A dance at the village hall in Aidensfield is disturbed by a gang of rockers from Whitby. When PC Rowan refuses to let them in they start vandalizing and not even Greengrass' lorry escapes the vandalism. They even throw a bar of lead they found in the lorry through the village hall window. Only the bar is not made of lead, but of gold. And not even Greengrass knew that! The gold stems from the late Arthur Pickard's work shop, and a few days later his widow Netty finds her house vandalized. Kate Rowan starts getting nosebleeds and contributes it to anaemia in connection with her pregnancy. Unfortunately the reason is far more serious!

Joe Norton and two of his friends are terrorizing Aidensfield and they do not even refrain from emptying PC Rowans garbage bin. Nicking laundry does not seem to be above them either. The traveling gipsy Flo arrives in Aidensfield and tries to make some money by selling luck in the form of small bouquets of lucky heather. Those who do not buy are struck with bad luck, which Greengrass finds out to his discomfort. It does not take long before Norton and his gang set their sights on her caravan. Kate Rowan discovers the real reason for her nosebleed and extravasations. And she is rushed to hospital when she goes into labour.

Aidensfield is in a fever of excitement when Nick and Kate return with their beautiful new-born baby girl and everybody showers them with presents. Only nobody else in the village knows that Kate is dying of leukaemia, and Nick tries to spend as much time with her and the baby as possible. He is even neglecting his job as police constable. That leads to several complaints against him because a thief is stealing petrol from cars in the village at night. Not even sergeant Blaketon's police car escapes the thief.

After Kate's death Nick Rowan discovers that taking care of a new-born baby is a full-time job, and he sends for his mother to help him out for a while. There is bad blood between Colin Dewhurst and his neighbour Oliver 'Tugger' Barker, who shoots at Dewhurst's cat with a rifle. And he does not stop at that and the matter escalates. Greengrass is visited by his nephew Norman. They decide to cash in on Norman's abilities as a dart player.

Frank Mellor has promised Eddie King that he could rent his Aunt Mattie's cottage when she died so that Eddie could marry his girlfriend Brenda, but in stead Mellor has put the place up for sale. When the cottage is auctioned off to Martin Shepherd and his wife the house gets vandalized. A peeping Tom is at work on Lapwing Lane where Brenda lives, and Eddie gets under suspicion for both that and the vandalism. Although Nick's father died during the war his mother Ruby has decided that her life definitely is not over and like a big, white shark she tries to sink her teeth into sergeant Blaketon. When she fails she goes back to London and Kate's Aunt Eileen moves in with Nick in her place.

A young German, Dieter Lotschmeyer, arrives in Aidensfield to visit his father's grave, but he soon discovers that he is not all that popular in the village, because his father was a German bomber pilot during the war and dropped a bomb to lighten his plane before it crashed. The bomb hit a cottage which belonged to Jo Tyler and his family killing both him and his wife, and when the grave is vandalized Tyler's son is the prime suspect. Walter and Hilda Openshaw are on their annual hiking holiday in Aidensfield, but Walter would rather be on a voyage on the Orient Express. He and Greengrass decide to do something about it.

Schoolteacher Barry Jackson's wife Sophie is very ill and not capable of driving a car because of it. Nevertheless she takes the car one day and causes a bit of mayhem in Aidensfield. Soon afterwards Jackson receives threatening letters, and during a school concert somebody sets his house on fire killing Sophie. Malcolm Brown checks into the Aidensfield Arms with his daughter Vicki, but Gina suspects that that something is wrong with them. Apart from that there is an extra resident at the pub - a carrier pigeon, and Gina soon discovers it is very fast bird indeed and they challenge Greengrass to a pigeon race.

During a terrible thunderstorm several people claim to have seen an UFO flying over Aidensfield, and sergeant Blaketon cannot just dismiss the matter because PC Ventress is one of them. Ventress even thinks he was abducted. Bernard and Lily Conway have trouble with their neighbour Ted Halliwell and suspect him of knocking over their milk cans and letting his sheep lose during the storm. Then Conway disappears after an argument with Halliwell. Aunt Eileen has been collecting money for charity on behalf of Hester Jarvis, but when the money gets stolen Jarvis does not want the theft investigated.

One night Gina is awakened by a masked intruder, The Be-Ro Man, who has been breaking in all over North Riding. When he breaks in at the Flax farm their daughter Marion manage to get a close look at him. Claude Greengrass has a new friend. He calls himself Jason Brown, but has an unmistakable likeness to singer/songwriter Bob Dylan and even sounds like him. Brown is joined by two young girls, Paula and Sandra, in a sports car. After a party in Brown's van the two girls go for a fast ride in their car - with tragic consequences for one of them. But which one is it?

PC Rowan is on loan to the CID to investigate local gangster Frank Armstrong. But Rowan has other things on his mind as well. Katie is getting christened and he gets a visit from Jill Criddle, an old friend and colleague from the Met. By request of the CID she teams up with Rowan as his 'floozie'. They soon discover that Armstrong is spreading out his activities to include race horses. Armstrong is not the only one interested in race horses. Greengrass and his friend Billy Black, also known as The Horse Doctor, want to improve the chances of a certain horse in a race. Incidentally Armstrong is also very eager to talk to Black and has sent to goons to get hold of him. Unfortunately Black knows that Nick and Jill are cops!

Arthur Wakesfield surprises a burglar and tries to scare him off, but gets a heart attack from which he later dies in the process. The burglar, John Tinniswood, hardly fares any better, when he comes home because his wife nearly tears his head off, but she still gives him a false alibi when he is arrested for the crime. Wakefield's widow is sure it was him though and starts to follow him around anywhere he goes. Special constable Hector Cowley poses problems of another kind. He is overly officious and a pain in the neck to everybody from sergeant Blaketon and down. And to a lot of other people for that matter. Cowley counts on winning a prize for his gooseberries at the local fair, but somebody destroys them on the night before.

PC Ventress has bought a building plot and wants to build a new home for him and Mrs. Ventress. He has hired Claude Greengrass and David Stockwell to do the digging at the plot. Suddenly they come across a 500 kg highly explosive leftover from World War II. And Greengrass gets trapped right alongside it. PC Rowan starts to evacuate the village while they wait for the bomb squad to dispose of it. To top it all little Colin Ellis has disappeared and is nowhere to be found when the school children and other villagers have been evacuated. During the search for him the police find a dead body at station master Hutton's house. Suddenly the bomb starts ticking!

PC Rowan responses to an anonymous emergency call and find archaeologist Professor Brigstocke dead in his library and the house broken into. The professor was said to hide a treasure and Greengrass decides to find it. Clues lead to the ruins of Saint Columba's Abbey on the Ashfordly estate. But also Mary Secker, who is writing a book on 12th century monasteries, is interested in the ruins. Lord Ashfordly is hosting a fishing party and is not pleased to find fishing net and no fish in his river. Blaketon suspects Greengrass is behind it and when the old scoundrel enters the abbey to look for the treasure, Blaketon is close behind him. They both get trapped and Blaketon breaks a leg when part of the ruins cave in, and Greengrass lights a fire to keep him warm.

An illegal radio station is transmitting from a ship just off the coast outside Whitby. When nurse Bolton starts seeing a young man called Danny the villagers are hearing wedding bells already. But a bit too soon it seems as he turns out to be her brother. Danny helps PC Rowan get a position as a DJ at the illegal radio station. Joe Norton is out of prison after serving a sentence for arson. He wants to turn a new leaf and has sent in an application to join the paratroopers. While he waits for an answer he helps out in PC Rowan's garden and hangs out with old friends. They fix him with a new drug that really sends him flying. Joseph and Greengrass think that George is charging too much for his drinks and decide they can do better end cheaper themselves.

When PC Rowan is on patrol one morning he notices Charles Carter who is camping on private land with his son Simon. But Carter has to permission from the owner of the land. Later Rowan notices man lurking around their caravan. The man introduces himself as Clive Loxton, a friend from London. Later Loxton turns up with a woman called Michelle Blanchard, who claims to be Simon's mother and that Carter has abducted him after they got divorced. By then Simon has been taken to hospital with polio. As president of the local Rugby association sergeant Blaketon is allowed to enter a team of his own. One of the players, Ken Fairbrother, is particularly good and Greengrass offers his services as his manager.

Claude Greengrass is the new lollipop man outside the village school, and PC Rowan gets a complaint from Walter Pettigrew that he suddenly and without warning jumped out onto the street just in front of Pettigrew's car. But Greengrass claims that it was Pettigrew who nearly caused the accident and he is backed up by the new school teacher Jo Weston. Jo Weston is concerned about one of her students, Lizzy McGowan, who is late almost every day. Lizzy's mother lives with her boyfriend Derek Ramsey, who is sent to prison for attacking PCs Rowan, Bellamy and Ventress in a fight at the Aidensfield Arms, but he escapes on the way to the prison. And with good reason too, because the next morning Dorothy McGowan is attacked and badly injured in her home. PC Rowan thinks a mysterious man, who showed up in court, has something to do with it.

Someone has let Bill Ruane's horses out, but he manages to catch them with the help of Jo Weston, who is on an outing with her students. Ruane has financial troubles because nobody has money to pay him. He is suspected to be behind a series of burglaries in the area including one at Ashfordly Hall in which his lordship's game keeper Gillies is knocked down, and part of the loot from that burglary is found at Ruane's stables. Greengrass has a flat tyre, but luckily his is picked up by his nephew Norman and Jeb, Norman's new friend from the American air force. They have a business proposition for him. The have started an import business and need storage space.

Alan Davies reports strange noises from his neighbour Adrian Shaw's house, but Shaw claims that there were no noises. The same night Davies is frightened out of his home by an intruder and when he returns with PC Rowan they find an envelope with a picture of a little girl. A copy of the same photo is sent to him at his workplace. Trying to make ends meet after Lord Ashfordly has increased the rent for the Aidensfield Arms George starts to serve food at the pub, and Greengrass suggests he adds pheasants to the menu. Pellet free guaranteed! Gina returns from a trip to Liverpool and brings back a new boyfriend Anton, who is a cook. Things are also developing between Nick Rowan and Jo Weston who have become very friendly lately.

Harry Schofield's great ambition is that his son Len becomes a professional cricket player, but when Len is not accepted at cricket training, he runs away from home. Joss Harrop has a couple of mares he wants covered, but stud fees have risen and he cannot afford it. Greengrass has a perfect solution to that. They "borrow" lord Ashfordly's race horse Ashfordly Lad for a couple of hours and return the stud before anybody notices it is missing. That is a lot easier said than done. Not getting hold of the horse that is, but returning it!

Michael Harvey is mortally ill and his son Ronnie and his girlfriend Susan is preparing a surprise party to celebrate his birthday, which he knows will be his last. During the party Michael Harvey asks Susan to be his wife. Shocked the young woman rushes out of the house and rides away on her bicycle. On her way home she has an accident and nurse Bolton is suspected of causing it, but PC Rowan thinks that something is not quite right, and Susan's bike is missing. Greengrass buys a rare samovar from a family of Russian gypsies, but discovers that there are more "rare" Russian samovars around. PC Rowan is thinking of getting a promotion and wants to take his sergeant's exams.

A fire breaks out at Webster's Hotel. Fortunately the fire is discovered in time and damages are limited to a work shop. The manager Ralph Webster is not satisfied that it was caused by faulty wiring and asks PC Rowan to look into it and especially Brian Rogers. When Webster sacks Rogers he gets drunk and threatens a taxi driver. Rogers even points a gun at PC Rowan, who has come to investigate, and barricades himself in his flat. Posh fashion photographer Jansson is scouting for locations and also wants to hire both Gina and Greengrass in addition to his regular models Michelle and Sylvie. Nick Rowan and Jo Weston are planning on going away on a romantic weekend together.

Reggie Rawlins has a business proposition for George and Gina that will boost trade in the Aidensfield Arms - he will lease a jukebox to them. Rawlins also enters into partnership with his old friend Greengrass, who will collect the takings from the jukeboxes. A couple of bullies have been smashing up jukeboxes all over North Riding and soon the one at the Aidensfield Arms is targeted too. Only jukeboxes leased from the company L.E.W. are not destroyed, and PC Rowan thinks it will be worthwhile to look into the company and its owners Anita Setters and Andy Farley. Things have cooled off between Nick and Jo after he had to cancel their romantic weekend due to his police duties.

Jeb Hunter is attacked and robbed in his own home and suspicion falls on Errol Jones, an old acquaintance of PC Rowan from London, when a ballpoint pen belonging to him is found on the scene of the crime. It does not do any good to Jones' case that he is black. The talk of the village is the annual cricket match between Aidensfield and Whitby, and Greengrass is of course accepting bets on the outcome in addition to selling pesticides and fertilizers. He gets a special interest in Jones when he learns that he is good at playing cricket. And he is not the only one, but for quite another reason. Nicks mother Ruby is back in Aidensfield much to the dismay of sergeant Blaketon.

It is time for the annual match for the coits championship between Aidensfield and Holinsby. Jack Abbott is playing for the Holinsby team and at the same time having an affair with his team captain's wife Annie. When his own pregnant wife Jean finds out by accident, she drives off in their car, and Jack has to go home on the team bus. Donald Smethwick loses control of the bus, which runs off the road and down a slope. Ruby has managed to patch up the relationship between Nick and Jo, and Jo has decided it is time to introduce him to her parents. Jo's mother is not pleased to learn that Nick is a village bobby and a widower with a daughter.

Billy and Timmy earn a little extra pocket money by collecting golf balls. One day Billy finds his friend assaulted in the woods by the golf course. Jimmy says he was attacked by a man sitting in a grey Jaguar with another man and a lot of papers. He even identifies the man from a photograph that PC Rowan has borrowed from the club secretary Harry Fell. Severe stomach pains prevent Greengrass from placing a bet for a "friend", and the old scoundrel wishes he could disappear. Changes are on the way within the police and Inspector Barry commandeers sergeant Blaketon's office while he makes his report. Blaketon fears for his position and starts looking for another job.

Thanks to Claude Greengrass the famous wrestler The Masked Marvel is coming to Aidensfield and as usual he challenges all locals to a match with a prize to anyone who can unmask him. Alfred is afraid of the wrestler and bites him so that he cannot wrestle. Since nobody knows what he looks like without the mask, Greengrass and his manager Pat Starr makes The Masked Marvel train one of the locals, Ken Fairbrother, to fight instead of him. But Starr plans to make the switch a bit more permanent than that. Tim Phillips makes trouble because his mother Sylvia is leaving his father for the pub owner Mike Scott and PC Rowan is called to deal with domestic disputes in the family. The next morning Sylvia Phillips is found dead on the moors. Murdered!

Sandra Croft gets drunk because her boyfriend has left her and accidentally sets fire to her apartment. Luckily she is saved without any injuries by PC Rowan. The incident makes Sandra fall in love with Nick, but she turns resentful and revengeful when he does not return her affection. Greengrass has a new scheme: guided tours and bird watching! But he soon finds out that there is more to it than just setting up a shelter as a hide, handing out copied old maps and then collect the money.

Susannah Temple-Richards is back in Aidensfield after serving her prison sentence. One day an old "friend" from prison, Maureen Bristow, is on her doorstep and asks if she could stay for a couple of days. But Susannah does not know that Maureen has broken out of prison and needs a place to stay until she can get out of the country with her boyfriend. When she finds out she gets into real danger. Gina has a new boyfriend, and she gets really sad when he leaves her for an older woman. Claude Greengrass has bought an old bureau at an auction believing it to be full of valuables. It is not - or at least he cannot find any.

Joyce Jowett has just lost her husband when a stranger called Nigel Wheeler turns up in Aidensfield asking for him. He is a financial advisor and while he is in the area he might as well visit other potential customers. One of them is Jo Weston and PC Rowan decides to take a closer look at him. George Ward and other villagers have received malicious letters. The only lead is that they are all written on the same typewriter.

Ronnie Savage escapes during transport from one prison to another, and the Ashfordly police is asked to assist Inspector Jennings from CID catching him again. They discover that Savage will be leaving the country on a trawler from Whitby and PC Rowan goes undercover at the local fish market to find out when Savage will be leaving. While he is there he finds out that the foreman Penrice has a sideline selling fish undeclared. Unfortunately Greengrass is one of his customers and he may blow Nick's cover by accident. Aunt Eileen gets a surprise visit by and old, dear friend, Antonin Clarion, who asks her to marry him and go with him back to France. And PC Rowan has passed his sergeants exam.

Christmas is near and there is the traditional nativity play at the village hall with PC Ventress as Santa Claus. Greengrass is supplying half the village with geese, but demand has been higher than expected and he is four birds short. He sends David to pick them up, but the snow causes him to drive off the road and he has to continue on foot to get help. David is not the only one in trouble because of the weather. A bus full of old people from Elsinby gets lost, and Phil Bellamy, who is giving Ventress a lift to Aidensfield, gets stuck in the snow. The falling snow also causes a small plane to crash not far from the police house and Nick and Jo go to see if they can be of any help. They find a very pregnant woman, Sophie, in the plane and tracks in the snow indicate that she was not alone.

PC Bellamy surprises a burglar at the Kettley's Coaches bus company, and he and PC Rowan apprehends Keith Megson, an old friend of the police. Megson disposes of the loot before they catch him, and Megson's sleazy lawyer Sellars demands his immediate release. Megson is released on bail in the custody of the well-known pillar to society Claude Jeremiah Greengrass. There is a series of break-ins at older people's homes, and Megson claims the police are trying to pin them on him. Greengrass, who is fed up with the situation, cannot supply him with an alibi and decides never to let him out of sight. Not even when Megson visits his wealthy fiancée Marilyn. Gina is alone in the pub because her uncle has been taken ill. Nick and Jo are getting married and soon it is the worst kept secret in Aidensfield. As expected her mother is not too thrilled about the idea.

Somebody has "deposited" a truckload of pig manure in the driveway of special constable Hector Cowley. He correctly blames his neighbour "Sweaty" Betty Sutch and her son Simon and goes to their farm to sort out the matter. The next morning the coat of his uniform is found in their pigsty unlike himself, who is nowhere to be found. When his boots, trousers and other items belonging to him are found at the same place, rumour has it that he has been eaten by the pigs. Greengrass has a surprise visitor, Ellen Birley, an old friend from his past. She moves in with him and soon he enjoys the pleasure of well-cooked meals and clean clothes. But before long he misses the good old days, when they were only himself and Alfred.

There has been a break-in at Sanger's Telephone Services. CID suspects a gang, who is behind other break-ins in the area and wants no help from the Ashfordly police, but sergeant Blaketon thinks it is an inside job and pushes his constables hard to solve the case and prove to CID that they are capable of handling their own patch. Greengrass is supplying Tony Mowbray, who works at Sanger's, with pheasants, hares and other kinds of game, but because Mowbray is under suspicion they cannot shift it. Jo Weston is concerned about Dennis Cross, who is absent from school almost every day because he has to take care of his ill mother. When Nick and Jo check on her they find her dead at the bottom of the stairs, but Dennis has made himself scarce.

A tobacco warehouse has been raided and a van used by the raiders is found burned-out on Berley Moor. The police manage to close off all the roads in the area and the perpetrators, Ned and Pete, hideout at Greengrass' house. When he finds out what they have been up to he wants them out of the house, but Ned leans on him to give them shelter. Clive Thompson is in Aidensfield to paint. He discovers that his daughter Cathy is in love with the landlady's son Stephen and he takes her home the next day, but she makes off to meet him. Jo convinces her mother to go to hospital for some test to find out what the matter is with her.

Jean Lightfoot believes she is being followed and she receives mysterious phone calls. One day she finds a strange, well dressed woman at her doorstep, Susan Williamson, who claims to be an old sweetheart of Jean's husband Derek, but he says he has never seen her before. The Australian couple Len and Julie Wilcox is in Aidensfield to look for relatives. When Greengrass discovers they have plenty of money he offers his services to them - for a small fee of course. He also discovers that they are distant relatives of his and tries to sell them "valuable heirlooms". Jo and her father have to cope with her mother's death and take care of funeral arrangements.

Charlie Fenton has just picked up his girlfriend, Lisa, from the train station, when they nearly run down a little boy Justin, who is saved at the last moment by his grandfather Alec Oxley. Oxley reports the incident to the police because he smells alcohol in Fenton's breath. When PC Rowan lets Fenton off with a warning, Oxley takes matters in his own hand Greengrass gets a very unwelcome visitor, his big brother Cyril. Cyril is on the lookout for a weekend cottage. But his wife Edith does not necessarily need to know. Claude is more interested in taking a ride in Cyril's Rolls Royce. Gina has got a new boyfriend, Steve, who is helping out at the pub. Nick is concerned about his future father-in-law, who seems to have lost his will to live after his wife's funeral.

Greengrass has a soft job cleaning Lord Ashfordly's lawns for moles. To ensure a lasting employment him and David puts the moles back again at night. One night they are surprised by his lordship's sister Patricia, who is drunk as a skunk. It soon becomes clear that she has a drinking problem, and she is convinced that the law against drunk driving does not apply to nobilities like herself. She also has a soft spot for Steve's father Harry, whom she had a crush on when they were young. When Lord Ashfordly is away hunting for a couple of days Greengrass decides "to put Ashfordly Hall on the map" as he calls it and he organizes a poaching party in his lordship's absence.

Sammy Maxton is found injured on Shafton Moor and witnesses heard a shot and saw Barry Rooksby running from the scene and driving away with is daughter Suzy. Rooksby has recently lost his job as game keeper and blames Maxton for telling lies about him to get the job himself. Alice Jessop is released from hospital after a stroke and hires the butler Alan Lester to look after her. A couple of days later Eileen discovers that a valuable clock is missing from Mrs. Jessop's home Gina is nervous because she has to appear in court to apply for the license to run the Aidensfield Arms. Steve tries to comfort her, but his mind is more occupied by the American pool match, which Greengrass is arranging. But his pool table is confiscated as evidence when it turns out that it was stolen, and Greengrass is under pressure to get a new one. He soon finds out that American pool tables are rare in North Riding. The preparations for Nick's and Jo's wedding are in full swing, and Phil is hoping that Nick will ask him to be the best man. A ghost from nurse Bolton's past arrives in Aidensfield. Her husband Neil who hopes they can back together again.

The day of Nick's and Jo's wedding has arrived. To calm his nerves Nick takes a ride in his car when he is flagged down by a woman because of an accident. Suddenly the woman drives away in his car and Nick is stuck miles away from everywhere on the moors with an injured man on his hands. He manages to get the man to hospital, but time is getting short if he has to make it to the church in time. Sergeant Blaketon's day of retirement is nearing and he has applied for a year's extension of service, but the news from his medical exam is not good. News is not all bad though because they will also get a new police constable in Ashfordly.

Sergeant Blaketon is out on patrol when he is overtaken by a long-haired bully wearing a leather jacket on a motorcycle. He catches up with him while he is parked at a petrol station, and when he is asked for his name the "bully" introduces himself as Mike Bradley, the new police constable. After getting a much needed haircut PC Bradley soon has his baptism of fire when two armed criminals take Greengrass and Gina hostage so that they can hide in their catering truck and get into a pipeline compound to empty the safe. And they make it very clear that they are not afraid to use their firearms. Blaketon has a hard time facing retirement and asks for more tests, but he has to wait another week for the results of these tests. His heart will give him an answer much sooner than that.

Sergeant Blaketon is recuperating from his heart attack and cannot get back to work fast enough, when Dr. Bolton informs him that his days on the police force are over due to risk of another heart attack. That does not suit him at all and especially not when he learns that the Deighton family is back in Aidensfield. The Deightons have done mischief in the area before and they are definitely up to no good this time either. From his hospital bed Blaketon tells his constables to keep a close eye on them. Greengrass lets Lieutenant Craig and her girl scouts camp on his land. That brings the girls on a collision course with the Deightons when they stage a paper chase.

Nick and Jo Rowan return from their honeymoon in Spain. They find out that he has been made acting sergeant at the Ashfordly police station, while Blaketon has taken over the post office. A fair is visiting Aidensfield and one of its main attractions is the wall of death and its riders Dirk and Liam. Especially 15-year old Tracey Knight is fascinated by Dirk who has promised her a spot on the show. Dirk is seriously injured when he crashes off the wall during practice. The police soon find out it was not an accident. Another attraction is the mouse show, which Greengrass' lurcher Alfred decides by eating the favourite owned by the very unpopular Trevor Lammas. The next day Greengrass finds his dog lying on the floor with all signs of poisoning and accuses Lammas, who starts to have a series of small mishaps.

Demand for TV sets is high due to Christmas and the upcoming message from her majesty the queen, and especially one customer, Jim Brody, is set on getting a new set - in colour. But only if he gets the very first colour TV set in the area. That is one of the reasons why Rex Hawkins TV rentals and repair shop is very popular and Hawkins is also very popular among the wives of his customers. But he is bullied by Lol Baxter because has failed to pay for a shipment of very cheap, but defective TV sets. Also PC Ventress carries a grudge against Hawkins because Hawkins got him sacked from the local choir. So when Hawkins is attacked outside the Aidensfield Arms there are a lot of suspects to choose from.

Greengrass buys a used police car at an auction, where Bernie Scripps recognizes the former racing driver Russell Palmer, who now works for his cousin Keith Hibbert. Hibbert and Palmer are arrested after a brawl at the Aidensfield Arms and have to spend the night in prison at the police station under the watchful eyes of PC Bradley, who has the night watch. During the night Palmer complains of head aches and early next morning he is found dead in his cell. Hibbert accuses PC Bradley of beating Palmer up and thus causing his death. Acting sergeant Rowan has no other option than to launch a full investigation and suspend Bradley. Meanwhile Greengrass has converted his police car into a taxi cab and happens to overhear a little too much on his radio.

Somebody has been snatching Gina's empty bottles and PC Bradley has offered to stake out the pub. Meanwhile his past is catching up with him due to the death in custody case. His former girlfriend Penny turns up in Aidensfield with her baby son Tommy claiming that Bradley is the father. But also the gangsters Linden and Martin, who Bradley helped put away when he was with the Met, are eager to get hold of him when their sentences are reversed. Greengrass is "liberating" some fish from Lord Ashfordly when he befriends the tramp Tessa, who is doing a little liberating herself.

Nathaniel Clegghorn believes his farm is haunted and has sent for paranormal investigators to authenticate it so that he can arrange guided tours for a fee. Greengrass thinks that is a brilliant idea and produces a couple of "ghostly manifestations" himself. An old acquaintance of Oscar Blaketon and the police, Jimmy Turpin, is back in Aidensfield and Blaketon warns sergeant Rowan that he might be up to something. He is, but gets his daughter Mitzi and her husband Johnny Wyler to do the dirty work. Nick Rowan has got a new job with the Royal Mounted Police and he and his family prepare to leave for Canada. PC Bradley takes over his position as village bobby in Aidensfield. Neil Bolton is tired of working at the hospital and has a look at Kate Rowan's old practice in Aidensfield.

Oscar Blaketon gets a visit from Jim Ryan, his sergeant from the war in the Far East who has recently lost his wife. He enjoys seeing his old friend, but he gets worried about him, when Ryan sees a couple of biology students, Jill and Kathy, with a Japanese camera at the Aidensfield Arms and goes completely mad. Greengrass buys a herd of sheep from his friend Charlie Blunkett, but when the sheep turns out to be stolen, Greengrass wants his money back. Only Blunkett suddenly remembers nothing about any sheep and Greengrass must resort to drastic means to clear his good name.

Oscar Blaketon gets into trouble when two young criminals steal his car and run away from an accident they have caused, because he will not account for his whereabouts at the time of the accident and did not report the car stolen. Meanwhile the two criminals, Joey Sharp and Frank Collins, supplies drugs to the schoolgirl Lizzie Tyler and her friend Babs. Greengrass overhears how PC Bradley talks to a friend about buying classic motorcycles and spots an opportunity to earn a quit or two. He even knows where hen can get his hands on some if he can get Bernie Scripps to assemble them.

The schoolboys Trevor and Stuart Chivers break into the house of WWI hero Gerard Sefton, while he is in hospital, and smashes up everything searching for money. The boys also have a little sideline collecting "lost" golf balls at the golf club and selling them to Claude Greengrass. But the youngest, Stuart, is fascinated by Sefton's war exploits and visits the old man at the hospital. When PCs Bellamy and Ventress want to question the boys their battleaxe of a mother says that her little "angels" have nothing to do with it, and throws them out.

There has been a dance at the youth club in Aidensfield and 15-year old Maureen asks PC Bradley if he would walk her home. Bradley thinks it is only a schoolgirl prank and tells her to ask a boy of her own age. She has a crush on him, but she also claims that somebody is following her. And a couple of nights later Maureen disappears on her way home from the club. The new sergeant, Raymond Craddock, arrives at Ashfordly police station. He is very narrow-minded and goes strictly by the book and when his mind has been made up it stays that way - even if he is wrong.

The neighbours Clive Harris and Stuart Parsons are not the best of friends to put it mildly. When Oscar Blaketon tries to mediate between their families Parsons' wife Frances and his son-in-law John Nixon are rushed to hospital with signs of food poisoning. Naturally Harris comes under suspicion, but when Gina gets ill with the same symptoms PC Bradley is sure there is another reason. While Gina is in hospital her aunt Mary comes to Aidensfield to visit her. Bernie sells a car to Laslo Riles for Claude Greengrass, but when Riles goes bankrupt before he can pay Greengrass makes him pay in kind. Thus the old scoundrel suddenly becomes the proud owner of a snake.

Alec Formby and his fiancée Sonia Harding are on route with a radioactive isotope to a laboratory in Leeds and make a stop at the Aidensfield Arms to get something to eat. When they have finished their car has been stolen. The Police recover the car again after it has been involved in an accident, but the lead bottle containing the isotope is gone. Greengrass' brother Cyril calls on him with a business proposition He has bought a racing dog and needs a place to keep it for a couple of days. The dog is very fast and Greengrass races the dog without his brother's knowledge.

Brian Rider buys his first car at Marsden Motor Co. and like all young men he likes it sporty and fast. When the proud new car owner takes his vehicle for a fast spin he loses control and collides with a stone wall. His mother blames Marsden for selling her son a defective car. But it is destroyed by fire before forensics can have a look at it. And that is not Marsden's only trouble. His wife has been caught shoplifting on several occasions and it turns out that she has been beaten as well. PC Bradley thinks Marsden is behind both incidents. Greengrass has bought a couple of racing pigeons and wants everybody to buy shares. But it appears that even Greengrass does not know everything about racing pigeons.

Somebody breaks in at Jenny and Tim McDonald's house, but nothing seems to be taken. The next morning Tim McDonald is two hours late at work at a bank, because the intruder put back their clocks. The intruder turns out to be an old friend of Tim McDonald, a really bad apple called Carl Southall, and he claims that McDonald owes him a favour. There is an open tournament at the local golf club, and Greengrass plans to make a killing by entering a B. Scripps in the tournament and bet on him. Only it is not Bernie Scripps as the club manager Trevor Snape thinks, but Bernie's nephew Barry, who is a professional golf player. Greengrass spots an opportunity to make an even bigger killing when he learns that outside investors want to buy the club and turn it into an upmarket country club. He only has to become a member of the golf club to get a share of the sales money. That is all - or is it?

Oscar Blaketon is on his way home late one night when he sees strange lights around St. Michael's Church, but he is knocked down before he can investigate any further. Nothing appears to be missing, but a few days later a grave is desecrated and a human skull has been removed from it. Are there witches and black masses in Aidensfield? It seems so, because the farmer Mr. Follet is just wasting away as if he is bewitched and a voodoo doll and other signs of witchcraft are found on his farm. Greengrass is doing some gardening for Dorothea Cliveden, who is a queen in the cosmetic world. He surprises her one day with her face all covered in mud and learns, that people will pay a lot of money for mud intended for beauty care. Of course he cannot resist an opportunity like that.

There has been an intruder at the Moorside Lodge mother-and-baby home, but he was scared off by Paula, who had just been looking after her baby, and nothing was taken. Allan and Hazel Mansfield have a lot of problems with their baby Peter, who needs a lot of attention. Peter is taken from his pram while Mrs. Mansfield is doing an errand at the post office. He was adopted from Moorside Lodge, and sergeant Craddock believes that his natural mother may have taken him. But time is running short, because Peter is ill and may have trouble breathing without his medicine. Greengrass has found a new way to make money: laying out driveways and such. He is helped by the mechanical wiz Gary Clarkson, who has fixed his lorry.

Josh Roberts is a first class vet, but he also has developed a drinking problem after his wife's death and is almost always drunk. He forces sergeant Craddock off the road one night and Craddock orders his constables to be on a special lookout for drunken drivers in general and Roberts in particular. That does not scare off Roberts, who considers himself safe because he is the only vet in the area and he stages his own little, private war against the sergeant. There is a country fair in Aidensfield and Greengrass sees yet another opportunity to earn a quit or two and opens a stall just outside the fair and leaves David in charge. And he has some real bargains. Especially the sheep skin rugs! Phil tries to make a good impression on Sue Driscoll, the new secretary at the Ashfordly police station.

Indian Dr. Deepak Rall visits Dr. Bolton. He has practiced in Kenya and wants to hear about his prospects in the area. Dr. Rall is obviously a highly qualified doctor, but not everybody in the village likes his dark skin. Claude Greengrass has had another bright idea. Old Mr. Greaves has bought himself a guest house after having driven a mobile shop for years and Greengrass figures there must be a gold mine in mobile shops just waiting for him. He may be right, because especially tinned, Polish steak is a big hit although nobody can read the Polish labels.

Terry Matthews wants to marry his girlfriend Mel, but her father is against it so they plan to elope. Mel says goodbye to her mother and her friend Karen and the next thing she knows is that she is locked up in a room at an unknown house. Greengrass has opened a cat sitting service. That is David do the sitting and Greengrass do the financial bit. The first customer is Mrs. Leacock, but she brings not just a cat, but also a dog, a lama and a goat.

Ned Hall reports an UFO flying silently over his head one night he is collecting his sheep. He is not the only one. Sue's uncle Barry Watson and - of all people - Oscar Blaketon have made the same observation. When PCs Bellamy and Bradley investigate they find the body of cyclist Paolo Ermini near the place of Hall's sighting. Ermini was somewhat of a womanizer, and before he arrived Tony Eccles was the big name in the local bicycle club, so naturally he was not too popular with Eccles either. And there is still the UFO! Greengrass has thought up a new get very rich very quick scheme. Garden gnomes! Only much to his surprise his garden gnomes do not look very much like gnomes. More like Chairman Mao.

Lord Ashfordly's sister Patricia Brewster is visiting her brother to present her new fiancée Ronnie Harper. Sober. While his lordship is giving an engagement party in their honour one of his guests is burgled and another one was the previous night. Lady Patricia asks her fiancée, who has a criminal record, if he knows something about it, and the police have an eye on Harper too. Harper on the other hand has both his eyes set on Gina who is not insusceptible to his charm. Greengrass is harbouring two workmen, Keith and Chas, who do some renovations around the village. Among other things they are refitting Oscar Blaketon's bathroom, and he smells a rat.

Stuart and Trevor Chivers are at it again. Stuart has got detention with a classmate, Bernie. In revenge Bernie smashes the windscreen of the teacher's car, but the teacher Mr. Powell thinks Stuart did it. When PC Bradley questions him about it, he runs away. He is found the next day with severe stomach pains. PC Bellamy's grandmother complains about lorries rumbling through the village at night. The police cannot do anything about it, so she promises to take action herself. Oscar Blaketon has become WPO of Aidensfield and as such he is responsible for putting the village on alert in case of a war and for the village fallout shelter. Greengrass knows the perfect place for such a shelter, and he and Bernie Scripps are selling accommodations in it for a token annual fee for maintenance with great success.

PCs Bradley and Bellamy are on patrol when they are flagged down by Rachel Palmer, who claims that her sister Marianne Fuller has been attacked. Marianne Fuller is rushed to the hospital where she later dies. Meanwhile Rachel Palmer seeks comfort from PC Bradley, and she points the finger at Marianne's husband David although he seems to have an alibi. When sergeant Craddock finds out he has no other choice but to give him a couple of days leave. Gina dreams of winning a trip to Paris, but chances are slim. With Gina's birthday coming up Aunt Mary suggests a surprise party with a French theme.

Elaine Aubrey is one of Dr. Bolton's newest, but most frequent patients. So frequent in fact, that the village gossip has it that they are having an affair. He gives her a lift home from a reception at the golf club when she feels ill. Later the same evening she accuses him of indecent assault after she has had a small accident with her car. He of course denies, but why should she make a false allegation against him? Gina nearly has an accident, because somebody is mucking about with the road signs, and Greengrass encounters a re-enactment society, who is lost for the same reason. Greengrass persuades their president Mr. Pym to they re-enact the battle of Aidensfield, which "coincidentally" took place on his land. But Pym refuses to have any his men play the royalist side of the "conflict", so Greengrass has to find some people to play the royalist army.

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...

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.

An old man is attacked in what appears to be an open-and-shut case of burglary.

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.

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!

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.

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.

Who would have thought that Alf Ventress was a commando during the war? Well he was, and his old war buddies come to Aidensfield to celebrate their reunion. Being "a friend of Lord Ashfordly's" Greengrass arranges a bit of fishing and hunting for them on his lordship's grounds. Suddenly there is a shot and the cashier of their widows and orphans fund Matty Lowell is found dead at the forest floor. Lovell had a clash with Charlie Penwarden, the son of their late commanding officer, and Oscar Blaketon finds a half-burned letter from Lovell to Penwarden in which he confesses to fraud. A couple of hours before his death Lovell was seen with muck raking journalist Ralph Drake. Molly Rysinski is dying and she prefers to die at home. But her son Graham disagrees and thinks she should be at the hospital instead. Flinton Blain is complaining that the Aidensfield Arms is too noisy and goes a long way to prove it.

Greengrass befriends a spry old gal at the Aidensfield Arms. She is called Enid and writes crime novels. She is there to celebrate her son's birthday, but does not mind betting a bit of the money for his birthday present on the horses providing Greengrass can come up with the right tip. He does, but suddenly he cannot find his shirt with the winning ticket, because David wrapped it around Alfred when he took the dog to the vet. Enid reports the assault of a woman, and a few hours later a woman matching her description is admitted to hospital. The woman is Rachel Osborne and she is living with friends together with her daughter Lucy. Earlier that day Rachel reported that her room was broken into and PC Bradley is sure the two crimes are connected. Sergeant Craddock is not too happy with Enid hanging around the police station all the time - even though she is his mother!

Two young men try to rob a bookmaker's shop in Malton, but they are frightened off when their gun does not fire. During their escape one of the men, Peter Corcoran, injures his partner Nathaniel Cooper when he test fire the gun in the car. They dump their car in a stream and set out in opposite directions. Cooper hitches a hike with the gipsy - sorry, traveller - Johnny Lee, who is on his way to the horse fair in Aidensfield. Lee hides him and disposes of the gun. The police soon pick up Corcoran, and Lee turns against Cooper when the latter breaks into the Aidensfield Arms against his promise not to do any crimes. Another traveller, Derek Egan, persuades Greengrass to organize a race for travellers and their carriages and allows the old scoundrel to take bets on the outcome in return.

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.

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.