Episode list

Viv, Dinah and Joy attend the funeral of Herbie, son of gang boss Nora Attah but there is no corpse in the coffin, only an explosion which rocks the building. Pathologist Miller is called in and finds twenty bodies, including Herbie's, buried under the crematorium - apparently because the owners, the Kornicks, could not afford to maintain it. Resenting the arrival of by the book superintendent Christine Lisberg Viv finds a link to rival gangsters the Kennedy family, whom Nora believes lured her and ex-husband Manni to the scene of the explosion. Following an award ceremony to celebrate Viv as outstanding policewoman of the year she has to give her version of why she has closed the investigation of her husband's death to Joy, Dinah and Spike, whilst the retaliation against the Kennedys she had feared begins.

Following Earl Kennedy's murder riots break out across Manchester, Attah properties being prime targets. Whilst Miller links the crematorium bomb to Jacky Kennedy and henchman Kilmartin Dinah risks her life to evacuate people from one of Nora's fire-bombed shops, and is shocked when five casualties appear to be under-age child workers. However when she confronts Nora she is rebuked by Viv for making Nora aware of her suspicions, allowing her to take alternative action. Joy is also horrified when a young girl, Charlie, dies in her custody and is cheered by sergeant Ewan Murray. Kim Garvey, the cocky, sullen boy who killed Earl, is linked to one of the arson victims but refuses to tell Dinah who put him up to the murder.

The team is called to an armed robbery in a pub but the elderly robber is an Alzheimers sufferer who believes the pub is the bank it was once and a visit to his wife exposes a bogus paramedic. Meanwhile a cocky Nora brings Manni to the station to convince Viv of their innocence in Earl's murder but, having discovered that Manni is not Nora's husband's son, Viv determines to work on him. Dinah arrests Kerry Fowley, part of the child slavery gang, hoping she will denounce Nora but Nora sends in her solicitors before any statement can be taken, leading Viv to suspect a traitor in the ranks. Joy is exonerated over Charlie's death and congratulated by Ewan but a comment by fire survivor Hayley gives her a shock.

As large numbers of Nora's drug peddlers are lifted from the streets Dinah tries to persuade Joy that Ewan is the mole, tipping Nora off about the police's every move but Joy is too enamoured of him to believe her despite evidence that when he was in Child Protection he deliberately moved several of the dead youngsters to care homes where Nora could get to them. Whilst other arrests are made for procurement Viv finally traps Ewan but finds that somebody else has got to him before her.

Whilst Viv attempts to arrest Manni in connection with Ewan Murray's death Miller finds evidence to show that Murray deliberately suppressed evidence regarding the disappearance of a boy called Roland Berry. The team searches Murray's room for more proof of his duplicity but are thwarted by Christine Licksberg who takes all the contents for examination elsewhere. Consequently Viv recruits Cathy Calvert's mouthy sister Donna to infiltrate the Attah's gang. Meanwhile Dinah is caught up in a pay dispute at the Daffodil abortion clinic where a stand-off leads to a demonstration by a pro-life group and the accidental death of co-director Dr Robert Bix, who is later found to have supported the protesters. Unfortunately Viv is involved in a car crash leading to her suspension from duty.

Whilst under suspension Viv attends a meeting opposed to female genital mutilation, where an angry father accuses Nora of killing his daughter. Dinah and Joy visit Viv to voice their fears that Nora may have been blackmailing Christine into suspending her whilst Joy and Spike bring in haughty Ms Bata for her role in the mutilation ring and, after officer Tegan has gone undercover, arrest the doctor responsible and a head-mistress who is also complicit - ironically with help from Nora. Meanwhile, thanks to Dinah, Miller finds Roland's body but, back in her office, Viv is alarmed to hear that the Attahs have abducted Dinah, leading to a rift between Viv and Joy.

All the team's lives are at stake as they try and bring down the Attahs once and for all. Deering is at her finest, deconstructing Nora's family while trying to repair her own.