Episode
The Bill: Steamers
Overview
D.S. Roach goes to the hospital to talk to a young man who was slashed in the face with a knife - the fifth is a series of ""steamer"" attacks, where knife-wielding youths have held up restaurant patrons. D.C. Dashwood receives a tip-off about the steamers' next target, and the restuarant is filled with undercover police officers. P.C. Edwards is jealous that he and Carver didn't get a free meal paid for by the Met, and the steamers are caught when they raid the restuarant. P.C. Melvin investigates a strange smell from a flat used by junkies, and finds the body of an elderly man who suffered a heart attack. Melvin can't believe the old man was a junkie.
Details
- Series
- The Bill
- Season
- Season 5
- Episode
- Episode 8
- Air date
- 1989-01-26
- Runtime
- 22 min
Episode context
Steamers is Episode 8 in Series 5 of The Bill. It aired on 1989-01-26. The runtime is 22 min.
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Episode 7: Hothead
W.P.C. Brind and P.C. Melvin are on foot patrol, but are seperated. Brind ends up dealing with a workplace dispute by herself, but the ringleader, Nobby Briggs, smashes her radio and locks her in a storeroom. When Melvin eventually turns up, he calls for assistance and Briggs is arrested. Sgt. Cryer is in a bad mood as he is suffering from a painful toothache, and he yells at a prisoner and pushes him. Lay visitors from the council arrive to inspect the station, and the prisoner accuses Cryer of assaulting him. His cellmate eventually clears Cryer, but he has to cancel his dentist appointment when he is called up to Ch. Supt Brownlow's office over the incident.
Episode 9: Duty Elsewhere
P.C. Haynes volunteers for ""duty elsewhere"", undercover as a driver for Neville Tubbs, leader of a Yardie gang in South London. A man has just been murdered and mutilated, and Rita, a girl from Tubbs' club tells Haynes she witnessed the killing. Gaining Tubbs' trust, Haynes is asked to transport a package to a meeting across town. He is stopped by two police officers, but manages to get away after telling them he's in the Job. Haynes delivers the package, but is recognised as a cop by a Brixton Yardie. The police raid the place before Haynes is hurt or killed, but he is horrified to discover the package he carried contains the murder victim's hands.
More episodes from this season
Episode 6: Life And Death
P.C. Stamp and W.P.C. Brind arrest a man who is so drunk he can barely stand. Back at the station, the man collapses after a drug overdose, but not before implying that he's killed a woman. D.C. Lines and D.C. Carver race to find the man's identity through his dental records and the local jazz clubs, but the man's wife (and his mistress) are found safe and well. P.C. Melvin is sent to inform the wife of a man killed in a factory accident, but he radios in when he suspects that he has told the wrong person. D.C. Dashwood checks at the factory, and finds it was a similarly-named man who died, and the very-much-alive husband arrives at the station to make a formal complaint.
Episode 10: Saturday Blues
A young woman is taken to hospital in a coma after a drug overdose - she is D.I. Burnside's god-daughter, Tracey. Burnside orders Tracey's boyfriend, nightclub manager Terry Palmer, brought in for questioning. Drugs are found in Palmer's flat but he denies giving them to Tracey. D.S. Roach tries to convince Burnside that he's too emotionally involved in the case. Tracey dies and it looks like she committed suicide. Burnside charges Palmer with possession and intent to supply. A wedding party is brought into the station after the bride assaults the bridesmaid for having sex with her husband. In addition to the assault charge, it appears some of the wedding presents are stolen goods.
Episode 5: The Chain Of Command
Ch. Insp. Conway is late for a meeting with a Mr. Trevelyan from the Department of Trade and Industry, who wants police help in shutting down Radio Sun Hill, a pirate radio station. Conway orders the winos who blocked his car taken off the streets, but when one of them tries to escape from his cell, Sgt. Cryer recognises him as an undercover cop. P.C. Smith asks W.P.C. Martella to talk to a lady who has been beaten up by her boyfriend. She changes her mind about pressing charges as she doesn't want her husband to know. She then explains the injuries by saying the police beat her up, and her husband turns up and attacks Yorkie. Despite D.S. Roach's objections that it's a waste of police time, Carver and Dashwood raid Radio Sun Hill, but they escape.
Episode 11: N.F.A.
W.P.C. Brind chases two bag snatchers, but they get away. She later spots one of them crossing the road and nicks him. The victim, Mrs Foster-Adams, is taken to the station to make a statement, but ends up more trouble than she's worth - she eventually makes a complaint against Ch. Supt. Brownlow for ""gloating"". P.C. Ramsey and P.C. Melvin are paired together on patrol, a combination Brownlow warns Insp. Frazer not to repeat. Ramsey drives his car at some schoolkids ""for some sport"", and throws his truncheon at a can on a wall, setting off a burglar alarm. D.C. Lines investigates and finds the truncheon. Ramsey and Melvin catch a glue-sniffing prowler, who injures Ramsey's finger. Tosh recognises the man, and convinces Ramsey to drop the assault charge.
Episode 4: The Mugging And The Gypsies
W.P.C. Ackland and P.C. Smith attend a local gypsy campsite where residents are complaining. A social worker has a Place Of Safety Order on one of the gypsy children, Theresa Beecher, who was reportedly beaten by her parents. When the girl and her parents lock themselves in the caravan, Smith has the idea of towing the caravan to the station. A youth is found in possession of stolen credit cards, and the owner is located and confirms he was attacked and robbed the night before. He is about to do an identity parade, but his wife admits she was the one who hit him. The gypsies make a run for it, but when the little girl is taken into care, it is found the Beechers have swapped their daughter with another little girl.
Episode 12: The Price You Pay
W.P.C. Martella visits a friend of hers, Alison Page, who has been badly beaten up. Alison is on the game, and her attacker was a client. D.S. Roach arrests the man, but he is a diplomat and the Home Office demands his release. D.I. Burnside tells Roach to warn Alison's father, George Page, not to do anything stupid, but when the diplomat is beaten up, it is clear Roach did nothing to stop him. P.C. Stamp and P.C. Haynes investigate when a bookie claims his door has been glued shut. His disgruntled clients claim he hasn't paid their winnings, but Stamp convinces them to go double or quits. The relief bets on the same dog, and it wins the race.
Episode 3: One To One
W.P.C. Ackland and P.C. Stamp arrive at a brothel, where they find Jo Whitney, the daughter of a prominent local councillor, soaked in paraffin and threatening to set herself and the building on fire. Jo is a prostitute and a drug addict - but she hasn't had a fix for three days, and is highly agitated and strung out. Ackland stays with her to try and talk her round, while Stamp calls the fire brigade. There is a struggle to gain control of the lighter, and as a result, the flat catches fire, but Stamp manages to get both women out. Almost immediately after this ordeal, C.A.D. asks June to move on to deal with a burglary (after a cup of tea of course).
Episode 13: The Key of the Door
D.C. Dashwood investigates when a house which has recently been put on the market is burgled. He suspects that some prospective buyers are behind it, and gets a description of the couple who have looked at the houses from the real estate agents. The culprits turn out to be known to D.I. Burnside, and they are passing on details of the house to their son, who breaks in later. Sgt. Cryer chases a mugger, and takes the victim home to her flat which looks like it has been burgled. It turns out her son is the culprit, and he has been abusing her for a long time. Cryer gives the boy a warning, but arrests him when he returns to the flat to find the boy assaulting his mother. P.C. Ramsey is determined to catch a disqualified driver. Cryer tells him to chalk the footpath, but Ramsey has more luck by putting a stone on the wheel.
Episode 2: A Reflection Of Glory
P.C. Ramsey is back in uniform and goes with P.C. Haynes to see about a shoplifter who claims she is innocent. While they are out the back, the shop is held up by armed robbers who shoot at Ramsey. D.I. Burnside thinks it is tied in with other robberies and sends D.C. Carver to have a word with his evasive snout, Leroy. D.C. Dashwood has a new suit much to the amusement of his collegues. It gets damaged while he is chasing one of the suspects in the robbery. Haynes later tails the other suspects, causing them to crash into a milk float. W.P.C. Ackland and P.C. Melvin are approached by a man who says his friend might be about to kill himself in the toilet of a gay club, and the friend is arrested for possessing an offensive weapon. While being charged, he punches Sgt. Peters who drops the knife. The other man goes for it, but is stopped by Ackland.
Episode 14: Cock-Up
P.C. Hollis is referee for a five-a-side football match between two schools organised by the Met. One of the players is Sgt. Cryer's son Danny, and Cryer breaks up a fight in the locker room when Danny accuses one of his team-mates of taking drugs. It turns out there is a big drug problem at Danny's school, Medway Comprehensive, and a local shopkeeper is found to have form for dealing. The shop is put under observation, and when two girls from Medway are seen leaving the shop, D.I. Burnside orders a raid. The girls are arrested and searched, but it turns out they were just buying fags, and they are also underage to consent to a search. No drugs are found in the shop, and the owner threatens to sue Burnside.