Overview of 'The Bill' Season 8 - Movie Intelligence

Episode 1 - The Best Policy

Release Date: 1992-01-02

D.C.I. Reid's influence in high places suddenly makes D.I. Burnside look vulnerable to criticism. CID investigate an armed robbery.

Episode 2 - A Friend In Need

Release Date: 1992-01-07

P.C. Quinnan is the subject of a civil complaint. P.C.s Stamp and Stringer follow up on a fire at a home for ex-psychiatric patients, but find little care in the community.

Episode 3 - Whose Side Are You On?

Release Date: 1992-01-09

D.C. Lines investigates a mugging, and tries to get the victim charged with the murder of his assailant.

Episode 4 - Lip Service

Release Date: 1992-01-14

D.C. Lines is enjoying an off-duty pint in his local pub and becomes involved in a bar brawl.

Episode 5 - Illegals

Release Date: 1992-01-16

D.C. Lines investigates when a cellarful of illegal immigrants is discovered. He enlists the help of Sgt. Boyden, who takes a fancy to one of the females. Lines warns him off.

Episode 6 - Fair Play

Release Date: 1992-01-21

P.C. Quinnan investigates the illegal sale of steroids. P.C. Garfield is put on the spot when his old sparring partner is arrested.

D.I. Burnside's unorthodox policing methods, which include flushing an informant's head down a toilet, set him on a collision course with D.C.I. Reid, who has already received several complaints about Sun Hill officers. Reid fears the worst when she is called in to Scotland Yard for an urgent meeting with MS15.

Episode 8 - Joyride

Release Date: 1992-01-28

A girl is seriously injured in a joyriding incident. Ch. Supt. Brownlow must decide whether he is prepared to risk a riot by sending officers into an estate to round up the culprits.

Episode 9 - Not Waving

Release Date: 1992-01-30

A student nurse is sexually assaulted. D.I. Burnside arrests the obvious suspect, but he escapes from police custody.

Episode 10 - Mates

Release Date: 1992-02-04

Sgt. Cryer is finding being non-operational tedious. He goes undercover as a punter in a brothel, but his presence on the operation antagonises Sgt. Peters. Cryer goes to sees Ch. Supt. Brownlow about giving up his job as duty sergeant and going back to the relief.

Episode 11 - Lost Boy

Release Date: 1992-02-06

D.S. Greig is led to a vice ring when searching for a missing thirteen-year-old boy. D.C. Dashwood and W.P.C. Ackland are brought into an operation against ponces running rent boys.

Episode 12 - Chicken

Release Date: 1992-02-11

P.C. Stringer tries to stop some children from playing 'chicken' on the railway line, but one of them is run down by a train. Sgt. Peters transfers upstairs to the post of duty sergeant, swapping roles with Bob Cryer, who returns to the relief.

Episode 13 - Somebody Special

Release Date: 1992-02-13

Acting D.I. Greig tries to recruit a hardened female thief as a snout, but finds her more than a match for him. D.C.I. Reid is promoted out of Sun Hill to MS15.

Episode 14 - Previous Convictions

Release Date: 1992-02-18

Investigating an apparent accident in which a man's hand is crushed in a car-breaker's yard, Sgt. Maitland uncovers years of animosity, neglect and revenge.

Episode 15 - Beggar My Neighbour

Release Date: 1992-02-20

A tramp is attacked, leading the police into a web of crime.

Episode 16 - It's A Small World

Release Date: 1992-02-25

Thinking of leaving the force, D.C. Dashwood is tempted by a lucrative business opportunity with a firm of security consultants.

Episode 17 - Licence

Release Date: 1992-02-27

A man convicted of strangling his wife has been released on licence, but the probation service fails to notify Sun Hill. His presence comes to light when his son causes a disturbance.

Episode 18 - Comeback

Release Date: 1992-03-03

The community police station run by P.C. Smollett is fire-bombed. The area car is stolen from P.C. Loxton and W.P.C. Datta, and it is written off in an RTA.

Episode 19 - Fireproof

Release Date: 1992-03-05

D.I. Burnside leads an investigation into the firebombing of the community police station.

Episode 20 - The Paddy Factor

Release Date: 1992-03-10

D.C. Carver and W.D.C. Martella have a car thief under observation, and see him shot as he gets into a car. The Anti-Terrorist Squad is called in, and the IRA is suspected.

Episode 21 - The Wild Rover

Release Date: 1992-03-12

D.S. Roach ignores the Anti-Terrorist Squad, and investigates a possible IRA cell.

Episode 22 - Coincidence

Release Date: 1992-03-17

A small boy known for lying claims to have been the subject of an attempted abduction in an adventure playground.

Episode 23 - Going Soft

Release Date: 1992-03-19

A routine trip to a magistrate for a warrant turns into a nightmare for D.C. Dashwood when he is taken prisoner by two hooded burglars.

Episode 24 - Re-Hab

Release Date: 1992-03-24

Jack Meadows arrives to take charge of Sun Hill CID. He becomes involved with a father suspected of murdering his drug addict son.

Episode 25 - Acting Detective

Release Date: 1992-03-26

A woman who collapsed at an airport is found to be a mule, smuggling drugs in her stomach. D.I. Burnside, with only limited time to mount an operation, gets W.P.C. French to take the courier's place in an attempt to uncover the dealer.

Episode 26 - Stopover

Release Date: 1992-03-31

P.C. Smollett tries to offer a follow-up service to victims of crime. A woman whose husband is in prison, and who runs a guesthouse, keeps reporting an intruder on the premises. Smollett gives her support, but P.C. Garfield thinks he is wasting his time.

Episode 27 - Suspects

Release Date: 1992-04-02

D.S. Greig arrests a suspect for an armed robbery, but is proved wrong.

Episode 28 - All The King's Horses

Release Date: 1992-04-07

A lorry overturns and sheds its load outside a school, burying a boy and girl and putting P.C. Loxton to the test.

Episode 29 - Party Politics

Release Date: 1992-04-09

W.D.C. Martella celebrates her birthday. D.I. Burnside and D.S. Roach go to a party attended by a crooked businessman, who makes Burnside an offer he can't refuse.

Episode 30 - Trials & Tribulations

Release Date: 1992-04-14

W.P.C. Marshall becomes a vital witness in a murder trial, and soon realises that someone is trying to intimidate her.

Episode 31 - A Can Of Worms

Release Date: 1992-04-16

A traffic accident draws attention to a minicab firm.

Episode 32 - Timing

Release Date: 1992-04-21

D.C.I. Meadows tries to find the link between three arson attacks. D.S. Roach and D.C. Dashwood track down an escaped prisoner, but Roach seems more interested in his beautiful wife.

Episode 33 - A Nice Little Line In Plastic

Release Date: 1992-04-23

P.C. Quinnan and W.P.C. Datta arrest a girl using stolen credit cards and uncover a major racket.

Episode 34 - Trial & Error

Release Date: 1992-04-24

An armed robber who put an innocent bystander in an wheelchair has his house firebombed by the victim's son. D.I. Burnside is determined to see justice done.

Episode 35 - Owning Up

Release Date: 1992-04-30

P.C.s Loxton and Stringer follow up on a mugging but their case is nearly ruined when it collides with an investigation by D.S. Greig and D.C.I. Meadows. Can W.P.C. Ackland crack the case?

Episode 36 - Up Behind

Release Date: 1992-05-05

It's Saturday night, but CID are at work trailing a known criminal believed to be responsible for a series of artifice burglaries involving pensioners.

Episode 37 - Appearances

Release Date: 1992-05-07

Following an argument with a drunken pub customer, a young barmaid is hit by a car and later dies. P.C.s Quinnan and Stringer have their suspicions about the customer. Could it be manslaughter?

Episode 38 - Principled Negotiation

Release Date: 1992-05-12

D.I. Burnside and D.S. Roach look favourably on an ex-villain with a loan-shark problem, but they expect favours in return.

Episode 39 - Sign Of Our Times

Release Date: 1992-05-14

An armed robber admits to D.C. Lines that redundancy and the repossession of his house made him take to crime to solve his problems.

Episode 40 - Priorities

Release Date: 1992-05-19

P.C.s Stringer and Loxton attend to a theft at an old people's home and begin to suspect that the ex-policeman who runs the home is ill-treating residents.

Episode 41 - Users

Release Date: 1992-05-21

W.D.C. Martella arrests a woman for drug dealing. D.I. Burnside suspects that she is using teenage girls as couriers by offering them free holidays in Spain, but she is being exploited by a bigger dealer.

Episode 42 - Man Of The People

Release Date: 1992-05-26

P.C. Stringer wins the election for the post of Federation Rep, beating the incumbent P.C. Hollis by fifty-eight votes to two. Ch. Supt. Brownlow decides to eat in the canteen with the other ranks, much to their discomfort.

Episode 43 - Runaway

Release Date: 1992-05-28

D.S Roach investigates the beating of a teenage girl, and tries to establish if his suspect is also responsible for a number of murders being investigated by AMIP.

Episode 44 - Exposures

Release Date: 1992-06-02

A young model claims that she was sexually assaulted during a photographic session. W.D.C. Martella discovers that every picture tells a story.

Episode 45 - Better The Devil

Release Date: 1992-06-04

P.C. Stringer gets involved with a bizarre household, and discovers a horrifying case of parental cruelty in the attic. W.P.C. Marshall goes on attachment to the Domestic Violence Unit at Stafford Row.

Episode 46 - Prisoners

Release Date: 1992-06-09

Sgt. Boyden and P.C. Hollis are hoping for a quiet night in the custody suite at Sun Hill, but that's not how it turns out.

Episode 47 - World To Rights

Release Date: 1992-06-11

W.P.C. Marshall, on attachment to the Domestic Violence Unit at Stafford Row, makes an error of judgement and is attacked by a woman's husband.

Episode 48 - Do The Right Thing

Release Date: 1992-06-16

P.C. Stringer is mugged by a gang, and determines to get his own back. P.C. Quinnan and W.P.C. Datta follow a cheque card fraudster.

Episode 49 - Hiding To Nothing

Release Date: 1992-06-18

P.C. Stamp is ambushed by a gang of youths on a local estate. In trying to assist him, W.P.C. Ackland crashes the Area car, much to P.C. Loxton's delight.

Episode 50 - Punching Judy

Release Date: 1992-06-23

A woman lies critically injured in hospital, beaten up by her husband. D.S. Greig and D.C.I. Meadows interview the husband. W.P.C. Marshall decides to quit the Domestic Violence Unit.

Episode 51 - Vicious Circles

Release Date: 1992-06-25

P.C. Hollis arrests a woman for being drunk in charge of a baby, and finds himself drawn into a complicated family set-up.

Episode 52 - Up All Night

Release Date: 1992-06-30

P.C. Garfield pursues a burglar and is beaten up. Sgt. Boyden's inaction brings hostility from the relief and trouble for D.S. Roach.

Episode 53 - Part Of The Furniture

Release Date: 1992-07-02

D.C. Dashwood is to be transferred to the Art and Antiques Squad. D.S. Roach hands him a burglary at an infants' school as a wind-up, but it develops into a case that allows Dashwood to show the others a thing or two.

Episode 54 - Snakes & Ladders

Release Date: 1992-07-07

It's P.C. Garfield's first day back after the attack. The relief place bets on the likelihood of Garfield punching Sgt. Boyden, but Garfield eventually takes his revenge.

Episode 55 - Street Cleaning

Release Date: 1992-07-09

Sgt. Cryer gets the relief to put the Garfield-Boyden conflict behind them and get back to work, to sort out the takeover of genuine beggars' pitches by violent professional thieves.

Episode 56 - Hands Up

Release Date: 1992-07-14

Conway decides he needs to get back on the beat, and arrests a drunk for criminal damage.

Episode 57 - A Scandalous Act

Release Date: 1992-07-16

P.C. Garfield brings in a teenaged girl arrested at a drugs party, and she accuses him of sexually assaulting her.

Episode 58 - Raiders

Release Date: 1992-07-21

A ram-raid ends in tragedy when a boy is killed. But what was his part in the affair?

Episode 59 - Talk Out

Release Date: 1992-07-23

A middle-aged couple arrive at the front desk and report their neighbour missing, but W.P.C. Ackland isn't sure that they are telling the whole truth.

Episode 60 - True Confessions

Release Date: 1992-07-28

D.S. Roach is put under pressure when a suspect retracts a confession and accuses the police of oppression.

Episode 61 - Private Enterprise

Release Date: 1992-07-30

D.C.I. Meadows tackles CID about passing intelligence to the collator; but D.S. Roach is reluctant to share information relating to his current operation.

Episode 62 - Getting Through

Release Date: 1992-08-04

The night shift is saddled with a feud between two men who come to the front desk with allegations of GBH against each other.

Episode 63 - Last Night Of Freedom

Release Date: 1992-08-06

Someone is stabbed on a stag night, but the likely suspect can't remember a thing about it.

Episode 64 - Cutting Loose

Release Date: 1992-08-11

Burnside and Lines are returning a chief suspect to prison when they are ambushed by a gang of masked men, who spring him.

Episode 65 - Soft Targer

Release Date: 1992-08-13

P.C. Smollett discovers that a local villain is driving people out of their flats and reletting them to squatters. At Sun Hill, a civilian typist is discovered to be having an affair with a known villain.

Episode 66 - I've Never Been To Harrogate

Release Date: 1992-08-18

D.S. Greig and D.C. Woods investigate the mysterious collapse of an old lady who has been burgled.

Episode 67 - Human Resources

Release Date: 1992-08-20

Two con men are preying on women through the small ads in the local paper. Lack of personnel for D.S. Roach's operation places W.D.C. Martella in danger.

Episode 68 - Exit

Release Date: 1992-08-25

A loan shark is attacked. D.S. Greig has a vital witness who is young, blonde and pretty, but she keeps stringing him along, and then disappears.

Episode 69 - Loyalties

Release Date: 1992-08-27

Acting on information from a snout, D.I. Burnside mounts a raid on crack-houses. When details of the raid are leaked, D.C.I. Meadows challenges Burnside over the trustworthiness of his team.

Episode 70 - Snapshot

Release Date: 1992-09-01

A complaint over loud music quickly escalates into an armed siege, as a man waves a gun at P.C.s Stamp and Quinnan.

Episode 71 - Letting Go

Release Date: 1992-09-03

Reg is playing with a train set before going out. He is looking for a place to live as he is moving out of the section house but ends up moving to a different corridor instead. Greig and Tosh investigates a stabbing in a station car park. The case is being dropped but Greig goes to see the widow and finds a new lead. June and Reg act as back up to bailiffs trying to evict a family. The case is turned over to Tosh.

Episode 72 - Travelling Light

Release Date: 1992-09-08

Viv helps Donna dress up for a reconstruction of a murder case. They find a man who spoke to the dead woman and gives them a new lead. The ex-boyfriend of the murder victim asks to see Burnside protesting his innocence.

Episode 73 - Radio Waves

Release Date: 1992-09-10

Monroe talks to Conway about a problem with a car chase. Tony and Dave were chasing joy riders with Ron in the back. Norika and George help catch the children who were joy riding. CID think they might be part of a gang knocking off car stereos. The fathers have a fight in custody after their children were interviewed.

Episode 74 - A Blind Eye

Release Date: 1992-09-15

Viv brings in an elderly mugging victim who helps make an identikit picture. Boyden gets spoken to by Monroe about working with the relief. Tony assists George with a disturbance when there is another mugging which turns out to be a misunderstanding. Tony see what he thinks is a mugger getting beaten up but the suspect turns out to be an off-duty copper.

Episode 75 - Sympathy For the Devil

Release Date: 1992-09-17

Tosh is at the building society waiting for an armed robber. Dave and Barry assist CID and they catch an old age pensioner. Steve goes to a disturbance behind a pub. He finds an attacked man. He thinks it might be racially motivated. It turns out to be a revenge attack.

Episode 76 - Force Is Part of the Service

Release Date: 1992-09-22

Brownlow and Conway have a meeting with councillors about the changes in the police force. Conway gives them a tour of the station. Steve brings in a man suspected of street robbery. The man accuses Steve of harassment. Reg tells Steve the bad news that he brought in the wrong man. The man makes a complaint against Steve and Brownlow wants it sorted honestly. Steve is trying to get George to back up his story.

Episode 77 - On the Record, Off the Record

Release Date: 1992-09-24

CID investigates a break-in at a warehouse which resulted in the theft of personal CD players. Steve spots the van used in the robbery. After talking to a worker with form, fingers start pointing at the security guard. Jim gets spoken to by Meadows about complaints. He gets into further trouble after arresting a man on information received.

Episode 78 - Stoning the Glasshouse

Release Date: 1992-09-29

Bob visits a friend who is the head of a neighbourhood watch. His son is stealing to support his drug habit. Bob's friend thinks the police are turning a blind eye towards the Cockcroft Estate. Conway gets a report on the Cockcroft Estate and a visit from the head of the Cockcroft Action Committee complaining of harassment.

Episode 79 - Tip-Off

Release Date: 1992-10-01

Tosh is asked for by a burglar whom he put inside. He gives Tosh information that there might be a bank robbery. CID catches the robbers after the job but when Tosh tries to arrange protection for his informant he is too late as the man has had his face slashed. Reg talks to Donna for an article in the station newspaper.

Episode 80 - Open to Offers

Release Date: 1992-10-06

Monroe and the relief go to a pub where some men are damaging it. One of the men tries to blackmail Dave over some moonlighting Dave did to get off the charge. Monroe thinks the men might be involved in protection. Dave tells both Sgts Boyden and Maitland who advises him to tell Monroe. Dave asks Barry's advice as Fed Rep. Barry asks Reg's advice as he was previous Fed Rep.

Episode 81 - Playing God

Release Date: 1992-10-08

CID are tied up with a court case. A burglary suspect of Ted's may have to be released as he is at court. Tony brings in an old lady who has been abusive in the street. Dave and George find a man in the street who might have killed his wife who had terminal cancer.

Episode 82 - Crack of Doom

Release Date: 1992-10-13

There is a search of people looking for crack. A man has a scuffle with another man and claims a piece of crack was planted on him. Tony discovers the man, an ex-boxer, lives over the road from the crack house and CID ask if they could use it as a base for an obbo.

Episode 83 - Spit and Polish

Release Date: 1992-10-15

Steve is late for shift. Just as Steve is about to arrest a fine defaulter Dave is nearly run over by a speeding BMW. Steve really wants to arrest the fine defaulter, who has already left by the time he gets back, but Dave wants to deal with the driver. They find the body of the car owner's lover in the boot of the car.

Episode 84 - Overdue

Release Date: 1992-10-20

Burnside talks to a snout in a bus queue about a delivery. Woods and Carver observe the delivery and CID raid the premises. The cartons contain bricks and motor parts instead of the stolen goods expected. Burnside goes to a promotions board and is passed over.

Episode 85 - We Should Be Talking

Release Date: 1992-10-22

George is following a silver car that might have been involved in a ramraid. While checking in with the station, his radio goes dead. Sgt. Cryer discovers the radio link is down. June is investigating a failure to stop and enlists the help of people on the estate to help find a hurt kid.