After her brother Eric's and his wife Joan's death in a car accident Peggy Tatton has to move from the farm where she has lived all her life, because according to the law the farm now belongs to Joan's son John Fraser, but when Gina comes to pick her up, she decides to stay. To stop the sale of the farm she seeks legal advice from Jackie Lambert, the niece of Eric Tatton's solicitor, but she also resorts to more drastic measures. Phil Bellamy is on the lookout for a place to stay and he rents a flat from Kenny Galloway through Claude Greengrass. A bad idea because Galloway owes somebody a lot of money. Somebody who sends a heavy, Baz, to collect it.

When Jane Hayes returns to her home one night she hears an intruder upstairs, but PCs Bradley and Bellamy find only her cat when the come to investigate. But Miss Barker, who worked for the previous owner of the house, can tell a story of a servant girl, who is said to haunt the manor listening for the cries of her baby. Jane Hayes is pregnant and due any day and the next night she hears a baby crying and sees a cradle rocking in the nursery. Penny Craddock is organizing the Christmas dance and persuades Jane's husband Graham to emcee the event. They will stage a dancing competition and Greengrass promises to provide them with a trophy for a small charge of course - besides taking bets on the outcome.

Shortly before her sudden death Mildred Crosby promises Maggie Bolton a painting, which Maggie likes very much and in her will she leaves Maggie quite a bit more. Her son-in-law Roy Thornton has counted on inheriting the money and accuses Maggie of gross medical negligence and abusing her position as district nurse to influence the old lady. And all of a sudden the painting is missing. Has it been stolen by the same person or persons who have staged a series of burglaries in the area? Claude Greengrass and Bernie Scripps find a tramp, Seamus O'Toole, sleeping in Greengrass' barn. They discover that he can pick horse race winners when he is dreaming. This is too good an opportunity for Greengrass to pass by.

Barry Dixon returns to Aidensfield to start a new life when he is released from prison. But he has company. By detective Ed Baxter employed by the insurance company who had to pay up for the bank robbery that Dixon committed. Baxter starts to follow Dixon everywhere he goes hoping he will lead him to money. Ron and Doreen Tidy are on a hiking trip when they are stopped by Lord Ashfordly's keepers, who say that they are trespassing although the path is marked as public right of way on all maps. Together with the Boltons they stage a public demonstration to get Lord Ashfordly to open the path again. When the old chimney sweep Jim Fiedler dies Greengrass decides to take over his business. Especially the lucrative part of blessing newlyweds. Speaking of newlyweds things are heating up romantically between Mike Bradley and Jackie Lambert.

Maggie Bolton has discovered that she and her husband are having a baby, and that scares her because they have lost a baby before to cot death. To think things over she goes on a weekend trip with Gina. There has been a series of small fires in Aidensfield. Mostly in garbage cans and haystacks and things like that, but one night a cottage is burning, and Neil Bolton rushes in to save a baby trapped inside the house, when the roof collapses. Greengrass has bought an old railway carriage to use as a holiday cottage for paying guests. His first customers are on their way already, but he does not have the proper licenses. Nor does he need any - or so he thinks.

A false PC Ventress is making the roads of North Riding unsafe, abusing traffic offenders and behaving like a real Nazi. The real PC Ventress and his colleagues decide the only way to stop him is to set a trap for him. Mrs. Challis is convinced that her neighbour opposite, Mr. Arlott, is keeping his pregnant daughter Julie against her will. The girl is freed and gives premature birth to a little girl with breathing problems. Maggie has a hard time coping with her husband's death, but the little girl's struggle to live and recovery help her deal with the situation. Oscar Blaketon is not happy to see that George Seago is back in Aidensfield and far less happy, although not surprised, to learn that Seago has business with Claude Greengrass. Seago has a ferret he wants to race, but he knows that the organizer Boy Bryden will never let him enter and asks Greengrass to do it for him.

The police in Whitby raid a nightclub where Gina has a gig and find drugs in her purse. Convinced that somebody else has slipped it into the purse PC Bradley contacts the Whitby police without luck. The same night he, Gina and Gina's manager Terry stake out the club and make a startling discovery. PC Ventress is on night watch and uses the opportunity to take a nap. One night his usual hideout is locked so he finds a seat in a passenger carriage instead and the next morning he wakes up halfway to Crewe and asks PC Bellamy to cover for him. David has been cheated into buying second-rate clothes and Greengrass decides to help him get his money back - with the help of Oscar Blaketon believe it or not.

Alan and Dennis open a new restaurant in Ashfordly, but they are victims of vandalism and somebody also hands out false free-meal coupons on their behalf. The primary suspect is Sid Wainwright, who was interested in buying the place too. Gina gets a visit by her old friend Debbie, but Aunt Mary believes that Debbie will only get Gina into trouble, but instead it is Debbie who lands in trouble. Professor Booth is searching for the burial site of Wulfstan the Wealthy, a mighty Anglo-Saxon chieftain and Greengrass is convinced that the burial site is on the lands of Terence Young, whom he has already relieved of some "surplus" rainbow trout, and tries to find it first and sell his finds to the professor.

Diane and Cecil Palmer have just moved back to England with their son Peter after living several years in Rhodesia. Peter longs for his African nanny Molly and writes her every day even though he gets no answer. Mr. and Mrs. Palmer both behave like they belong to some kind of master race and they accuse their maid Annie of stealing. Furthermore Mrs. Palmer has difficulty coping with her dominant husband and has developed a drinking problem. One night she disappears on her way home from the Aidensfield Arms. Her car was last spotted by David Stockwell, who does not see anybody behind the wheel and he is sure the vehicle was driven by a ghost.

Jackie's uncle and boss Henry Tomkinson has been in Aidensfield to take care of the testament of a client. On his way home he runs down a boy on a bicycle in the pouring rain, but instead of helping him he chooses to drive off and denies any knowledge of the accident and even makes his wife lie for him. David Stockwell saw the accident, but caught only part of the registration, and Tomkinson brings discredit to David and his testimony because he is somewhat backward. PC Bradley gets help with his investigations by an old friend from the Met, Rodney Marshall. Greengrass is commissioned with sorting out the ground for a new graveyard. He finds some lead pipe and decides to make an extra quid or two by selling it.

On his way home from the Aidensfield Arms one night Col. Clifford hits a boy on a bicycle. At his trial he gets a fine and is required to take a driving test. During the test it is discovered that he is night blind and he is only allowed to drive at daytime. Gina's old friend Terry Noble has gone AWOL after a fight with another soldier. She hides him although sergeant Craddock has asked his constables to be on the lookout for him. It turns into a murder hunt when the soldier he attacked dies, and Noble takes Col. Clifford hostage until he can get away during the night. Oscar Blaketon inherits a lot of money and has a business proposition for Lord Ashfordly, which Greengrass probably will not be too happy about. And speaking of Greengrass he is planning a French gourmet evening at the Aidensfield Arms.

There has been a series of break-ins at the homes of recently deceased persons and the clues lead to Cyril Fuller an old friend of Claude Greengrass. Greengrass is convinced that his friend is innocent and is persuaded to do something he would have thought he would never do - help the police! Blaketon has bought the Aidensfield Arms from Lord Ashfordly, and soon he drives both Gina and Aunt Mary crazy with all his demands. Maggie Bolton is enjoying motherhood so much she decides to quit her nursing job. But a serious outbreak of the flu may make her reconsider. Blaketon and Greengrass are both sure they will not catch the illness because they have ways to avoid it. Yeah and pigs might...

Celia Gilmour is calling at her sister Eileen Bayne when she scares off two burglars, Jimmy and Danny. PC Ventress inspects the place, but finds neither her nor her husband Tommy at home and nothing unusual. When Tommy Bayne returns PC Bradley and PC Bellamy check the house again and find Eileen Bayne dead in a locked room on the 1st floor. Meanwhile Greengrass is on to another scheme of Jimmy and Danny's. They clog up people's drainpipes and then offer to clean them again for £15 and Greengrass wants to clean up before they do. Aunt Mary gets a visit from Bill, an old friend who offers her a position as manager of his hotel in Sidmouth. Sergeant Craddock is going on a short leave to teach new police cadets at the training centre and wants a completely clean slate before he goes.

PC Bradley and PC Ventress are forced off the road by a blue lorry. They locate the lorry at the house of Tom Lowson, his new bride Mandy and teenage daughter Sandra. PC Ventress, who is acting sergeant in Craddock's absence, is convinced that Lowson is up to something, because he was the biggest black marketer in the North Riding area during the war. To prove it he orders his colleagues to inspect Lowson's lorries whenever they get the chance. Meanwhile Sandra is having a bad influence on her friend Alison Hartley, who is certain that she is pregnant. Sandra arranges for Alison to have an abortion, but the girls are late for the appointment and steal nurse Bolton's Land Rover. Faith Trueman is ill and ask her friend Greengrass to sell a valuable Georgian clock and other stuff for her so that can stay at the same hotel, where she and her late husband spent their honeymoon, once more before she dies. Only the stuff is not nearly as valuable as expected.

A group of young offenders has got permission to do some labouring work on PC Bradley's patch with only one guard, Blenkiron. Two of the boys, Varley and Sloper, wander off during a lunch break and break into a car. Varley returns as nothing has happened, while Sloper continues and befriends the famous writer Honor Gale, who has rented a cottage in Aidensfield to start a new book. Mrs. Gale also has a very soft spot for PC Bradley and uses every opportunity to call him. The election for the Ashfordly rural district council is getting nearer, and Claude Greengrass is helping Tom Drabble with his campaign with the reluctant aide of Bernie Scripps because he needs a planning permission for his latest scheme. Another reason is that Drabble's rival candidate is Oscar Blaketon.

Two armed robbers hold up a train just outside Aidensfield while a third robber threatens Quinn, the man at the signal box, into stopping the train so that his accomplices can make off with £200,000. Quinn tries to stop his attacker causing both him and the robber to be injured by a gun shot. A mysterious woman turns up at the Aidensfield Arms and asks for Claude Greengrass and David is very surprised to learn that she is his sister Bella, whom he has not seen for 22 years which is still much too soon for him. Mike and Jackie have set the date for their wedding. They want to keep it a secret, but soon the news is out all over Aidensfield. Yet Mike nearly does not make it in time because he stumbles over the injured train robber.

Claude Greengrass is playing host to a group of Norwegian history students. At the same time several burglaries are investigated, and Les Gulliver is a suspect as is Andy Ryan, a new guest at the Aidensfield Arms who takes Gina's breath away. The chief constable had asked Oscar Blaketon to form and chair a crime prevention committee in Aidensfield, and Oscar sees the robbery at the brewery as an excellent opportunity for his new committee to prove its worth. Not all committee members agree with him on how to do it.. Claude's Norwegians are especially interested in historic Viking sites. Only there are not many of those around, and Claude has to find a way...

The tailor Frank Hodgson wakes up when a red car smashes through the window of his shop at the middle of the night, but he only manages to see how it backs out again and disappears. Mike and Jackie are barely home from their honeymoon when Mike begins to suspect that she is seeing another man, Sean Banks, Banks is stopped for speeding in a car which matches the description of the one that smashed through Frank Hodgson's window and he mentions her as an alibi. Greengrass has lost his old friend Silas Moorcroft, who suddenly had a heart attack and had to be rushed to the hospital. But there will be no funeral because Moorcroft has donated his body to medical science. Of course Greengrass has a perfect solution to that.

Film producer Denzil Arcourt and his team take over Ashfordly Hall for a couple of days to shoot scenes for a new movie. The whole village is impressed by the movie people, who stay at the Aidensfield Arms. But unlike most movie people Arcourt does not like it and get very enraged, when Gina takes a picture of him with the new camera she has just been given by Andy. David has bought a couple of hens from Nathaniel Clegghorn so that he can sell the eggs, but he wants his money back, when Greengrass discover both the hens are cocks. That is easier said than done when Clegghorn threatens them with his shot gun. Greengrass and David are not the only ones who find themselves at the wrong end of Clegghorn's shot gun. Lord Ashfordly gets in the same position when Clegghorn accuses his dog of disturbing Clegghorn's sheep.

Mike Bradley is riding his own motorcycle one day when he has to brake hard to avoid a collision with another motor cyclist, Barbara Lomax. Barbara is on her way to her mother's funeral. The Lomax family is very surprised to learn that she has left everything to their sister Vera, who has been living in an institution and not spoken for 12 years. When they clear out the house they find a box containing the skeleton of a baby in the attic. Greengrass has started breeding rabbits. And not just any kind of rabbit, but the rare Indonesian Rough Black rabbit. The only trouble is that they are as rare as in non-existent. But hair dye and ordinary wild rabbits may overcome that problem.

At the annual village fair Malcolm Colbourne, who everybody considers a coward because he did not fight in the war, sees a new tractor. The dealer John Bennett makes him a special offer which enables him to buy the tractor though money is tight. When the tractor is destroyed in a fire, he discovers that his wife has had an affair with Bennett for years, and Bennett finds out that Colbourne's role in the war was not nearly as innocent as he believed. David sees a fortune teller, who foretells that he will meet a woman with auburn hair and a Christian name beginning with a 'G'. Greengrass does not believe it, but the same evening a woman called Gloria Evans with auburn hair shows a special interest in both him and Greengrass. She wants them to clear out and decorate her house.

Christmas time is near. Somebody has been decimating Lord Ashfordly's population of deer, and for once Greengrass is not a suspect. As a matter of fact he agrees to help the police by posing as a potential buyer to smoke the poachers out. He is also occupied by his latest idea, a driving school - using Bernie Scripps's hearse. Jackie is handling a divorce case for Julia Kendall and she wants the police to enforce a restraining order against her husband Frank. Her daughter Katie misses her father and still visits him almost every day hoping her parents will get back together again. Maggie is in charge of the annual Christmas concert and she wants Katie Kendall to sing at the concert. A good idea because the young girl has the voice of an angel.

Billy Trotter returns for his mother's funeral, but is too late. Also too late is Stella Redford, who needs Mrs. Trotter's help to trace a little girl she gave up for adoption twenty years ago. Instead Maggie Bolton advises her to consult Jackie Bradley. The matter gets more complicated when her purse with her only picture of the child is stolen from her hotel room - one of many burglaries in hotel rooms in the area. Sergeant Craddock wants Jackie's help in a personal matter. His wife wants a divorce. Greengrass and Trevor Pargoe are staging a lurcher competition and lay out red herrings to throw off the police and Oscar Blaketon. The Inland Revenue is breathing down Greengrass' back again. They want to re-evaluate his cottage for taxation reasons. He does not!

Anthony Mottram lives with his dominant mother, but the quiet bachelor has his sights on a beautiful woman called Sandra and to afford dating her he is selling off four old maps from his late father's collection to Greengrass without his mother's knowledge. Oscar Blaketon is not pleased to find out that Ray Nixon, an old acquaintance of both him and the police, has checked in at the Aidensfield Arms. When Blaketon was still sergeant he promised Nixon a reduced sentence if he would turn queen's evidence against his accomplices in a robbery, but the judge saw it otherwise and gave Nixon a full sentence. Blaketon thinks Nixon will be out for revenge, but Nixon says his only in Aidensfield because of his old girlfriend Wendy.

Gina has brought young Sian along to help her behind the bar at a dance, but Sian is more interested in dancing with a young man called Ben Ealham and having fun. Gina scolds her and sends her home, but Sian runs out of petrol on her way home. The next morning Sian is found badly bruised and raped in her car. Before she is rushed to hospital Sian names Ealham as her assailant. Sergeant Nokes, who has temporarily switched places with Craddock, is certain she has an open and shut case, but Ealham's solicitor Jackie Bradley disagrees and gets him off on technicalities. This brings about a frigid distance between her and Mike.

The artist Joe Vaughan has rented a cottage from Lord Ashfordly to do some painting. He has had a bit of a clash with members of the local rugby club and they do what they can to annoy him. A Liverpool gangster, Boyd, is also interested in him and he has sent two goons to do the dirty job. His benefactor Rod Dundas organizes an exhibition at the cottage, but the night after the opening the cottage burns and all Vaughan's paintings are destroyed. Well not all of them, since one of them is missing. Greengrass gets a grant from the council for his new "romantic boarding house" and can soon greet his first guests. His old friend Betty persuades him to buy a share of the race horse Alnwick Flyer, which must be sold for tax reasons. There is something about Gina's boyfriend Andy that Oscar Blaketon does not like and he starts to follow Andy around like a shadow.

Gary Tyler visits his girlfriend Lyn, who works as a maid at Ashfordly Hall. When he sneaks out under the cover of darkness he is shot at and wounded by Lord Ashfordly's state manager Reed. Or so they say, but PC Bradley is not quite sure. Things do not look good for Tyler, because he has a suspended sentence, but he does not want to involve Lyn although she can clear his name. Greengrass helps a stranger, who has run out of petrol. The stranger, Bill Austin, works at a local newspaper and to show his gratitude he offers Greengrass a weekly column in the paper. The old scoundrel does not hesitate to make the best of it for himself and make full use of the situation.

Dr. Ian Peters is the new doctor in Aidensfield. His presence will soon be needed when a hit-and-run driver crashes into the car of Jackie's friend Sue. Both she and Jackie get only minor injuries. Or so it seems because it turns out that Sue has a severe, internal head injury when she collapses into a coma. David is a witness to the accident, and when he and Greengrass are picking up some old bicycles, which the old scoundrel has "borrowed" from Lord Ashfordly to hire out to the participants of a fun bike race, they find the hit-and-run car burning. Lord Ashfordly identifies the car as his old Bentley, and his nephew Charles testifies that he saw the chauffeur's son Eric sitting in the car shortly before the accident. Andy is trying to get back into Gina's good books, and he has some serious doubts about the new doctor's qualifications. But he might just be jealous because Gina likes Dr. Peters.

When young Lottie Turner returns from a horseback ride she finds her mother's employer Charlie Weller dead on the floor. According to a new will Charlie Weller leaves his whole estate to the Turners, while his nephew Martin inherits only some minor items of family interest. Martin Weller is unpleased with the terms of the will and he doubts his uncle's death was accidental. Greengrass has promised Charlie to look after Peggy Turner and her daughter, and he is not pleased when they are approached by Ray Walker, who wants to buy Charlie's upcoming racing horse Red Rover. When accidents start to happen at Weller's estate Greengrass is sure Walker is behind it. Samantha Neilson is a planner for the county council and she wants Oscar Blaketon's support in the council for a new industrial estate close to Aidensfield. Blaketon is in favour of the estate, but the old sleuth soon smells something fishy about the whole thing.

Roy Brooks receive a 6-month sentence for horse theft, but the sentence is suspended because he has to keep his family together after his wife's recent death. But it is an uphill struggle because he has a serious drinking problem. The following night the race horse Rio Boy is stolen from Lord Ashfordly's stables and Brooks gets under suspicion because his lorry matches the description of the one used by the thieves. Bernie Scripps accidentally tells Greengrass that he has psychic powers. When the old scoundrel has stopped laughing he gets the idea that they might as well cash in on it. Understandably Scripps does not agree. Phil Bellamy is babysitting Maggie Bolton's son Sam, but when he wakes up from a little nap to feed the baby Sam has gone missing.

Lord Ashfordly's game keeper Frank McCready is deep in debt with bookmakers and loan sharks breaks into Ashfordly Hall and steals the money for the staff wages. When his wife Mary finds out he promises her to pay every penny back, but she is afraid she will be regarded as an accomplice if she does not tell the police, what she knows. She sees only one solution to her problems with PC Bradley as an unlucky witness. Greengrass and David come across a stranded lorry loaded with bags of coal and the old scoundrel consider it their duty to salvage the coal according to maritime law - a very free interpretation on his part based on the fact that one of the wheels of the lorry is standing in small puddle of water. Not surprisingly nobody else sees it that way.

The Mazzetti family is running a fish-and-chips restaurant and a number of chip vans all over North Riding, but when the head of the family, Franco Mazzetti, dies his eldest son Paolo wants to sell off the chip vans and serve pizzas in the restaurant instead. The night after the funeral one of the vans is vandalized and the Mazzettis blame one of their competitors Big Eddy. Greengrass has bought one of the surviving chip vans to get into the catering business himself and gets caught right in the middle of it. Emily Poole is the victim of a series of break-ins and every time PC Ventress is out there like a shot to investigate. Mostly because she serves him tea and cookies every time and Mrs. Ventress has put him on a diet.

Jackie's parents are in England to meet their new son-in-law. They come from South Africa, are very conservative and not too happy about their daughter being married to a village bobby. And they are not Mike's cup of tea either. A car is found in the middle of a stream. There is no sign of the driver or any passengers, but the hub cabs are missing. It turns out that the car belongs to Archie and Marian Drew and was stolen the previous day on the ferry from Amsterdam. Greengrass and David pick up Micky Shannon, who is travelling around the country collecting old folk tunes. Shannon also has a business proposition for Greengrass. He has seeds for thousands of rare orchids and wants Greengrass to grow them for him.

The retired school teacher Celia Hanson has bought a cottage in Aidensfield. But she does not get along with her neighbour Don Foster, who does nothing but intimidate her on purpose, she claims. It peaks when his tractor rolls into her car after he threatened to drive straight through it. Furthermore rumour has it that Foster has killed his wife, who disappeared suddenly a few years earlier. Frank Jarvis suggests to Greengrass that he lend him a field to dump waste, but Greengrass will not settle for percentages only if he can be in charge himself and he decides to go into business himself. When he and David collect the first load David finds a live grenade, which he likes so much he decides to keep it for himself as a special treasure.

Mike and Jackie have received anonymous phone calls every night for two weeks. One morning Mike finds a film wrapping in the garden and later he also finds a bouquet of flowers for Jackie from a fellow solicitor Anthony Smythe on the doorstep. Mike gets jealous and suspects Smythe to be behind the phone calls and confronts him, but Oscar Blaketon and PC Ventress go through some of Blaketon's old files and find a similar case. Smythe's father the old Colonel Smythe has died, and David promises that Bernie Scripps can handle the funeral even though the colonel wanted to be buried with all sorts of military pomp and circumstance and especially a horse driven carriage. Greengrass is dead set against it until he learns that it pays £150. They just need a carriage and of course a suitable, quiet horse.

After a charity concert at Eltering Church it is discovered that two candlesticks have been stolen. When Alf Ventress goes to the church with some flowers he is knocked down and the safe is broken into as well. Prime suspect is Simon Cutler, who has previously been suspected of a break-in. He is also dating the reverend's daughter Karen. Claude Greengrass promises Mrs. Benton to take her champion poodle Harvey to the annual dog competition and she leaves specific instructions on what to do. Champion poodle or not Harvey is first and foremost a dog and he uses the first opportunity to clear out looking for adventure. This situation calls for desperate measures. Poor Alfred!

Gabriel Firth has just retired as an MP and now he hopes for a top position at a prominent local firm. To impress his future employers his wife is arranging a formal retirement party for them and special guests. Diana Firth also invites their new neighbour Jennifer Bennet, but for some reason her husband is not too happy about that. Firth Manor is also the site of the annual bonfire party, but Firth put a stop to it because it is on the same evening as his retirement party. This enrages Judd Holdsworth, who is in charge of the bonfire party. When the flowerbed and later the hall of the manor are vandalized Firth is certain that Holdsworth is behind it. Gina is getting a new boyfriend and this time it is someone, who will not disappoint her, Phil Bellamy. Well, not very often that is.

Bernie's old friend Stanley Leroy checks in at the Aidensfield Arms. Leroy is a producer and knows all the stars and they organize a s fan club tour, where people can meet their idols. Edna Bostwick reports an intruder at her neighbour Mrs. Carlton's house, but the house is empty when PC Ventress comes to investigate. The next day nurse Bolton surprises a young boy hiding in the house, but he runs away before she can stop him. He leaves behind a shirt with the logo of a nearby boarding school. PC Bradley checks out the school, but the headmaster is of no help except for the boy's name, Tom Bamber. Another guest at the Aidensfield Arms, John Wilson, is also very interested in the house and the boy claiming to be his house master. PC Bradley thinks something is wrong about Wilson - or Monks as he now introduces himself - and the school.

A motorist crashes at Valley Edge Road and is knocked unconscious. PC Bradley collects his property for safe keeping, but when the motorist Danny Reese is released from hospital a suitcase containing £18,000 is missing. Henry Todd refuses to pay his taxes until the Council meets his demands not to pull down the old pavilion of his old cricket team the original Aidensfield First Eleven. The members of the team all volunteered for military duty during the First World War and all died in the battle of the Somme except Mr. Todd. Just when the bailiffs are about to force entry to his house Todd's taxes are paid by Bernie Scripps, who has received the money anonymously by mail. It seems a modern day Robin Hood is at large when other villagers share the same fate. Meanwhile Oscar Blaketon overhears a suspicious conversation between Reese and his fiancée Jenny Preston.

Gordon Stringer is the new manager of the District Bank in Ashfordly and as a regular Uncle Scrooge he has tightened the reins on both the bank's customers and its employees. Even Greengrass has trouble getting paid for some gardening work he has been doing for Stringer. But he himself gets in need of a lot of money when his son Noel is kidnapped a few days before Christmas. It actually started as a prank of Noel's hiding in the caravan of Jack Dugdale, whose son Paul has provided him with the key. But then it gets serious when Noel disappears from the caravan too, and Jack Dugdale gets under suspicion because Stringer has refused to give him a postponement of his payments.

Sylvia Smith takes care of her ill mother Freda, and too much so if you ask her fiancée Jack Hall. Every time he wants to take her out she declines because of her mother's illness. One night on of Sylvia's brother Tony's fish-and-chips shops is burned down and his wife Gladys is not surprised to learn that it was arson. She is convinced that Jack is the arsonist and the relationship between them does not improve when old Freda Smith dies and leaves everything to Sylvia. Oscar Blaketon gets a visit from his old friend Ursula Donne. She is also an old friend of Lord Ashfordly's and she sticks to him like glue when she meets him again joining him for dinners and to the horse races. She even invites him to join her consortium, which owns hotels all over England. Nurse Bolton gets a job at a hospital and leaves Aidensfield.

Detective Chief Superintendent Tatton asks PC Bradley to harbour Barry Ross, who has turned queen's evidence at the trial against crime boss Michael James Duggan. To keep Duggan from finding Ross the whole matter is to be kept secret and Bradley cannot even tell his friends and colleagues. Not even his superiors. When Ross needs medical attention Jackie sends for Dr. Tricia Summerbee, whom she knows can be trusted. Greengrass has moved to the West Indies to live with his sister, who has won a lot of money and wants to share it with him. Bernie Scripps' stepbrother Vernon arrives in Aidensfield and moves in with David at Greengrass' cottage. Vernon is quite an entrepreneur and he has lots of ideas on how to improve Bernie's business.

Sergeant Craddock attends dancing classes to keep up his dancing skills. He also has something of a soft spot for the dancing teacher Susan Finlay. That friendship is put to the test when her son Richard drives through Aidensfield like a regular Jackie Stewart and refuses to stop when the police want to give him a speeding ticket. Craddock lets him off with a warning, but the following night a little boy is run down by a hit-and-run driver, who may very well be Richard driving in her car. Lord Ashfordly is forced off the road by Richard's reckless driving. The petrol tank of his Bentley gets punctured in the incident and he takes it to Bernie's garage. But Bernie is out of town for a few days and Vernon becomes an instant expert on Bentleys when his lordship needs his car back badly.

Jackie's mother is visiting some friends, Joe and Shona Henderson, who live not far from Aidensfield. She still has not forgiven Jackie for marrying a mere village bobby, and their relationship does not improve when Jackie represents Jacob Fairbrother, who has been injured in an accident at Henderson's quarry. It almost reaches freezing when Shona Henderson is murdered and Fairbrother is suspected of the crime. David sees a flyer for a pop concert, and when Vernon Scripps discovers it is organized by Mickey Willis, the son of and old friend; he spots a business opportunity to cater the entire tour. Phil Bellamy and Gina have been seeing each other a lot lately. In fact they have been seeing each other so much that sergeant Craddock cannot turn a blind eye anymore since romantic relations between a police officer and a pub licensee are illegal.

Glenda Marriot wants her aunt Mrs. Barton to sell her farm and move to an old people's home, but the old lady says she can still manage together with her farmhand Jed Harrison. Glenda tries to take legal steps to make her sell, but somebody must be more intent on getting the old lady out and tries to scare her away. Vernon Scripps' latest idea is hot rods. He wants Bernie to build him one so that he can race it. PC Ventress is showing Special Constable Harold Emney around when he sees Gina leaving the maternal ward at Ashfordly Hospital. Of course he puts two and two together and gets five and before long everybody knows that she is pregnant - everybody that is except Gina and the assumed father Phil Bellamy.

Lord Ashfordly plays host to the Livonian Prince Nikolas and hires Vernon Scripps to bodyguard his distinguished guest. Not an easy task as it turns out because the prince is a great lover of liquor and will rather pay a visit to the Aidensfield Arms than to his lordship's wine cellar. Lord Ashfordly is not the only one awaiting guests. Mike Bradley is expecting his niece Anne and her friend Louise, but the two girls turn out to be very modern teenagers and not the cute little kids he imagined. They are more into parties than trips around the countryside. Dr. Summerbee has given up her job at the hospital in favour of Dr. Bolton's old practice in Aidensfield. Phil has a very special assignment for Bernie Scripps. He intends to propose to Gina and wants Bernie to drive her to a very romantic place. But Bernie has to help his brother and sends David instead. Only when you give directions to David you have to be _very_ specific!

During a dinner at Ashfordly Hall the county High Sheriff Andrew Parkin makes a pass at Susie Cope, who is serving at the dinner. On their way home from the dinner Parkin and his wife Sonia run down the farmer Colin Taylor. The Parkins claim that Mrs. Parkin was driving the car due to him having too much to drink, but PC Bradley is not sure because the driver's seat was too far back for her. Either way the accident may turn out to be a costly affair for the Parkins, because their insurance does not cover her driving the car. Furthermore Susie Cope tells Oscar Blaketon, who is acting as a private investigator on Taylor's behalf, that she is certain that it was the High Sheriff himself who was behind the wheel. Vernon Scripps revives an old idea of his, a marriage bureau.

Gareth North is the son of used car dealer Harry North and relies on his father's wealth to get him out of trouble. And trouble is something he gets into a lot of together with his girlfriend Gail and friend Vince. They attempt an armed robbery, but when PC Bellamy nearly catches them Gareth reports his car, which they used to get away, as stolen. The three of them even go as far as accusing Bellamy of beating up Gareth. Vernon Scripps wins a car in a poker game and decides to open a taxi service. But they do not get any customers, because they share a party line with Edith Fairley, who is always at the phone. She is hiding from her ex-husband Jack Fairley, who has just been released from prison. Bernie Scripps gets an unusual request. Minnie Bateson wants to make funeral arrangements for her husband Sydney. The unusual bit about it is that Sydney Bateson is still alive.

Renalto Pisconi is the manager of a gambling casino with distribution of counterfeit money on the side. Pisconi's father-in-law Reginald White, who owns the casino, is the leader of the counterfeiters with Denise as a third partner. The police get on their tracks through their former bartender John Garrick, who is arrested for using some of the counterfeit money at the Aidensfield Arms. Oscar Blaketon's car is broken beyond repair. Since he always wanted an MG Vernon Scripps gets the idea to sell classic sports car and he knows just the man to supply them. Soon Oscar Blaketon is the proud owner of his dream car, a red hot MG A - with the emphasis on "hot".

Jackie gets a visit from her old friend Caroline. She is surprised to learn that Caroline has a baby. Caroline needs a day off from motherhood and leaves the baby with Jackie and Mike while she goes to York to see some friends. Mike leaves the baby in a pram outside the police house, but when Jackie comes home from an errand the baby is gone. Jackie is not the only one who has a visitor. Lady Patricia visits her brother at Ashfordly Hall together with an old family friend Lord Hal Tadcaster. Well "together" may not be the proper word, because she would rather see him leave than stay. And with good reason since the CID suspects Tadcaster of being a drug dealer and asks the police in Ashfordly to keep an eye on him. The post office in Whitby goes on strike. Vernon Scripps gets the idea to start a courier service. And for once he does the dirty work himself.

Adrian Miller is giving lectures all over the country. After a lecture he is accused of trying to rape Lisa Preston in her room at the hotel where they both are staying. Jackie is appointed as his solicitor, but they do not get along at all - and that is putting it mildly. David is in charge of the household in Greengrass' cottage where both he and Vernon Scripps are staying, but he cannot cope with paying the bills and taxes and Vernon suggests that one of them (meaning David) gets a job. They take on a ploughing job for George Walker, but when they try to start his tractor David finds a body in Walker's car in the barn. The "body" turns out to be a bust which Walker has reported stolen together with some other items also found in the car. Once they have been found Walker has disappeared.

PC Bradley has been sent to investigate a break-in when he witnesses an explosion. It is the car of ambulance driver Frank Metcalfe which exploded when he turned on the ignition, and it looks like attempted murder because he has received anonymous phone calls and a threatening letter a couple of days earlier. The grocer Mr. Dale is attacked under similar circumstances. But they have nothing in common. The only lead is a blue Ford Transit van seen on both occasions and that the attacker has military training and access to the local arsenal. Pete Atkins fits these requirements, but he claims his innocence. Oscar Blaketon also receives anonymous phone calls. Is he the next victim? Rev. Meeks represents a foundation which offers Lord Ashfordly to finance the renovation St. Judes Church on his lands, and his lordship hires Vernon Scripps and David to do work for him. Meeks especially asks them to be on the lookout for a particular baptismal font from the church.

Russian chess champion Leonid Vorodin passes through Ashfordly Hall on his way around Britain and his lordship asks sergeant Craddock for a permanent police presence during his stay. This does not prevent a burglar to break into the manor during the night and steal some of Lord Ashfordly's precious chess sets. Vorodin plans to defect with the aid of his British press secretary Anna Young. But Sychen and Zaikov from the Russian embassy are on to their plans. Greengrass has decided to sell his cottage in Aidensfield in order to buy a house in the Caribbean. While David can move back to his mother Vernon has no place to go and does his best to discourage potential buyers.

Bill Dyer asks PC Bradley to take a closer look at Giles Sutton whom he suspects of rigging the sheep market. Sutton senses what is going to happen and offers Jackie his legal account. He even pays for their meal one night he "spots" Mike and Jackie having dinner at a restaurant. Mike gets angry when he finds out, but Jackie insists Sutton only did it as a gesture to her totally failing to recognize the consequences it may have on her husband. Sutton even leaves a large amount of money in Mike's jacket, and although Mike returns the money he is suspended for taking bribes. But even worse is to come in Mike's and Jackie's private life. Dilys Powell persuades Vernon to go into business with her marketing the spring water from her farm on bottles. Vernon thinks it is an excellent idea and invites Lord Ashfordly as a prospective investor.