The Bill Season 8

Season 8

The eighth series of The Bill, a British television drama, consisted of 105 episodes, broadcast between 2 January – 31 December 1992. The series was released on DVD for the first time on 6 June 2012, in Australia. It features the above artwork, which features images of PC Steve Loxton and DC Mike Dashwood.

Air date: 1992-01-02

Episodes: 105

Episodes

E1: The Best Policy

D.C.I. Reid's influence in high places suddenly makes D.I. Burnside look vulnerable to criticism. CID investigate an armed robbery.

Air date: 1992-01-02

E2: A Friend In Need

P.C. Quinnan is the subject of a civil complaint. P.C.s Stamp and Stringer follow up on a fire at a home for ex-psychiatric patients, but find little care in the community.

Air date: 1992-01-07

E3: Whose Side Are You On?

D.C. Lines investigates a mugging, and tries to get the victim charged with the murder of his assailant.

Air date: 1992-01-09

E4: Lip Service

D.C. Lines is enjoying an off-duty pint in his local pub and becomes involved in a bar brawl.

Air date: 1992-01-14

E5: Illegals

D.C. Lines investigates when a cellarful of illegal immigrants is discovered. He enlists the help of Sgt. Boyden, who takes a fancy to one of the females. Lines warns him off.

Air date: 1992-01-16

E6: Fair Play

P.C. Quinnan investigates the illegal sale of steroids. P.C. Garfield is put on the spot when his old sparring partner is arrested.

Air date: 1992-01-21

E7: Dinosaur

D.I. Burnside's unorthodox policing methods, which include flushing an informant's head down a toilet, set him on a collision course with D.C.I. Reid, who has already received several complaints about Sun Hill officers. Reid fears the worst when she is called in to Scotland Yard for an urgent meeting with MS15.

Air date: 1992-01-23

E8: Joyride

A girl is seriously injured in a joyriding incident. Ch. Supt. Brownlow must decide whether he is prepared to risk a riot by sending officers into an estate to round up the culprits.

Air date: 1992-01-28

E9: Not Waving

A student nurse is sexually assaulted. D.I. Burnside arrests the obvious suspect, but he escapes from police custody.

Air date: 1992-01-30

E10: Mates

Sgt. Cryer is finding being non-operational tedious. He goes undercover as a punter in a brothel, but his presence on the operation antagonises Sgt. Peters. Cryer goes to sees Ch. Supt. Brownlow about giving up his job as duty sergeant and going back to the relief.

Air date: 1992-02-04

E11: Lost Boy

D.S. Greig is led to a vice ring when searching for a missing thirteen-year-old boy. D.C. Dashwood and W.P.C. Ackland are brought into an operation against ponces running rent boys.

Air date: 1992-02-06

E12: Chicken

P.C. Stringer tries to stop some children from playing 'chicken' on the railway line, but one of them is run down by a train. Sgt. Peters transfers upstairs to the post of duty sergeant, swapping roles with Bob Cryer, who returns to the relief.

Air date: 1992-02-11

E13: Somebody Special

Acting D.I. Greig tries to recruit a hardened female thief as a snout, but finds her more than a match for him. D.C.I. Reid is promoted out of Sun Hill to MS15.

Air date: 1992-02-13

E14: Previous Convictions

Investigating an apparent accident in which a man's hand is crushed in a car-breaker's yard, Sgt. Maitland uncovers years of animosity, neglect and revenge.

Air date: 1992-02-18

E15: Beggar My Neighbour

A tramp is attacked, leading the police into a web of crime.

Air date: 1992-02-20

E16: It's A Small World

Thinking of leaving the force, D.C. Dashwood is tempted by a lucrative business opportunity with a firm of security consultants.

Air date: 1992-02-25

E17: Licence

A man convicted of strangling his wife has been released on licence, but the probation service fails to notify Sun Hill. His presence comes to light when his son causes a disturbance.

Air date: 1992-02-27

E18: Comeback

The community police station run by P.C. Smollett is fire-bombed. The area car is stolen from P.C. Loxton and W.P.C. Datta, and it is written off in an RTA.

Air date: 1992-03-03

E19: Fireproof

D.I. Burnside leads an investigation into the firebombing of the community police station.

Air date: 1992-03-05

E20: The Paddy Factor

D.C. Carver and W.D.C. Martella have a car thief under observation, and see him shot as he gets into a car. The Anti-Terrorist Squad is called in, and the IRA is suspected.

Air date: 1992-03-10

E21: The Wild Rover

D.S. Roach ignores the Anti-Terrorist Squad, and investigates a possible IRA cell.

Air date: 1992-03-12

E22: Coincidence

A small boy known for lying claims to have been the subject of an attempted abduction in an adventure playground.

Air date: 1992-03-17

E23: Going Soft

A routine trip to a magistrate for a warrant turns into a nightmare for D.C. Dashwood when he is taken prisoner by two hooded burglars.

Air date: 1992-03-19

E24: Re-Hab

Jack Meadows arrives to take charge of Sun Hill CID. He becomes involved with a father suspected of murdering his drug addict son.

Air date: 1992-03-24

E25: Acting Detective

A woman who collapsed at an airport is found to be a mule, smuggling drugs in her stomach. D.I. Burnside, with only limited time to mount an operation, gets W.P.C. French to take the courier's place in an attempt to uncover the dealer.

Air date: 1992-03-26

E26: Stopover

P.C. Smollett tries to offer a follow-up service to victims of crime. A woman whose husband is in prison, and who runs a guesthouse, keeps reporting an intruder on the premises. Smollett gives her support, but P.C. Garfield thinks he is wasting his time.

Air date: 1992-03-31

E27: Suspects

D.S. Greig arrests a suspect for an armed robbery, but is proved wrong.

Air date: 1992-04-02

E28: All The King's Horses

A lorry overturns and sheds its load outside a school, burying a boy and girl and putting P.C. Loxton to the test.

Air date: 1992-04-07

E29: Party Politics

W.D.C. Martella celebrates her birthday. D.I. Burnside and D.S. Roach go to a party attended by a crooked businessman, who makes Burnside an offer he can't refuse.

Air date: 1992-04-09

E30: Trials & Tribulations

W.P.C. Marshall becomes a vital witness in a murder trial, and soon realises that someone is trying to intimidate her.

Air date: 1992-04-14

E31: A Can Of Worms

A traffic accident draws attention to a minicab firm.

Air date: 1992-04-16

E32: Timing

D.C.I. Meadows tries to find the link between three arson attacks. D.S. Roach and D.C. Dashwood track down an escaped prisoner, but Roach seems more interested in his beautiful wife.

Air date: 1992-04-21

E33: A Nice Little Line In Plastic

P.C. Quinnan and W.P.C. Datta arrest a girl using stolen credit cards and uncover a major racket.

Air date: 1992-04-23

E34: Trial & Error

An armed robber who put an innocent bystander in an wheelchair has his house firebombed by the victim's son. D.I. Burnside is determined to see justice done.

Air date: 1992-04-24

E35: Owning Up

P.C.s Loxton and Stringer follow up on a mugging but their case is nearly ruined when it collides with an investigation by D.S. Greig and D.C.I. Meadows. Can W.P.C. Ackland crack the case?

Air date: 1992-04-30

E36: Up Behind

It's Saturday night, but CID are at work trailing a known criminal believed to be responsible for a series of artifice burglaries involving pensioners.

Air date: 1992-05-05

E37: Appearances

Following an argument with a drunken pub customer, a young barmaid is hit by a car and later dies. P.C.s Quinnan and Stringer have their suspicions about the customer. Could it be manslaughter?

Air date: 1992-05-07

E38: Principled Negotiation

D.I. Burnside and D.S. Roach look favourably on an ex-villain with a loan-shark problem, but they expect favours in return.

Air date: 1992-05-12

E39: Sign Of Our Times

An armed robber admits to D.C. Lines that redundancy and the repossession of his house made him take to crime to solve his problems.

Air date: 1992-05-14

E40: Priorities

P.C.s Stringer and Loxton attend to a theft at an old people's home and begin to suspect that the ex-policeman who runs the home is ill-treating residents.

Air date: 1992-05-19

E41: Users

W.D.C. Martella arrests a woman for drug dealing. D.I. Burnside suspects that she is using teenage girls as couriers by offering them free holidays in Spain, but she is being exploited by a bigger dealer.

Air date: 1992-05-21

E42: Man Of The People

P.C. Stringer wins the election for the post of Federation Rep, beating the incumbent P.C. Hollis by fifty-eight votes to two. Ch. Supt. Brownlow decides to eat in the canteen with the other ranks, much to their discomfort.

Air date: 1992-05-26

E43: Runaway

D.S Roach investigates the beating of a teenage girl, and tries to establish if his suspect is also responsible for a number of murders being investigated by AMIP.

Air date: 1992-05-28

E44: Exposures

A young model claims that she was sexually assaulted during a photographic session. W.D.C. Martella discovers that every picture tells a story.

Air date: 1992-06-02

E45: Better The Devil

P.C. Stringer gets involved with a bizarre household, and discovers a horrifying case of parental cruelty in the attic. W.P.C. Marshall goes on attachment to the Domestic Violence Unit at Stafford Row.

Air date: 1992-06-04

E46: Prisoners

Sgt. Boyden and P.C. Hollis are hoping for a quiet night in the custody suite at Sun Hill, but that's not how it turns out.

Air date: 1992-06-09

E47: World To Rights

W.P.C. Marshall, on attachment to the Domestic Violence Unit at Stafford Row, makes an error of judgement and is attacked by a woman's husband.

Air date: 1992-06-11

E48: Do The Right Thing

P.C. Stringer is mugged by a gang, and determines to get his own back. P.C. Quinnan and W.P.C. Datta follow a cheque card fraudster.

Air date: 1992-06-16

E49: Hiding To Nothing

P.C. Stamp is ambushed by a gang of youths on a local estate. In trying to assist him, W.P.C. Ackland crashes the Area car, much to P.C. Loxton's delight.

Air date: 1992-06-18

E50: Punching Judy

A woman lies critically injured in hospital, beaten up by her husband. D.S. Greig and D.C.I. Meadows interview the husband. W.P.C. Marshall decides to quit the Domestic Violence Unit.

Air date: 1992-06-23

E51: Vicious Circles

P.C. Hollis arrests a woman for being drunk in charge of a baby, and finds himself drawn into a complicated family set-up.

Air date: 1992-06-25

E52: Up All Night

P.C. Garfield pursues a burglar and is beaten up. Sgt. Boyden's inaction brings hostility from the relief and trouble for D.S. Roach.

Air date: 1992-06-30

E53: Part Of The Furniture

D.C. Dashwood is to be transferred to the Art and Antiques Squad. D.S. Roach hands him a burglary at an infants' school as a wind-up, but it develops into a case that allows Dashwood to show the others a thing or two.

Air date: 1992-07-02

E54: Snakes & Ladders

It's P.C. Garfield's first day back after the attack. The relief place bets on the likelihood of Garfield punching Sgt. Boyden, but Garfield eventually takes his revenge.

Air date: 1992-07-07

E55: Street Cleaning

Sgt. Cryer gets the relief to put the Garfield-Boyden conflict behind them and get back to work, to sort out the takeover of genuine beggars' pitches by violent professional thieves.

Air date: 1992-07-09

E56: Hands Up

Conway decides he needs to get back on the beat, and arrests a drunk for criminal damage.

Air date: 1992-07-14

E57: A Scandalous Act

P.C. Garfield brings in a teenaged girl arrested at a drugs party, and she accuses him of sexually assaulting her.

Air date: 1992-07-16

E58: Raiders

A ram-raid ends in tragedy when a boy is killed. But what was his part in the affair?

Air date: 1992-07-21

E59: Talk Out

A middle-aged couple arrive at the front desk and report their neighbour missing, but W.P.C. Ackland isn't sure that they are telling the whole truth.

Air date: 1992-07-23

E60: True Confessions

D.S. Roach is put under pressure when a suspect retracts a confession and accuses the police of oppression.

Air date: 1992-07-28

E61: Private Enterprise

D.C.I. Meadows tackles CID about passing intelligence to the collator; but D.S. Roach is reluctant to share information relating to his current operation.

Air date: 1992-07-30

E62: Getting Through

The night shift is saddled with a feud between two men who come to the front desk with allegations of GBH against each other.

Air date: 1992-08-04

E63: Last Night Of Freedom

Someone is stabbed on a stag night, but the likely suspect can't remember a thing about it.

Air date: 1992-08-06

E64: Cutting Loose

Burnside and Lines are returning a chief suspect to prison when they are ambushed by a gang of masked men, who spring him.

Air date: 1992-08-11

E65: Soft Targer

P.C. Smollett discovers that a local villain is driving people out of their flats and reletting them to squatters. At Sun Hill, a civilian typist is discovered to be having an affair with a known villain.

Air date: 1992-08-13

E66: I've Never Been To Harrogate

D.S. Greig and D.C. Woods investigate the mysterious collapse of an old lady who has been burgled.

Air date: 1992-08-18

E67: Human Resources

Two con men are preying on women through the small ads in the local paper. Lack of personnel for D.S. Roach's operation places W.D.C. Martella in danger.

Air date: 1992-08-20

E68: Exit

A loan shark is attacked. D.S. Greig has a vital witness who is young, blonde and pretty, but she keeps stringing him along, and then disappears.

Air date: 1992-08-25

E69: Loyalties

Acting on information from a snout, D.I. Burnside mounts a raid on crack-houses. When details of the raid are leaked, D.C.I. Meadows challenges Burnside over the trustworthiness of his team.

Air date: 1992-08-27

E70: Snapshot

A complaint over loud music quickly escalates into an armed siege, as a man waves a gun at P.C.s Stamp and Quinnan.

Air date: 1992-09-01

E71: Letting Go

Reg is playing with a train set before going out. He is looking for a place to live as he is moving out of the section house but ends up moving to a different corridor instead. Greig and Tosh investigates a stabbing in a station car park. The case is being dropped but Greig goes to see the widow and finds a new lead. June and Reg act as back up to bailiffs trying to evict a family. The case is turned over to Tosh.

Air date: 1992-09-03

E72: Travelling Light

Viv helps Donna dress up for a reconstruction of a murder case. They find a man who spoke to the dead woman and gives them a new lead. The ex-boyfriend of the murder victim asks to see Burnside protesting his innocence.

Air date: 1992-09-08

E73: Radio Waves

Monroe talks to Conway about a problem with a car chase. Tony and Dave were chasing joy riders with Ron in the back. Norika and George help catch the children who were joy riding. CID think they might be part of a gang knocking off car stereos. The fathers have a fight in custody after their children were interviewed.

Air date: 1992-09-10

E74: A Blind Eye

Viv brings in an elderly mugging victim who helps make an identikit picture. Boyden gets spoken to by Monroe about working with the relief. Tony assists George with a disturbance when there is another mugging which turns out to be a misunderstanding. Tony see what he thinks is a mugger getting beaten up but the suspect turns out to be an off-duty copper.

Air date: 1992-09-15

E75: Sympathy For the Devil

Tosh is at the building society waiting for an armed robber. Dave and Barry assist CID and they catch an old age pensioner. Steve goes to a disturbance behind a pub. He finds an attacked man. He thinks it might be racially motivated. It turns out to be a revenge attack.

Air date: 1992-09-17

E76: Force Is Part of the Service

Brownlow and Conway have a meeting with councillors about the changes in the police force. Conway gives them a tour of the station. Steve brings in a man suspected of street robbery. The man accuses Steve of harassment. Reg tells Steve the bad news that he brought in the wrong man. The man makes a complaint against Steve and Brownlow wants it sorted honestly. Steve is trying to get George to back up his story.

Air date: 1992-09-22

E77: On the Record, Off the Record

CID investigates a break-in at a warehouse which resulted in the theft of personal CD players. Steve spots the van used in the robbery. After talking to a worker with form, fingers start pointing at the security guard. Jim gets spoken to by Meadows about complaints. He gets into further trouble after arresting a man on information received.

Air date: 1992-09-24

E78: Stoning the Glasshouse

Bob visits a friend who is the head of a neighbourhood watch. His son is stealing to support his drug habit. Bob's friend thinks the police are turning a blind eye towards the Cockcroft Estate. Conway gets a report on the Cockcroft Estate and a visit from the head of the Cockcroft Action Committee complaining of harassment.

Air date: 1992-09-29

E79: Tip-Off

Tosh is asked for by a burglar whom he put inside. He gives Tosh information that there might be a bank robbery. CID catches the robbers after the job but when Tosh tries to arrange protection for his informant he is too late as the man has had his face slashed. Reg talks to Donna for an article in the station newspaper.

Air date: 1992-10-01

E80: Open to Offers

Monroe and the relief go to a pub where some men are damaging it. One of the men tries to blackmail Dave over some moonlighting Dave did to get off the charge. Monroe thinks the men might be involved in protection. Dave tells both Sgts Boyden and Maitland who advises him to tell Monroe. Dave asks Barry's advice as Fed Rep. Barry asks Reg's advice as he was previous Fed Rep.

Air date: 1992-10-06

E81: Playing God

CID are tied up with a court case. A burglary suspect of Ted's may have to be released as he is at court. Tony brings in an old lady who has been abusive in the street. Dave and George find a man in the street who might have killed his wife who had terminal cancer.

Air date: 1992-10-08

E82: Crack of Doom

There is a search of people looking for crack. A man has a scuffle with another man and claims a piece of crack was planted on him. Tony discovers the man, an ex-boxer, lives over the road from the crack house and CID ask if they could use it as a base for an obbo.

Air date: 1992-10-13

E83: Spit and Polish

Steve is late for shift. Just as Steve is about to arrest a fine defaulter Dave is nearly run over by a speeding BMW. Steve really wants to arrest the fine defaulter, who has already left by the time he gets back, but Dave wants to deal with the driver. They find the body of the car owner's lover in the boot of the car.

Air date: 1992-10-15

E84: Overdue

Burnside talks to a snout in a bus queue about a delivery. Woods and Carver observe the delivery and CID raid the premises. The cartons contain bricks and motor parts instead of the stolen goods expected. Burnside goes to a promotions board and is passed over.

Air date: 1992-10-20

E85: We Should Be Talking

George is following a silver car that might have been involved in a ramraid. While checking in with the station, his radio goes dead. Sgt. Cryer discovers the radio link is down. June is investigating a failure to stop and enlists the help of people on the estate to help find a hurt kid.

Air date: 1992-10-22

E86: Reasonable Grounds

Norika goes to see a man about a missing child. Barry has to tell a man his brother is dead after complaining of having to let a suspected burglar go with a caution. the man takes off as soon as he sees Barry.

Air date: 1992-10-27

E87: Discipline

An obbo on a club nearly goes wrong when a fight starts outside it. The man who started the fight turns out to be a D. S. suspended from the Drug Squad.

Air date: 1992-10-29

E88: Minefield

Sgt. Maitland finds himself in the wrong when he discovers a serious procedural error meant that a dangerous and possibly psychopathic man has been arrested twice for the same offence and released.

Air date: 1992-11-03

E89: Gamers

Tosh investigates a fire bombing of an Asian shop. Dave and Cathy investigates an Asian lady accused of shoplifting. Cathy thinks there is something going on. Her husband is gambling. Dave and Sgt. Boyden join the game.

Air date: 1992-11-05

E90: Occupational Hazard

When sex appeal doesn't get him what he wants, Harry Osborne turns vicious. W.D.C. Martella has to pick up the pieces.

Air date: 1992-11-10

E91: Just Send Some Flowers

W.D.C. Martella investigates a burglary that occurred during a funeral. D.C. Carver links it to previous burglaries and an employee with a criminal record who claims to be innocent.

Air date: 1992-11-12

E92: Waifs and Strays

A missing girl's blood-stained book leads D.C. Lines to uncover the family's dark secrets and come up with an unexpected result. P.C. Hollis has to deal with a lost dog. P.C. Loxton discovers the dog has been beaten and decides to keep it.

Air date: 1992-11-17

E93: Happy Families

What's a smart girl like Sharon doing with a villain like Daniel Batt? D.I. Burnside thinks it's all to do with female hormones, but W.D.C. Martella isn't so sure.

Air date: 1992-11-19

E94: Well Out of Order

Meadows and Burnside want to go in force to the Tankeray estate to root out the criminal element, but Brownlow is committed to a softer approach. P.C. Smollett proves more effective than C.I.D. at catching a dangerous mugger.

Air date: 1992-11-24

E95: Into The Mire

CID receive information that leads to the arrest of a prolific handler of stolen goods.

Air date: 1992-11-26

E96: Master Of The House

The body of a respectable family man is found on a notorious patch of wasteland.

Air date: 1992-12-01

E97: Fireworks

Stamp uses some old-fashioned policing methods to tackle the problem of children playing with railway detonators.

Air date: 1992-12-03

E98: Cold Shoulder

A local youth with form is stabbed in the centre of a densely populated housing development. D.C.I. Meadows investigates when no witnesses come forward.

Air date: 1992-12-08

E99: Safety First

D.I. Burnside investigates when a pawnbroker is shot in the leg with a legally-acquired shotgun during a robbery at his shop.

Air date: 1992-12-10

E100: Counting the Cost

A local hero who prevented a robbery, and was severely injured in the process, but received no compensation, is being harassed by a scrap dealer until W.P.C. Ackland turns the tables with some harassment of her own.

Air date: 1992-12-15

E101: Compassion

A probation officer seems eager to assist D.I. Burnside over the murder of a prostitute, but how close is she to the murderer?

Air date: 1992-12-17

E102: Finders Keepers

D.C. Carver finds a buried treasure and the glory should be his. D.C. Dashwood, now with the Art and Antiques Squad, takes the case away and gets a result.

Air date: 1992-12-22

E103: Return Match

When a collection of valuable dolls is stolen, D.C. Dashwood from the Art and Antiques Squad turns up, wrong-foots D.C. Lines and gets a result.

Air date: 1992-12-24

E104: High Places

An ex-criminal who used to be part of a circus high-wire act is found dead, apparently from a fall, but the pathologist says he died elsewhere.

Air date: 1992-12-29

E105: When Push Comes To Shove

Sun Hill officers are drinking after shift when some troublemakers arrive at the pub. W.P.C. Ackland tries to calm the situation, but P.C.s Quinnan and Loxton decide that she needs their protection, and provoke a fight with a violent thug.

Air date: 1992-12-31