Episode 1 - Having It All
When Cheerleading coach Helen Gaskell (Carolyn Backhouse) is found dead in her garage
by her daughter Melanie (Natasha Thompson-Wild) and husband Alan (Chris Gascoyne),
the team are surprised by the ferocity of the attack. Initial suspicions falls on
Alan, especially when his bloodied clothes are found dumped nearby. As Janine and
the team dig further they uncover a bitter rivalry between Helen, her sister Anita
(Siobhan Finneran) and their two teenage daughters Melanie and Jess (Holliday Grainger). The
discovery of Helen's affair with Jess's boyfriend Kyle (Chris Hall) suddenly gives
Jess the strongest motive, but are the team missing a motive that goes much further
back than anyone could have imagined?
Episode 2 - Inside
Shortly after being granted the right to appeal, Bernard Aspen (Rennie Krupinski)
is found dead in the prison washroom. He had been convicted of the murder of teenager
Marianne Cale over a decade ago and Bernard’s death sends the team back to investigate
the original case. Inside the prison no one will talk to them and the team quickly
realise that this could be a long haul. With the investigation stalling, Richard
(Ian Kelsey) is sent in undercover by DCS Hogg (Saskia Wickham), unbeknown to the
rest of the team including Janine (Caroline Quentin). Bernard’s cellmate, Neville
Notts (Mark Benton) has a watertight alibi from Prison Officer Keeler (Jason Furnival)
and although the team can find links between other inmates and the Marianne Cale
case, they’re struggling to piece the case together.
Episode 3 - Tooth & Claw
Out in the hills north of Manchester the discovery of local vet Ruth Turner’s (Sophie
Rickman) body thrusts the team into a community reluctant to open its doors to them.
As they uncover Ruth’s plans to leave her husband, fire-fighter Gavin Turner (Anthony
Flanagan) and her lover, Yvonne (Lara Cazalet), they meet some interesting locals
including mad old Peggy Gaumont (Sylvia Sims). However, it’s the fragile existence
of local farmers Dunwoody (Neil Bell), Martin Heald (Roger Morlidge) and his son
Rowan (Sam Darbyshire) that finally leads the team to the discovery of more complex
relationships, an arsonist and eventually to the murderer. Meanwhile, Butchers (Paul
Loughran) has an assessment with Richard (Ian Kelsey) in which the issue of whether
he’s ‘fit to fight’ is raised!
Episode 4 - This Charming Man
Jack Taylor (Michael Winniczuk), lead singer of ‘Rule 7’, is found dead at the bottom
of the stairs in his apartment. The team uncover the manager Matt’s (Danny Cunningham)
doubts about the band’s latest album and a desire to get ex-band member Billy Radford
(Liam Garrigan) back on board. But the case is complicated by the discovery that
Jack had a fractious relationship with just about everybody with whom he was close.
His grieving girlfriend Amy (Tina O’Brien) saw him with another woman the night of
the murder, Jack’s brother Sam wasn’t tucked up in bed at his parents’ house as he
claims and Jack didn’t see eye to eye with Liam Whittick (Chris Coghill), photographer
and maker of the band’s latest promo. With so many suspects, will Janine (Caroline
Quentin) and the team ever discover who killed Jack?
Episode 5 - Private Sins (Part 1)
Janine (Caroline Quentin) and the team are riding high when Shap’s (Nicholas Murchie)
evidence convicts a high-profile murderer. However, their reverie is short-lived
when the body of private investigator Peter Williams is found in a car park. The
team soon uncover the dodgy dealings of Paul Faber’s (Collin Wells) PI company which
Williams worked for. The disappearance of Peter’s friend and colleague Tanya Lucas
(Vera Filatova) has the team digging further into this world. Shap makes it his mission
to find her while the rest of the team look into clients that Peter had been working
for. It comes to light that he’d been following Sally Jowell (Heather Peace) and
her daughter Hannah (Felicity Grant) on behalf of her ex-husband, convicted criminal
Terry Camerton (Kieran O’Brien). Camerton quickly becomes a suspect, but furtive
Shap is a few steps ahead of his colleagues and, having found Tanya and brought her
in, he begins privately pursuing Camerton and secretly employs Tanya to work for
him, desperate to get to him first. What is Shap hiding?
Episode 6 - Private Sins (Part 2)
The team question Camerton’s (Kieran O’Brien) ex-wife Sally (Heather Peace) and it
becomes clear that all is not well with her new husband Derek (Brendan Coyle). They
suspect she’s the victim of domestic abuse again.
Link to Blue Murder main page >