Episode
The Bill: Higher Power
Overview
PC Jim Carver attends to a drug dealer found badly beaten on the Larkmead Estate, but finds himself in a dilemma when a friend Ossie from his AA group confesses to the crime. DS McAllister follows Carver when he tries to convince his friend to turn himself in, and to his horror, Ossie is arrested shortly after. Carver realises that Ossie had suffered an alcoholic blackout at the time, and that the real beating was committed by a rival drug dealer on the Larkmead. Meanwhile, Uniform contend with the BIC gang, a group of youths harassing local shopkeepers.
Details
- Series
- The Bill
- Season
- Season 17
- Episode
- Episode 18
- Air date
- 2001-03-09
Episode context
Higher Power is Episode 18 in Season 17 of The Bill. It aired on 2001-03-09.
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Episode 17: Long Shadows (2)
Under pressure from Supt. Chandler and the NCS to release Phil Brown, DCI Meadows convinces Moira Scott to admit to George Stubbs's involvement in the armed robbery as well as drug dealing. DC Kate Spears goes undercover as a cocaine buyer, and with some help from NCS and SO19, they catch Stubbs and his supplier red-handed with the drugs. During his interview, Stubbs makes an allegation of corruption against Supt. Chandler. Before he calls in CIB, DI Cullen convinces Meadows he's only been told half the story.
Episode 19: Touched By Evil
PC Roz Clarke is on attachment to CID, and puts up with the usual teasing from the detectives and her uniform colleagues. She cracks the case she is working on with DC Glaze though, when she realises that a series of break-ins are all one surname in the phone book. When Ch. Insp. Conway and DI Cullen attend a rugby match between the Met and the Army, Conway is abducted when a disgruntled soldier decides to take revenge on those responsible for the abuse he received while at a children's home.
More episodes from this season
Episode 16: Long Shadows (1)
When DC Lennox is accused of planting evidence in an armed robbery case, DCI Meadows is determined to charge the suspect's accomplice, Phil Brown. Unfortunately, Brown claims to have been an informant for DS Don Beech, which makes Supt. Chandler determined to drop the case. When an old friend of Meadows' reveals that George Stubbs had previously bribed Chandler's DS at Park Rise, Meadows realises he has some ammunition against Chandler. Meanwhile Sgt. Boyden and PC Hagen help PC Roz Clarke recover her ASP when it is stolen while pursuing a robbery suspect.
Episode 20: The Leopard (1)
PC Smith and PC Klein attend to Mr Kennedy, whose house and garden shed have been attacked by vandals repeatedly over the past few weeks. When Kennedy threatens to take matters into his own hands, Smith casually comments that he wouldn't blame him if he did. Smith and Klein both apply for new jobs - Smith submits his application to SO19 and Supt. Chandler wants Klein to take the position of partnership officer at the Town Hall. When Kennedy shoots a young boy, and insists that PC Smith told him to do so, Klein reluctantly confirms what was said, and Smith accuses him of grassing him up. After attacking Klein in the corridor, and under investigation by CIB, Smith is suspended from duty.
Episode 15: Faultline
Dave Quinnan just stands and watches as a shopkeeper and a young woman are attacked by a gang of thugs at his local corner shop. When he finally turns up at the station, he identifies the leader of the gang as Robbie Gaitskill. Polly Page turns up in tears, and she and the rest of the relief are concerned as Dave seems to be cracking up. The crackheads arrested the previous night identify Quinnan as the policeman who attacked them. As Hagen and Page try to find him, Quinnan goes AWOL and tracks down the woman from the shop, Tricia Martin, and demands she tell him Gaitskill's address. Half the relief turn up on Gaitskill's doorstep, only to find Quinnan sitting in a car outside. Gaitskill is arrested, and Quinnan is told by Supt. Chandler to take his sick leave and seek professional counselling.
Episode 21: The Leopard (2)
PC Klein is offered the position of partnership officer, but he is shunned by the relief, who think he grassed Smithy up to get the job. Sgt. Cryer has a funny feeling about Frank Kennedy, and decides to do some digging of his own, and he encourages Smith to do the same. With Klein's help, Smith infiltrates the gang of youths intimidating the local residents, and discovers that the real estate firm Mather & Devine is indeed behind the harassment. Meanwhile, Cryer uncovers the fact that Kennedy was a notorious East End gangster named Ken Franklin who stored weapons for the Kray brothers, and that Kennedy's claim of shooting in self-defence is disproven by the forensic evidence and a statement from the other gang member. Smith is re-instated, Supt. Chandler approves his transfer to SO19, and Klein turns down the partnership officer job.
Episode 14: Going Under
Dave Quinnan arrives late after rowing with Jenny all night. Ever the troublemaker, Sgt. Boyden sends him out on patrol with Polly Page, Tony Stamp and Vicky Hagen. Quinnan and Page have trouble keeping their mind on the job, and this gets dangerous when Stamp is attacked by a gang of thugs on the DLR and Quinnan is nowhere to be seen. When Jenny leaves him and returns to Dublin, Dave starts to crack up. He puts on his uniform after his shift and goes on a vigilante mission to find the gang responsible for the attack on Stamp. DC Webb gets an anonymous call and finds some of the gang members tied up and sprayed with pepper spray.
Episode 22: Tolerance (1)
Sgt. Bob Cryer is approaching his 30th year of service, but some of the senior officers at the station doubt he is still up to the job. Supt. Chandler assigns Cryer the difficult task of resolving a situation where a group of prostitutes are at loggerheads with a local residents group led by Counciller Angela Morris. Cryer suggests a 'zone of tolerance', a non-residential area where the prostitutes can work without upsetting the locals, and manages to convince the girls to give it a try. As Chandler heads off to a charity dinner, a call comes through that the Morris' house has been torched. Meanwhile, PC Smith attends his interview for transfer to SO19 - he is successful, and leaves Sun Hill to join the Armed Response Unit.
Episode 13: Home and Away
Supt. Chandler is outraged when he finds out about the aggrevated burglery of a deaf and blind woman in the local paper rather than from CID. Reg Hollis overhears Matt Boyden gossiping to Vicky Hagen about Dave and Polly, and soon the news of their affair is all over the station. Accompanied by a reporter from the newspaper, CID and Uniform raid the house of suspected burgler Mick Corcoran, but when Corcoran attacks Polly Page, he is brutally beaten by Quinnan and requires hospital treatment. Sgt. Boyden arranges tickets for a charity ball, but the limo breaks down and they all take refuge in a country pub, where Jenny Quinnan finally works out that Dave is having an affair.
Episode 23: Tolerance (2)
When the victim in yesterday's domestic disturbance turns up badly beaten and left for dead, her husband is adamant he had nothing to do with it. Mandy tells Cryer that the woman who was bashed, Cath Evans, was working as a prostitute, and that the Councillor's husband Justin was one of her clients. But Justin in turn, having admitted his deeds to his wife, says that he was seeing Mandy as well, and that on the night of the fire, she turned up late and had blood on her clothes. Meanwhile, Smith arrives at SO19 to find his new friend Julie also made the grade, but on their training course, treats her as the token female. When she beats him on the rifle range it causes friction, and their boss cautions that they have to learn to work as a team.
Episode 12: Real Crime
DC Kate Spears is assigned to a domestic violence case, but is alarmed when DC Mickey Webb realises the perpetrator, Neil Hayes, is also a suspect in a series of truck hijackings he is investigating, and requests he be bailed so he can lead them to the gang. Spears's sympathy for the victim, Lisa Hayes, starts to wear thin when she refuses to press charges, harasses Spears at work, and then is discovered to be having an affair with Hayes's boss.
Episode 24: Promised Land
PC Nick Klein becomes involved when Kosovan refugees housed at a council estate are being harassed and attacked. Later, at a family gathering, Nick's cousin Jerry arrives and is praised by the family for his success. DC Webb investigates a robbery at a clothing factory, and his investigations lead him to Norman Klein, Nick's uncle. The link between the latest robbery and a previous one is revealed to be Jerry Klein who assessed security at both places. When Jerry is found badly beaten, Nick decides he must tell the police about his cousin's possible involvement, which results in DI Cullen catching the gang on their third job.