Pie in the Sky

A delusional cop seeks to bring Fishers ally down, and Henry recruits a new waiter.

Henry cooks a banquet for a visiting Japanese delegation, and tracks down a criminal from his past, who was presumed dead.

Steve investigates the burglary of Pie in the Sky, while Henry does battle with murderous private sector cops.

Henry uncovers two separate wine scams in Middleton.

Margaret and Henderson side with Reynard the Fox in opposing a new bypass, while Henry must question his loyalties.

A diner collapses and dies in the restaurants toilet. But when the police arrive the body has disappeared. Soon on the scene are two detectives from the Crime Squad, who have a long standing interest in the dead man, and in his missing car. Crabbe tracks down the car before they do and finds a huge sum of money in the boot.

Bill Pritchard, an old friend of Henrys and the supplier of fish to the restaurant, is accused of murder when his girl friends car is found abandoned and the ashes in his smokehouse show traces of human remains. Henry investigates and uncovers an amazing plot to frame Bill and steal the profits from the subsequent sale of his business.

In a moment of weakness famous cookery writer Hilary Smallwood has given her unscrupulous nephew Colin a Power of Attorney. He has sold her house and put her into a retirement home; now he is trying to steal her recently written memoirs. Hilary calls on Henry Crabbe and her lifelong friend Seymour to help. Meantime there is friction behind the scenes in the restaurant between Steve and John.

The man who shot PC Ian Lefebvre is due for release so Fisher wants to keep Lefebvre busy. What better than sending him off with Crabbe in search of two OAP con-women and the perfect bread and butter pudding?

Crabbe has to join ACC Fisher and DS Cambridge on a management development seminar, but Fisher is having a crisis of confidence in The Job and after a rave review, Pie has customers queuing at the door - could this be Crabbes chance to leave the Force and concentrate on cooking?

Henry supplies the catering at his friend Alistairs pheasant shoot, where Fisher is among the guests. Another member of the party is shot and killed and it looks as if Fisher accidentally shot him but Henrys investigation reveals a crime of passion involving a love triangle, a jealous husband - and a cover-up.

Charles Rider, a wine-loving regular at Pie in the Sky, is being threatened. It turns out he is really Joseph Webb, an ex-burglar turned supergrass, and now in witness protection. His collection includes many valuable bottles of wine, some of them stolen property and formerly owned by a bent policeman. His cronies have tracked Webb down and want the most priceless bottle back. So Rider comes to Henry Crabbe for help. Can Crabbe restore justice while keeping his friend safe?

Car crime is on the rise, with most of the vehicles being stolen from the car park at the railway station. Henrys problems mount as he not only has to deal with two separate sets of thieves, but also with a hostile new female Superintendent. Things come to a head when Fishers car is nicked at the station right under his nose. Back at the restaurant Gary and Margaret are being given a hard time by an over-zealous Food Inspector. Will she do as she is threatening and close the restaurant down?

Liz claims the money is winnings from a bet and Henry releases her but notes that Jerry too has a healthy bank balance and surmises he was trading inside information for cash. Tony apologizes to Henry but tries to push Bob into accepting the take-over and Henrys mystery man proves to be a private eye, since Tony has been fixing races and the Jockey Club have hired him to get proof. Henry believes Tony got Jerry to nobble his horses and killed Ben when he found out. He has the correct motive but the wrong suspect and its Margaret who literally stumbles on the real killer and has a close call with them. Meanwhile Nicola is annoyed when a spoilt school-friend appears to be making a play for Gary, though she is actually trying to poach him for her restaurant - unsuccessfully.

When Fisher allocates Henry to guard Sasha Wilkes,due to testify against her gangster husband, in the police safe house,D.C.I. Harding,who had expected the job,is resentful. Sasha is initially hostile but,won over by Henrys cooking,comes to confide in him. Harding uses a drug pusher called Vicky, who once knew Henderson, to discredit Henry and also discloses the safe houses location to Wilkes. Henry averts disaster and parts as friends with Sasha but wonders if they were used as bait by Fisher because he already suspected Harding.

An armed hold-up at Pie in the Sky while jewel-rich Mrs. Burdett is present brings DS Stringer to investigate. His abrasive manner alienates all the restaurant staff, including the normally placid Henry. He accuses first Gary, then Nicola and her new boy friend Paul of passing on the information regarding the Burdetts booking to the thieves. But Henrys judicious questioning of the victim brings the solution, in time for Gary to celebrate two years of sobriety.

Henry Crabbe (Richard Griffiths) is posted to guard a jury deliberating in a fraud case, who have been sequestered in a ghastly hotel. Crabbe has to find out who is intimidating the jurors, and how the villain is getting to them. Meanwhile he comes to the aid of the hotels talented cook (John Thomson) who is cruelly oppressed by the jobsworth manager. Back at Crabbes restaurant an obnoxious customer is giving new waitress Sally (Marsha Thomason) a hard time.

Henry and his team are called to a private boarding school where police Commander Colin Stilwells son Alex has been beaten up by local youths. Henry initially encounters a wall of insular hostility from the establishment before Alex points him to another pupil, who has blackmailed the Chemistry teacher into manufacturing Ecstasy tablets, which he is selling around the school. Gary meanwhile creates a new blend of mustard and attracts the attention of a large food manufacturer who offer to market it. However, they want to alter the recipe, making it taste more bland, whereupon Gary, taking a leaf from Henrys book, puts his culinary principles first and tells them that the deal is off.

As Fisher launches a campaign to make the police more popular with young people a boy called Nicky comes to Pie in the Sky, claiming he is there for work experience. Henry uses him in the kitchen and he impresses everyone but then the till is robbed and Nicky, who was not sent by any school, goes missing. His mother last saw him a week earlier, the night an off-licence was robbed by a violent teenage gang. Henry tracks Nicky down to a childhood haunt and finds out that he was bullied into joining the gang and now regrets it, which he proves by leading them into a police trap.

As Henry mysteriously loses his sense of smell he is intrigued when Fisher seems obsessed with arresting tyre exporter Peter Watson and suspects that Fisher, about to divorce his wife, is having an affair with Mrs. Watson. In fact she has discovered that her husband is defrauding her charity and is using Fisher to trap him. Having seen the case through Henry, feeling used by Fisher to catch Watson, resigns from the police and immediately regains his sense of smell. With Gary turning down the offer of work at another kitchen, Henry and his staff and colleagues have every reason to drink to the continuing success of Pie in the Sky.