S1 • E1
A young girl, 12 year-old Angela Fairley, is stabbed 38 times and dumped in a parking lot. The police are under pressure to get a conviction in the case and they focus their investigation on a local man, Jason Buliegh, who was convicted as a pedophile some years before. The autopsy shows that she was not sexually assaulted and some of the squad doubt that they have the right man. Two members of the team, Joe Payne and Chrissie Fairburn, are convinced that Buliegh is their man and set out to force a confession from him. Their plans go awry however and it all gets out of hand. Both policemen have problems of their own. Payne is known as a bit of a hothead who was responsible for mucking a major case some years before. Fairburn comes from a family of policeman and feels inadequate compared to his now retired father and successful older brother.
S1 • E2
With definitive proof that Jason Buliegh could not have committed the murder of Angela Fairley, Joe and Chrissie begin to rationalize what they have done. Buliegh's solicitor, who happens to be Chrissie's sister, issues an appeal for anyone who might have seen him. The squad begins to focus on other suspects, including a drug dealer who lived on the same estate and the dead girl's parents. A problem arises when Chrissie's father, a retired former policeman suffering from dementia, begins to remember some of the events on the fateful evening. Chrissie ingratiates himself with Buliegh's mother in the hope that he will be the first to get any information she might acquire. DS Lucy Romanis has been so busy on the case that she has done no work on the case of an elderly man who was beaten by three youths.
S1 • E3
To Joe's amazement, Chrissie finds a witness who saw two men push Buliegh into a car. Chrissie is feeling the pressure and is feeling sorry for Mrs. Buliegh. Joe informs him that he has moved the body. DS Lucy Romanis realizes that the beating victim she has been avoiding may have actually seen the two boys Angela Fairley was with before she died. The police locate the site where Angela was killed and arrest the boys. Chrissie agrees with his brother and sister that their father's dementia is such that he needs to be placed in a home. Chrissie and Joe begin to crack under the pressure.
S1 • E4
A month has passed since the police solved the murder of Angela Fairley, but all is not well between Chrissie and Joe. Chrissie has not seen his girlfriend since he broke off their engagement and he confessed to her that he and Joe killed Jason Buliegh. There's a strange twist when, after an all-night stakeout, Chrissie is shot and Joe taken hostage by Carl Waters a mentally unstable man whose girlfriend may have been raped by his father, Malcolm. Chrissie reconciles with his fiancée and she suggests he blame Joe for the murder. Chrissie and Ray's Dad, a retired copper suffering from dementia, has fragmented memories of the night Jason Buliegh was buried, but Ray thinks it's his Dad who may have killed someone years before.
S1 • E5
While continuing their search For Carl Waters, the police stumble across Jason Buliegh's original grave and open a formal murder investigation. DNA confirms his presence there and they advise his mother. All this leads Joe Payne to panic and he decides to dig up and relocate Jason's body a second time but has trouble disposing of the remains. The police arrest Neil Harding who was overheard bragging that he killed Jason and buried him. He now says it was just drunken blather but his wife Donna doesn't help his case. When an eyewitness picks Harding out of a police line up, Chrissie wants to confess all to his brother Ray but can't quite bring himself to do it. Joe gets a speeding infraction in the mail - a speed camera photographed his car the night they killed Jason Buliegh.
S1 • E6
Joe finally disposes of Jason Buliegh's body but unknown to him, he was seen by someone he once arrested. As the senior officer in charge of the case, Chrissie's brother Ray feels responsible for Buliegh's death and announces he will resign - but not before he catches the killer. Ray and Chrissie's Dad continues to remember bits and pieces of the night Buliegh was killed and now recalls that Chrissie was there. Because of the speeding ticket, Joe's wife begins to suspect something is amiss. Robert Seymour also suspects Joe was involved.
Chrissie Fairburn
Joe Payne
Robert Seymour
Lucy Romanis
Ray Fairburn
Lenny Fairburn
Jason Buliegh
Jemma Ryan
Miriam Payne
Lily Payne