The BEST episodes written by Stephen Plaice

#1 - Return of the Hunter

The Bill - Season 17 - Episode 25

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 - The Leopard (1)

The Bill - Season 17 - Episode 20

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.

#3 - The Leopard (2)

The Bill - Season 17 - Episode 21

PC Klein is offered the position of partnership officer, but he is shunned by the relief, who think he grassed Smithy up to get the job. Sgt. Cryer has a funny feeling about Frank Kennedy, and decides to do some digging of his own, and he encourages Smith to do the same. With Klein's help, Smith infiltrates the gang of youths intimidating the local residents, and discovers that the real estate firm Mather & Devine is indeed behind the harassment. Meanwhile, Cryer uncovers the fact that Kennedy was a notorious East End gangster named Ken Franklin who stored weapons for the Kray brothers, and that Kennedy's claim of shooting in self-defence is disproven by the forensic evidence and a statement from the other gang member. Smith is re-instated, Supt. Chandler approves his transfer to SO19, and Klein turns down the partnership officer job.

#4 - The Dark Side

The Bill - Season 17 - Episode 51

Hayward breaks down during a talk with primary school pupils, when he is forced to talk about the death of his sister. Gilmore is not happy, but the teacher thinks Hayward's sensitivity will help the students get the message, and may also help them trust Hayward enough to report a bully. An old friend of his sister's asks him out, although when he meets her at a gallery opening, Hayward thinks her friends are dealing drugs. Klein and Hayward find the bully, "Red", who has been using two fierce dogs to steal money and mobile phones from school children. They trace the dogs to the flat of drug-addicted prostitute Stacy Dodds, and a search of her flat uncovers a large stash of heroin.

#5 - Beech on the Run

The Bill - Season 17 - Episode 60

Nine months after he seconded from Sun Hill, Beech turns up in Sydney, Australia, and almost immediately hooks up with Frankie Nguyen, a Vietnamese-Australian woman with contacts in Sydney's criminal underworld. Together, she and Beech engage in a ruthless crime spree and are soon wanted by the Australian Federal Police, a rival Vietnamese gang and a ruthless and determined Stanton, who has arrived to arrest Beech and extradite him to Britain for the murder of Boulton nine months earlier. The chase comes to a head at a Sydney dock, and as Beech tries to make a getaway in his new boat, Stanton fires a shotgun after him, blowing up the boat and leaving Beech missing, presumed dead.

#6 - Beech is Back (1)

The Bill - Season 17 - Episode 61

Part One: Beech returns to London and pulls off a £6.5 million pound safety deposit box robbery, using a car bomb as a distraction. Stanton, now with a security firm, is assigned the task of retrieving documents stolen in the heist for a particularly rich client. While Beech's old friend Tommy cashes up his haul, Beech's firm are becoming increasingly frustrated at not receiving their cut of the cash. While Stanton continues to engineer the safe return of the documents, and organises a drop off, she spots none other than Frankie Nguyen getting into the back of a cab. Tommy is then attacked by Frankie in a jealous rage, and when Beech arrives to collect his haul, he finds Tommy's lifeless body on the kitchen floor.

#7 - Crush

The Bill - Season 17 - Episode 70

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.

#8 - Liquid City

The Bill - Season 17 - Episode 71

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.

#9 - The Wrong Horse

The Bill - Season 15 - Episode 5

Garfield and Hagen are assigned to protect a horse jockey due to give evidence against a corrupt bookmaker.

#10 - Sunhill Boulevard

The Bill - Season 15 - Episode 54

PC Cass Rickman calls in sick after over-indulging at a barbecue for the relief the previous night. PC Harker and PC Stamp are called to the Sun Hill Lido swimming pool, where a young girl's body has been found in the water. Harker goes undercover at the pool.

#11 - One of the Gang

The Bill - Season 14 - Episode 31

Meadows and Daly get a tip-off about a gang of young muggers, but their information comes from an unlikely source...

#12 - Under the Grill

The Bill - Season 14 - Episode 60

#13 - Tinderbox

The Bill - Season 15 - Episode 31

Senior officers at Sun Hill and Barton Street are dragged off to a team-building exercise.

#14 - Borderline

The Bill - Season 15 - Episode 38

New PC Cass Rickman loses a gun that Beech believes was used in a recent shooting.

#15 - Search Me

The Bill - Season 16 - Episode 36

An outbreak of street robberies leads to stop-and-search (or stop-and-talk) being resumed. Filling in for the borough commander, Ch. Supt. Brownlow angers his officers with his comments in a TV interview, and takes to the streets with Ch. Insp. Conway to make amends by leading from the front.

#16 - Trust: A Sprat to Catch a Mackerel (1)

The Bill - Season 16 - Episode 39

Operation Trident is called in after a drug-related murder by Yardie street gangs. An overzealous cabbie brings a suspect, who is found to be connected to Leroy Jones, and PC Rickman is sent undercover to contact Jones.

#17 - Trust: The Hare and the Hounds (2)

The Bill - Season 16 - Episode 40

To finance Leroy Jones' buy-in to the Bronte drug-dealing syndicate, PC Rickman accompanies Jones and his gang to rob a bank. Rumours begin to circulate round the relief that Rickman has "gone native".

#18 - Trust: The Deep Blue Sea (3)

The Bill - Season 16 - Episode 41

Rickman emerges from her undercover assignment and briefs Trident. PC Harker fears Rickman and Leroy Jones have fallen in love.

#19 - Taking a Stand

The Bill - Season 21 - Episode 20

Phil and Terry are put through their paces when Rowanne arrives from MIT arrives for her first day at Sun Hill, covering for an absent Neil. As they continue on the trail of suspect Salim Haq, Leela urges her hospitalised father to make a statement against his attackers. Jo and Gary end up on the trail of a violent pimp responsible for an attack on the girlfriend of one of his toms, but Jo offers the tom a way out of the situation by suggesting that she becomes a police informant. Meanwhile, Sheelagh and Gabriel find a young girl hurt in the middle of the street, and Gabriel shows his compassionate side by attempting to protect the girl when he suspects that she is being abused by her mother.