Written and co-created by Sally Wainwright (Last Tango in Halifax), the crime drama’s cast includes Amelia Bullmore (Ashes to Ashes) as Detective Chief Inspector Gill Murray, Tracie Bennett (Coronation Street), Nicola Walker (Spooks), Danny Miller (Emmerdale) and George Costigan (Homefront).
> Order Series 3 on DVD on Amazon.
> Buy the complete Series 1 & 2 boxset on Amazon.
Episode 1
Wednesday 3 April 2013, 9pm
A few months into her marriage, Rachel (Suranne Jones) is already struggling with the relentless proximity of living with Sean (Sean Maguire). Knowing that she is the one at fault, she would rather try and keep out of the way than confront the problem. Cheerful and sexy as ever, Sean is happy to embrace every facet of his new wife, including the door-slamming grump who comes through the door at the end of the day.
Delighted with being back in her daughter’s life, Rachel’s mum Sharon (Tracie Bennett) starts to display the sort of behaviour that reminds Rachel why she was right to have kept her at arm’s length all these years.
Janet’s (Lesley Sharp) home life isn’t plain sailing either. Having acknowledged that their marriage really is over, she and Ade (Tony Pitts) decide to put their house on the market, and stay living together until it sells. But even though Janet knows she doesn’t want Ade, she can’t help wanting a bit of what he’s got – a new love interest who’s putting a smile on his face. And the demands of her new role as ‘acting sergeant’ mean that juggling child-care has just got even harder.
The story of the week starts very close to home for Janet, when a worried neighbour knocks on her door one night, concerned about the smell coming from a house down the road. What Janet discovers is the severed head of 75-year-old Eunice Bevan at the bottom of the stairs, her body at the top, and her bedridden husband Joe (George Costigan) upstairs, emaciated and barely able to speak. Tracing Joe and Eunice’s relatives proves difficult, but when Rachel tracks down daughter Helen (Nicola Walker), working on a make-up counter, she seems strangely unmoved by her mother’s death. As Joe becomes more lucid in hospital, and Helen’s alibi starts to fall apart, she looks very much like our number one suspect.
Episode 2
Wednesday 10 April 2013, 9pm
A retrospective episode that takes the viewer back 12 months.
Seconds after telling Dom (Liam Boyle) to run, Rachel (Suranne Jones) knows she can’t let him go, and calls 999. But even with the proof that she wasn’t at the murder scene, Rachel finds herself implicated as the brains behind the attack on Nick Savage. As the CPS decides not to press charges, the Police Complaints Commission pick up the baton, and Rachel is once again under scrutiny.
Struggling to cope with the doubt that surrounds her, Rachel finds comfort in the ever-faithful and supportive Sean (Sean Maguire). And maybe if she’d taken a step back, she wouldn’t have agreed to marry him…
Amidst the wedding celebrations and the blare of the karaoke, Janet (Lesley Sharp) and Ade (Tony Pitts) decide it’s time to admit defeat about their marriage. They agree to put their house on the market and to split when the sale goes through.
And as a sober Gill (Amelia Bullmore) gives Rachel her blessing and heads off into the night, she disturbs Pete (Tony Mooney) having sex in the car park of the wedding venue. And being a copper, she really can’t ignore it.
The story of the week involves the hunt for Adam Armitage (John Owen-Jones), a ‘nice’ middle-class businessman who is now a murder suspect, after shoving a homeless man who pestered him for money.
Episode 3
Wednesday 17 April 2013, 9pm
Married life gets no easier for Rachel (Suranne Jones), and as she tries to forget her regrettable one-night stand, the ‘talentless plank’ rings her on her mobile, asking for Suzie. Which would be fine if it weren’t for Sean (Sean Maguire) taking the call. Unsuspecting at first, Sean soon becomes troubled by who the caller might have been.
Piqued by Ade’s (Tony Pitts) blossoming love life, Janet (Lesley Sharp) forces an argument that sees him moving in with his girlfriend permanently. And knowing that she doesn’t want to sell the house, Janet asks Dorothy (Judith Barker) if she would buy Ade out and move in with her. It seems like the perfect solution. But does Janet really want to be living with her mother at her age?
Gill’s son Sammy has announced his engagement to girlfriend Orla. And whilst Gill thinks Orla is wonderful, her own experience of marriage and the fact that Sammy is only 19 does make her a little uneasy.
The story of the week sees married man Eddie brutally murdered at home while his wife is away for the weekend. With all the hallmarks of a domestic, and son Daniel (Josh Bolt) in the frame, the case seems quite straightforward. But Eddie had a whole other life going on that made him vulnerable to exploitation.
Episode 4
Wednesday 24 April 2013, 9pm
When the job takes Rachel (Suranne Jones) into Strangeways to interview a prisoner, Dom’s fate hits her particularly hard. Locked up for eighteen years with sadistic freaks, Dom’s going to be fit for nothing and it breaks her heart. In a bid to prove to Sean (Sean Maguire) that she can’t be owned, Rachel starts sleeping under her desk. Until Janet (Lesley Sharp) finds out and invites her back to her house.
Janet is starting to enjoy being Sergeant, and with Dorothy (Judith Barker) moving in, she can see how it might just work.
But before she can say as much to Gill (Amelia Bullmore), a new sergeant is appointed, in the shape of bright young thing, Rob Waddington (Danny Miller). And suddenly being 49 and living with your mother doesn’t sound so good.
The story of the week is part one of a shocking two-parter. Having seen her father Joe Bevan (George Costigan) arrested for the murder of her mother Eunice (in Episode 1), Helen (Nicola Walker) turns up on Janet’s doorstep saying that she thinks her brother Michael may be buried in the cellar of the family home. And the reason she thinks that, is because she helped bury him.
But when the remains of a second body are found, the case becomes a Class A-plus, and the formidable Det. Supt. Dodson (Pippa Haywood) is drafted in as the S.I.O, with Gill as her deputy. The first decision they need to make is whether Helen is to be treated as a witness or a suspect.
As information about the unfolding case starts to appear in the press, it’s clear to Gill that one of her team is taking back-handers and Helen’s safety is put in jeopardy.
Episode 5
Wednesday 1 May 2013, 9pm
Rather than face Sean (Sean Maguire) and the glaring problem of her failing marriage, Rachel (Suranne Jones) continues to sleep at Janet’s (Lesley Sharp) and make excuses for her absence. But Sean isn’t stupid and when he demands that Rachel come home and tell him what’s really going on, he’s appalled to hear her say that she can’t ‘do’ marriage and wants her flat back. Not prepared to accept that it’s gone so wrong, so quickly, Sean vows to stay right where he is until Rachel’s finished doing whatever it is she has to do. And now that Sharon (Tracie Bennett) has wheedled her way back into Rachel’s life, she’s wreaking havoc in ways Rachel could never have predicted.
Whilst Janet would never make Rachel feel anything but welcome in her home, Dorothy’s (Judith Barker) disapproval of the rock’n’roll friend is starting to show. And of course, Janet knows that the only real solution lies in Rachel going home and facing the music.
Having uncovered the remains of several bodies, Gill and Dodson’s teams are faced with the mammoth task of identifying them, and trying to piece together the order in which they were killed.
Already facing a life sentence for the murder of his wife Eunice, Joe Bevan (George Costigan) is in no hurry to play ball. But when the remains of a teenage girl are discovered in an upstairs room, Helen (Nicola Walker) is faced with the possibility that her dad killed both her brother and her sister. And as the press interest in Helen mounts, the need to find out who the mole is becomes imperative.
Episode 6
Wednesday 8 May 2013, 9pm
Rachel (Suranne Jones) continues to lodge at Janet’s (Lesley Sharp), and whilst Dorothy (Judith Barker) is very disapproving of Rachel’s influence on Taisie (Harriet Waters), Janet is happy that this safe haven is keeping Rachel out of trouble. But Rachel’s self-destruct button is never far away, and it’s not long before Taisie witnesses her heroine’s fall from grace.
When Janet gets called in to Gill’s (Amelia Bullmore) office to explain a cheeky email that she’s sent to Rob (Danny Miller), she’s adamant that it wasn’t from her, and mortified that Rob will think it is. Especially since she’s already embarrassed him in a moment of madness. But if Janet thought this was the worst the day could throw at her, she couldn’t be more wrong.
The story of the week involves the suspicious death of care home resident Gerald French. When daughter Catherine (Katherine Dow Blyton) raises concerns about the level of care her father had been receiving, Scott and Bailey are sent in to investigate. And when cripplingly shy trainee, Rosie (Rosie Sansom), is discovered slapping a resident, she is devastated to find that her charismatic mentor doesn’t have her best interests at heart.
Episode 7
Wednesday 22 May 2013, 9pm
Having dragged Kevin (Ben Batt) back to Janet’s (Lesley Sharp) house for frantic sex, Rachel (Suranne Jones) is affronted when Janet bursts into her room and tells them both to leave. In her drunken state, Rachel is unable to compute the outpouring of anger that Janet launches at her. She is also unprepared for Kev’s belief that this is the start of a beautiful thing – Kevin and Rachel against the world. For Sean (Sean Maguire), this new liaison is the final straw, and having held his anger in check with Rachel, he is unable to contain himself when face to face with Kevin.
In the cold light of day, the fracture in Janet and Rachel’s relationship is painfully apparent. Feeling used and upset, Janet is barely able to look at Rachel, let alone speak to her, and their working partnership is forced to move onto a different level. It’s in the unexpected form of Rob (Danny Miller) that Janet finds the mature and understanding hand of friendship.
And as Rachel is forced by Gill to take a cold, hard look at the way her chaotic life impacts on her work, Syndicate 9 are left reeling when they’re told the identity of the mole on their team.
The story of the week starts off as a Missing From Home report, but soon becomes a murder investigation when the body of Kenneth Valentine is discovered in Oldham town centre. And while the team ponders the indecent haste with which Kenneth’s son reported him missing, Janet and Rachel discover that a spate of street robberies may lead them to the killer.
Episode 8
Thursday 23 May 2013, 9pm
With Janet (Lesley Sharp) and Rachel’s (Suranne Jones) friendship in tatters, Rachel’s sadness finds expression in bitchy comments behind Janet’s back. But she struggles to find anyone who wants to join in. Janet tries to stay professional, but the lack of communication between them means that the simplest of tasks get compromised, and Rob (Danny Miller) has to step in as referee.
It takes a call from MIT Command, alerting the team to Gill’s disappearance to galvanise Scott and Bailey to put their differences aside and work together as a team. With Julie Dodson (Pippa Haywood) as commander of the operation, Janet and Rachel are called to join her at CID HQ. A fixed wing plane and a tracking vehicle soon have Gill’s (Amelia Bullmore) car in their sights, and Janet and Rachel are once again in sync, quickly identifying the driver and passenger.
> Order Series 3 on DVD on Amazon.
> Buy the complete Series 1 & 2 boxset on Amazon.
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