Leo's first case on his return to work involves the shattered body of a young woman, Ruth Gardiner, found below a block of derelict flats, having apparently fallen from the roof. The post-mortem indicates suicide, but Leo realises he missed vital signs when he uncovers evidence that the girl had been shot in the head before being dragged to the roof and thrown off, leading the police to reopen the case. When DI Neill seems reluctant to pursue the possibility that Ruth may have been an informant for an undercover police officer, Phil Nelson, Leo starts to wonder if Ruth's death is part of a cover-up. When a gun is found near Ruth's squat, investigations lead Neil to Alex Webb, an employee of a local car dealership. Harry, meanwhile, is forced to confront some uncomfortable family secrets when an old family friend, Mary Bradburn, shows up at the Lyell Centre for the post-mortem of her husband, James. Discovering that James had taped a plastic bag over his head in order to suffocate himself, Harry is forced to come to terms with some of his own family revelations, when Nikki persuades him to finally look into the circumstances of his own father's suicide. Meanwhile, Leo discovers that Phil Nelson is just one of three aliases used by Peter Carmody, and realises that he is linked to another two murders - including that of Alex Webb.
Sam assists the police in the investigation of a multi-vehicle collision that results in the death of eleven people. She is joined by two new colleagues: Dr. Leo Dalton, an experienced pathologist from Sheffield, and Dr. Harry Cunningham, a new trainee pathologist who has just graduated from university. As they try to determine the cause of the accident, they find a severed arm that does not belong to any of the victims. They also have to deal with DCI Carol Deacon, whose role in the investigation appears to be not quite crystal clear to them. The mystery of the severed arm is soon cleared up when the police discover a body floating in a local river with only one arm. Sam decides to conduct her own investigation with little help from the police, however, DCI Deacon soon reveals to Harry that two of the men in the accident were undercover policemen, and realising that Sam is being manipulated, asks her to stay away. The police refuse to inform them of all the details, and soon, Sam's interference has serious consequences. Harry continues to try and find a balance between detachment and compassion as one of the survivors of the crash seeks his assistance.
Nikki investigates the discovery of human bones on a former Travellers' site, and realises they could be the remains of a senior police officer's missing teenage daughter, Clara Young. However, her forensic analysis raises even greater questions, when she discovers that she has found the remains of two bodies - which casts doubt on the guilt of the chief suspect. Meanwhile, Harry is assigned to an insurance case that takes a peculiar twist, when it is revealed that the victim may have died of CJD, contracted through a blood transfusion operation in India. When the main suspect in the investigation into the human remains is murdered, Nikki feels she is being shut out of the case and is left unsure who to trust. However, her lone enquiries bring her into greater danger, when she discovers that someone close to the Travellers may be responsible for the killings. Meanwhile, Harry learns he has been deceived, and believes he has no option but to pursue the truth alone, in an attempt to get justice for the victims of the scam.
Emily Joyce, John Lynch, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Souad Faress, Adam Kotz, Josephine Butler
When Philip Nelson is killed in a farm accident, the pathologists conclude they have a straightforward case of man vs. machine and the machine won. Sam makes an error however and soon finds evidence that points to murder. The police suspect his handyman, all the more so when they discover he was having an affair with Nelson's wife. When the murders continue however, Sam uncovers evidence that connect at least some of the men to events in Northern Ireland when they served in the army together many years before. Sam is more than a little surprised when Charlie, an old friend, sounds her out about taking up a new Chair in Forensic Pathology at London University. DI Michael Connor and his wife take a stab at a reconciliation but he finds it difficult to forgive her infidelity and realizes he has feelings for Sam.
The day after Professor Silverlake, a consultant neurologist at the Dartmouth London hospital, raised his voice at three patients for smoking and drinking on the premises, all three are found murdered in their hospital beds. Silverlake, apparently the last doctor to visit the ward, later goes berserk with a shotgun after he is accused of the killings and is shot dead by a police marksman. Leo and Harry believe they have a cut and dried case, but when the ward's night nurse is also murdered, realise they could have a cover-up on their hands. Meanwhile, Nikki is deeply upset at having to perform an autopsy on an eight-year-old girl who is suspected to have been raped and murdered by convicted criminal Jason Bodie, a man upon whom Professor Silverlake once performed live-saving surgery. Whilst Bodie is committed as unfit to plead, Silverlake's daughter Naomi asks Leo and Harry to help clear her father's name of murder. As Nikki's mental instability over the girls' death worsens, Harry and Leo are forced to get her psychiatric help. But as the true identity of the perpetrator of all of the murders is discovered, it becomes a race against time to save Nikki's life and prove that Naomi is responsible.
Leo and Harry's professional rivalry erupts following Sam's departure. They find themselves dealing with the case of several children living on the coast who have experienced unexplained breathing difficulties, leaving one boy, Peter, dead. While Harry believes that the case is simply nothing more than mass hysteria, Leo suspects something more sinister. Meanwhile, a man, Nick Garner, is found dead in his car with a stab wound to the chest. When a link between the stab victim and the ill children begins to emerge, Leo becomes determined to discover who is responsible before any more fatalities occur. However, it may be too late, as a baby, Ella, dies after being refused hospital care. Harry discovers the truth behind Nick Garner's death, and Leo realises that a boatyard may hold the key to the children's symptoms.
Nikki, Harry and Leo are called to the Dutch Embassy in the wake of a shooting, in which an unidentified gunman has shot dead three people - police constable Ryan Barlow, Dutch ambassador Peter Van Buren's sister, Trudy, and a third victim, only identified as Van Buren's personal bodyguard. During the shooting, Van Buren's daughter, Klara, is also injured, and his eight-year-old grandson, and Klara's son, Jack, disappears without trace. With the revelation that Van Buren's son, Yacoub, also disappeared without trace fifteen years ago, and that his brother, Diedrick, was killed in a car accident three years ago in Nigeria, Nikki starts to believe that one lone assailant may be responsible for the 'curse' that has tainted the Van Buren family for the past several years. Klara manages to survive her injuries, alongside her boyfriend, and fellow police constable, Craig Whitehead, but her shock revelation that the gunman was in fact none other than her missing sibling, Yacoub, sends the police and the pathologists on a wild goose chase. However, the news coverage has a strange effect on Van Buren's au pair Mary Olivant, who is later found hanged from a tree on Hampstead Heath, having committed suicide. And when the case looking into Yacoub's disappearance is re-opened, Nikki discovers that the third victim may not be Van Buren's bodyguard, and the team come close to uncovering a dark family secret - until the Dutch Embassy throw them off the case, and another pathologist, James Sabiston, who trained with Leo and Harry at the Lyell centre, is called in to carry out the postmortems on the deceased police officer, Trudy Van Buren and the questionable identity of the third victim. When it is discovered that Van Buren's brother Diedrick, who had supposedly died three years ago, is the third victim, the team open a whole can of worms, including the possibility that Van Buren was responsible for the death and disappearance of his son.

* Bubalis buselaphus
* Antilope bubalis
* Antilope buselaphus

Maggie Lloyd Williams, Sara Powell, Sally Faulkner, Mary Healey, Benedict Cumberbatch
Mark Womack, Ed Stoppard, Richard Johnson, Cal Macaninch, Tim Preece
When a terminally ill DJ is found dead in a bath with his left and right wrist deeply slashed and a pocket watch in his mouth, an at what first seemed suicide case becomes much more serious. Nikki and Jack discover that the DJ couldn't have killed himself because the slashes were too deep, and the gag reflex would have originally kicked in and spat the pocket watch out of his mouth. This reminds Nikki of a case she dealt with three months ago where a terminally ill woman was also found dead in a bath with a pocket watch in her hand. The team dig up the woman's body and discover she was in fact murdered. Nikki is then scared for herself when she is stalked and an intruder breaks into her flat. She discovers that her Pathologist teacher Belinda was responsible for the break-in and confronts her, but then Belinda is killed by a blow to the head and the police arrest Nikki over her murder. Nikki is released when further truths come to light, but then a gunman tries to shoot Nikki down and she realises her life is not safe. Eventually Nikki, Jack and the team discover a connection between the deaths and the secrets families are keeping and make an arrest - this time the right one.
Nikki and Jack investigate a bizzare set of murders which appear to have no initial relation to one another. The first is man who is pushed in front of a train on the London underground. The second is a female vicar who is found brutally attacked and murdered in her bathroom by her husband and daughter. Next, a young builder is viciously attacked in an alleyway on his way home from work. Meanwhile, one of the officers assigned to the case, DI Luke Nelson, is having flashbacks about the murder of his father which occurred when he was just six years old. He asks Nikki to have a second look at the evidence, convinced that there could be a technicality which could prove his mother's innocence in the crime. With two further murders now on the cards, Nelson and his team realise they are slowly running out of time. When he goes to question local hotel worker Lana Sutherland, little does he know that the killer is sitting right under his nose. With the killer's appearance having radically changed since he committed the attacks, CCTV of the killer attacking and stabbing a shopkeeper allows the team to step-up the manhunt. It's not before the killer and his accomplice try to steal a baby do the police actually come close to catching them.
Polly Frame, Lucy Cohu, Nigel Lindsay, Ruth Sheen, Jonty Stephens, Paul Broughton
Nikki's archaeologist friend Patrick becomes excited when a woman's body, apparently a thousand years old, is unearthed on a Yorkshire moor. However, dental records show she is a more recent murder victim and Leo, who once worked in the area, believes she is Jodie Fisher, a teenage girl who went missing in 1985. Three other girls were murdered at the time, and the killer, Karl Bentley, was caught and jailed. Leo decides to visit Bentley in jail, however, realises that the wrong man may have been jailed after a copycat killing is committed just hours later. Leo travels to Sheffield, where he uncovers the identity of the fresh victim, Kelly Summers. He soon realises, however, that Bentley may have had an accomplice, who is still at large. This is confirmed when investigating officer Sonia Hardwick finds a letter to Bentley from his boyfriend in the original case file, supposedly buried by the original investigating officer, ACC Maynard. Leo soon deduces that Bentley's lover, Bill Fisher, may be responsible for all of the murders.
Kata Dobó, Mike Kelly, John Rado, Julian Glover, Lili Bordán
When Tom Hancock's son Peter dies of cancer, Tom seeks an explanation and turns to Leo to help him find the cause. At about the same time, the decomposing body of Colin Connor is discovered in an old nursing home, about to be converted into ecologically-friendly apartments while the adjoining farmland is to be used for affordable housing. Behind the scheme is Lord Embleton, a government minister who is attracted to Nikki after meeting her at a function. Embleton's father, Sir William, tries to discourage him from the scheme, and is in secret contact with a sinister government "advisor", David Loader. Leo is intrigued by the post-mortem discovery that both Colin and Peter had the extremely rare Fanconi's Syndrome, and begins to think that Tom Hancock's suspicions may be well-founded. Jack finds evidence to suggest that Colin was in the disused building with a companion, who left him to die after his arm became trapped in a conduit while trying to steal copper wire. Suspicion falls on Colin's employer, Brian Blackburn, and his son Derren, who appears to have undergone a personality change since his association with Colin. Leo and Jack visit the deserted farm to look for evidence of contamination but are taken into custody by soldiers who claim that the land is in use as an army firing range. On their return, Jack scrapes their shoes and finds evidence of groundwater contamination. Leo is contacted by the farm's former owner, George Ryder, who says he has information about the cause of the contamination, but when they attempt to meet at the old nursing home, Leo finds Ryder's dead body and sees Derren running away. In the ensuing police pursuit, Derren falls off a ladder and dies; the post-mortem reveals that he was suffering from similar symptoms to Colin and Peter. Jack suspects that Derren was not responsible for Ryder's death, and finds evidence that implicates David Loader. Meanwhile, after Leo's house is burgled, he is suspended for allegedly losing confidential files. Nikki tries to get help from Lord Embleton, with whom she is having an affair, but Embleton's father tries to stop him becoming involved with her. Leo seeks help from Tom Hancock, and they go to the farm again and discover the source of the radioactive contamination: a tunnelfire with a train carrying a nuclear warhead. When Tom finds a video revealing that his son and several other local boys had been in the tunnel without realising the danger, he takes a parcel of radioactive dust and threatens Sir William, who shows no remorse for covering up the disaster. Lord Embleton and David Loader enter Embleton's private office, not knowing that Tom has booby-trapped it, and both are covered in a fatal dose of radioactive dust from the tunnel.
Dave Lynn, Leena Dhingra, Roshan Seth, David Quilter, Hugh Hayes
Tim Bentinck, Richard Hope, Jan Pearson, Lolita Chakrabarti, Clive Wedderburn, Terence Maynard
When a sports agent is found dead, the police suspect suicide. However, Sam is not convinced, and when the post-mortem reveals that she was in the early stages of pregnancy, and that she had severe bruising to her arms, signs of a sexual assault appear to convince Sam otherwise. Matters are complicated further, however, when a client that she was having an affair with is also found dead. Tests reveal the father of her baby is Caucasian, which rule out her client, but appears to implicate her husband for the murder, despite his alibi. However, Sam is soon sidelined from the investigation following a disagreement with DI Jayne Hurst, and Harry's efforts to determine the time of death prove unreliable.
Sam is reunited with newly promoted DCI Michael Connor when they investigate a fire in a cinema. Sam manages to identify all but one of the 12 victims, body #10. As she gathers more information, including the use of a facial reconstruction, she comes to believe that body #10 is in fact someone who was supposed to have been killed years before and for which Chris Caldwell was convicted of murder. Sam becomes attracted to Caldwell and manages to get him set free, but when others are subsequently murdered, Connor does not believe Caldwell is quite as innocent as Sam believes.
Leo receives devastating news from home – his wife and daughter have been involved in a hit-and-run accident, prompting him to set off for Sheffield immediately. Meanwhile, Nikki is called out to a river when the bodies of two unidentified women are discovered, both shot in an execution-style. Upon his arrival in Sheffield, Leo is greeted with awful news and, haunted by the deaths of his wife and daughter, he goes on a quest to find the man responsible. Harry and Nikki attempt to counsel him as the police infiltrate a gang of identity fraudsters, but when he finally catches up with the enemy, he faces a difficult choice between exacting revenge or following legal procedures.
Sean Gallagher, Ronald Pickup, Colin Salmon, James Bree, Timothy Block, James Hornsby, Dione Inman, Philip Anthony
Tamsin Egerton, John McEnery, Natalia Cappuccini, Gregory Foreman
Aml Ameen, Marva Alexander, Elijah Baker, Sidney Cole, Karl Collins, Paul Higgins
Nikki sees a barefoot girl being knocked over by a car, marking the beginning of a case that takes the team into the harrowing world of sex grooming and prostitution for underage girls. The police know the teenager has been abused but the question is, by whom? Suspicion soon falls on her stepfather. Meanwhile, an early-morning bath saves Harry's life, and two puzzling corpses are brought in to the centre – a heavily tattooed man and a decomposed body found at the airport. Nikki uses facial reconstruction to identify the decomposed body found at the airport, and she and Harry make a crucial connection between the dead girls and sex-grooming victim Shannon, who is later returned to her family. But when her stepfather learns about her ordeal, he vows revenge on the men who abused her. Meanwhile, Harry moves in with Nikki when his flat blows up in a gas explosion.
When Mark James' decomposing body is found in an abandoned building, there is every indication that he was part of some occult ritual. An upside down cross was carved on his chest, his wrists were bound with ivy and he was strangled. All evidence points to his friend Sebastian Bird, a rich idler who allowed James to live in his house but who had also developed an expert knowledge of the occult before being sent down from Cambridge for having had an affair with a professor's wife. Sam's testy relationship with the police continues as she has difficulty establishing a forensic link in the case and publicly criticizes the well-liked Police Surgeon, Dr. Richard Owen, for attending the crime scene without the proper protective clothing. Sam also has to deal with her rebellious nephew Ricky, who is constantly fighting with his mother and announces that he has left home to move in with her. When another of Sebastian Bird's one-time friends is killed the police are ever more convinced of his guilt and grow increasingly frustrated at Sam's inability to provide them the evidence that they are sure is there. The solution lies in an old case and someone's desperate need for revenge.
Nikki and Jack investigate when a man's body is found in a children's playground. The body is soon identified as Dale Barge, a friend of the parents of an eight-year-old child, Lizzie Craddock, who has gone missing. Social worker Louise Marsh is furious, having applied for an interim care order just days previously, aware that the child was at risk. When a bite mark is found on the body that matches Lizzie, the victim is discovered to be have been a paedophile. Meanwhile, a young boy, Kevin Garvey, releases himself from a care home on his sixteenth birthday, determined to rebuild his family. Social worker Marsh has said that the children can re-unite with their mother if she agrees to split up with her dangerous partner. When Kevin's grandfather reveals to him that his stepfather once raped his sister, getting her pregnant, Kevin goes on the rampage and the next day, his stepfather is found murdered in his cab. An infant is then admitted to hospital with severe bruising, and Marsh again applies for an interim care order. She ignores the advice of a junior doctor who is positive his parents have not abused him, and that the bruising is the result of a rare medical condition - but Marsh takes no notice and has the child taken into care anyway.
Nick Reding, Jack Dee, Cheryl Hall, Alec Linstead
Sam returns to Cambridge to take up a teaching assignment and to work for the police. In her first case, she has to deal with the death of a six-year-old girl found floating in a nearby river. The autopsy reveals that the child has suffered previous abuse, including cigarette burns and several broken ribs. Sam receives information from a prison inmate that implicates someone in a previous death and Sam suggests a radical step. In her personal life, Sam has to deal with her elderly mother who is showing signs of dementia and her sister Wyn with whom she has a strained relationship. With the exhumation of a child that had died from abuse some years earlier, Sam is able to demonstrate that there are similarities between the deaths of the two children. There is also only one individual with a connection to both cases. When Sam's house is broken into, her personal safety is put at risk, but she pursues the case with her usual zeal.
When an ex-convict is found brutally murdered in his home, suspicion immediately lands on a recently released killer. The Lyell team is introduced to Sasha Blackburn, a forensic psychologist who works closely with those released from prison on Life Licence.
Harry and Nikki are called to investigate when an RAF helicopter crashes into a detention centre for failed asylum seekers, shortly after appearing at a nearby airshow, which both Harry and Nikki were attending. When it appears that the military are trying to hush up the incident, they each open their own investigations to prove that the pilot was not at fault for the crash, and to identify a mysterious girl who fled the site amid the carnage, taking Nikki's handbag with her. With Harry's attempts to prove the pilot innocent bordering on obsession, the father of the deceased asks him to perform an independent autopsy, which reveals that at the time of his death, he was taking medication for anxiety, which was brought on by the fact he believed that the aircraft was not safe to operate. Meanwhile, Nikki identifies the detention centre victim, but realises that by doing so, she may have put his daughter in danger with his long list of dangerous enemies.

"Something Happened on the Way to Heaven"

Coke's hartebeest in Ngorongoro, Tanzania.

Tom Chadbon, Lesley Dunlop, Alec Linstead, Trevor Bannister
When the body of a member of the Jewish Hasidic community, Yitshok Hassam, is discovered, the team agree to perform a 'dry' post mortem on the victim to respect the wishes of his faith. A forensic link is found to a group of Polish labourers, but Harry begins to wonder whether the victim's wife is hiding something, and decides to carry out a full autopsy to determine the time of death. When another Jewish body is also found, Harry becomes convinced that his and Yitshok's deaths are linked. DNA testing suggests the killer is Hasidic, but the police refuse to believe the claims and demand that Harry be taken off the case. However, Nikki decides to stand by her colleague and the pair make some shocking discoveries after re-testing all of the DNA samples.
Top-flight footballer Isaac Dreyfus' days at the top are numbered when a sex tape links him to the brutal murder of a young woman, threatening to destroy his reputation and marriage. Nikki struggles to come to terms with Leo's death following the arrival of the new Lyell Centre boss, pathologist Thomas Chamberlain. However, her feelings surface when DI John Leighton and DS Anne Burchett demand results in two unsolved cases - a mother and son murdered in their wealthy London home and the disfigured body of a young woman. Footballer Isaac Dreyfus desperately fights to prove his innocence, whilst disillusioned Adam Freedman turns to a mysterious source for help to avenge the murder of his wife and child. Under scrutiny from the press, the police are determined to nail their prime suspect and pile pressure on The Lyell Centre to deliver results. However, when Nikki questions the motive behind the murders, a re-examination of the Freedman crime scene leads Jack to make a startling discovery.

Clarence Paul, William Stevenson, Henry Cosby, Stevie Wonder

Reece Dinsdale, Fiona Wade, Alan Williams, Michael Begley, Daniel Hill, Peter Guinness
A boy's body is discovered near his school, and a search is launched when the classmate he was last seen with, Liam, is reported missing. After it transpires the deceased was abused and had traces of an unknown toxic chemical in his body, the youngsters' headmaster, a man who used to teach Nikki, becomes a suspect - and a second corpse is found. The search for Liam resumes and a link is discovered between the dead schoolboy's stepfather and the missing child. Meanwhile, Nikki performs a post mortem on the second body and finds traces of the same unknown toxin present in the first. Leo and Harry try to identify and locate the source of the chemical in a bid to find out where Liam is being held, and are led to a container hidden in the woods.
Juliet Aubrey, Maurice Lee, Leo Gregory, Gillian Kearney, Stephen Greif, Jonathan Wrather
When a pub landlady is stabbed to death and her little finger is cut off by the killer, Nikki seeks to prove the innocence of the dead woman's husband, Roly Henderson, against the police's mounting evidence to suggest his involvement. Concerned for the couple's young daughter, Nikki convinces Jack and Leo that this is in fact the latest victim of a psychopathic serial killer, and, when Jack discovers that the intransigent DI Kate Warren has falsified evidence under the influence of her father, a senior police officer, he joins in the search. After an investigation of the evidence relating to an earlier, similar murder, suspicion falls on Alan Lane, an ex-policeman who has already served a prison sentence for the murder of his own wife. Nikki tracks down Anne Percival, the retired detective involved in the case. Unknown to the team, Percival is aware that Lane's wife Imogen is not dead, and is assisting Imogen in protecting herself and her daughter from discovery by Lane. When Percival contacts Imogen, Lane first tortures Percival to death in an attempt to discover their whereabouts, then kidnaps his own daughter, Karen, to lure Imogen back to him; when confronted by the police, he shoots DI Warren dead. Nikki saves Jack's life when Lane arrives at the scene of the kidnap as they are freeing Karen. Henderson is reunited with his daughter.
Nikki is furious with Leo when he re-examines a child abuse case by her former mentor, leading to conflict between the pathologists. But she soon has more to worry about when a workman at the centre reveals how his mother is being manipulated by a convicted serial killer into searching for his hidden teenage victims. As the team tracks down the detective who originally worked on the Arnold Mears case and examine the church he visited as a boy, the killer is furious that the police have been made aware of the undiscovered bodies. Eventually, he agrees to talk, but only to Nikki. Can she outwit the scheming convict and compel him to reveal the whereabouts of the corpses – and Annie?
Sarah Begovic returns to the UK at the same time Amir Aziz is found murdered at the bottom of a flight of stairs. Amir was a well-known anti-fundamentalist, and the Lyell team make an arrest immediately. Sarah smuggles drugs into the UK, and she begins acting oddly in public. DI Ryman is determined that she has the right man arrested, but when evidence comes to light, they soon realise they've made the wrong arrest and that murderer is still out... and ready to strike again. Sarah is later found at a dilapidated block of flats, but manages to flee when her Muslim boyfriend shoots two police officers, leaving one in a life-threatening condition. Nikki and Jack make connections to Sarah and the killing of Amir, and soon realise that Begovic and her boyfriends are planning a mass shootout at a busy business centre where another anti-fundamentalist Muslim woman is planning on holding a conference. The team arrive, however the woman have been evacuated from the business centre and a shootout has begun; a security guard is then shot dead. Armed officers immediately kill Sarah's boyfriend, before finding Sarah amongst the congregation of woman outside the building - and worse follows when she holds the anti-fundamentalist woman hostage. The officers convince Sarah to let the woman go, before shooting her.
The Lyell team investigate the clinical shooting of a family picnicking by the River Malt. Jack and Nikki are left in mortal danger when they uncover a high-powered world of sex and depravity.
The team attend a triple murder at a farmhouse, where the investigating detective, DI Connie James, wastes no time making her presence felt. The pathologists soon make a breakthrough when DNA found at the scene matches that of a mysterious female serial killer – although Nikki has cause to question the direction they are heading in. The case is proving difficult for Leo, however, whose mind is in turmoil following the suicide of an old friend. Harry persuades Connie to disobey orders and test DNA evidence from the original investigation, and Janet is called in to help build the personality of the female serial killer. Leo is still troubled by the suicide of his friend Lizzie Frazer, prompting Nikki to dig deeper into the murder of the woman's sister ten years before. The episode is partly based on the Phantom of Heilbronn case.

Natland village green and St Mark's church.jpg

Church Aston - geograph.org.uk - 287100.jpg

Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives

Nick Bagnall, Sudha Bhuchar, Lesley Manville, Jimi Mistry
Harry befriends eager medical student Holly Farr after giving a lecture to a group of trainees and involves her in his latest case, the post-mortem of a woman whose body was found at the side of a road with the face expertly removed. Nikki tries to reconstruct the victim's features to help identify her, but Holly immediately recognises her as Fran Price – a former TV presenter and journalist who had fallen on hard times. The team's relationship with Holly falls apart due to a lack of trust, forcing Harry to pursue his own line of inquiry. As he searches for the truth, he finds himself conducting a press conference with Oleg Kovik, a Russian oligarch who claims Fran Price was a friend of his, and that he is the next target of her killer because of a book he was helping Fran to write.
After human remains are found at an Afghan water project, the brother of missing soldier Dan Lambert begs Leo to go to Afghanistan to prepare the body for repatriation and discover whatever they can about how he died. Nikki and Jack go with him, and almost immediately encounter apparent hostility from private security guards working at the site. Their leader, Sean Nugent, is reluctant to allow contact with three Taliban prisoners, and appears to be losing control of his men when one of the prisoners is found hanged in their cell; Nikki suspects that one of the other guards is responsible, and discovers that one of the prisoners, "Karim", is an Englishman. Leo develops a relationship with Fawzia, the Afghan charity worker responsible for the water project, and is assaulted one night outside the compound. Evidence begins to point towards Lambert having been killed by friendly fire. Clarissa interviews Scott Lambert again, and discovers that Nugent was an NCO with the original military team of which Dan was a member; her e-mail is concealed from Leo by Nugent. While Jack is investigating decomposition rates in the local climatic conditions, he comes across further parts of Lambert's body. In the meantime, Leo and Nikki are accidentally locked in the cell with Karim and the other Taliban prisoner, and Karim appears to confess to having been involved in Lambert's killing. After Nugent takes the prisoners to be handed over to the local authorities, Jack realises that the body parts are not Lambert's at all, and that "Karim" is in fact Lambert himself. By the time he alerts the guards, the prisoners have murdered Nugent and escaped. At the opening of the new water project, Leo spots Karim/Lambert in disguise, and discovers that he is intending to carry out a suicide attack. As Leo walks him away from the site, the explosives are detonated and both are killed.
The police investigate an apparent break-in that resulted in the death of businessman Derek Irons, his wife and youngest daughter. Two older children survive the attack, but one is in a serious condition and the other in a coma. Sam soon discovers that Irons was a ruthless businessman who targeted his rivals' customers resulting in regular confrontations. When Harry and Leo perform the post mortems on the three bodies, they discover that Irons was stabbed, but his wife and daughter were shot. Sam is soon reunited with an old friend from Northern Ireland, Det. Supt. Tony Ashton, who becomes the senior investigative officer on the case. As the police continue their investigation into the deaths, they begin to believe that he may have been killed elsewhere, and then transported to his home. When one of the two surviving children is murdered, Ashton looks to a circle of friends and family for a possible motive. Meanwhile, Harry assists the police with the death of an old woman who is believed to have fallen down a staircase, however, his post-mortem reveals evidence that is not consistent with a fall. As the police investigate further, they soon discover a link between her death and the Irons family murders.
Neil Stuke, Simon Chandler, Matthew Delamere
Nicholas Le Prevost, Joseph Mawle, Jemima Rooper, David de Keyser, Paul Panting
Nikki and Jack investigate when, whilst on the way home from his child's birthday day, two armed hitmen on a motorcycle botch an assassination attempt on Russian oligarch Maksim Bazhanov. However, during the attack, his Ukrainian nanny is hit and killed. The two men are found to have links to a terrorist organization called Free London. The senior officer on the case, DI Parkes, is being hassled by a senior commissioner to find out who is responsible - and fast. Meanwhile, the comissioner's daughter, who works for a security company who are responsible for the security in the apartments where Bazhanov is living, begins to develop a relationship with the leader of Free London. When she is later found dead in Bazhanov's apartment, and Bazhanov disappears without trace, the commissioner pressures DI Parkes to plant evidence to frame someone for her daughter's murder. Meanwhile, Jack's instinct leads him to uncover Bazhanov's body in the Thames, and proof that Bazhanov was not responsible for the young girl's murder. When the head of security at the apartment becomes the prime suspect, a relationship between the Doshi siblings is torn apart when she is forced to admit that she was responsible for Bazhanov's death.

Wong Chuk Hang Station under construction in January 2015

Kate Ashfield, Matthew McNulty, Derek de Lint, Joe Montana, Stephanie Carey
Harry's burgeoning relationship with Nikki is jeopardised when his ex-girlfriend Penny is killed in a car crash. It looks like suicide at first glance, but DCI Lauren Ambrose uncovers evidence that the victim may have had an affair - as well as a secret child. Meanwhile, Leo examines the staged death of a conceptual artist, Jimmy Triangle. With Harry determined to find Penny's killer, he and Nikki are pushed further apart when he forces her to re-examine Penny's body. Leo is puzzled by more contrary clues in Triangle's bizarre death - and soon becomes convinced that someone is playing a twisted game.
The team pursue a serial killer with a grisly desire to look at his victims' faces as they die, and the trail leads into the world of academic philosophy. However, Nikki is distracted from the case by the death of her grandmother, while Harry investigates the demise of a woman who apparently drowned in three inches of water. Nikki finds the cruelty of the serial killer's crimes too much to cope with – but a picture belonging to her grandmother provides the flash of inspiration that may put the murderer behind bars. Meanwhile, Harry delves into the death of the drowning victim, discovering that her demise was the result of a cruel twist of fate.

Corston All Saints Church - geograph.org.uk - 67722.jpg

When a decomposed body is found hidden in the wall of an old factory building, Sam comes to the conclusion that he was murdered. He is eventually identified by his ex-girlfriend Selina Thomson as Marcus Saul, a man who had simply disappeared one day some seven years earlier. The police soon have a suspect in mind, however, new information suggests that the identity of the killer may lie in a completely different direction. Meanwhile, at the university, Leo is asked by The Dean to investigate a break in on campus, which resulted in a large amount of drugs being stolen. Hours later, a student is found dead after suffering a drug overdose, and the university must face the wrath of the girl's father, a major benefactor. When Leo performs the autopsy, it reveals that not only had she taken drugs, but also that she had sexual relations with three different men in the last 48 hours.

World's Tallest Complete Circuit Roller Coaster

When a suspected terrorist attack causes an explosion at a hotel, the death of a highly respected government minister appears to be the key to the motive behind the attack. However, Sam soon discovers that an old acquaintance of hers was also at the scene, and as she delves deeper into the case, has to deal with her attempted rape which occurred earlier that evening. Determined to get to the bottom of the minister's death, she conducts a second autopsy, but her findings are soon undermined by an independent pathologist, who appears to have a stronger link to the case than meets the eye. To make matters worse, the investigation team threaten to strike Sam off if she supports the dead woman's family at an inquest.
An armed police raid at a terraced house in North London sees two suspected terrorists killed, along with a police officer. Nikki doubts the officers' accounts of events after carrying out the post mortems, as the forensic evidence just does not add up. The case then takes an unexpected turn when it transpires one of the surviving policemen is having an affair with his dead colleague's wife. Nikki and Harry form a bond as they search for the truth, but accusations fly and paranoia is heightened when another terror suspect dies in hospital. Meanwhile, Harry uses cutting-edge techniques to uncover the identity of one of the suspected terrorists, and soon discovers, much to his surprise, that she was a police officer, working undercover for the drug squad. Leo performs the post mortem on the third terror suspect, and soon realises that the team's assumptions about the shooting were wrong – and that the real assailant is still at large.

"Nothing Compares 2 U" by Sinéad O'Connor

The discovery of the mutilated body of a young African boy in a river forces Leo to face a ghost from his past - the death of his own daughter, Cassie. Questions are raised as to whether the victim was murdered in a ritual killing, and evidence points the team in the direction of a nearby church - however, Leo has other ideas, and suspects that the murders may be related to a local African cult group, operating from a warehouse unit in central London. Meanwhile, Nikki investigates the suspicious death of a priest from a local Catholic boys' school, Father Reed, who appears to have been taking drugs for depression at the time of his death. Looking for evidence at the scene of the mutilated child's body, Harry and Leo discover the badly decomposed body of another young African boy, which continues to spark disagreements between them, resulting in accusations of racial bias dogging their attempts to solve the case. Meanwhile, the body of another man linked to the priest's murder gives Nikki more leads to follow up, and leads her on a trail of revenge, death and confusion amongst the school.

Laporte playing for Athletic Bilbao in 2014.

Nikki and Jack head to Scotland to help earnest rural detective DS Jason Ross investigate the chilling murder of a lap dancer found in a remote forest. In their search to find a suspect, the team clash with rogue city detectives DS Mike MacNeil and DI Simon Laing. But as more human remains are unearthed in the forest, it becomes horrifyingly apparent that a dangerous serial killer is at large. News of the murders unsettles new mother Sarah, who is harbouring a dark secret from her partner Steve.
After being promoted into the Professor's position, Leo is surprised to be united with Dr. Nikki Alexander. Nikki, a pathologist whose expertise lies in solving Iron Age mysteries with modern day techniques, finds herself covering new ground when she ends up bringing her expertise to bear on a modern murder. The case in question is the death of a jockey crushed by his mount during a race. Harry and Leo suspect it was simply an accident. However, when two of the horses' owners are killed in a helicopter crash, evidence emerges that both the horse and the pilot were drugged. Harry and Leo suspect syndicate member Matt Gibb was responsible for the deaths of his co-owners and the jockey, and Nikki's skills help expose the cracks in his story. Gibb confesses to drugging the horse but denies any involvement in the helicopter crash, leaving the pathologists divided over whether to believe him.
Nikki delivers ground-breaking testimony in the high-profile appeal court case of David Bennetto, a convicted killer who has spent the last six years behind bars for the murder of two gay teenagers. But bitter DI Rachel Klein remains unconvinced that she caused a miscarriage of justice and cannot hide her contempt, especially when another young man is found dead bearing the same hallmarks of the previous murders. Meanwhile, Nikki's professionalism is brought into question due to her increasingly close relationship with lawyer Greg Walker. Nikki's professional reputation is on the line when her romantic involvement with lawyer Greg Walker leads her face-to-face with a raging Bennetto. Thomas is under mounting pressure from DI Rachel Klein and the Home Office as he battles to save the Lyell Centre's reputation in the midst of a media storm. Grieving for the death of his murdered son, newspaper hack Peter Masham strikes an unlikely deal with Bennetto's brother-in-law. Meanwhile, Jack and Clarissa uncover the true identity of murder victim Byron Lee.
Gemma Boyd, an attractive 17-year-old, is found dead at the bottom of a staircase. Although the cause of death was a broken neck, there is little to indicate whether she fell or was pushed. She was found in a vacant house that her estate agent mother and stepfather were selling. The autopsy reveals that Gemma had already had a child and was pregnant. The police think that Gemma's boyfriend is their man but when someone else is revealed as the father in the latest pregnancy, Sam thinks there is a far more complex set of relationships at play. Meanwhile, Sam's sister Wyn visits from Ireland with big news: she is going to get married. Sam's relationship with James however takes an unfortunate turn and seems to come to an end.
When twin brothers Jake and Henry Davies are found dead in their home, the police initially suspect robbery, as the elderly gentlemen were known to keep large sums of cash in the house. The autopsy reveals murder however and Sam determines that skin grafts both men have on their arms may have been a crude form of plastic surgery meant to cover tattoos of concentration camp numbers. Thinking they are now dealing with a hate crime, the police focus on Carl Martin, a known race-hater. What they have however is a case of someone seeking revenge for the atrocities committed long ago.

*Paratrooper Battalion 373, Airmobile Forces Command
*Mechanized Infantry Brigade 37, 13th Mechanized Infantry Division
*ISAF Regional Command North
*Special Operations Division

John Briggs , a wealthy, ageing confectionery company owner, is found dead in his London hotel suite. Nikki listens to the arguments put forward by forensic scientist Jack Hodgson to prove to sceptical DS Gold that there are suspicious circumstances surrounding the death. It is learned that Briggs was losing a desperate fight to prevent the sale of his ailing company to investors. Michael Trenter, his business advisor, seems keen to conceal Briggs’ murky private life from the press, as it threatens to devalue the "family brand". Briggs' brother, Philip, is shocked to learn that Briggs has left control of the company to his estranged daughter, Geraldine, who ponders on the reason for her involvement. Suspicion falls on a "call-girl" seen leaving the hotel, but Briggs' lawyer Annette Kelly reveals that the girl, Deana, is in fact Geraldine's daughter, adopted when her mother was sixteen. Meanwhile, it becomes obvious that someone is leaking information to the press, and Jack accuses DC Gus Cook, resulting in a fight between the two. When Deana's body is found by the Thames, Jack deduces that she was murdered and finds her mobile phone, which shows that she was in league with Trenter; DNA proves that she was not in fact Geraldine's daughter. Annette Kelly reveals information about Briggs and Trenter to Geraldine. When she too is found murdered, Geraldine is suspected, whilst the company's value falls to the point where the main bidder, Schwartzman, can pick it up for next to nothing. When Philip learns the extent of Trenter's double-dealing, he kills him; Trenter is subsequently revealed to be the murderer of both Deana and Annette Kelly. Leo decides to secure the Lyell Centre’s future by employing Jack to head up a new forensics department. Jack insists on bringing along his trusted technician, Clarissa .
Sam, Leo and Harry are alarmed when the home office assign them to re-examine the work of independent pathologist Peter Sachs. Between them, they investigate three of Sachs' cases - the murders of Craig Proctor, Brian Morris and Zoe Adams. Although Sam and Leo suspect Sachs is acting suspiciously, Harry refuses to believe that he is in the wrong. Sam discovers that Sachs has been using a new method of determining time of death, and against her better judgement, uses Sachs in order to provide evidence to determine the time of death of Eddie Doyle, who was murdered due to being a witness to Craig Proctor's murder.
Amanda Drew, Ashley Chin, Bill Ward, Sammy Kissin, Freya Parker, Danielle Bux
The team are called to the scene of a drive-by shooting, where they are joined by detectives from Operation Trident investigating a turf war between drug gangs. The case proves less clear-cut than expected when evidence emerges that someone returned fire. The vehicle used is soon traced to an abandoned industrial unit, where a decomposing corpse is uncovered – and Nikki resolves to find out the true cause of death. The detectives discover club owner Ainsley Modest is under pressure to hand over his establishment to a local gang – but is not going down without a fight. With a second shoot-out imminent, the team face a race against time to track down the elusive gunsmith before he can arm both factions for the confrontation. Harry follows up a lead, but finds himself in a dangerous situation, and Nikki continues to investigate Lisa's death.
The murder of a very recently pregnant young woman found in a suitcase leaves Nikki, Jack and Thomas in a race against time, not only to catch her killer, but to find the baby.
Harry and Nikki are tasked to investigate the death of insurance investigator William Byfield, who appears to have committed suicide by suffocating from fumes from an exhaust pipe piped into his car. An initial examination appears to confirm that theory, until lab assistant Charlie re-examines the stomach contents, and faints at the smell of cyanide being present - suggesting that the deceased may have been poisoned, not stabbed. Meanwhile, Leo is confronted by Byfield's replacement, Clare Ambler, after she discovers that Byfield's last case was investigating the untimely death of Stephen Connelly, a healthy middle-aged man. However, despite his signature being on the post mortem report, Leo has no recollection of ever performing one - and nor is there any record that Connelly's body ever arrived at the Lyell Centre. Believing that Leo has committed fraud on behalf of the deceased's relatives, Clare has Leo investigated by the police - but her crusade is short lived, when Leo is smashed on the back of the head and left for dead outside his house. And the situation turns from bad to worse when the body of coroner's assistant David Levin is found in the boot of Connnelly's widow's car.
Shelley Conn, Vincent Regan, Adam Best, Nick Hobbs, Shobu Kapoor
Julian Glover, Dominic Jephcott, Ian Dunn, Heather Bleasdale
When the bodies of two men are exposed during a landslide in Ireland, Sam is forced to make a long overdue painful journey home. The subsequent investigation suggests the pair died during the sectarian violence of the 1970s. However, a secret closer to home soon comes to light. Sam discovers that her estranged son, whom she had at 16, is still living in Ireland – and the investigation soon leads her to his doorstep. The investigation reveals evidence of RUC corruption, and Sam is soon startled when the evidence points to the involvement of a member of her own family. As the police pull out all the stops to track down the killers, Sam makes an announcement that stuns her colleagues.
Naomi Bentley, Neil Dudgeon, Phil Davis, Andrew Byron, Ryan Kiggell
A rising star in the Essex police force is found beaten and shot in his burnt-out car in what proves to be an emotional case for his colleagues. The team helps DCI Jim Sullivan, the detective charged with bringing the killer to justice, and it isn't long before suspicion falls on Dean Fallon - a local drug dealer and the son of a known crime boss. But when he proves to have a solid alibi, the investigation shifts closer to home.
Nikki and Jack investigate when a sniper randomly picks off three people in a petrol station car park. As Jack tries to identify the weapon, a fourth victim is found nearby, having been shot at the wheel of her car. With the DCI attached to the case more concerned about her own private affairs than catching the killer, it's not long before the sniper strikes again, this time picking off a gardener of a local estate. The latest killing, however, fails to show all of the hallmarks of the first four deaths, and the scene has been left in a much sloppier way than the tidy and neat arrangement of the first two crime scenes. Jack suspects a second killer or an accomplice may be at work. A sixth victim, a lorry driver, in then picked off whilst picking up breakfast at a local service station. Meanwhile, evidence relating to the murders is discovered which implicates the owner of a local army and navy store. However, as Nikki, Jack and DCI De Freitas arrive, the shop goes up in flames having been the victim of a bomb attack. Working on the theory that the fifth murder is the key to the entire case, Jack realises that the team are closer to the killer than they think, and makes a shock discovery when he goes to visit the son of one of the victims.
Helen Mathews is found strangled on the street. In the course of the investigation, the police learn that she was having an affair with Alan Whyte, a flying instructor working for her husband Michael. From the evidence, it appears that she was about to leave her husband and move to Canada. The police uncover a similar case from several years earlier with a striking resemblance to this case and are convinced that the two must be connected. Friction again develops between Sam and the police when her forensic analysis demonstrates that the two cases have no connection whatsoever. Sam continues to fret over her decisions in her last case and her personal relationship with Peter Ross reaches a breaking point. With a second murder on their hands, the police make an arrest in the case. Sam however uncovers some very peculiar bruising on both victims that provides the police with the evidence they need to identify the person responsible. Sam's life is put at risk however when the murderer threatens her. Wyn Ryan, who has been living with Sam since their mother's death, has found a job and is now looking to move on. Sam and Peter continue to struggle with their relationship but are determined to make a go of it.
Linda Thorson, Larry Lamb, Sean Chapman, Richard Huw, Jim Findley, Robert Ashby
A horrific car crash poses troubling questions for Nikki when she discovers that one of the two victims was the recently released Anna Holland, an accomplice to a particularly brutal murder whom she helped escape a life sentence four years earlier, by providing evidence for the defence. As it appears she was stabbed before her death, the police attempt to discover who knew the location of the safe house in which she was staying - and who had a strong enough grudge to want her dead. As the investigation progresses, Nikki re-interviews key witnesses from the original case, and begins to doubt her earlier conclusions. As she prepares to publicly concede that she could have been wrong about Anna's innocence, Leo urges her not to throw her career away while there is still uncertainty - however, her father puts a spanner in the works when he sells Nikki's story to the papers, in order to secure money to clear his debt. Meanwhile, Harry tries to identify two bodies found buried in the garden of a house, and allotment, owned by a retired a Spanish couple. However, he soon discovers that they are connected to his colleague's troubling case, which may or may not provide the ammunition to either clear or implicate Anna in murder.
Leo visits old college friend Sean Delaney at his psychiatric care centre in Essex, where one of the patients was found dead in her bed. Although the coroner ruled a verdict of sudden death syndrome, Delaney is not convinced and asks Leo to investigate. Suspicion soon falls on the dead girl's father, who has lost the family fortune and his wife – but the pathologist runs into problems when the local detective sergeant gives him a less-than-warm welcome, making it clear she is suspicious of his motives. The team delves deeper into the circumstances surrounding Eve's death. Leo confronts the girl's mother and comes close to what actually happened the night before her daughter died, while Harry and Nikki track down the nun who performed the exorcism - and are shocked by what they find. Psychiatrist Sean turns his attention to Eve's brother John, who believes he is also possessed by the demons that haunted his sister - is history about to repeat itself? Or, more crucially, does anyone care?
Akin Gazi, Irena Machi, Sean Gallagher, Fady Elsayed, Morven Christie, Ruth Gemmell

Fco. De La Maza, J.A. Martín Bertrán, M.A. Pérez Pérez

Jessica Lloyd, Alan Hunter, Lloyd McGuire
Sam comes under intense scrutiny during an official inquiry into the deaths of two brothers while they were in prison. Her findings are soon challenged by Leo, who is brought in by the Crown to perform a second autopsy. Meanwhile, a series of murders that are taking place cast suspicion heavily on a suspect who has recently been released from prison. He served time in prison after being convicted of killing his wife – and the evidence against him was given by Sam during one of her very first cases. During his time in prison, he continued to protest his innocence – but did years behind bars change him for the worse? Sam soon comes to believe that someone is stalking her, and the police have trouble locating the ex-convict.

Hierrezuelo, Pérez Pizarro, García González

A teenage girl is found tortured to death in a London dogs' home, and an office employee at one of the world's largest animal experimentation facilities is found dead in her flat. It soon emerges another woman is being held hostage by the culprits, who turn out to be the owners of the facility itself, who have kidnapped a violent team of animal activists who were seeking to raid one of the experimentation facility buildings. However, the case becomes much more complicated when Nikki is kidnapped by the activist's group leader. Harry faces a race against time to find her captors, who are based deep inside the woods. Meanwhile, Leo's best friend Lionel is forced to partake in a hearing against his conduct, and Leo must decide whether to follow his conscience at the expense of his best friend's livelihood.
Nikki and Jack investigate the death of two women, who have been tied up and tortured in a basement. The trail of evidence leads eventually to a research institute where Lucas Ballinger is employed. Meanwhile, Leo becomes involved in the case of a young woman imprisoned for the murder of her baby, as a result of a direct approach from the baby's father, who wants to avoid having his older son taken into care whilst not wishing to incriminate himself. When a third woman is killed in a similar manner to the first two, the team discover a link with both Hearns, an ex-soldier, and Ballinger, who goes on the run. The investigation is complicated by Jack's feelings for the investigating police officer, DI Reid, a former lover whom he suspects of having previously betrayed him by tampering with forensic evidence. Nikki, at first sympathetic towards Reid, changes her view when she is trapped in a building set on fire by Hearns to conceal the third murder and Reid fails to help her. Ballinger tracks down and kills Hearns, then goes after his boss at the research institute, Dr Fell, who is behind Hearns' activities and the release of anthrax spores to create demand for a vaccine manufactured by his company. Nikki and Jack see through Reid when she begins an affair with a senior officer, and track Ballinger to a park, where he reveals that he was blackmailed by Hearns into participating in the release of the spores because Hearns had kidnapped his wife, one of the murdered women. An impatient Reid brings in a police sniper to kill Ballinger, and is finally shamed by the failure to find any weapon among his personal effects.

Kashyapa statue in Andhra Pradesh, India

When army soldier Lieutenant Lockfield takes his own life at the Hillsdon army base, his friends and colleagues believe the suicide was caused by the traumatic experience of watching his friend, and fellow officer, Danny Ferris, die in battle. However, evidence soon comes to light that just before his death, Lockfield had been arguing with Catz, Ferris's ex-girlfriend. And when the body of a young female is pulled from a nearby river, it turns out to be none other than Catz herself. When Nikki discovers that Catz was having an affair with Lieutenant Lockfield, she suspects foul play may have resulted in her death, and that there may be an ulterior motive that contributed to Lockfield's suicide. Meanwhile, Harry carries out the postmortem on Lockfield, and soon discovers he did not commit suicide, and was instead murdered, after the discovery of a bullet lodged in the front of his brain - fired after the fatal shot that killed him. When Nikki discovers Catz made a phone call to former soldier Dennis Croft, who was cashiered for drug peddling just before her death, she believes it could be the clue to uncovering the real identity of Catz's killer. And when the police catch Croft skulking at Catz's flat, they take him into custody, only for him to reveal that there was a cover-up over Danny Ferris's death, and that Ferris was in fact shot by one of his own men during the battle. After discovering that Croft was on the army base the day that Lockfield was murdered, the police soon believe they have caught the killer of both victims. CCTV evidence, however, discovers that Catz's death was due to a bizarre accident.
Harry is disturbed to be called to a crime scene at the home of a family he knows, and finds the bodies of the mother and her teenage daughter, while her stepson lies in a coma – although her toddler has been left unharmed. The police suspect the woman's husband to be the killer – but the pathologist is not so sure of his guilt. The double-murder investigation reveals more about the tangled lives of the inhabitants of Magnolia Drive. Harry makes a significant discovery about the dead woman's stepson Charlie, found lying in a coma at the crime scene, while Leo sets out to recreate the shape of the mystery weapon, with the help of forensic scientist Gill Bailey.

* TJ Otzelberger
* William Small
* Daniyal Robinson

When Leo is called to investigate the apparent suicide of 14-year-old Alison Garland, it evokes painful memories of his daughter's death. But with the help of the school's child psychologist, he realises the girl was murdered. The case is soon linked to another incident in which a car salesman, Chris Duncan, was killed with the same knife. When the deputy headteacher of the school is also found dead, Leo realises that the killings are connected to a sinister teenage pact. Meanwhile, Nikki investigates the death of an elderly victim, who appears to have died of as the result of injuries she sustained to her head and legs - but she soon believes that there is more to the situation than meets the eye.
Matthew Wait, Steve Toussaint, Michael Byrne, Adjoa Andoh, Alan Westaway
Sam investigates when police probation officer Jason Villers is found murdered on a landfill site, after being tied up and being burnt across the back. The police soon establish a link between Villiers' murder and the murder of student Michael Haughty, who was found murdered in the same place just months before hand. With no link between the two killings, the police come to believe that they may have a serial killer on their hands. The police discover information which could result in bringing justice to Haughty's killer – but appear to have no leads on who killed Villers. When a second police probationer officer is found dead, Sam concludes that they may be dealing with a copycat killer, rather than a serial killer. The police begin to believe that a fellow probation officer may have been responsible for the murders, however, it appears that the commandant, whose son is a trainee student, is covering up the deaths to keep the reputation of the college protected. In a separate case, Harry is approached by the wife of an old university friend who asks him to perform a post-mortem on her husband, who supposedly died in a fall. However, he finds that the man was injecting himself with drugs regularly, and that his wife was the one who was prescribing them to him.
Ciarán McMenamin, Des McAleer, Yvonne O'Grady, Daragh O'Malley

Journey through the Secret Life of Plants

St Michael's Church - geograph.org.uk - 1107875.jpg

John Flanagan, Melanie Hill, Nigel Terry, Paul Copley
Sam is shaken when she has to look into the death of a very dear friend, Dr. Annabelle Evans, a Cambridge professor. She was found in her home, badly beaten in what appears to be a botched burglary attempt. The police immediately focus on the husband as the likely killer but Sam suspects that an altercation at a local restaurant during the May Ball, where a waiter spilled wine on Annabelle and was fired on the spot, may provide another suspect. Sam is intrigued by the relationship some of her students may have had with Annabelle, particularly when she learns her friend may have had a lover. In her personal life, Sam has moved on. Her sister Wyn has relocated to Ireland and Peter Ross has also been transferred. She does however run into an old friend who also happens to be an acquaintance of her business partner Trevor.
Chris Reilly, Joe Doyle, Grant Burgin, Matt Selby, Jonas Khan, Brana Bajic
Richard Dillane, Esther Hall, Abigail Hardingham, Ben Tavassoli
Sean Wilson, Samuell Benta, Gillian Wright, Nigel Betts, Daniel Ainsleigh
When a student suicide occurs on a university campus, Leo liaises with the Dean and investigating officer DC Saich after it emerges the deceased, Jason Renfrew, was the victim of bullying. Concern grows when a gun and live ammunition are discovered in the dead boy's locker, and the contents from a memory card found in his stomach reveal files containing photos of students, some of whom he named as his tormentors. Before the team can investigate further, their fears become a horrible reality as one of the main campus buildings comes under attack by a rampaging shooter, trapping Harry and Nikki inside. All Leo can do is watch helplessly via CCTV security cameras as his colleagues try to help the wounded. Specialist firearms officers storm the building and find suspected shooter Scott Weston, lying on the floor, with a bullet wound to the head. As the wounded and dead are wheeled out, Harry stays to help the paramedic attending to Weston. Unable to help, Nikki returns to the pathology lab, but realises she is not alone, when student Neil Bates enters the lab and locks the doors behind him. As Leo starts preliminary post mortems on the victims in a temporary mortuary in the university's sports hall, he soon realises that there were two guns used in the incident. Meanwhile, with Neil pointing a gun at Nikki, she starts to work out events as he slowly confides in her, and it soon becomes apparent Weston had a much bigger agenda than the shooting - blowing up the entire campus with a number of chemical bombs.
When 75-year-old Millicent Lockwood is found brutally beaten to death in a local park, the police immediately focus on a local who was seen arguing with her a short time earlier. The autopsy reveals little evidence but Sam once again refuses to make the evidence they have fit the suspect, which leads to an inevitable clash with the police. She also sees two youths, Kelvin Price and Ben Quayle, act out part of the murder. The police, however, are pursuing other lines of inquiry and do not have the time, nor the inclination, to pursue Sam's theories. She then sets off on her own investigation, convinced that Kelvin and Ben are the murderers. She is also concerned that one of the boys may do himself harm after a third boy, who was only peripherally involved, hangs himself. The police are concerned that her involvement may actually taint some of the evidence they have and an angry DCI Peter Ross informs her that he has filed a formal complaint with the Coroner and the Chief Constable over her conduct. This obviously affects their professional and personal relationship.
Sam investigates the death of a gay man while in police custody. He had been arrested while drunk, and was sharing a cell with another drunk in for the night. The victim died from a blow to the head and was badly beaten post-mortem. DS Farmer is concerned that the assault may have been the work of some of her officers. Sam also meets up with Liam Slattery, an old friend she has not seen for 20 years. Sam's sister, however, is convinced Liam was responsible for the death of their father years before. When a police constable is found dead, the investigating officers themselves believe something is amiss. Sam continues to be harassed by someone unknown, having to call in the bomb squad when she receives a mysterious parcel, and subsequently someone tries to run her off the road. Liam and Sam renew their relationship, but she is faced with a difficult choice.
The team members find themselves under pressure whilst working a number of parallel cases. Harry is called out to a council estate in which a sixteen-year-old boy has been killed in a hit-and-run, Leo investigates the cause of a fire that left a housewife dead and Nikki is called out when a bride-to-be collapses and dies on her hen night. Harry discovers that the car that killed the young boy has a custom paint job, linked to only a small number of cars in the country - but before he can inform the investigating officer, she is killed after being hit by a bus. Meanwhile, Nikki assists the detective looking into the house fire in a separate case in which an office prank has proved fatal, Leo investigates the death of a dentist whose body was found on a night bus and Harry discovers a link between the apparent suicide of a high-profile footballer and the death of the young boy.
Geoffrey Beevers, Joe Duttine, Grant Masters, Roberta Taylor, Renny Krupinski
Geraldine Alexander, Andrea Lowe, Shaun Dooley, Michael Higgs, Doña Croll, Kevork Malikyan

Juan Carlos Arteaga, Daniel Hierrezuelo, E. Pérez Pizarro

Douglas Russell, Rob Jarvis, Christine Bottomley, Christina Cole, Nicola Millbank, Debbie Nash
A teenager is mistakenly shot dead by the firearms unit. As Jack grows closer to the family of the murdered teenager, his objectivity is called into question. Nikki warns him to follow the evidence, but he unknowingly enters London’s small but devastating gun trade.
An accident involving a lorry and a funeral procession results in the bizarre discovery of two bodies inside a coffin - that of the deceased, Ethel Mortimer, and an unknown young man who suffered from a coke addiction. Meanwhile, Leo and Nikki's suspicions are aroused during a post mortem on a child, Ellie Harris, who died during a high-risk operation. When the second body is identified as Jamie Featherstone, the boyfriend of nurse Claire Kizowski, both investigations lead the detectives to a surgeon, Alice Huston, who appears to have a high rate of fatality amongst her patients. Investigating the possibility that someone on Huston's team is responsible for Jamie's death, Nikki is viciously attacked when she goes to meet Claire in the hospital basement. As she struggles to remember who attacked her, Harry works hard to discover just what happened to Jamie on the night of his death, and looks into Huston's case files, only to discover that she is being sued by the parents of a deceased patient - Sam Reid. However, when Harry discovers that Reid's death was down to Huston's registrar, who is also discovered to be an imposter, he soon realises that he may have worked out who is responsible for Jamie's death.
Leo is called to investigate the suicide of Kevin Perry, a mental patient from the January House private care home, who has recently been released after his course of treatment ended. Fellow patient David Nicholson is also on the warpath, stabbing three innocent victims in his latest psychotic episode, killing two, before he is captured by police. Meanwhile, Harry is tasked with investigating the suspected suicide of seventeen-year-old Nazim Theara, who reportedly jumped in front of train for no apparent reason. When the doctor treating both Perry and Nicholson, Dr. Sanders, fails to explain why the pair carried out such actions, Nikki and Leo are forced to dig deeper, and discover that someone has been tampering with the patient's medication. But when the doctor in question decides to attempt suicide, Nikki becomes convinced that he was the one responsible, causing their conditions to remain uncontrollable. As Harry continues his investigation, against the girl's adamant mother, who is positive she did not kill herself, he discovers that the girl had taken the same cocktail of anti-depressants taken by suicide victim Kevin Perry - and the lead soon becomes linked to a dodgy an online pharmacy.
Amanda Lane, Crispin Letts, Mojisola Adebayo, Sindi Harrison, Andre Jacobs, Ben Kruger
Niamh Cusack, Lyndsey Marshal, Shaun Parkes, Richard Sutton, Robert Whitelock
Hugo Speer, Lizzie McInnerny, Danny Midwinter, Anna Wing
Stock banker Bridget Flannery is found dead at the bottom of her stairs. However, with the crime scene having been disturbed by the family's dog and a blundering WPC, Harry and Nikki struggle to decide whether her death was accidental - or if somebody repeatedly struck her over the face, causing her to fall. Suspicion quickly falls on the victim's husband, media personality Tom Flannery, who has an old grudge with the police which appears to be the deciding factor in whether or not to charge him with his wife's murder. In an attempt to prove Tom's innocence, his lawyer asks Nikki to perform a second post mortem - but the results are less than satisfactory for Harry, whose evidence appears to contradict Nikki's point for point. As the pair are unable to decide cause and motive of death, they find themselves battling it out in a courtroom. But when photos are leaked to the press regarding the death of Flannery's first wife, Nikki starts to doubt her own evidence - and believes that she may have interpreted the case from completely the wrong angle. Meanwhile, with Leo still recovering from his attack, Harry decides to use the situation to his advantage, and suspecting that the fate of Olga, may also lie in Flannery's hands, he persuades Leo to put him in touch with a professor in Prague, only to discover that Olga was also murdered - leaving him in no doubt that Flannery is their chief suspect.
There is little sympathy when child-killer James Wade dies in his cell, but Leo's encounter with dying ex-prison inspector Rachel Kruger compels him to investigate the notorious Redhill jail – only to come up against a wall of silence. Meanwhile, Harry meets Wade's sister Miriam and agrees to help find her brother's killer. Harry and Nikki dig deep into DI Bridges' past and soon make a significant discovery. Leo is determined to get at the truth about the murder of ex-prison inspector Rachel Kruger and decides to follow violent officer Kessler – but before long he finds himself in dangerous territory.

Hit City West, Los Angeles and Chung King, New York City

Daniel Casey, Tim Plester, Paul Copley, Peter Howell, Joy Harrison
Shelley King, Christopher Mellows, Cal MacAninch, Annabelle Apsion, Edward Petherbridge
Brian McNally is a one-time criminal with a major problem. The day after he is badly beaten by gangster Mike Georghiou, McNally finds Georghiou's strangled body at his business. He's convinced that Mike's brother Tony, also a gangster known for his violent streak, will come after him so he gets Sam to prove that he could not have been the killer. When McNally's body is found at the foot of a building, a supposed suicide, Sam feels she has somehow contributed to his death. What she does not realize is she is not only going up against organized crime, but coppers who've acted as judge, jury and executioner.
Harry finds a new case on his hands when his girlfriend of three months, human rights lawyer Anna Sandór, calls him to Budapest to investigate the death of a prostitute. He is warned by British diplomat Duncan McBurney to avoid getting entangled in Anna's activities, and when Anna is murdered, suspicion falls on his shoulders, and he is forced to go on the run as the police appear to be in league with the Ukrainian gang he believes are responsible for her death. Leo arrives from Britain to find Harry, and soon learns that Anna was pregnant. Assisted by Janos, an ex-Communist, Harry arranges to meet Leo at the ferry terminal, but Anna's murderer gets there first, shoots Janos dead and corners Harry. Leo arrives to hear gunshots, and finds a burning body on the promenade. Nikki is soon warned of the trouble and flies out to join the team, however, the police soon identify the burning body as Harry's. However, soon after, Nikki and Leo receive a mysterious phone message inviting them to a rendezvous. There they find Harry, who tells them how his would-be murderer was accidentally killed, and that he planted his own possessions on the burning body to enable him to evade the police. The team continue to investigate Anna's murder, and question a prostitute, Marina, in the hope of finding the motive and exposing her killers. A scam to steal prostitutes' babies and sell them to childless couples is finally revealed, and the police who behaved so suspiciously turn out to be undercover officers involved in catching the villains - whose leader and mastermind turns out to be diplomat McBurney.
Sam looks into the death of Maggie Collins who died of a heroin overdose. Sadly, her body was not discovered for several days and in that time, her infant daughter died of dehydration. Soon after Maggie's death Stephen Jackson, a small-time dealer and addict, is killed in an explosion in his home. The autopsy reveals that both of them died of overdoses from the same batch of heroin and Sam begins to doubt that their deaths were accidental. When another small-time dealer is killed, the police think they have either vigilantes or a turf war on their hands. What they have is something far more complex that involves one of their own.
Sam becomes under great stress when she learns that she may have a tumour. As a result, she starts to question her judgment when she misses a possible explanation in determining the time of death in the case of Lloyd Dupen's wife, an apparent suicide. She's not convinced however that everything is above board and agrees to undertake a second autopsy at the request of the dead woman's mother. When she is asked by local reverend Bishop Craig to perform an autopsy on the remains of Sister Constance, a beatified nun who died forty years ago and is under consideration for canonization. The results of the autopsy have an impact on the religious order as well as many of those in the community who see the commercial advantages of having a local saint.
One of Sam's students has a problem and seeks some personal advice. She and her family emigrated from Vietnam during the boat people exodus and her father wants her to enter a marriage he's arranged for her. She's worried that her husband to be will realize she is not a virgin and Sam counsels her that honesty is always the best policy, but in this case it drives the prospective groom to violence. When the family's restaurant is burned out, the police find a badly burned body. On the home front, Sam continues to bicker with her sister Wyn about whether their mother should be placed in a home and the bitterness over their father's death continues to divide them. DI Adams and DC Cox's personal relationship is now affecting their work, leading Cox to request a transfer. With the burned body now identified through dental records, the police have a suspect. However, he suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder and the police are concerned that he may lash out. When the police do finally locate him, a member of the team is killed.
Now installed in London as a Professor at the university, Sam is called to assist when a helicopter carrying 16 men crashes in the North Sea en route to a drilling platform. The pilot's body is recovered and the autopsy reveals he suffered a heart attack between the time he sent a distress signal and the time the helicopter crash. When Sam discovers the pilot had recently postponed his annual medical check-up, she suspects there is more to this than meets the eye. In completing the autopsies on the recovered bodies, it seems that the aircraft may have suffered a catastrophic failure.
Christine Tremarco, Samantha Seager, Barbara Flynn, Mark Benton, Sean Baker
Elizabeth Bower, Burt Kwouk, Amanda Liberman, Sang Lui, Wai Kee Chan

(The hamlet includes a small church, and Bransdale Lodge)

Boxer Kevin Sharma dies from blows received in the ring, but pathologist Sam Ryan determines that he has a brain injury dating from sometime after his last bout two months ago. One of the governors of the boxing board, retired police Superintendent Jack Reeve, is concerned that it will reflect badly on them. Reeve is also trying to cancel one-time trainer Terence Cross' license after he is the victim of a hit and run accident that leaves him a quadriplegic. A new Detective Superintendent, Peter Ross, is now in charge and Sam and he knew each other many years previously. Trevor finds himself alone after his wife leaves him. Sam and her sister Wyn bury their mother. Meanwhile, a boxing trainer apparently commits suicide. Sam is not convinced however and with the assistance of a ballistics expert, obtains the evidence to prove the suicide was actually murder. She also learns the reason for Kevin Sharma getting into a bare-knuckles fight and now suspects that Terence Cross' hit and run may not have been an accident. Sam's sister Wyn continues to have difficulty coping following the death of their mother.
Nicholas Sidi, James Vaughan, Velibor Topic
Things get personal for Jack when his brother becomes a suspect in the murder of a young woman. Dr Chamberlain, not trusting Jack to remain objective, brings in a new forensic scientist to work on the case instead.
Four bodies are found in the Thames after a boat full of illegal immigrants founders. Realising they are dealing with a people-trafficking operation gone disastrously wrong, Leo, Harry and Nikki set out to discover if there are any survivors - or any other deaths - while also delving into the victims' past. The team soon manages to identify the four bodies, and discover two of them were a couple fleeing China because they wished to have a second child. Nikki realises their six-year-old daughter was also on the boat, and may still be alive. Meanwhile, the detectives close in on the gang running the people-trafficking operation.
The team flies out to Zambia to investigate the death of a doctor, Rachel Gates, who had gone missing two weeks earlier. It transpires that she was volunteering as a practitioner for a mission, and had believed a number of refugees died in suspicious circumstances. Leo and Nikki carry out a post-mortem, but their findings throw the case into disarray. The bones originally thought to be Rachel's are identified as another victim, a local woman, and the search for her body begins. When Rachel's friend Bethany is found dead inside a nightclub, Nikki is arrested for attempting to carry out a post-mortem on the girl against her mother's wishes. Harry learns foul play was involved in Bethany's death, and Leo has the local water samples tested - with surprising results.
Nikki investigates the murder of a teenage girl, who fell from a ride at a funfair after being brutally raped and stabbed, and suspects the killing may have been part of a gang initiation. Meanwhile, Leo finds himself doing community service after getting caught drink driving and is first on the scene when an attack takes place where he's working. When he tries to get information from the victim, he disappears from the radar, and only after he performs a botched stabbing does he finally reveal all he knows. Meanwhile, the police struggle to secure any concrete evidence against gang leader Keenan, who manages to evade them and continue his killing spree. Just when all hope seems lost, however, the team make a breakthrough.

Gray stone building with small square tower and pyramidal roof. Grassy foreground with a cross and gravestones