The Bill: DS Roach and DC Dashwood are on an obbo at a phone box to catch someone making hoax bomb threats to the Town Hall. Another case soon takes precedence, however, when a woman arrives at the station and reports her eight-year-old daughter Samantha missing. When Samantha's friend Theresa tells WPC Ackland that they were approached by a flasher, there is concern that the girl could have been abducted by a child sex offender. CID question suspects in the area while a full-scale search is underway. Ackland notices that Samantha likes boats, so the search is concentrated in the docks area, and a drunken boat owner gives a description of a woman he saw with the girl. With Roach and Dashwood halfway to Brighton to question a paedophile, a call comes in to PC Carver in the incident room from a shop assistant who recognised Samantha and the woman who bought her some colouring books. Finding the woman's identity from credit card slips, DI Galloway and WPC Ackland find Samantha safe and well in the house of a lonely widow. Ackland is horrified, however, when she returns the child to her parents and the mother slaps her daughter, screaming "Where have you been, you stupid bitch?".

Starring:

Alex Walkinshaw, Andrew Lancel, Chris Simmons, Eric Richard, Graham Cole, Mark Wingett, Roberta Taylor, Simon Rouse, Trudie Goodwin

Genre:

Drama, Crime