A hitchhiker is kidnapped, and Stafford has to deal with an ensuing siege. Stewart contends with vigilante security guards working on a private estate.

Stafford continues to deal with the siege at the hospital. A female officer resigns from the force, citing sexual harassment. Stewart's husband, Martin, walks out on her.

Two youths throw bricks from a walkway bridge and hit a police car, killing an officer. Stafford deals with the subsequent unrest on a housing estate.

A child playing on a beach is poisoned by spillage from an oil tanker. Stafford is ordered to evict a group of environmental protesters from a ship carrying toxic waste.

Stafford becomes Head of Europol, but the position gives him plenty of free time, so the Home Office asks him to tackle corruption within the Metropolitan Police as Alan Cade arrives. Anne has a promotion board for DCC, while also dealing with a major firearms incident in Norfolk.

Stafford's corruption inquiry reaches a successful conclusion, and the officer who assisted him with the case is appointed as Eastland's new chief constable.

When Cade is threatened with an investigation over the death of the informer, his team closes ranks. The Home Office, preferring to have a hold on its maverick chief constable, decides not to act.

Davies discovers that a bogus doctor has been using NHS equipment to carry out his private business. Cade has to organise a massive security operation to protect a royal visitor.

Stewart is disillusioned and frustrated when she fails to win the promotion for which she has been fighting.

Tensions between the police and the Crown Prosecution Service mount following the acquittal of a child murderer.