The BEST episodes of The Bill season 17
Every episode of The Bill season 17, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The Bill season 17!
The Bill follows the officers of Sun Hill, a Metropolitan Police station located in the fictional Borough of Canley in London's East End. Created in 1983 by Geoff McQueen as a one-off drama called "Woodentop", The Bill was spun off as a full series, and ran for over 26 years and 2,425 episodes. Covering both uniformed officers and CID detectives, the series is renowned for its accurate and authentic portrayal of policing in London.
#1 - Return of the Hunter
Season 17 - Episode 25 - Aired 4/6/2001
Sgt. Cryer and PC Hayward attend an incident at a local school where an angry divorcee, Chris Finnessey, is demanding to see his son. When the boy's teacher warns the police of Finnessey's violent reputation and a possible restraining order against him, he grabs a Stanley knife and takes the teacher and Sgt. Cryer hostage. Faced with an armed suspect and two hostages, Supt. Chandler calls in SO19, although the only Trojan unit available is that of the newly-qualified PC Smith and PC Stanley. When Finnessey and his son leave the school building, Chandler gives authorisation to fire. Smith shoots first but to his horror, accidentally hits Cryer. Stanley takes down Finnessey. Cryer survives the shooting, but his career in the police is over.
#2 - Appropriate Action
Season 17 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/5/2001
A teenage boy is found badly beaten, and a young girl, Lisa, from the same school is missing. DC Webb shows little interest in the case, so Sgt Cryer investigates the girl's disappearance himself. A local 'photographer', Andrew Morton, is the main suspect, as he has an obsession with Lisa and her friends, and he is arrested when PC Harker spots him acting suspiciously by the canal. When Lisa turns out to have been hiding out at a friend's house the whole time, Cryer must rush to prevent Lisa's father from taking the law into his own hands by killing the innocent Morton.
#3 - Tolerance (2)
Season 17 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/30/2001
When the victim in yesterday's domestic disturbance turns up badly beaten and left for dead, her husband is adamant he had nothing to do with it. Mandy tells Cryer that the woman who was bashed, Cath Evans, was working as a prostitute, and that the Councillor's husband Justin was one of her clients. But Justin in turn, having admitted his deeds to his wife, says that he was seeing Mandy as well, and that on the night of the fire, she turned up late and had blood on her clothes. Meanwhile, Smith arrives at SO19 to find his new friend Julie also made the grade, but on their training course, treats her as the token female. When she beats him on the rifle range it causes friction, and their boss cautions that they have to learn to work as a team. Under pressure, Mandy finally admits to Sgt. Cryer that Justin Harris is a client, and that he was paying her extra to keep it quiet. But that meant her paying off Cath and Sally, so when Cath threatened to tell Fleet, she bashed her up.
#4 - The Leopard (1)
Season 17 - Episode 20 - Aired 3/20/2001
PC Smith and PC Klein attend to Mr Kennedy, whose house and garden shed have been attacked by vandals repeatedly over the past few weeks. When Kennedy threatens to take matters into his own hands, Smith casually comments that he wouldn't blame him if he did. Smith and Klein both apply for new jobs - Smith submits his application to SO19 and Supt. Chandler wants Klein to take the position of partnership officer at the Town Hall. When Kennedy shoots a young boy, and insists that PC Smith told him to do so, Klein reluctantly confirms what was said, and Smith accuses him of grassing him up. After attacking Klein in the corridor, and under investigation by CIB, Smith is suspended from duty.
#5 - Touched By Evil
Season 17 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/16/2001
PC Roz Clarke is on attachment to CID, and puts up with the usual teasing from the detectives and her uniform colleagues. She cracks the case she is working on with DC Glaze though, when she realises that a series of break-ins are all one surname in the phone book. When Ch. Insp. Conway and DI Cullen attend a rugby match between the Met and the Army, Conway is abducted when a disgruntled soldier decides to take revenge on those responsible for the abuse he received while at a children's home.
#6 - Long Shadows (1)
Season 17 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/2/2001
When DC Lennox is accused of planting evidence in an armed robbery case, DCI Meadows is determined to charge the suspect's accomplice, Phil Brown. Unfortunately, Brown claims to have been an informant for DS Don Beech, which makes Supt. Chandler determined to drop the case. When an old friend of Meadows' reveals that George Stubbs had previously bribed Chandler's DS at Park Rise, Meadows realises he has some ammunition against Chandler. Meanwhile Sgt. Boyden and PC Hagen help PC Roz Clarke recover her ASP when it is stolen while pursuing a robbery suspect.
#7 - Going Under
Season 17 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/20/2001
Dave Quinnan arrives late after rowing with Jenny all night. Ever the troublemaker, Sgt. Boyden sends him out on patrol with Polly Page, Tony Stamp and Vicky Hagen. Quinnan and Page have trouble keeping their mind on the job, and this gets dangerous when Stamp is attacked by a gang of thugs on the DLR and Quinnan is nowhere to be seen. When Jenny leaves him and returns to Dublin, Dave starts to crack up. He puts on his uniform after his shift and goes on a vigilante mission to find the gang responsible for the attack on Stamp. DC Webb gets an anonymous call and finds some of the gang members tied up and sprayed with pepper spray.
#8 - Home and Away
Season 17 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/16/2001
Supt. Chandler is outraged when he finds out about the aggravated burglary of a deaf and blind woman in the local paper rather than from CID. Reg Hollis overhears Matt Boyden gossiping to Vicky Hagen about Dave and Polly, and soon the news of their affair is all over the station. Accompanied by a reporter from the newspaper, CID and Uniform raid the house of suspected burgler Mick Corcoran, but when Corcoran attacks Polly Page, he is brutally beaten by Quinnan and requires hospital treatment. Sgt. Boyden arranges tickets for a charity ball, but the limo breaks down and they all take refuge in a country pub, where Jenny Quinnan finally works out that Dave is having an affair.
#9 - Cruise Control
Season 17 - Episode 11 - Aired 2/9/2001
DC Webb poses as a 'rent-boy' in Eddington Park, a well-known gay beat in Sun Hill, as he and DC Lennox investigate a series of brutal attacks on gay men in the area. A car alarm alerts Webb and Lennox to the car of a local MP parked in the bushes. When questioned, the MP claims he was car-jacked and certainly was not 'cruising' in the park. He threatens legal action and Supt. Chandler moves quickly to prevent further damage to Sun Hill's reputation. A helpful security guard offers the police an observation post in a nearby office building, but Webb is suspiscious of the guard's attitude.
#10 - Mexican Stand-Off
Season 17 - Episode 10 - Aired 2/6/2001
DS McAllister pushes her informant and lover Jamie Ross too far when she tapes a privileged conversation between Ross and a client who admits to intimidating a witness in a court case. When Ross makes an official complaint against her, she turns to DC Riley for help and threatens to expose his cover-up of his brother's involvement with the French car gang unless he backs her up and says that he was present at all her meetings with Ross.
#11 - Out of the Frying Pan
Season 17 - Episode 9 - Aired 2/2/2001
DS McAllister continues to get useful tip offs from her informant and lover, Jamie Ross, including one about an armed raid on a betting shop. Meanwhile, there's a war brewing on Sun Hill turf between rival hot dog vendors, one of whom is DC Paul Riley's brother Joe. When Joe Riley's lockup is set on fire and several of his vendors attacked, PCs Hollis and Hayward and DC Riley go undercover as hot dog vendors to catch those responsible.
#12 - PC Smith
Season 17 - Episode 6 - Aired 1/23/2001
Hoping it will convince Supt. Chandler to endorse his transfer to SO19, PC Smith volunteers with PC Klein to 'babysit' Clive Allein, the victim of a gay bashing who is reluctantly testifying against his assailant, Gary Cook, in court the next day. Smith nearly blows it when his angry reaction to Clive's partner Ian Jones's teasing causes Jones to run off, where he is promptly attacked. Allein refuses to testify, until Smith convinces him otherwise. The trial goes ahead, and the attacker is found guilty, but further threats from Cook's friend Paul Taylor cause Ian to storm off again, this time he goes missing. Smith and Klein fear the worst when a stabbing victim is reported, but it turns out to be Paul Taylor who is the vicitm, and Ian Jones the attacker.
#13 - Common Language
Season 17 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/19/2001
A young Russian girl leads Dale Smith out of a nightclub, where he is promptly attacked by three men. Despite Smith's protests, Supt. Chandler assigns DI Cullen to investigate the assault. They track down the Russian woman, Natasha Ivanova, through a language school which seems to be recruiting students to work as prostitutes. Natasha is desperate as her visa is about to expire, and her sister has disappeared. Her sister is found murdered, and Smith realises the men responsible for her death and his assault are linked to a man from his old army unit (episode: Blurred Around the Edges).
#14 - Upon Information Received
Season 17 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/12/2001
CID investigate a spate of car thefts, and DS McAllister's informant Jamie Ross gives her a tip-off about a gang of French car thieves working in the area. Ross is reluctant to name his contact though, who turns out to be Joe Riley, DC Paul Riley's brother. The gang is arrested, but are broken out of Canley Crown Court by a trio armed with shotguns. An SO19 raid on Joe Riley's lock-up sees them in custody again, but DC Riley must work hard to hide his brother's involvement, particularly as Ross informs McAllister that it goes deeper than Riley thinks.
#15 - Real Crime
Season 17 - Episode 12 - Aired 2/13/2001
DC Kate Spears is assigned to a domestic violence case, but is alarmed when DC Mickey Webb realises the perpetrator, Neil Hayes, is also a suspect in a series of truck hijackings he is investigating, and requests he be bailed so he can lead them to the gang. Spears's sympathy for the victim, Lisa Hayes, starts to wear thin when she refuses to press charges, harasses Spears at work, and then is discovered to be having an affair with Hayes's boss.
#16 - Beech is Back (4)
Season 17 - Episode 64 - Aired 8/31/2001
Part Four: Beech's trust in Frankie begins to slip, and as he sends her out on a number of errands, he keeps an increasingly twitchy Stanton under lock-and-key. However, Stanton manages to make radio contact with an outsider and he alerts Peters and Belmarsh, who begin a search for the underground bunker where she is being held. In an effort to escape, Stanton breaks the lock and shatters any chances of Beech letting her go. As the team locate Stanton's hiding place, they are forced to use cutting equipment to get through the steel door into the bunker. However, Beech hides three propane gas canisters behind the door, and an explosion ensues, securing his safe escape from capture once again.
#17 - Beech is Back (5)
Season 17 - Episode 65 - Aired 9/3/2001
Part Five: Beech manages to get himself back to London, but suspects that Frankie has double-crossed him, so he finds a new ally in the form of Rachel, Tommy's granddaughter. As Rachel holds Beech up in an apartment supposedly owned by her married lover, Stanton is recovering in hospital. When Beech discovers that Frankie is trying to broker the deal without him, he goes in search of his former partner, only to be cornered by Giorgio, who turns up at the handover and demands his share of the money. When Beech tries to corner him, a gun goes off, injuring Beech and broker Lomax. However, in the ensuing gunfire, Frankie is killed, and in return, Beech exacts revenge on Giorgio, killing him.
#18 - Beech is Back (6)
Season 17 - Episode 66 - Aired 9/7/2001
Part Six: Beech escapes yet again, but this time, he is wounded, and is unaware that a fully recovered Stanton is hot on his tail. Stanton trails Rachel and discovers that she is sleeping with Mal Lockye, a bent police officer whose deposit box was raided by Beech during the robbery, and Rachel has been setting up Beech in order to take all of the money. As a wounded Beech makes good his escape, his plan falls to pieces when he realises what Rachel has done, and Stanton arrives to take hold of the situation. Beech soon realises there is nowhere left to turn, and hands himself in. A smug Stanton watches on as Beech is sentenced to life imprisonment for robbery and the murder of John Boulton.
#19 - Trust, Part I (1)
Season 17 - Episode 67 - Aired 9/14/2001
Part One - On a Clear Day: Rickman's loyalties are divided when she's faced with the return of her ex-lover, Leroy Jones. Harker tries to warn her that Leroy is still up to no good, and soon discovers that Leroy is under surveillance by National Crime Squad. Meanwhile, Cullen is trying to prove his worth to the NCS, and uses the news of Leroy's return to try to get his feet under the table. When Leroy is implicated in an investigation regarding an undercover police officer, Rickman wonders if she has given too much information away, and finds herself testing her own loyalties. As Klein and the rest of relief celebrate his birthday, Leroy asks a stunned Rickman to leave Sun Hill and move to South Africa with him.
#20 - Trust, Part II (2)
Season 17 - Episode 68 - Aired 9/18/2001
Part Two - Come Live With Me: As Harker becomes involved in the NCS investigation, he warns Rickman about Leroy's suspected connection with heroin smuggling and a triple-homicide, but she doesn't believe him until she confronts Leroy. With the help of Nina, a woman he met in the hotel lobby, Harker keeps tabs on Leroy's movements until the NCS and CID make their move and raid a nightclub owned by one of Leroy's associates, Jan Resenbrink. A search of the furniture by Customs reveals no drugs as suspected, so Leroy is released. As he angrily heads off to the airport, leaving behind a distraught Rickman, his fingerprints are found on a gun used to murder an undercover NCS officer, DS Hanbury.
#21 - Trust, Part III (3)
Season 17 - Episode 69 - Aired 9/21/2001
Part Three - In Another Life: Harker tells Cullen that he knows Leroy didn't kill DS Hanbury, but CID use the charge as leverage to convince Leroy to help them catch Resenbrink. Rickman attends a possibly racially motivated attack on Didi Marr, the boy who was found with heroin on the Bronte Estate. His attacker is Nicky Gable, and the racial element of the case becomes unlikely when it is revealed that Gable is in mourning for his mixed-race brother. Harker arranges with Leroy to escape, and offers to clear him of the murder charge on the condition that he ends his relationship with Rickman. With Leroy's help, Cullen and Pennington arrest Resenbrink, but when he is freed on bail, disaster strikes.
#22 - Crush
Season 17 - Episode 70 - Aired 9/25/2001
A gang of masked girls armed with baseball bats run riot at a wedding, but escape with the presents before Taviner and Hollis can catch them. The gang have been causing headaches for Sun Hill for weeks, and although she is not involved in the case, Chandler sends Spears to visit the local schools, ostensibly to encourage students to join the Met's Volunteer Cadet Corps, but secretly to obtain information on the gang and its members. The gang's violence intensifies and the bride's sister, Debbie Pike, is found badly beaten after an altercation with a mother and her baby on the high street. As rumours about her and Chandler fly around the station, Spears pushes an eager schoolboy informant too far.
#23 - Liquid City
Season 17 - Episode 71 - Aired 9/28/2001
Chandler assigns Spears to work on Sun Hill's burglary statistics after a bungled riverside obbo, and she finds a link between a number of break-ins. Chandler is furious when Cullen hires a criminal profiler, Roy Stenning, but his information gets CID close to a likely suspect. Rumours about the relationship between Spears and Chandler are rife throughout the station, and Spears is not popular with her colleagues, who accuse her of sleeping her way to the top. The intruder soon strikes again, this time setting a house alight, killing two children. With only Webb willing to help her, Spears tracks down the drifter responsible, Charlie McGann, whose family was killed in a fire in Glasgow.
#24 - Another Country
Season 17 - Episode 55 - Aired 8/3/2001
While on foot patrol on the Jasmine Allen estate, Carver contends with an elderly man, Ronnie Atkins, who wants to deal with the local youths "his way". When Atkins's best friend, Len Harrap, is found having fallen from the top of the building, Carver suspects foul play and investigates further. Harrap's GP tells him that Len was recently suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and that he had served with British forces during the Korean War. When a man matching the description of the association secretary, Charles Barratt, is reported to have left Len's flat, Atkins realises what has happened. Carver's investigation leads him to discover the cover-up of possible war crimes.
#25 - Debt of Love (I)
Season 17 - Episode 72 - Aired 10/2/2001
Part One - A Pound of Flesh: The relief find themselves short-staffed with Boyden having taken leave. Singh investigates several assault cases, which he believes are down to a moneylender getting heavy handed when calling in a debt. Ackland sees the mother of one of the victims talking to Amy, Boyden's daughter, and it turns out she is also in debt to the loan shark. When Amy is arrested for petty theft, Ackland convinces Boyden to talk to her, and when Amy is assaulted by the loan shark's thugs, Boyden resolves to pay off her debt himself. When he turns up with the money, he is recognised by one of the men as a police officer, blows a CID raid on the office and Amy finds herself in grave danger.