminal charges. Vicky plugs DS Timpney for information, suspicious that Eddie may not be telling the whole truth. Desperate to conceal his involvement with the Ortons, Santini and Fox find themselves captured by Sherman and Ferguson, and facing possible execution. During a struggle, Eddie confesses to Fox that he murdered Jess Orton, and little does he know that the evidence has been captured on tape by Sherman. (This episode is a condensed rebroadcast of the episodes Push It and Kiss Off from 1999 and does not appear on the Series 16 DVD box set.)

Part One: Stanton and Lennox are tasked with investigating a brutal assault outside a nightclub where the victim had pouches of what appear to be drugs stuffed into his mouth. The owner, Vince Carter, is a well-known figure on the plot, being the son of an old school villain, Frank Carter. Meanwhile, Boulton, bored of having to transcribe the tape of a murder confessions, assists when a young girl is run down by a car, and a witness claims that it was no accident. Boulton vigorously questions the witness but soon finds himself believing that the incident was no accident. As his and Stanton's cases soon reveal a close link in Vince Carter, Stanton is tailed by an unknown assailant and run-off the road.

Part One (A Sprat to Catch a Mackerel): What looks like a drug-related murder by Yardie street gangs on Sun Hill's patch causes Mannion to call in Operation Trident, who think that the gangs are trying to muscle in on the Larkmead Estate. A new scheme to encourage taxi drivers to help the police bears fruit when an overzealous cabbie brings a 'prisoner', Wesley Carter, to the station, saying he heard him making a drug deal. Checking Carter's phone reveals the number of Leroy Jones. Trident get Rickman to phone him and arrange a meeting, as her cover from their last meeting is still intact. Rickman and Jones meet at a health club, but narrowly escape with their lives after a drive-by shooting.

Part Two (The Hare and the Hounds): Jones confirms Trident's suspicions about the Yardies, but he and his crew are after a piece of the action as well. Glaze is beaten up when he listens in on a meeting with Carter, but Rickman manages to convince the gang not to kill him. Worried about the rival gangs coming after him, Rickman agrees to let Jones stay at her flat. To finance their buy-in to the Bronte drug dealing franchise, Jones and his gang, including Rickman, rob a building society, as the rest of the relief are lying in wait for them at the wrong bank. The relief buzzes with rumours that Rickman has "gone native", although DCI Rostron believes she is still undercover, and sends Harker to watch her flat.

Part One: Smithy and Rickman attend a break in at a primary school and find a seven-year-old boy looking for food. Further investigation reveals that the boy has been living alone for three days and his parents are nowhere to be seen. Interviewing the family's friends and relatives, Deakin discovers that it is very unlike the parents to just disappear without trace, and CCTV footage shows a van watching the family's house on the night of the disappearance. Blood found in the family bedroom indicates the parents may have been harmed, but Deakin is furious when a racial attack on the restaurant where the boy's father works is found to have been investigated by Smithy over a week previously.

Part Two: Smithy gets closer to Tim Tze as the search for his parents continues. His failure to have investigated the attack on the Chinese restaurant correctly continues to hang over him, but when it appears that the man responsible had prior contact with the Tze family, Smithy finds he may well be in the clear. Deakin discovers that the restaurant has been put up for sale, but despite putting pressure on the owner, he refuses to give evidence. When Lenny Tze's car is found, and Tim finally gives up some information, Deakin uncovers details of an extramarital affair. As Jung Tze turns up alive and well, Smithy begins to wonder if the entire kidnapping has all been staged, but then he and Tim are kidnapped.

Part One: A terrified young woman, Emma Roberts, fears that she has become the victim of a stalker when paint is thrown over her car and her cat is killed in mysterious circumstances. After spending a night at her house, Hagen is convinced that she is making the entire story up for attention, and refuses to believe her. When Emma makes a claim of rape against her boss Brian Woods, Page investigates the case, and she finds that she too is being drawn into a nightmare world of unseen terror. After going out to dinner with Dave and Jenny, Emma arrives home to find her house has been broken into. Page grows a little too close for comfort by inviting her to stay the night.

Part Two: As her friendship with stalker victim Emma Roberts develops, Page is determined to find the stalker and starts to believe that he might be closer than she thought. When a past allegation made against Woods comes to light, Emma decides to press charges. Woods is released on bail, but soon turns up and tries to force his way into her house. He is subsequently arrested again and remanded in custody. Meanwhile, Polly is spooked when she starts receiving nuisance calls and a strange bunch of flowers are delivered to her. Suspecting she may have become the victim of the stalker, she looks to Emma to find comfort, but little does she know that her stalker is much closer to home than she imagined.

Part One: Probationary PCs Ben Hayward and Roz Clarke arrive for their first day at Sun Hill, and are subjected to a series of wind-ups by the relief. Boyden tricks Clarke into thinking that he has hit a pensioner in the surveillance van, while Stamp and Quinnan subject Hayward to the ride of his life in the area car. Hayward manages to stop a curb-crawler who escapes from capture but his arrest is thwarted by Hollis. Meanwhile, Hagen and Rickman spin Clarke a story about 'nipper' Cryer, the famous bum-punching sergeant, and Klein gets Worrell to be pretend to a dead body in order to wind up Hayward. However, the joke backfires when an angry and upset Hayward is punched in the face by Stamp.

Part One: When the relief carry out a routine raid on a nightclub, the pink cockatoo, Carver is suspicious after he suspects that a face from his past was present at the scene. Later, he stops a driver who appears to be a little bit worse for wear, and discovers that it is none other than his former CID boss, DS Ted Roach. Carver encourages Roach to provide information on Mickey Owen, the owner of the club, in return for being let-off the drink-driving charge. However, his leak to the police soon turns out to be the driving force behind a harsh beating, warning him not to give evidence. Meanwhile, Quinnan uncovers a body on the marshes, and Lennox discovers a link between the deceased and the pink cockatoo.

Part Two: Recovering in hospital, Roach agrees to tell Carver everything he knows about Mickey Owen, but asks that the police protect his long-time friend, Roxanne, from Mickey's clutches. Meanwhile, as investigations continue, Lennox discovers that the body is that of Phillip Macey, one of Roxanne's best friends, who disappeared without trace in the 1990s after a gig at the pink cockatoo. Realising that Owen must have been responsible for his death, Roxanne agrees to help Meadows set up a sting operation to catch Owen in the act. Roach's old-school police methods begin to yield results, much to the delight of Carver, but before they can catch Mickey red-handed, tragedy strikes.

Supping With the Devil: Beech meets 'businessman' Howard Fallon at a poker game. When Beech's winnings turn out to be counterfeit notes, he confronts Fallon, who offers him a substantial bribe to find out who hijacked one of his lorries, and to get to the stolen shipment back before customs or the police seize it. Daly becomes suspicious when Beech tries to get involved with the investigation, but one of Daly's snouts points the finger at a former employee of Fallon's, and the driver of the missing truck. As the missing shipment is safely returned, and with Daly off his back, it looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship between Beech and Fallon, one that may ultimately lead to his downfall.

Touch and Go: Beech is outraged when Rachel Booker, a dancer at one of Howard Fallon's clubs, is brutally attacked, and Beech's mobile number is among her possessions. Boulton and Stanton find the main suspect is Warren Askew, who was obsessed with Rachel, but he doesn't appear to be responsible. When Boulton tries calling the phone numbers in Rachel's diary, he is shocked when Beech answers the phone. Beech makes an excuse that he tried to pick up Rachel in a bar, and begs Boulton to overlook the evidence. When Boulton and Stanton's enquiries begin to lead them to Ray Bazzini, Fallon's minder, Beech plants evidence to frame Askew, who is subsequently arrested for Rachel's murder.

Harker is volunteered to work with a young offenders group in Canley, and immediately takes a shine to Carmel, the organiser of the group. When Carmel's foster son, 14-year-old Scott, goes off the rails, Harker steps in to try and defuse the situation. When one of Scott's friends is found dead from a savage beating, Harker discovers that despite previous claims that he is clean, Scott and his friend have been drug running for one of the major dealers on the Bronte. However, the situation is complicated further when Harker does that Scott and Carmel have been sleeping together. Forced to put his own feelings to one side, Harker is forced to report Carmel to the CPT and Social Services.

Find The Lady: Stanton tries to find out if Boulton is working with Beech. When star witness Lynette resurfaces, they immediately hide her in a safe house, where she informs them that Ray Bazzini killed Rachel Booker. Beech informs Fallon the location of the safe house, but Lynette escapes from the thugs who are sent to attack her. As Stanton is about to tell Boulton about her secret assignment, he gets a phone call from Beech. They meet at a construction site, where Beech admits he has been working for Fallon, and reveals that it was him who gave up Lynette's location. He tries to convince Boulton to help him out but an angry Boulton refuses. They fight, and in the struggle, Beech accidentally murders Boulton.

Fifty-Fifty: Quinnan and Carver find the body of Boulton at the construction site. Sun Hill is in shock, none more so than the devastated Stanton, who realises that Beech must be responsible. AMIP, the Area Major Incident Pool, arrive to investigate Boulton's death, and their subsequently investigations eventually lead them to Beech, who mysteriously disappears without trace. Stanton trails Maggie Lyons to a shopping centre, where she has arranged to meet Beech. Stanton calls for back-up, but when he realises that he is being tracks, he manages to escape. Knowing that his time is gradually running out, Beech weighs up his options, while Stanton continues her endeavor to bring him to justice.

Part One: CIB sweep into Sun Hill and suspend the entire CID department with immediate effect, and all of their ongoing cases are subsequently transferred to uniform. Lennox is horrified to discover that Stanton was a CIB mole. As the disgraced detectives are interviewed to establish their connection to Beech, Meadows hurriedly calls in some favours at Scotland Yard. Brownlow finds himself under pressure from Mannion to resign, which he reluctantly does. Meanwhile, Beech prepares to go into hiding, and radically overhauls his image in the hope that he is not recognized. When he goes to meet Maggie at a shopping centre, Stanton is hot on his tail and a chase ensues, but Beech again manages to escape.

Part One: The new CID team arrives at Sun Hill, led by the new station commander, Supt Tom Chandler. Meadows is facing a disciplinary board hearing following the Beech scandal, but is assigned to head the investigation of an apparently racially motivated harassment of a local family, the Griffiths, who have moved in around the corner from the Freeleys, a family whom they had many problems with in the past and moved away to avoid. When the prime suspect turns out to be Helen Freeley, the mother of the family, whom Meadows had an affair with several years previously, the situation soon becomes awkaward. As the relief get to know the new faces, Helen's son Darren is found murdered.

Part One: Page and Hayward attend a disturbance at a pub and find the landlord and one of his regulars being beaten up by three heavies. Meanwhile, Stamp, Quinnan and Klein attend the scene of a second beating, three heavies 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. A freak accident then leaves Tony McBride dead.

Part One: Smithy becomes a knight in shining armour for a shop assistant when he and Rickman apprehend a shoplifter with a little help from Santa. Meanwhile, a shop assistant in the same store is brutally assaulted, and the two security guards who apprehended the shoplifter are perceived to be acting very suspiciously. As Lennox and Webb attempt to track down a reported accomplice to the theft, McAllister maliciously ruins Hollis's plans for the Sun Hill Christmas Party, by getting the pub landlord's son arrested on drugs charges, forcing him to organise another venue. The nightclub party turns sour and a fight breaks out, and when Quinnan tends to an injured Page, they end up in bed together.