Trial And Retribution

8:30pm – Friday, July 30 on ABC1

After a vicious attack and abduction involving a jewellery shop manager which ends in murder, a case comes to court to convict the assumed perpetrators – a well-known criminal family. But they are found not guilty, putting the life of one of the defence witnesses, a known associate of the family involved, in some jeopardy. But he has his reasons for wanting to see them behind bars. Business reasons. He wants to move in on the family’s patch – and business; he believes he has no reason to fear them.

Unfortunately he is wrong. Just after having been visited by DCI Roisin Conner (Victoria Smurfit) and Satch (Dorian Lough) the witness is coolly executed right in front of a hiding Satch.

He sees the shooter but the team must keep it quiet or else he is in danger. Unfortunately, someone close to the team needs the extra cash that is offered to tell them who the witness was, and suddenly it is not only Satch who is in danger, but all those he loves.

8:30pm – Friday, July 23 on ABC1

The death of a girl who falls from a ferris wheel is thought a tragic accident, until Satch’s (Dorian Lough) aunt Teresa (Jane Lapotaire) – a fortune teller at the fair – comes forward with her suspicions of foul-play.

Her fears seem well-grounded when a second death occurs. It appears all is not fun at the fair.

The hostility between the fairground community and the police makes for a difficult investigation for DCI Roisin Conor (Victoria Smurfit) and DCS Mike Walker (David Hayman). Despite this, amid stories of continued threats and intimidation, Pavel (Aleksandar Mikic) is arrested. However, new evidence begins to point to another surprising suspect.

8:30pm – Friday, July 16 on ABC1

An ambulance screams through London’s streets, siren wailing, lights flashing. Inside, a paramedic tries desperately to save a man’s life, with his distraught fianc�e by his side. Suddenly, the ambulance is rocked – a car swings across, a sickening crunch of metal, sparks fly. The ambulance is forced off the road, flips and rolls, finally crashing on its side, lights still flashing, siren still screaming.

DCI Roisin Connor (Victoria Smurfit) and DCS Mike Walker (David Hayman) arrive to find two dead paramedics, and the man they were treating shot in the head. His fianc�e, celebrity heiress and paparazzi fodder, Imogen Buller-Turi distressed, but alive – the innocent victim in what appears to be a shocking case of road rage.

But everything is not as it seems in this thrilling and intense story of greed, betrayal and murderous revenge.

8:30pm – Friday, July 9 on ABC1

After 10 years of fighting crime, straight-talking DCS Mike Walker (David Hayman) and DCI Roisin Connor (Victoria Smurfit) are still at the top of the crime- fighting game. In this latest series, the team solve more horrific cases that push them to the very limits of their abilities…

The body of a teenage girl, Maria Cole, is discovered in a chalk pit, and the tracks of three different vehicles are discovered at the crime scene. They eventually lead DCI Connor and DCS Walker to the local hard man, Ray Harper (Roy Marsden). His son Andy and his friend Darren admit being at the pit on the same night, though they claim that they never saw the girl there. However, cracks soon appear in their story when CCTV footage reveals that they crossed paths with Maria before her death.

8:30pm – Friday, July 24 on ABC1

Two women suddenly vanishing into thin air, both married to the same man, is a catalyst for DCS Mike Walker to investigate further – despite being on leave.

While back in his home town of Glasgow visiting his senile mother (Shelia Donald), Walker is approached by an old friend, Bill Hennessy (Robert Willox).

Hennessy’s sister, Margaret (Rebecca How), has been missing, presumed dead, for more than eight years.

He’s always suspected her husband Kevin Reid (Jamie Sives) and his reservations are seemingly confirmed when Reid’s second wife, Anna (Victoria Gay) also goes missing without a trace.

DI Jack Mullins (David O’Hara) originally worked on Margaret’s case and his antagonism at DCS Walker (David Hayman) encroaching on his territory is palpable but he consents to Walker examining the files.

Walker orders a records search for unidentified bodies and a box discovered buried in woodland contains an unidentified body of a woman. DNA confirms it’s Margaret Reid but the cause of death is hard to determine. In order to fit inside the box her legs had been amputated at the knee and placed on top of the body.

DI Moyra Lynch (Kerry Fox) who’s been investigating the disappearance of Reid’s second wife, Anna, also joins the team. She uncovers a computer journal kept by Anna in the months before her disappearance.

The entries seem to implicate Kevin Reid’s brother, Ronnie (Michael Nardone). Walker contacts the Glasgow incident room and DI Mullins finds Ronnie at a local stock car race where he arrests Ronnie for the murder of Margaret Reid and the suspicion of kidnapping Anna Reid.

But there is a dark bond between the brothers and Walker needs to uncover their macabre tryst before they take it to the grave.

8:30pm – Friday, July 17 on ABC1

The world of high-class prostitution involving girls from Eastern Europe and the wealthy men who use them turns deadly in this taut, thriller instalment of Trial And Retribution from Lynda La Plante.

In Rules Of The Game a suitcase is discovered abandoned in the middle of a Heathrow car park.

Inside it is the naked body of a girl.

The case is traced back to Vitali Malikov (Marcel Iures), a Ukrainian millionaire businessman with friends in high places.

Steely detective Roisin Connor (Victoria Smurfit) investigates. DCI Connor is compelling – a tough, complex female character viewers can love to hate. Writer, Lynda La Plante, understands women flock to this genre and frequently toys with female leads who swing between being flawed romantics and tough as nails crime busters. With DCI Connor they’re in good hands.

Connor’s boss, DCS Mike Walker (David Hayman), has unfinished business with the wealthy Ukrainian and is incandescent with rage when forced to release Malikov without charge. The Deputy Assistant Commissioner warns DCS Walker to steer clear of Malikov but that’s one order Walker isn’t going to obey.

DCI Connor’s work on identifying the dead girl leads her to another high-class prostitute, Teresa Korovin (Ksenia Zaitseva), who tells Connor someone called Margaret set them up with Malikov.

Another suspect emerges when Connor goes to the dead girl’s flat and meets her boyfriend Dan Vaughan (Jamie Glover). Vaughan is shocked to learn his girlfriend, Sofia Petrenko (Olga Fedori), was a prostitute. The Petrenko family is devastated and older sister Maryna (Branka Katic) demands to know everything.

Connor is circumspect but Walker tells Maryna that Malikov is the prime suspect.

8:30pm – Friday, July 10 on ABC1

There’s a dangerous cocktail of love, power and revenge in this latest instalment of Trial And Retribution from the always compelling Lynda La Plante.

In Kill The King a friend of DCS Mike Walker (David Hayman), paediatric surgeon Professor Jonathan Carlise (Benedict Taylor), is found dead. During her investigations the ever-cool DCI Roisin Connor (Victoria Smurfit) uncovers conflicts stirred by a recent operation that resulted in a child’s death. Gradually, DCI Connor’s enquiries focus on three people with motive: Gary Webster (John Lynch), the father of the dead child, Amber (Evie May Cassidy), is hungry for justice. Webster has never believed the hospital’s account of events and says his daughter’s death is a case of hospital negligence.

Professor Carlise’s anaesthetist Neelah Sajhani (Shelly Conn) had been having a passionate affair with her boss; and junior surgeon Dr Adrian Lawson (Ben Miles), is the third suspect as Carlise blamed him for Amber’s death.

Sajhani is put in the frame for Carlise’s murder when it’s revealed Carlise was murdered with a drug Sajhani had access to. Facing a potential murder charge, Sajhani starts to reveal the truth. She says she found Carlise dead on the kitchen floor with a syringe sticking out of his arm. She collected the needles and ampoules in an attempt to protect her lover’s reputation.

And when the spotlight of suspicion falls on Dr Lawson he offers a video recording of Amber’s surgery, showing it was a straightforward procedure, with nothing untoward. But his helpful nature doesn’t convince DCI Connor. When the full truth of what happened finally comes out the investigation team is once again surprised at what makes some people capable of murder.

8:30pm – Friday, July 3 on ABC1

Another compelling series of British murder mysteries from renowned crime writer Lynda La Plante returns to ABC1 each Friday night in July.

This new series of Trial And Retribution begins with an explosive tale of injustice and revenge.

Tense, gripping and wonderfully acted, Conviction has an avenging father seeking recompense for the murder of his son.

On an East London estate Terry Dyer (Johnny Harris), recently released from prison, returns to uncover the truth behind a murder that he still claims he didn’t commit.

The buried secrets of terrible and murderous events are unearthed as DCS Mike Walker (David Hayman) and DCI Roisin Connor (Victoria Smurfit) head up the investigation team. But when DCI Connor is called away on a family-related matter, DS Dave Satchell’s (Dorian Lough) best intentions go tragically wrong.

How far should you go in the pursuit of what is right? Should a cop cross the line to catch a killer.

La Plante’s fine touch on this well cast police drama series has it all – procedural authenticity, personnel tensions, plot twists and character quirks. The visual style of the Trial And Retribution franchise also hooks the viewer as split screen points of view further enhance the storyline. But such is the cachet assured screenwriter Lynda La Plante carries, you could probably add her name to the test pattern and it would draw viewers in droves!

Friday, 6 March 8:30pm

A high profile case brings intense media scrutiny and DCS Walker feels the heat from his superiors in a chilling two-part series of Trial And Retribution.

Metropolitan Police Commander Jack Delany (Brian Gwaspari) and his Magistrate wife Honor Mandray (Gillian Gordon) are found brutally murdered in their own home. Priceless jewellery missing from the house initially suggests a burglary gone horribly wrong.

However, with several relatives set to profit from the murders, DCS Walker (David Hayman) and DCI Connor (Victoria Smurfit) focus their investigations on the family.

Shaken and angry, Walker’s superiors are ‘calling him up like a demented ferret’ and hounding him for quick results.

Walker’s suspicions focus on identical twins Michael (Robert Timmins) and Rory (Jonathan Timmins), who stand to inherit millions from the death of their parents.

Meanwhile, on a personal note, DCI Connor starts an unlikely relationship with DS Sam Palmer (Vince Leigh), which leaves DS Satchell (Dorian Lough) feeling like a ‘spare part’.

With the Commissioner on their backs, the investigation team decide to run a media conference in the hope of recovering the stolen gems. When there’s no response from local handlers and jewel traders suspicion turns to the boys’ uncle, Paul Mandray (Greg Hicks), who is seen arguing with the twins and has large gambling debts.

Delany’s housekeeper Janet Jenkins (Michelle Fairley) is also a suspect after it’s revealed she too is a beneficiary of Jack Delaney’s Will.

The funeral is a tense affair and if there’s one thing investigative police like, it’s the revealing combination of booze and grief.

Friday, 27 February 8:30pm

Leanne Taylor seemed like the perfect nanny; personable, warm, gentle and capable – but capable of murdering two babies?

Is she a naïve charmer or a ruthless manipulator?

Leanne’s (Sinead Matthews) multiple identities are revealed in this taut and tense concluding part of Lynda La Plante’s Trial and Retribution: Curriculum Vitae.

The investigation team discover Leanne is in fact called Rachel Burns and has a series of identity thefts in her past.

With Rachel in custody, DCS Mike Walker (David Hayman) and DCI Roisin Connor) debate the controversial decision to exhume the body of baby Joe Casper, allegedly suffocated by Rachel.

The baby’s mother, Gina Casper (Gillian Kearney), reluctantly agrees but her husband Lee (Paul Hilton) argues against exhumation and even offers to be a character witness for Rachel.

His testimony backfires though when Rachel reveals they had a torrid affair.

The prosecution case is looking thin when the defence start questioning the mental health of the mother of the second victim, baby Poppy.

The case could rest on the investigation team locating a mini-cab driver but then Rachel decides to change her testimony…again!